The task of this thesis is the design of a facility that will accommodate both a large workforce in an office environment and a large accompaniment of machines. The entire complex, located in a remote area of a large rural university campus, must establish harmony between the various functional components of the center. / Master of Architecture

A place at a boundary A struggle from reason to poetry A dialogue between thought and object / Master of Architecture

I remember with clarity the day Dennis Kilper and Donna Dunay shared with us their awareness of a site in downtown Blacksburg bound by College Avenue, Draper Road, Roanoke Street and Otey Street. The sight is a locus of interface between the university and the town. A place rich in contextual nuance, movement, rhythm, axis and history interact to create a powerful synergy waiting to be expressed. When the time came to choose a subject for my master's thesis, I found the challenge I was looking for in the puzzle of what to do with such a special opportunity. My design proposal (multi–use in nature) for the above site is a quadrangle made from the repetition of a square-based brick tower in concert with the development of an axis in the field of the quadrangle. The brick tower transforms itself in response to context, as does the pre-existing interior axis. / Master of Architecture

The Student Health Services is located in Henderson Hall, a complex consisting of several buildings constructed at various times. Three other departments share this complex. Because of inadequate space and a building layout which does not easily accommodate the Health Services’ function, a study was completed to determine needs of the facility, and a final design solution was produced to supply the needs of the University, the Health Services and the community. Advantages of the existing location as well as the university master plan indicated keeping the facility in the same area. But problems created by the layout and shape of the present facility necessitate a new facility designed to increase both efficient handling of patient and staff flow as well as creating a positive image. The facility should communicate that it is a place for healing rather than a place for the sick. The new building ties into the existing complex creating a boundary between the University and the community, and creates a front facing the new student activities building. The original residence of the first College president will be restored to its original scale and identity by the removal of its present two additions. / Master of Architecture

An exploration to utilize the notion of a screen in order to orchestrate an urban response, an urban mixed-use building. It is an investigation into the contradictions of materiality and the inherent values of organistic and rigid geometries and formations in terms of architecture and the facade. Two screens make use of pattern, texture, and layering to create a sense of order and chaos within the same instance. This is most noticeable through the introduction of light, natural and artificial. These screens are a reflection of the ripples, webs, and vibrations of all human activity. This is an investigation into repetition and layering, covering and wrapping, and ultimately creating an enjoyable environment to live, work, and play. The program is quite simple. On the ground floor there is a grocery store, shops, and offices. On the upper levels, there are townhomes and apartments, one and two bedroom. / Master of Architecture

Understanding how prospective students make their final choices of colleges or universities is important to students, their parents, and to the institutions. When it comes to academically advanced students, or Honors students, there is a question as to whether the same factors are influential to their higher education decisions. The purpose of this study was to compare the responses of Virginia Tech Honors students with current literature to determine the influences associated with college or university selection between the two data sets. The methodology used in this study included qualitative focus-group interviews of Virginia Tech Honors freshmen who had been admitted into the Program for the fall semester of 1992 and had remained Honors eligible for the spring semester of 1993. six interview sessions were arranged for 50 students. An interview protocol was designed to ask six questions to the participants, focusing on how they made their final decisions to attend virginia Tech. Thirty-six students actually participated in the interviews. Six conceptual categories emerged from the interviews. These categories included: (1) Academic Programs; (2) Campus Atmosphere/Life; (3) Influential People; (4) Location; (5) Money; and (6) Recruitment. Seven conceptual categories were discovered in the literature. These categories were discovered included: (1) High School Grade Point Average; (2) Tuition; (3) Geographic Location; (4) Parental, Peer, and Alumni Influence; (5) Academic Reputation; (6) Job Placement; and (7) Campus Visit. The results from the study indicated that most students, regardless of their status, consider similar factors in their choices of colleges. Most important among the factors included the cost, campus visit, and reputation. / Master of Arts

With the national attention in the 1990’s on quality education and renewed interest in the transfer function of community colleges, the community college faces increased demands from the legislators for educational accountability and the critics who question the two-year college’s ability to maintain the quality of its transfer function at the same time that it provides vocational, community, and developmental education. Among the issues in the growing concern for transfer education, and most significant to the future of the community college, is the inference that the original transfer function has reemerged as a primary determinant of community college quality. Thus, the community college must respond to the critics and demonstrate the efficacy of its transfer function. To examine the influences that contribute to the high academic achievement (GPA 3.0 or greater) of a transfer student from a Virginia community college to Virginia Tech and determine why the high-achieving student succeeds, the researcher utilized the qualitative research method of naturalistic inquiry with interviews and a quantitative research method with a questionnaire, a methodological triangulation for reliability and validity in qualitative research. In this research study of the two-year commuter institution, integration into the academic system appears more important to high-achievement than integration into the social system; moreover, the faculty-student interaction and collegiate impact seem significantly related to student characteristics, both findings of which are supported in the literature. With the originally eligible and originally ineligible more alike than different in entry characteristics, it seems probable that the community college experience is influential for students with the particular characteristics of those in this study. Based on the findings in this study that the community college experience appears to have positive influence on educational aspiration and that the influence varies for different kinds of students, educators must consider different types of faculty~student interaction with different educational outcomes for different types of students--a topic of some significance for the diverse population of the community college. In this study of the community college with its open-door policy to expand the opportunity for the student without academic credentials, forty percent of these high-achievers were originally ineligible for admission to Virginia Tech; however, the combination of their characteristics as self-directed learners and the faculty-student interaction in the community college environment led them to success as high-achievers not only at the community college but also at Virginia Tech. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this research was to determine the relationship between apparel store satisfaction and the patronage behavior of black college-age consumers. In addition, perceptions of the store attributes, the importance attached to the attributes, and personal characteristics were investigated separately and in relation to satisfaction. A need for this research exists because consumers’ satisfaction with the environments of retail establishments has not been researched as abundantly as satisfaction with products and services. It is important for retailers and students in clothing and textiles and business to understand the immense diversity among consumers if they are to market merchandise accurately and successfully. This study will be of value since it determines the level of retail satisfaction of the subjects since satisfaction needs to be understood before there is an understanding of patronage behavior and buying habits. Data were collected by convenience sampling on the Virginia Tech campus. Surveys were administered to students in four sections of an Introduction to Black Studies course in Spring 1994. The final sample size for this study was 90 subjects. Mean ratings of the responses were tabulated from each variables average item scores. The perception rating signified that the subjects’ general perceptions of the store personnel and atmosphere were between "neutral" and "slightly" positive on the scale. Importance ratings signified that the subjects found the store personnel and atmosphere components listed to be "very important” to "usually important". Satisfaction ratings signified that the subjects felt "satisfied" to "neutral" in relation to store personnel, atmosphere, and apparel stores in general. It was found that there is a significant relationship between the dependent variable, retail satisfaction and the independent variable, perception. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed the relationship between satisfaction with store atmosphere and perceptions of the store personnel and atmosphere to be the weakest relationship of the three satisfaction items. Correlation analyses showed no significant relationship exists between store satisfaction and the other variables, the importance attached to the image attributes, patronage behaviors, and demographics. / Master of Science

Master of Architecture

Master of Architecture