This thesis thrives to promote community health and wellbeing through smart design, celebrating culture(s), and offering efficacious and real-world solutions to mitigate certain challenges arising from the imminent threat of climate change and the gradual depletion of our planet's natural resources. The projected building harnesses naturel forces, minimizes energy consumption, and uses natural/passive strategies like thermal mass and natural ventilation. Interior spaces enjoy an abundance of Natural lighting, biophilic attributes, and thera-serlized or uninterrupted views. It generates electrical energy due to adequate solar power and clear skies, especially in hot and arid climates like the proposed location of the project in Tuba City, AZ. In my proposal of a sustainable, community-focused, wellness center, this project will attempt to embrace diversity, celebrate the Navajos heritage through incorporating their belief system and culture into the genius Loci of the place, which will have a long-term healing effect on patients during their journey of recovery. The Navajo nation is a native American reservation and a self-governing community located in the southwest of the US between four states (UT, AZ, NM, CO). Since it's an Underserved, marginalized, and medically under-resourced community, the Navajo Nation was prone to COVID-19 onslaught in 2020, which resulted in substantial number of cases compared to other US states. / Master of Architecture / In Dec 2020, the World witnessed the first case of Coronavirus disease or COVID-19 in Wuhan, China. The disease has since spread rapidly worldwide, leading to an ongoing pandemic. Like many countries across the globe, the health system in the United States of America has to grabble with this deadly virus by inducing measures such as mask mandates and lockdowns in many US states. Unfortunately, and due to economic and social disparities, COVID-19 pandemic has brought injustice and inequity to the forefront of public health. Some communities were hit hard due to lack of emergency response, the availability of health professionals, and healthcare infrastructure. Tuba city, which is the Diné or the Navajo nation second-largest community in Coconino County, AZ, was majorly hit with COVID-19 resulting in a significant number of cases compared to other US cities. This project is a critical component of an emergency preparedness matrix that can firstly; help absorb the shock of such outbreaks by providing primary and outpatient services. Secondly; it offers community-focused and wellness service that can empower underserved, under-resourced and valuable communities like the Navajo Nation. This project is unique due to its inherited and embedded characteristics of bringing the Navajo tradition into the spirit of the building, by celebrating their culture making it a key component in a patent's healing process.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/105088 |
| Date | 27 September 2021 |
| Creators | Melhem, Sari |
| Contributors | Architecture, Piedmont-Palladino, Susan C., Ishida, Aki, Jones, James R. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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