The thesis investigates private versus public space and the natural tendency for an individual to seek out its own place within a group. More specifically, the project studies whether private and public could not only occupy the same geographic space independently, but also activate one another. A library was chosen as the program for its opportunity to serve as a "third place" in the community. A "third place" is a neutral ground that is neither a home nor workplace. The benefit of such a place is to stimulate conversation and interaction, to provide a way to either hide or be seen, and to encourage social cohesion as people meet that may not have through normal daily life. The site is on the corner of 12th and H Streets NE in Washington, DC. Its location in a rebounding streetscape demands that the library give the surrounding context a large role in its design. Public space is a priority, and the building is porous to extend the exterior into the interior and vice versa. The library's ever-changing role in a city inspires flexibility in the design and a life beyond normal library hours. / Master of Architecture

Work-related stress is an issue of growing concern around the world.[1] The relationship between work stress and individuals’ psychological and physical health is well acknowledged.[2] In the survey of “stress in the workplace” conducted by American Psychological Association in 2012, two in five (41%) of employed adults report that they typically feel stressed during the workday, up from 36% in 2011, while less than six in ten (58%) report that they have the resources to manage work stress.[3] Historically, Central Business Districts are a focal point of cities, and are occupied by a large group of office buildings and a number of retail spaces. According to Elsbach and Bechky (2007), office workers regularly leave their offices in search of more relaxed, creative environments.[4] However, there is limited "third space" to serve office workers' daily life in the central business district. Most of the design research about wellness of office workers have done focus on the spaces in which people work during office hours. Consideration for office workers in the CBD after office hours is relatively rare. What else is needed to support the life of the office worker, and what kind of spaces they are looking for after hours. Several primary research methods were adopted. First, a survey of research on how the design of traditionally planned CBDs fails to support wellness of office workers was made. Then, the thesis examined what is needed to support the wellness of office workers. In order to make it be specific to the office workers in the CBD of Richmond, qualitative methodology, including interviews and video records of the daily CBD living habits were made. In addition, case studies of recently done CBDs that tackle this question. The Shibaura House, designed by Kazuyo Sejima, located in the business district of Tokyo in Japan, will serve as a primary case study. There are three aims in this research. First is the design of a series of mixeduse spaces in an existing building in the Central Business District of Richmond to support the life of office workers after office hours. It also aims to improve wellness of the office workers in the CBD of Richmond, and try to define the CBD in a new way. The preliminary results for this research indicates the importance of the concern for office workers after hours. It is necessary to focus on the practical effect of the mixed-use building on reducing work stress, improving office workers’ health and enhancing wellness of office workers.

This thesis redefines the typology of Third Places and the design considerations that influence envisioning downtown revitalization of mid-size cities that are embracing a town-gown partnership. The exercise ultimately explores and addresses the importance of integrating civic growth with community cultivation to instigate the development of a new kind of place. Responding to the endangerment of place in the twenty first century city, the proposal is inspired by the historical “common place” typology and urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the “Third Place”. By linking the origin of rhetoric with the neutral space between work and home, Third Places revive the social realm whereby people can informally gather, interact and celebrate the human condition amidst the ever changing urban and cultural fabric. Unlike established suburban cities, Third Places still exist in many declining mid-size cities. As the University of Waterloo’s presence in the downtown continues to expand in the City of Cambridge, there is a critical need for Third Places to continue moderating healthy socioeconomic and cultural development. The thesis presents three distinctive design proposals for the existing Fraser Block site located in Cambridge Ontario’s City Centre to a key informant focus group. Each development proposition offers a different contemporary design approach to the site while maintaining the basic design goal of creating a mixed use building that will become a future social incubator and vibrant neighbourhood gathering place. Primarily this thesis attempts to provide a discourse on the potential impact of Third Places within the context of revitalizing a mid-size city downtown as it embraces the presence of a satellite university campus. A heuristic is proposed to instigate the cultural capacity of the community to envision their downtown. By interpreting the results gathered from the key informants, basic design considerations and recommendations can be offered to communicate how the downtown can be revitalized. The recommendations can also be used to help property owners, developers, the city, and the architect understand the working goals of Cambridge’s growing downtown culture.

This thesis redefines the typology of Third Places and the design considerations that influence envisioning downtown revitalization of mid-size cities that are embracing a town-gown partnership. The exercise ultimately explores and addresses the importance of integrating civic growth with community cultivation to instigate the development of a new kind of place. Responding to the endangerment of place in the twenty first century city, the proposal is inspired by the historical “common place” typology and urban sociologist Ray Oldenburg’s concept of the “Third Place”. By linking the origin of rhetoric with the neutral space between work and home, Third Places revive the social realm whereby people can informally gather, interact and celebrate the human condition amidst the ever changing urban and cultural fabric. Unlike established suburban cities, Third Places still exist in many declining mid-size cities. As the University of Waterloo’s presence in the downtown continues to expand in the City of Cambridge, there is a critical need for Third Places to continue moderating healthy socioeconomic and cultural development. The thesis presents three distinctive design proposals for the existing Fraser Block site located in Cambridge Ontario’s City Centre to a key informant focus group. Each development proposition offers a different contemporary design approach to the site while maintaining the basic design goal of creating a mixed use building that will become a future social incubator and vibrant neighbourhood gathering place. Primarily this thesis attempts to provide a discourse on the potential impact of Third Places within the context of revitalizing a mid-size city downtown as it embraces the presence of a satellite university campus. A heuristic is proposed to instigate the cultural capacity of the community to envision their downtown. By interpreting the results gathered from the key informants, basic design considerations and recommendations can be offered to communicate how the downtown can be revitalized. The recommendations can also be used to help property owners, developers, the city, and the architect understand the working goals of Cambridge’s growing downtown culture.

No description available.

While academics and policy-makers seek to address historic segregation and its harmful impacts on communities, many such efforts have been unsuccessful. Therefore, this original research examines the role of public parks as potential sites of social and economic integration. These spaces serve as third places, or social spaces where community members regularly visit, similar to their regular visitation of their home and workplaces. In the City of Roanoke, three visited public parks serve as local third places where individuals of different social and economic backgrounds visit for various activities. However, visitors typically only interact with others similar to themselves. The exception appears to be when the third place provides a source of triangulation based in common interests. This form of triangulation is useful in establishing commonality among visitors, thus bridging existing gaps between communities. Said triangulation is successful when the third place provides a physically and socially comfortable environment affected by the space's design, location, and management. These three factors must combine to maintain a careful balance between welcoming visitors of diverse backgrounds, but also establishing a sense of comfort among visitors. Public spaces which achieve this balance realize their potential by becoming equitable third places. / Master of Urban and Regional Planning

No description available.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Mary C. Kingery-Page / People often move through public transit space only recognizing the functional qualities. In such an environment we become faceless bodies moving through the landscape. As our environments become increasingly functional, so do humans—we cycle anonymously between work and home with little spontaneous interaction occurring in between. The daily routine is executed in nonplace: “Where once there were places we now find nonplaces. In real places the human being is a person. He or she is an individual, unique and possessing a character. In nonplaces, individuality disappears. In nonplaces, character is irrelevant and one is only the customer or shopper, client or patients, a body to be seated, and address to be billed, a car to be parked” (Oldenburg 1989, 205). The Maplewood light rail station in St. Louis County, Missouri is an example of nonplace. Although functional, the landscape lacks character. In order to combat nonplace sociologist Ray Oldenburg suggests that we cultivate third places—liminal spheres between home and work that facilitate informal social interaction. A major component of third place is user accessibility. Therefore, the ability to physically and mentally access public transit space will be investigated as a design dilemma. Through the reframing of physical and mental accessibility the Maplewood MetroLink station will evolve into a third place capable of supporting informal social interaction. In order to understand the factors influencing social interaction in public transit space, five precedents were examined using the Project for Public Spaces definition of “place.” Characteristics found to promote social activity include linkages, flexibility, imageability and social infrastructure. The factors were further defined as ‘mental’ or ‘physical’ accessibility which were then used to analyze the Maplewood MetroLink station. After examining physical and mental accessibility at the Maplewood MetroLink station, a design solution was proposed. The design encourages users to pause and interact with each other and the landscape in a highly mobile environment.

This practicum project explores the intersection of sexual identity and contemporary workplace by means of a proposed gay coworking office in Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a result of increased closures of gay bars and other gay-identified places for developing community, there is a void in the gay community. Drawing from Edward Soja’s theory of thirdspace, this practicum proposes the creation of a new gay community by reimagining workspaces through the lens of gay identity and safe space. The intention of this proposal is to challenge traditional ways of thinking about the office as a predominantly heterosexual domain and to create safe work spaces that celebrate difference. The space focuses on supporting the social and collaborative aspects of coworking while interrogating space that is both work and home, between work and home and neither work or home with the objective of creating a new gay typology. / February 2017

Making up one quarter of the current United States population, some 80 million Generation Y-ers are changing the ways in which we live, work and play. Dubbed “Millennials” this population is comprised of those individuals born between 1980 and 2000. This generation is the first to have been raised with cell phones, the internet, and reality television. The “Selfie” or “Me Generation” is snubbed for narcissism and an instant gratification attitude. Yet on the whole Millennials have progressive values, are well educated, are conscious of their health and are optimistic about the future despite coming of age during the Great Recession. Millennials are also the most diverse, most informed and most well connected generation the United States has ever seen.They are supporters of the locavore movement and conscious of the environment. Their habits and tastes - constant Facebook status updates and Instagram posts - are much more communal in nature than narcissistic, the highest value of which is not “self-promotion, but it’s opposite, empathy -- an open-minded and hearted connection to others.” In this way Millennials are using social media and technology to build community in a new way - virtually. Before there was Facebook or Instagram, people found community in “third places” - social places independent of work or home in which to fraternize and build relationships. In his book, The Great Good Place, Ray Oldenburg examines the difference between the sociological functions of first place (the home), second place (the workplace) and third place. Third place can be described as the social place, a place independent of the home and workplace in which to fraternize and build community. Oldenburg argued that these places are in general decline, and more recent articles have noted that those brick and mortar third places are now being “hollowed out” by “cyber nomads”, those people in coffee shops and bookstores listening to headphones, typing away on a computer or talking on the phone. James Katz of Rutgers argues that these “physically inhabited by psychologically evacuated” places leave people feeling “more isolated than they would if the cafe were empty.” How do designers create spaces that support Millennials empathetic desire connection, that encourage interaction and that overcome the obstacle of becoming "psychologically evacuated" places?