Societal structure has changed through the decades to reflect a contemporary interest in youth culture. The nuclear family, where generations lived under one roof no longer exists, leaving the elderly on the periphery of the family structure. Where once grandparents, parents and children all cohabitated, now the oldest family members are relegated to solitary retirement and aging alone. Studies have shown that "depression in the elderly is more likely to lead to suicide. Elderlywhite men are at greatest risk, with suicide rates in people ages 80 to 84 more than twice that of the general population. The National Institute of Mental Health considers depression in people age 65 and older to be a major public health problem." (http://www.healthyplace.com/communities/depression/elderly.asp)Providing social activity for seniors can increase their well being and by extension their physicalhealth. The Grace Street Senior Center was designed to accommodate a variety of social activities for the center's members as well as house the center's administration. The member areas range in function from the public, for example, a multi-function area for dance and aerobic classes to the private such as the reading area and music room. All the spaces within the scope of this project are designed with the comfort and well being of the users paramount.

Infusion is a gallery hotel that seeks to promote and encourage interaction between the local people of the community and traveling guests. More than just a hotel for rest and relaxation, Infusion will display a public gallery making art the universal language for their guests and the locals.

Culture and a Connection In the Spanish province of Asturias, many homes built in the16th and 17th centuries are constructed of dry-stacked stone and large timbers for floor joists, rafters, decking. They are topped with large, irregularly shaped roof slates. Alongside many of these homes stands a rectangular granary called a cabazo. The cabazo, similarly constructed, is a stand-alone structure about twenty feet tall, six feet wide and twenty feet long. The main portion, (the storage area), stands ten feet off the ground atop two large, tapered columns. The upper level is typically separated form the lower level by a massive flat, horizontal stone that protrudes past the face of the columns. This one stone is the floor of the granary. The height above the ground and the continuous flat stone keep the food dry and safe from animals. The stone of the columns, quarried from nearby hills, consists of pieces as small as driveway gravel and as large as shoeboxes. Even though they were built of varying size stones the builders created large, extremely flat vertical planes. Two beams, roughly hewn from chestnut logs, span one column to the next, and support the storage area and roof. These curious structures, born from utility and perched on the hills of the Asturias countryside, have become local cultural icons. A record of visible human participation is left in the traces and details made by the tools of the workmen who built these cabazos. The traces make the connection between the structure and the hand of man, an immediate expression of the granary’s essence and thus an integral part of the local culture. The industrial age introduced powerful machinery into the tool set of the designer. Extruded steel and reinforced concrete enable designers to create monumental structures within relatively short periods of time. Although the advent of these methods signaled the loss of the record of human participation, the hand of man was also lost in the repetition and redundancy found on the factory floor. The scale of the effort was hidden and diluted by the machinery used to construct the modern forms. The absence of visible traces of the men who built the structures creates a disconnect between humans and the built environment. It is not feasible to go back to creating homes by stacking stones together or using hand tools to construct office buildings, but the materials that are produced by factories can become a new source of raw materials for designer and builder in a way that engages the craftsman. I believe that through the careful use of technology and materials, as well as the inclusion of the craftsman, an environment can be created that extends beyond formal appreciation and expresses a deeper connection between man, culture, and the built environment.

For my thesis, I have chosen to adapt the abandoned office/warehouse at 1207 North Boulevard for use as a community workshop for all of Richmond's urban neighborhoods. The community workshop's focus will be to provide open workshops, classes, a resource library and design consultation to low and middle income homeowners, affordable housing properties, and community parks. In addition, the center welcomes all of Richmond city residents to join and partake in 1207's resources in order to grow a multi-faceted community focused on improving the lives of all of Richmond City's residents. The center will function as a gathering space for all urban residents and will promote both the individual and the community through a ‘Do It Yourself' approach to home design and care that will instill pride and self reliance to all members of the community.

Many urban pet care and boarding facilities tend to rest on the outskirts of the community, in quasi-industrial and commercial areas. Far from the homes of the people who would use their services, the locations of these facilities are inconvenient for most. Students and the employed have trouble making time in their hectic schedules to give their pets the attention and activity they need to be healthy, and often, pets are left alone, sedentary, for a substantial portion of the day. But what if there was a pet care facility that was within walking distance from home that could provide pets what they were missing while teaching better care practices to pet owners? Located in Richmond’s Historic Fan District, the urban pet care center is surrounded mainly by residential housing, with some commercial spaces located nearby. The pet care center requires both indoor and outdoor spaces for the health and enjoyment of the animals that will be boarded. The challenge then is to find an area with an adjacent lot, as much of the Fan District is comprised of abutting row houses with minimal lawn area. The building is situated near busy thoroughfares used by the employed and students alike for optimal convenience. As part of the community of The Fan, the center will be open to anyone who wants to use the services offered, to people seeking knowledge on better care practices, and even to people who want to offer their affection and time to the pets. The center is meant to be an inviting place that is crisp and comfortable, much like the homes of the Fan District.

This thesis explores the integration of the built environment into an existing extrinsic experience. It considers how a place can become incorporated into a series of experiences in nature, while still maintaining it’s integrity as a singular space. It questions how the lines between nature and interior can be blurred, and how responses to essential existing conditions can provide a coalesced experience.

The focus of this project is to provide a musical hub for the learning, practice, and performance of music for students ages 10-18 in order to cultivate trust and education in the community. This project examines the role music plays as a vital part of our communities and city resources. The communities we live in should not only supply opportunities for the music but support the music. Support of the music can allow cultural learning in the community and create a new pattern of education between parent and child. Just as most school systems support the learning of math and science, an emphasis should also be placed on the arts for educational, societal, and individual life success as the benefits are numerous. This project looks to provide a centralized space where a relationship between music and young people can be cultivated and expressed. Many public schools have small facilities, but a large center could provide a hub for musical activities for the local community.

Richmond, Virginia has, through recent design proposals and projects, sought reconciliation with the countries in West Africa that were once the source for slave trade in which the city was such an active participant. These admirable works address the nations’ shared history, perhaps at the expense of understanding modern cultures. This thesis seeks to create this understanding through the development of an educational facility that would interact with Richmond’s current landscape. In pursuit of respectful relationship, I address the ways in which design can authentically teach about place. The study begins with the creation of a personal understanding of site through diagrammatic analysis. The research continues with case studies that relate to either the context, program or process of this project. The concepts this research generated led to a proposed design solution for the Southern Railway Freight building in Richmond’s Shockhoe Slip. Both design processes and the proposed solution are documented herein.

This thesis documents the design process for an out-patient mental health facility for veterans of war. Here are some questions that drove my design work. How are stories told in design? How are stories generated from users within a designed space? Can users participate in contributing to a space's design? Many structures create psychological stories through graphics, color, and layout to involve users in their procedures. For example, commercial retailers will setup a story line to promote a more personalized connection with their customers which encourages repeat business, while places of worship also use this narrative strategy to evoke a spiritual experience. Many historical museums are also terrific examples of involving people in a story line to explain their contents. Thus, spaces can also tell stories and involve occupants within these set story lines, but this document and the resulting designed space explore the potential for interior design to generate stories from its users.

The design of an urban retreat within an industrial building in Georgetown, DC provides an opportunity to experience water in the built environment. The location of the building between two bodies of water—the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and the Potomac River—creates an opportunity to connect water and the visitors. Management of the water to ensure responsible resource use was researched and accommodated in the design. Water is further used to shape the space and the moods created by the volumes, materials and finishes. The final project provides a luxurious shower and locker room, a series of pools, and a tea room, open to the sky, across three levels.