Architecture

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://digital.lib.washington.edu/handle/1773/19648

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Design for Relocation and Reassembly: Self-Determined Adaptability for the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe’s ‘Upland Expansion’
(2026-02-05) Crane, Jacquelyn; Abramson, Daniel B
This thesis explores how buildings that are intended to be assembled, disassembled, and reassembled can address current and future needs of the Shoalwater Bay Indian Tribe (SBIT) while supporting cultural continuity for their community as they adapt to changing shorelines and coastal hazards through relocation and upland expansion. This continuity of “home” across multiple dwelling sites promotes self-determination of households, families, and the tribe as a whole by incorporating local materials and labor in adaptable, low-carbon design methods while connecting to historical practices. The methods used in this thesis are informed by traditional building methods and typologies of the region, and demonstrate how relevant technology and materials available today can be used to address the desire for culturally-relevant and deeply sustainable architecture that can meet the needs of the community, maintain their health and safety, address adaptation and mobility, consider attachment to place, and promote self-determination. Prefabricated panelized construction addresses the housing shortage and affordability problem in the tribe’s current lowland location, supports the ability to move homes to safer upland sites, and addresses long-term, multigenerational housing needs. Access to housing and community services are inherent to the livelihood of the tribe during this transition. Architecture that responds to environmental risks in a culturally-affirming way can ease the transition to a new location while supporting current and future generations. The findings intend to benefit other tribal communities who are facing similar environmental threats to their lands.
Structuration and the Social Dynamics of AEC Integrated Project Teams in High-performance Energy Design
(2026-02-05) Monson, Christopher J.; Dossick, Carrie Sturts
Since integrated project teams and high-performance buildings have become much more mainstream project delivery systems and project objectives in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, this study investigated how the inherent social processes within integrated project teams influenced the realization of energy performance goals. By connecting agency and structure through the analytical framework of structuration, this qualitative study explained change patterns in the practices of integrated project teams engaged in high-performance energy design.The first study was grounded in data collected from one large architectural firm and compared the energy design practices of two major building projects. The findings indicated that meso-level and macro-level structural constraints exerted significant influence over different energy design decisions. These constraints included issues like architects’ professional self-conceptions, the firm-level ambition to position themselves as leaders in high-performance building design, and somewhat radical differences in project management methods. The second study examined a set of U.S. hospital projects that successfully achieved their energy reductions predicted through energy modeling during design after the buildings were constructed and operational. The investigation focused on the practice changes and shifts in structural constraints within integrated project teams that contributed to achieving significant energy reductions. The findings discovered a pattern of resistant project variables and meso- and macro-level forces that we called strong constraints. These constraints had the capacity to direct energy design decisions as well as integrate the decision process more consistently across project teams leading to other team integration improvements in areas like communication. The third study was a sensemaking effort motivated by the aim to uncover how integrated project teams enact change processes within their social contexts, to establish the intrinsic relationship between design and change, and to demonstrate the empirical value of analyzing these kinds of project-based change practices through the lens of structuration theory. The paper consolidated previously disparate literatures across AEC activities and concepts to demonstrate that the analytical capacities of structuration theory possess a strong natural affinity with the essential characteristics of AEC practice. Addressing notable gaps in the existing structuration-based practice research literature, the paper extended a previous structuration process model to be more useful to AEC practice change research and presented three illustrative examples in which transcript excerpts were diagrammed and interpreted through a simplified process of structuration analysis.
The Mycelium Cookbook: A Guide for Growing Mycelium-Based Composites for Architectural Applications
(2026-02-05) Batson, Isabella Marie; Proksch, Gundula
Mycelium-based composites (MBCs) offer a sustainable alternative to today’s building materials. Grown from fungal spores and woody substrate, MBCs require little energy, resources and labor. They are low carbon, low cost, and biodegradable, making them an attractive alternative to wasteful construction and packaging materials like insulation and styrofoam. The research and development on these materials has mostly occurred at the smaller scale, within fields of design, packaging, home goods. Within the last decade, MBCs have slowly been picking up speed in the field of architecture and engineering, although research is still very limited. To advance the research on MBCs for use in the context of architecture , the material needs to be accessible to architecture students. The majority of academic articles on MBCs is written for an audience with a background in biology, is behind a paywall, or leaves out important information because it is proprietary. Much of the information on growing is very scattered and often uncomprehensive. This research consolidates information on MBCs into a guide that architecture students can use to set up their own projects. It includes background information on the field, case studies, best practices, lab setup, and recipes to grow your own mycelium materials.
Optimizing Daylight and Visual Comfort in a Middle School, Rainier Valley, Seattle
(2025-08-01) Rajakumar, Lakshmipriya; Meek, Christopher
Daylighting in educational environments is not only a matter of energy performance but also a question of comfort, cognition, and well-being.Excessive glare, uneven illumination, and insufficient control over sunlight impact how students focus, learn, and thrive.This thesis investigates architectural strategies to enhance visual comfort through optimized daylight distribution and glare reduction using advanced performance simulation tools.Focusing on Aki Kurose Middle School in Seattle, WA,this research utilizes Climate Studio to simulate and evaluate Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE), Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), and luminance section analysis.By integrating architectural elements such as, skylights, North-facing sawtooth roofs, and clerestories, the project offers a daylight-based school design with balanced lighting on user comfort.
EXPERIENCING THE SACRED: A phenomenological exploration of architecture as sentient space
(2025-08-01) Jain, Meghna; Oshima, Ken Tadashi
Experiencing the Sacred considers how a sense of sacredness in architecture comes from lived, embodied experience, rather than the presence of religious symbols or functions. Utilizing phenomenological thinkers such as Merleau-Ponty, Bachelard, Pallasmaa, and Norberg-Schulz, this thesis investigates how spatial atmosphere, sensory perception, material quality, and movement all contribute to experiences of the sacred.The thesis compares three notable projects – the Lotus Temple in New Delhi, the Chapel of St. Ignatius in Seattle, and the Water Temple in Awaji. In this examination, it draws attention the ways in which architecture can activate an experience of contemplation, stillness, and transcendence via sensory engagement, and elemental forces. Central themes include light and shadow, the notion of ritual movement, spatial thresholds, and the evolving relationship between interior spaces and the natural world. Ultimately, this thesis argues that sacredness is not restricted to religious buildings, and that sacredness can be awakened in any given architecture with the potential for deep attention, presence, and emotional connection.
The River at the End of the World: Architectural Coexistence Along the Klamath River
(2025-08-01) Hagan, Peter James; Cohan, Peter
This thesis explores the history of the Klamath River and the ever-changing landscape that it shapes and by which its path is determined. In late 2024, four out of the five dams blocking the Klamath River were removed allowing the river to return to its historical routes, opening pathways for migration and allowing the river to express natural behavior that can be observed through six different landscape sites: the spring, the floodplain, the ravine, the valley, the confluence, and the delta. Today, as the river begins to distinguish its course through the landscape once again unimpeded, this project proposes interventions within these six distinct landscapes to allow for the witnessing of these characteristics of the river to reconnect with the cycles of water and wetness, and to think of new ways of observing and engaging with the realities of changing landscape. This thesis focuses on two sites in particular: the ravine and the delta. At the ravine a bridge is proposed to span the river at the site of a former train bridge crossing. From the bridge a tower is constructed to mark the changes in water level during and after the presence of the dams. At the delta site a series of walls are proposed, which structures are built, to help visitors observe the uncertainty of a landscape that is in constant change. Together, along with the six other sites, these two proposals constitute a different kind of relationship architecture may have with water and landscape.
Office Space and Gentrification in King County: A Machine Learning Based Approach
(2025-08-01) Cano, Ethan; Abbasabadi, Narjes; Wang, Ruoniu (Vince)
In recent years, King County has seen a surge in housing costs and unaffordability, leading to a housing crisis. Local newspapers and community groups have pointed to large companies and the highly paid employees they attract as responsible for unaffordability and gentrification in the area. Though intuitively this may appear to be the case, this thesis uses newly available Machine Learning (ML) technology to quantitatively investigate the importance of offices as they correlate with gentrification. Making use of data made available through the American Community Survey and King County GIS, patterns of gentrification examined from 2010 to 2019. Following this, demographic and aggregated office-related variables are established at the block group level, and new GPU-boosted methods of performing ML and SHAP analysis are used to investigate the level to which office-related variables, such as taxable land value, office age, etc., are correlated with a prediction of gentrification within a block group.
Sync the Silos, Drill the Depths: A Digital Platform to Streamline Early Phase Resilience Research in Architectural Design
(2025-08-01) Zhao, Yongqin; Abbasabadi, Narjes
Resilience to extreme weather and natural disasters is vital in healthcare architecture—protecting lives, budgets, and operations for clients, users, and designers alike, from the societal scale down to the individual site. Despite the availability of many resources, the integration of resilience in current design practice remains limited. In response, this research explores how the project team can more effectively utilize available resources to thoughtfully and strategically be best informed in the resilience design research process. Based on a review of current literature, resources, and a detailed survey and in-depth workshops, this study proposes an essential workflow that addresses the limitations of several existing frameworks. The tasks within the essential workflow are designed precisely for use cases at the early design phase. Then, based on the essential workflow, a web-based platform is developed, providing architectural design teams with a more accessible and friendly approach to streamline the resilience design research workflow: identifying the specific concern, assessing risk and vulnerability, and navigating resilience-related resources. This study delivers the first lightweight, task-oriented workflow that unifies dispersed resilience data, tools, and precedents within a single, designer-friendly platform. By mapping resources directly to early-phase tasks, the platform gives project teams—and the wider resilience community—an accessible hub for rapid, structured inquiry. Methodologically, the work introduces a Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) approach tailored to AEC design tasks, demonstrating how bespoke, in-house AI applications can streamline niche workflows and open a new direction for building-design technology.
Reclaiming Erased Histories: Spatial Justice & Indigenous Presence in Seattle
(2025-08-01) Erel, Gunes; McLaren, Brian
This thesis examines how Seattle’s urban fabric has been shaped by settler colonialism, racial capitalism, and overlapping processes of exclusion, erasure, and displacement. Indigenous, Asian American, and African American communities have historically been pushed to the margins of public space and collective memory through mechanisms such as land seizure, redlining, incarceration, internment, and speculative development. While many of these histories have been systematically erased from the city’s built environment, they persist through oral traditions, cultural practices, and neighborhood memory. The central problem addressed in this thesis is the ongoing invisibility of marginalized communities in Seattle’s public realm, where monuments and memorials often present partial or sanitized narratives. Although architecture and urban design have contributed to these forms of erasure, they also hold transformative potential as tools of repair capable of re-inscribing memory, reclaiming place, and restoring presence. Grounded in a decolonial framework, this project proposes a series of site-specific urban design interventions that seek to recover erased histories, strengthen Indigenous and marginalized community presence, and establish a spatial language of justice rooted in memory, resistance, and cultural continuity. Through mapping, archival research, and place-based storytelling, the project weaves memory into the city’s everyday fabric, making hidden histories visible, supporting cultural resurgence, and offering a model for spatial justice. These strategies collectively imagine a Seattle that remembers more fully and equitably.
Reducing Energy Demands in Greenhouse Farming: The Potential of Passive Solar Greenhouses in the U.S.
(2025-08-01) Zhang, Qianyi; Proksch, Gundula
Controlled environment agriculture has significantly enhanced agricultural productivity around the world. However, greenhouse farming operations in Western countries remain highly energy-intensive, with heating accounting for the majority of energy use. In the Netherlands, heating accounts for around 74% of total energy input. Passive solar greenhouses (PSGs) offer an energy-efficient alternative by utilizing direct sunlight as the sole heat source. Their design incorporates thermal mass, enabling high thermal gain and substantially reducing energy consumption. While PSGs are widely implemented in Asia, their adoption at a commercial scale in the United States has been limited. This study investigates the feasibility of implementing PSGs across diverse U.S. climate zones by evaluating their thermal performance and energy-saving potential. Four locations representing different climate zones were selected for case studies. A passive solar greenhouse model was used for energy and lighting simulations, testing various combinations of wall assemblies, glazing materials, shading, ventilation, and night insulation strategies. Results indicate that PSGs increase the duration of ideal internal temperatures in all four locations. They are particularly effective in cold and marine climates, where they significantly raise interior temperatures without supplemental heating. Their performance is less effective in hot climates. Given that heating accounts for the largest portion of energy use in conventional greenhouses, PSGs show strong potential for cold regions. As more than half of the U.S. falls within cold and marine zones, PSGs offer a promising solution for year-round vegetable production with minimal energy input.
Preserving Paradise / Sustainable Ecotourism: Defining, Measuring, & Modeling
(2025-08-01) Reese, Cameron Michael; Proksch, Gundula GP; Pena, Robert RP
Preserving Paradise / Sustainable Ecotourism: Defining, Measuring, & Modeling is a final year Master of Architecture thesis exploring the potential of tourism to act as a driver for ecological and cultural preservation and regeneration by developing a framework and model for sustainable ecotourism. Grounded in the principles of responsible travel, the study emphasizes conservation, the utilization of sustainable practices, and an enhancing of the socio-economic well-being of local communities while minimizing the environmental and cultural impacts of tourism. The research begins by defining ecotourism, distinguishing it from other forms of nature based tourism, and outlining its theoretical foundations. It then addresses the challenge of evaluating eco-resorts to distinguish greenwashing and true sustainability. Through a proposed framework that is performance based rather than prescriptive, It will provide a model that can certify resorts as truly being “eco” or not. Finally, the thesis culminates in the design of a hypothetical ecotourism resort that synthesizes all these elements. This design exercise demonstrates how sustainability can be achieved in site planning, construction, and long-term operations while maintaining luxury and cultural sensitivity. The outcome is a proof of concept project that shows how following the ecotourism framework results in eco-resorts that balance hospitality, environmental stewardship, and socio-economic contributions. Ultimately, this study provides practical guidance for architects, developers, and policymakers seeking to ensure that ecotourism contributes to genuine ecological and cultural preservation rather than serving solely as a marketing tool.
Towards Sustainable Concrete Construction: An Environmental Product Declaration (EPD) Roadmap for Bangladesh
(2025-08-01) Priyota, Azeezah Sultana; Simonen, Kate
Climate change represents one of the most pressing global challenges, with the construction industry contributing approximately 40% of worldwide greenhouse gas emissions. Bangladesh, as one of the most climate-vulnerable nations, faces increasing threats from sea level rise and extreme weather events while experiencing rapid infrastructure development. Concrete production generates approximately one ton of CO₂ per ton of cement produced, necessitating careful consideration of the environmental impacts of construction materials. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods enable quantification of the environmental impacts from raw material extraction through manufacturing ("cradle-to-gate"), while Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) provide standardized, verified LCA results to enable informed material selection. However, in order to obtain LCA and EPD data, developing countries face significant implementation barriers, including limited local data availability, expensive proprietary software, and insufficient technical expertise. Currently, while developed nations possess thousands of EPDs, Bangladesh has only five registered EPDs, with none addressing concrete products.This research addresses the question: How can a comprehensive EPD framework for ready-mix concrete be developed and implemented in Bangladesh despite significant data limitations and regional challenges? The methodology employed primary data collection from the NDE Ready Mix Concrete plant in Dhaka, multi-tool validation using OpenLCA software, spreadsheet calculators, and software in development at the University of Washington, POD|LCA, combined with Ecoinvent database integration. Results demonstrate that accessible, cost-effective approaches utilizing open-source tools and free databases have the potential to effectively overcome traditional barriers to EPD development. This study establishes the first concrete EPD development roadmap for Bangladesh and a draft EPD for concrete mixture, providing a replicable framework for developing countries to advance sustainable construction practices and climate resilience through systematic environmental impact quantification and transparency.
Clayscapes: Extracted Landscapes and Circular Futures of the Brick Industry
(2025-01-23) Prescott, Will Remington; Merlino, Kathryn Rogers; GuzmÃ¡n, Celina Balderas
Brick has been a staple of the built environment for over 10,000 years, first appearing alongside our earliest civilizations. The worldwide abundance of clay paired with brick’s many positive performance attributes has maintained its relevance across centuries. But the industry has recently declined in the US as it has faced competition from more affordable building materials, strayed further from its inherent strengths, and received scrutiny regarding its sustainable attributes. However, as the discussion around sustainable design has evolved, the properties of this ancient material have shown the potential to be directly aligned with contemporary circular economy and life cycle design principles. This thesis explores targeted alterations within the full life cycle of brick that would allow the material to achieve its full potential as a durable and adaptable building component that responds to present day environmental challenges. These objectives can be achieved by preserving the embedded energy in historic buildings, restoring abandoned clay mine sites, replacing raw clay with unfired construction waste during brick production, and utilizing alternatives to cement mortar that encourage disassembly. Considerable existing research has successfully developed interventions within each of these themes, but this thesis finds exponential improvement by looking at how these subjects can build upon each other when reviewed in the full life cycle of brick. The research is framed in the context of Seattle, which has a unique history with the material that is reflected in the impacts of mining on the landscape and the city’s stock of historic masonry buildings that are at risk of demolition.
Spatial Imaginations: The Reconstruction of Memory
(2025-01-23) Tran, Jolin; McLaren, Brian; Huber, Nicole
This thesis explores Vietnam in 2150 in the aftermath of a devastating flood that erases the past, present, and future memories of the country. Using storytelling as a tool, the thesis will retrace history to reconstruct the contours of the country as a way of remembering. It will re-examine the nature of unreliable memory as the starting point to rewriting the story of the past. Through these reimagined histories, how can the future that has yet to happen, be remembered differently? Presented in three different forms, the thesis remembers Vietnam as many different countries.
Envisioning CEB for Fiambala
(2024-10-16) Cohen, Alex Nathanel; Golden, Elizabeth
This thesis investigates the process to encourage compressed earth block (CEB) adoption in Fiambala, Argentina addressing the local government, architects, and community members. The need for introducing CEB stems from shifting the demand for easily accessible masonry units away from import-dependent concrete blocks and fired bricks. Analyzing the town’s cultural and housing conditions provides the considerations to demonstrate a context-responsive CEB incorporation through mixed-use and adaptive single-family housing. Also, the target population is renters and co-habiting married couples requiring a residence in the local community. The thesis asks how to implement CEB through a study that enables Fiambala’s architects to suggest the material to the community and municipal government. The results include a consideration framework and a hypothetical urban, architectural and detail level proposal.
SubZero: A Restaurant at the End of the World
(2024-10-16) Dang, Andrew; Anderson, Alex
This thesis explores the design and implementation of an innovative underground restaurant and integrated greenhouse, situated in the remote and ecologically sensitive environment of Svalbard. The decision to build the main restaurant space underground is central to the project’s sustainability goals. Subterranean construction leverages the Earth’s natural insulation, ensuring a stable internal temperature that significantly reduces the need for artificial heating and cooling. This passive energy strategy is complemented by the use of light wells, which channel natural light into the dining area, creating a unique and aesthetically pleasing environment. The project also embodies the principles of a resourceful neighborhood, emphasizing upcycling and composting to reduce waste and promote a circular economy. The integration of a smart power grid and renewable energy sources, such as solar and geothermal systems, further underscores the project’s commitment to sustainability and energy independence. Overall, this thesis demonstrates that through thoughtful design and innovative resource management, it is possible to create a sustainable, resilient, and inclusive environment that serves both people and nature. The underground restaurant and greenhouse in Svalbard serve as a model for future sustainable development, illustrating the potential for architecture to harmoniously integrate with and enhance its natural and community context.
The Practice of Three Waters.
(2024-10-16) McGlone, Jeremy; Cohan, Peter
In 1325, the Mexicas arrived at the Valley of Mexico to form their society on a constructed island in the center of a system of lakes. This society formed a set of cultural, ritual, and infrastructural practices that embodied the Three Waters of the Valley they called home: Drinking Water, Sweet Water, and Salty Water. Today, the lakes have disappeared, the city has grown exponentially, and the practices associated with each of the Three Waters are no longer observed. As a result, Mexico City is thirsty, dormant, and sinking. This project proposes three interdisciplinary practices that aim to reconnect the contemporary urban form with the hydrological cycle of its place. A community rain catchment and cistern system reconnects Drinking Water with Sky. A water treatment fabric reconnects Sweet Water with Surface. A series of infiltration wells reconnect Salty Water with Earth. Together, these three proposals constitute a contemporary practice of Three Waters.
The Carbon Balance: Design for Embodied Carbon Measurement of Existing Buildings
(2024-10-16) Strand, James Michael; Strauss, David M
The balance of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions attributable to the built environment is significantly affected by the decision to either preserve an existing building or demolish it in favor of new construction, concurrently forcing a valuation of the building’s historic or cultural importance. While assessment of GHG emissions in the built environment has matured, data collection and material reporting methodologies remain highly varied. Standardization of carbon accounting measures and metrics for existing buildings could improve the ability to compare the carbon impacts and benefits of building reuse, providing increased quality, accuracy, and reliability in decision-making. This thesis seeks to align contemporary building documentation and carbon measurement tools into a single workflow, exploring a streamlined approach to assess the embodied carbon value of existing buildings and which emphasizes the importance of standardized data collection methods. A clearly defined workflow alongside standardization could improve the quality of information guiding design decisions and considerations in building reuse, offering a more sophisticated tool for carbon accounting and performance monitoring of the built environment.
A Relational Framing for Ecologically Supportive Communities: A Decolonial Alternative to “Sustainability” in the Built Environments
(2024-10-16) Maifeld-Carucci, Akeo Lekkeya; PeÃ±a, Robert; Chalana, Manish
A relational framing that sees reality as a web of interdependent relationships has the ability to guide ecologically supportive ways of living for all species. To better inform decision-making for (community) designers, this work unpacks relationality into key “entry points”–including kinship, situatedness, trust, and reciprocity–that can orient an ecological community towards building and maintaining quality relationships. I investigate how current environmental assessment methods and frameworks, situated within inherently unsustainable capitalist modernity, can still be useful as part of the conversation, with other ways of listening and knowing, to guide ecologically supportive communities. Using these many ways of listening, this work investigates how the proposed entry points of my relational framing were repeatedly experienced in ecological, intentional, and anarchist/autonomous communities and collectives. I present how these experienced patterns are informed-by (and re-inform), my entry points in a way that is interactive and editable for communities in their locale. The resulting messy co-becoming that emerges from this web of relationships and experiences uplifts current community examples and demonstrates the diversity of potential futures that can embrace and thrive at the end of capitalist modernity to continually experiment into beautiful ways for all beings to live together in ecologically supportive communities for generations to come.
Preserving Heritage Theaters: A Mixed-Use Approach to Building Community Anchors
(2024-10-16) Pulido, Alondra J; Ochsner, Jeffrey K
Seattle’s historic neighborhood theaters are disappearing, resulting in a loss of cultural heritage and crucial community spaces. Due to the growth of streaming services, increasing real estate costs, and shifting neighborhood development, these historic landmarks are under threat. This thesis begins with an exploration of the history, architectural significance, and potential for mixed-use adaptation of historic theaters. From this foundation, it explores the design and transformation of one of those theaters through adaptive reuse. The goal of the project is to establish and demonstrate a framework for preserving this architecturally and culturally significant building type, while increasing economic sustainability by integrating gathering spaces, housing, and commercial uses. Finally, this thesis proposes guidelines for designing vibrant heritage spaces, ensuring these theaters serve as community anchors for future generations.

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