MOTIVATION In Richmond, there are 1.21 times as many African Americans as any other ethnic group. Yet 63.4% of African Americans live in poverty (Richmond, VA). African Americans face greater exposure to stress due to low socioeconomic status and poverty. In these communities, “discrimination and deprivation undermine individuals’ ability to accumulate the social and material resources to mitigate the effects of stress” (Brondolo, 2018). In this city’s African American community, where stress levels are high and consequential health concerns are prevalent, dance can be a remedy for managing stress and improving health (Hanna, 2006). DESIGN PROBLEM How can an intentionally designed interior environment support dance as a remedy for stress and its negative health effects? How can the design of this environment celebrate the culture of the African American community? METHODS Literature reviews on the relationship between space and dance will help inform design decisions. Studies of programmatic precedents will focus on spaces involving dance, healing, community engagement and cultural specificity. Studies of conceptual precedents that involve movement, rhythm and the body will take place. Rudolf Laban’s notation system for studying movement in dance will be utilized to analyze the movements required of African dance, resulting in a more targeted design approach. A dancer with a background in African dance will serve as a research advisor. Interviews of African American dancers will be conducted to gain insight into the practice of dance and the needs of a dance space. PRELIMINARY RESULTS Research shows that dance reduces stress levels. Specifically, African dance, significantly decreases perceived stress and repeated practice can lead to overall stress reduction (West, J. et al). African dance’s main purpose is to serve as an expression of the physical and psychological states of individuals, allowing for emotional release.(Welsh-Asante, 1996). Dance can be used to cope with stress by discharging repressed aggression, improving self-esteem and allowing for self expression . Dance also prevents stress through physical exercise (Hanna, 2006). Additionally, research from Steven Holl, Santiago Calatrava and other architectural masters discuss the relationships between dance and architecture. CONCLUSION The research will inform the design of a cultural dance center for the city’s historically African American neighborhood. The interior design of this center will support African dance and culture, foster creativity, and encourage stress reduction. The design will also support the secondary programs of dance movement therapy, seminars, celebrations, community outreach, educational programs, and exhibitions.

ABSTRACT Concurrent issues of social isolation and loneliness have long been recognized as problems that affect seniors but it is also being proven to affect young people as well, specifically with the rise of new technologies and a perception of connectedness. Co-living provides one alternative design solution to traditional housing models which can unlock a range of social benefits. MOTIVATION Loneliness is an unfortunate reality of modern life and it is something that most people experience at least once in their life (Cacioppo & Patrick, 2008). A study carried out by Berguno, Leroux McAinsh, Shaikh (2004), showed that 80% of young people and over 40% of adults over the age of 65 experienced loneliness in the course of life. Good housing plays an important role in building community and strengthening social interaction and bonding. Co-living is a residential structure that accommodates three or more biologically unrelated people (Bothell, 2015; Tummers, 2015). It is commonly contained within a single dwelling, sub-divided into a combination of public and private spaces (Scott-Hanson & Scott-Hanson, 2005). Co-housing, community living, or co-living in particular may be one possible solution for the endemic loneliness and social isolation challenges that we face. PROBLEM In many American cities, traditional housing forms are not meeting those needs and as our population increases, it is crucial to find replicable and sustainable methods of creating an inclusive urban fabric that meets the social and physical needs of all inhabitants (Darling, 2017). It is increasingly clear that there is a lack of understanding of the realities of co-living spaces and that this limits the application of the co-living model. While co-housing has traditionally been established in rural or suburban contexts, there are benefits to urban co-living (Kim, 2017). To experience the full ecological, economical and most importantly social benefits of urban co-living, research must be performed to understand how residents share, experience, and inhabit space. METHODS This project will respond by applying design thinking, a human centered design approach, and collaborative exploration methods to produce case studies for an urban co-living development in the US. Workshops, observations, literature reviews, and interviews will build a foundation of contemporary knowledge. Key themes identified in the literature on social isolation and loneliness will be used to inform a discussion on the potential for housing to help alleviate these problems. There will also be a rigorous case study analysis of recent precedents emerging in the field of collective housing. PRELIMINARY RESULTS The design of a flexible living space that explores isolation and connection at the scale of the individual and the collective in an existing building is an overarching goal of the design. It offers future users and designers the opportunity to learn and experiment towards a better understanding of how residents use space as well as examining loneliness and isolation as it relates to a design solution. CONCLUSION The success of the project, and its theoretical outcome, will show the role design can play in contemporary research, positive change, and sustainable development. The result will have implications for co-living providers, researchers, and designers supporting sustainable lifestyle alternatives.

The purpose of this essay is to explore the importance of library design to students, whether the interior design of a library has any effect on their experience when using its services, and what the students themselves believe is most important for the library to do to stay afloat in a society that is constantly evolving and becoming more digital. The study will also bring up UX (User Experience) as a method for library design. The theories used in this study are the third place theory, as well as a comparison to the ideals of the Learning Commons model. In order to find out how the students view the library and the impact of its design, five interviews with five different students at Linneaus University in Växjö were conducted. The results show that the library generally inspires the students to feel motivated and at ease in a place that is comfortable and safe. It also shows that the design and the general atmosphere of the library does play a specific role in the students’ overall experience of the library as it impacts many of the choices they make while they’re there, such as where to sit or which places to avoid. The majority of the students are mostly happy with the library as it is except for minor inconveniences, and merely wishes for the library to continue in the same way in the future while adapting to any new changes that may come in its way.

This paper focuses on how interior decoration and taste was seen and taught in relation to the vision of the ideal home in 1940s Sweden. Two phenomena that are focused on are surveys of how people actually lived, and the attempts made to alter that way of living. The activities of Svenska Slöjdföreningen (SSF, the Swedish Society of Industrial Design) is used as a prism for discerning the discourse on domestic interior reform, and the study consists of a close reading and analysis based on archival material and publications linked to SSF. Part of the archival material consists of survey protocols and photograph, of Swedish homes, from a survey into “dwelling habits” initiated by the Association of Swedish Architects (SAR) and the SSF. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, these kinds of surveys were made in order to analyse the standard of living, and the usage of homes and furniture with the aim to find adequate ways of building better housing, of producing better furniture, and of educating people to be more modern and enlightened consumers and home-makers. Based on these findings, courses were given on how to furnish and decorate the home. Through courses in how to furnish and decorate the home, the ideal home was to become real. I mean that the concept of “taste” was almost as important as the concept of “home” in the vision of what modern Swedish society should be like, but that manifesting “good taste” in the home in the 1940s meant something more than merely creating an aesthetically pleasing or beautiful interior. Taste was, above all, seen as an indicator of the degree of modernity and social awareness of people.

This practicum sets out to address several challenges faced by a multinational corporation operating within a globalized marketplace through the reconsideration of its workplace design. The aim is to achieve a balance between cultural adaptation and standardized corporate identity in the design for the hypothetical multinational management consulting company, Torrent. The balance is perused in order to support Japanese and Canadian national-work-cultures, the two cultures on which the practicum is based, while creating a strong, consistent, and recognizable visual identity across its different subsidiaries. The practicum’s overall objective is to demonstrate how both of these themes can be achieved simultaneously in order to create a balance that benefits both the multinational company as well as its host country. The practicum’s outcome involves two design solutions developed for Torrent based on a single workplace, one responding to Japan’s national work culture, and the other to Canada’s. A standardized corporate identity is achieved through the communication of a consistent company identity in both workplace designs.

Informed by research that connects transitional issues with assimilation, this practicum project focuses on how culturally-relevant education and service-based interior environments support the transition of urban Indigenous peoples. Eagle Urban Transition Centre (EUTC) in Winnipeg is studied as the client, providing specific examples of Indigenous service and educational frameworks employed to mitigate transitional issues. Spatial criteria for the adaptive reuse of 601 Aikins Street on Treaty One Territory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, were developed through a photo-elicitation interview process, and a theoretical framework that connected urban Indigenous identity, Indigenous education, transition and resistance with interior environments. Representing and recognizing the diverse Indigenous cultures of the users of EUTC in the design required a formal analysis of examples of Indigenous cultural production, such as the eight-pointed star blanket and Métis beadwork, as well as precedents of Indigenous spaces. The interior design for EUTC supports their organization, facilitating transition and creating opportunities for resistance through spaces that respect and emphasize cultural (re)connection. / October 2015

This thesis examined how virtual reality could be used in interior design. The thesis was limited to virtual reality experienced using a head mounted display. The Method was to integrate virtual reality into an existing interior design software called CET Designer. After investigating the available commercial virtual reality hardware and software Oculus SDK and OpenVR was chosen. Unity 3D was used as a prototyping tool for experimenting with different interaction and navigation methods. An user study with 14 participants was performed. It compared four different navigation methods. First person shooter style controls using a gamepad was proven to be the best one. It can also be concluded that having a bad navigation style could decreased the user experience in virtual reality and cause motion sickness.

This dissertation explores American domestic pleasures and duties during the two Gilded Ages that bracket the twentieth century. It draws upon the theoretical work of scholars from several disciplines and analyzes prescriptive and literary sources to create an intellectual history of the idea of pleasure as it appears in home life as well as its consequences. This project reframes domestic pleasures as both "true" insomuch as individuals experience them viscerally, and primarily constructed, in that hegemonic cultural discourses shape experiences of them. I argue that pleasure regulates and restricts individuals both by simultaneously shaping aspirations and manifesting in habits and activities. Since enjoyment of scripted behaviors serves to naturalize them, many seemingly private choices escape interrogation. Ultimately, domestic pleasure establishes a regulative norm that continually reshapes the meanings of homes, families, and even the individual.

Šiame darbe pristatoma Lietuvos sovietmečio vaistinių architektūra ir interjerai. Šios anksčiau nenagrinėtos temos atskleidimas turi didelę reikšmę mūsų tautos kultūros paveldo išsaugojimui. Darbe apžvelgti trys vaistinių architektūrai ir interjerui svarbūs laikotarpiai: pokaris – iki 1960-jų metų, modernizmas – nuo 1960 iki 1970-jų metų ir vėlyvasis modernizmas – nuo 1970 iki 1990-jų metų. Šiame darbe nagrinėjamos vaistinių architektūros ir interjerų vystymosi tendencijos priklausomai nuo tuo metu Lietuvoje buvusių ekonominių ir politinių sąlygų, išsamiai pateiktas ir normatyvinis dokumentas, reglamentavęs vaistinių kūrimą bei veiklą. Darbe panaudota daug neskelbtos informatyvios medžiagos iš pokalbių su išlikusių vaistinių savininkais bei nuotraukų, kurios pačios magistrantės padarytos dar išlikusiose sovietmečio vaistinėse. Darbas gausiai iliustruotas nuotraukomis, kurios pateikiamos kataloge. Šis darbas kultūros paveldo ir turizmo sferų darbuotojams gali pasitarnauti kaip autentiškos informacijos šaltinis. / The present paper focuses on the review of the architecture and interior design of pharmacies built during the Soviet era. The recollection of this hardy researched topic is of utmost importance in terms of the preservation of our cultural heritage. The paper reviews three important historical periods which particularly influenced the architecture and the interior design of pharmacies, namely the postwar period until 1960, the modern period from 1960 till 1970, and the late modern period from 1970 till 1990. The paper analyzes the developmental trends of the architecture and interior design of pharmacies within the given periods of time in the context of the economic and political background that prevailed in Lithuania at each particular time. The laws and legal regulations that governed the establishment and operation of pharmacies during those times are also discussed in detail. The master thesis includes a lot of previously unpublished informative materials gathered in during the interviews with the owners of the still operating pharmacies as well as the unique pictures taken by the writer of the paper in the Soviet era pharmacies. The study includes many photographs which are enclosed in a catalog. The present study may be used as a source of authentic information for those who are employed in the fields of cultural heritage and tourism.

In this Master of Interior Design practicum project I apply the choreographic principles of Stephanie Ballard’s “Landscape Dancing” projects to the design of a secular event space within the James Avenue Pumping Station site in Winnipeg, Manitoba. A landscape dancer’s relationship with their surroundings allows them to create meaning and event in quotidian environments; therefore the application of Ballard’s dance methodology to design can create interior design that affects the human spirit. The process of cultural analysis in conjunction with relevant theories related to the moving body and performance were studied to understand how landscape dancers transform the emotional qualities of an environment through gesture and positioning. This theoretical framework informs the adaptive reuse of an existing structure that reacts to the industrial interior and builds upon its inherent aesthetic to breathe new life into the environment.