My work investigates a lifelong passion for buildings, homes, and architecture. Buildings are more then shelters made of wood and screws; I personify them as if they were living breathing creatures. I’m particularly drawn to rundown and abandoned structures because I empathize with these sad looking buildings that were once majestic. This personal connection exists because I view them as versions of my former self, rough around the edges with a promising interior. Expanding beyond vacant and decaying buildings, I portray my experiences within fabricated architectural systems. I communicate with building materials and architecture through their many layers of physical and socially constructed histories. Drawing from my memories and feelings surrounding my brother’s death and subsequent drug addiction, I’ve focused on the emotions of abandonment, isolation, absence, and loneliness.

This thesis reports findings and results from studies of development work and change processes in the secondary woodworking industry. The purpose with the research is to increase the knowledge on how companies can initiate change and to increase their ability to change. The dual aim of improving both business and working conditions served as a guiding condition for the research. Case studies and action research were performed in small companies, mainly with less than 100 employees and in some cases less than 20 employees. The thesis encompasses six papers addressing different topics within the framework of development work and change processes. Topics elaborated are how performance concerning the ergonomic situation in a company can be measured and how the content and process of ISO 9000 implementation as well as standardisation influence system performance and working conditions. Furthermore, a framework for how change is enacted in SMEs and its effects on ergonomic considerations is suggested. A methodology for initiating change efforts in complex and ambiguous problem situations is presented. Finally the different expert and participant roles in an organisational change effort are elaborated and analysed with reference to experiences from previous case studies and theory. Together, the papers and the thesis emphasize the importance of action and work activities as a base for change. It is in the conflicting work activities or work conduct of differing perspectives where many of the drivers of change can be found. I also argue that this is a main reason to give good working conditions utmost importance for organisation performance. Further, I conclude that the six papers together contribute to a theoretical basis for developing small firms and attractive workplaces. It is indicated that the results are relevant to small manufacturing firms, while neither organisational structure nor resources available are the same as in larger companies. Moreover, the organisational size has a number of implications on aspects like visibility, available theoretical knowledge, vulnerability, formalisation, institutionalised organisational inertia etc. that will alter the demands on the change process. Many of the results are not limited to woodworking industry; the technical content of the ergonomics problems will however be different in other firms.

It is estimated ten thousand hours of experience are required to master any given process (Sennett 20). Whether it is wood joinery, music, culinary arts or weaving, it is about making something that can be seen, heard, touched, and/or used. Society seems to be losing an appreciation for craft as an idea. Especially in the US, materialism has reduced quality and craftsmanship to merely a luxury to those that can afford a $10,000 Maloof chair or an $8000 Amish table. Developers build for maximum profit while buyers seek maximum square footage. Yet it seems while mainstream society continues to "progress", the craftsmen see their clients loss comprehension and appreciation of true quality in their workmanship. While many schools and guilds around the country aim to keep "the crafts", i.e. material-based mediums alive, each craft brings potential processes and applications to the architectural realm. While the architect's general role is to be the conductor of these mediums, he should also study them as a source for potential material and building processes. The art of boatbuilding, glassblowing, ceramics and others each hold something unique to be implemented into architecture. While it is not yet clear what this thesis will turn out to be, as far as program or building type, the goal is the study of craftsmanship of all the different arts and how it can be translated into an architect's design process as well as his product.

This is a study comparing the existing industrial arts housing and equipment facilities in the state of Texas with: first, housing standards within ad tentative Texas Education Agency publication entitled A Guide for Planning Industrial Arts Facilities; and second, apparent equipment needs for implementing the programs described in Texas Education Agency Bulletin 615, Principles and Standards for Accrediting Elementary and Secondary Schools and Description of Approved Courses Grades 7-12.

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston University / Purpose of the workbook: It is the purpose of this workbook to present a series of special activity gtion sheets to be used a.s teaching devices and resource material in basic shop mechanics. These activity guides or instruction sheets have been devised for the use of pupil and teacher in classes for the mentally retarded ( cominonly called special classes). Scone of the workbook material: The activity guides herein presented have been developed and graded for 14 to 16 year old boys to whom the special class is a terminal room. The sheets are to be used in the industrial arts program, either in the section of the special class room used. for this purpose and taught by the special class teacher, or in the regular shop classes in unit shops and general industrial arts shops.

No description available.

The problem was to design and construct the necessary equipment to cut and fasten short stock end to end using finger-joints. The study was divided into five chapters: I contained the introduction to the problem; II was concerned with the design and construction of the equipment; III detailed the operation of the equipment; IV contained the presentation of the data; and V covered the summary and findings. The study concluded that the equipment could be constructed inexpensively, and would perform a useful service. Also, a student using waste wood salvaged through use of this equipment could expect a smaller bill for materials than if he purchased new wood.

This thesis is meant to describe and explain a space in which one can imagine things necessary for making objects that wobble, squeak, clack, creak, crank in and out, open and close, light up, roll about and generally hurl themselves into creepy existence. It is also an endeavor to describe some objects having lately taken such a journey into being. These include (but are not limited to): a chess table for one, an examining table and tray, two workbenches, chessmen and women, creaky floorboards, stairs on wheels, a stool on wheels, and Monsters of various sizes and shapes.

Handling production scheduling is increasingly difficult for manyenterprises, and human involvement is necessary. The overall objective ofthis research was to gain further understanding of planners’ and schedulers’work within the manufacturing industry, to elucidate how their worksituation is formed, and to explain their significance to other employees’work and company activities. Scheduling work was studied in fourcompanies in the Swedish woodworking industry; a sawmill, a parquet floormanufacturer, a furniture manufacturer and a house manufacturer. Themethod used was activity analysis which is based on the analysis of workactivities in real work situations. Data collection included 20 days’observations and 65 interviews. Cross-case analysis with British cases onplanning work was also included.The findings revealed that the schedulers’ tasks lead to many activities. Twothirds of these are what can be expected. The remaining third constitutesactivities that depend on the schedulers’ individual attributes and the contextin which they work. The schedulers serve as problem solvers in a number ofdomains and constitute efficient information nodes, making them animportant service function. Furthermore, they have an alignment rolebetween different organizational groups. This role is specifically remarkablein dealing with production enquiries that must be aligned with productioncapability. Here, both planners and schedulers play an essential role inlinking the manufacturing and the commercial sides and their differentfunctional logics.Planners and schedulers in daily work exert strong influence on others. Theydo not hold legitimate power. Instead their influence emanates mainly fromaccess to and control of information and their ability to apply expertise tointerpret this information and examine the impact of decisions made acrossdifferent areas of the business. Personal power related to social skills is alsosignificant.Furthermore, they facilitate others’ work in continuous personalinteractions, serving the technical scheduling software system, and aligningdifferent organizational functions. In combination with expert knowledgeand developed social skills, they significantly contribute to quality operationsperformance. Finally, the schedulers influence the decision latitude of otheremployees and may indirectly promote job satisfaction, thus contributing todeveloping appropriate working conditions for others in the company. / QC 20100624

This study discusses a particular phase of industrial arts education, that of industrial arts design. It presents an analysis of design in the industrial arts program for the purpose of education for esthetic appreciation.