The title of this thesis Extra Ordinary is intentionally ambiguous. Depending on how you read it, it can refer to either the very ordinary or to that which is outside of the ordinary.The works described within these pages functions similarly. From person to person and with time they move from the ordinary to beyond and back again. How can something be both mysterious and understood at the same time? How can I as a painter create a space where diametrically opposed forces can coexist and what is the effect of viewing such an object? This thesis addresses these issues with personal anecdote and through description of artwork and the art making process

Work presented in this dissertation was performed in the salt-desert environment of the Owens Valley of California. The area experiences low-rainfall, hot summers, but has a high water table, seldom more than 5 meters from the surface. To test differences in plant species wateruse, a steady-state porometer was used for transpiration measurements while a 2-meter point-frame was used to estimate leaf area index on each species studied. The five species studied (Atriplex torreyi, Chrysothamnus nauseosus, Distichlis stricta, Sporobolus airoides, and Sarcobatus vermiculatus) varied with regard to photosynthetic pathways and leaf morphology. Water-use differences among species are hypothesized to be related to the differing physiological and morphological characteristics observed in the different species studied. This work focuses upon methods for integrating porometric transpiration rates and point-frame measured leaf area to estimate daily plant water-use. Daily water-use values are correlated with environmental growth conditions. A computer program was developed for scenario testing so that conclusions could be drawn concerning how given plants respond to different conditions of soil moisture and atmospheric evaporative demand. The computer-aided calculations led to conclusions that low water-use behavior characterizes A. torreyi, and high water-use behavior characterizes C. nauseosus. C4 photosynthesis and low leaf conductance may contribute to the success of A. torreyi on fine-textured soils when water transfer rates to roots are limiting to transpiration. Fine-textured soils may inhibit production in C. nauseosus because the species requires higher rates of transpiration to achieve optimal growth than soil hydraulic conductivity allows. These conclusions have implications for land managers who should recognize that climax plant communities in saltdesert regions are better at conserving water and stabilizing soil than is colonizing vegetation. Management should seek to maintain climax vegetation cover because restoration is difficult once vegetation disturbance occurs.

Comme nombre de cités industrielles Firminy (Loire) est au sortir de la seconde guerre mondiale une ville où insalubrité et surpeuplement règnent. Les amitiés tissées dans les réseaux de résistance, la recherche d’un terrain propice aux expériences amènent un ancien ministre de la Reconstruction, Eugène Claudius-Petit, déjà député, à briguer le poste de maire. Elu en 1953, il lance très rapidement une vaste opération de rénovation et de restructuration de la cité. Alors que les grands ensembles fleurissent dans les banlieues des grandes villes, il impulse un programme de ce type dans une cité de 25 000 habitants. Il fait appel à une équipe resserrée d’amis architectes, Roux, Sive, Delfante pour concevoir un nouveau quartier suivant les idées de la Charte d’Athènes, Firminy-Vert. Opération de secteur industrialisé, le chantier est aussi un modèle d’industrialisation et de préfabrication. La construction de plus de 1000 logements est lancée et a pour ambition d’offrir aux locataires une nouvelle manière d’habiter génératrice d’une nouvelle société. Architecture, urbanisme, sont mis au service d’une renaissance de la cité. Bâtissant un quartier ils incluent dans le projet des équipements collectifs : écoles, commerces, stade et même une maison de la Culture. Le Corbusier est invité et conçoit pour cette cité une Maison de la Culture, un stade, une unité d’habitation et une église dont le chantier, étalé sur plus de 30 ans, vient de connaître son achèvement offrant à la cité une reconnaissance patrimoniale internationale. La communauté rêvée et attendue dans cet habitat moderne laisse place à la communauté réelle qui s’approprie et transforme ce quartier trop souvent oublié. / Firminy a small mining community in the outskirts of Saint-Etienne (France) at the end of WW2 is no different from most industrial cities, the stigma of poverty, human misery, overcrowded and unplanned developments are everywhere. Eugene Claudius Petit, in charge of the post war country rebuilding effort will leverage its connections with the best town planners and Architects to launched some new architectural and planning developments in Firminy, a City were he has been elected mayor in 1953. The renewal and redevelopment endeavor is mimicking in a city of just 25 thousand inhabitants, the projects that at a much broader scale flourish throughout the continent. But the project is also sticking by Eugene Claudius Petit to recruit the best architects and town planner of the time. Roux, Selfante and Sive will help red-define the entire city based on the 95-point program of the Athens chart. Firminy-Vert will also prove to be the perfect model and case study for new building methods experiments and the use of prefabricated element in particular. One thousand accomodations are completed, offering as much useful amenities as possible is a key element in order to create a new way of living, even a new sense of community and society. Architects, town planners are working together to rebuild, regenerate, hoping for a complete Renaissance. Public amenities such as a sport center, a cultural and communities center, a church (which as just been completed 30 years after the ground breaking and give the opportunity for this now coherent development to be world heritage. The idealistic community comes to live translated into a very real community that generates life in a neighborhood too often undervalued and almost forgotten.

The subject of this thesis is a new mixed-use building in the Brno part of Zábrdovice. The building will have one basement and six above-ground floors. In the ground floor will be located store and service of the bicycles and on the first floor there will be smaller space for rent. On the first to five floor there will be eleven flats. The main entrance to the building is designed from the southwest side of Koliště street. In the plot there will be a parking lock system for eleven cars. The access road to the parcel is from the east side. The mixed-use building is designed from a wall structural system. The basement will be made of monolithic reinforced concrete walls, and above-ground floors will be made of clay blocks. The floor structure will be made of cast-in-place reinforced slab. The mixed-use building will be warm flat green roof with extensive greenery.

This diploma thesis is about real estate market comparative appraisement, statistical approach and how to use software for data gathering and processing in its practical part. Practical part also includes draft of appraising algorithm. In the end of practical part, there are check of application's output and comparison of computed prices to both real traded prices and advertisement prices.

The thesis analyses the impact of building renovation on the market price of a property. The analysis uses a particular type of property - a flat in a prefabricated house. A database of offered market prices before and after the building renovation was created. The price of the building renovation was made by an itemized budget. The data, which were obtain in this way, were then submitted to s detail analysis and statistical testing. The result of the analysis was to determine whether the cost of the building renovation impacted the market value of the property and whether it was evaluated

This master thesis is exploring a possibility of densifying traditional block structure of a city by the design of a multifunctional building. It is located in Brno exactly in Brno centrum city part. The building site is defined by Veveří, Kounicova and Pekárenská streets. On the forth side there is existing block of flats on the Sokolská Street. The design itself is based on the form of a traditional enclosed block of flats, but masses are oriented differently. The basic principle is layering when first two floors are commercially oriented and therefore accessible by public. Living areas are separated by position above. The roof, connecting all of the buildings, is taking role of a traditional courtyard. In this case, it stays visually connected with surrounding street life and newly formed commercial parts. Masses of the complex are reflecting different city structures on each side. It encloses on the side of the Veveří Street which creates undisturbed street corridor. New structure opens more to Kounicova Street and reflects free city pattern of this part.

The subject of this thesis is a new mixed-use building in Brno in the part of Pisárky. The building will have one basement and four aboveground floors. In the basement will be a collective garage and apartment accessories. In the ground floor are designed offices for rent. On the first to fourth floor are designed eight flats. The main entrance to the building and the entrance to the property is situated on the northeast side of Vinařská street. The mixed-use house is designed from a wall structural system. The basement basement, first floor and staircase space is designed of lime-sand blocks, with a ceiling construction of monolithic iron concrete slabs. The bearing structure of the second to fourth floors is designed as a timber structure building. The roof structure will be double-skinned, flat with a vegetation layer with extensive greenery.

The task of this master's thesis was to create a sustainable urban structure of the 21st century in the Brno brownfields - Kohnova cihelna. The main purpose of the work is to create a quality residential structure near the city center. Furthermore, connecting the city and greenery, creating new entrances to the Červený kopec area and increasing the attractivity of the area with sufficient level of services and recreation.

The topic of the thesis was to create a contemporary urban structure on the site of the former Kohn brickyard in Červený kopec in Brno. The main attributes of the work are mainly work with the terrain, significantly changed by clay mining, the effort to create a viable urban district with sufficient services, space for rest, affordable greenery and especially quality housing. All with an emphasis on the functionality and quality of the proposed buildings and public spaces designed in a human scale.