Cities around the world are facing parallel challenges in addressing the resource needs of growing populations while simultaneously trying to decrease their environmental impact. This is especially true with food. In Seattle, a city expected to see 20% growth in the next 20 years, food accounts for roughly half of the average ...

Children of all age, class, sex and region deserve an equal opportunity to good quality education. Research shows that investing in early education reaps long term socio-economic benefits for a country. This makes early education all the more important for sub-developed countries. Studies show that the primary reason for ...

Currently, the scale and speed of human progress is disproportionate to live sustainably within the environment. This type of progress has forced us to choose between the continuation of human excess or the balance and rekindling between the human and natural world. Through an exploration into the ways that our environment ...

This thesis explores issues that affect the human experience of nature within cities in a way that permeates daily life and restores the fundamental relationships that have shaped the humanity for thousands of years. In order to move beyond the simplistic conclusion that trees, plants and parks can adequately meet the essential ...

Mexico City is sinking quickly, in parts up to nine inches a year and in total thirty feet since its foundation in 1325. Mexico City was built on the lake bed of Lake Texcoco. The original inhabitants of the city, the Méxica, worked with the water and worshiped the water god, Tlaloc, often through sacrifice. The city then ...

While surviving as a monument to the power of car culture in the 20th century, today the gas station has become increasing obsolete in the face of growing cities and increasing environmental awareness. Alternative energy sources and different modes of transit such as walking, biking, car sharing, and public transit have grown ...

The Pacific Northwest is home to several fault lines which pose a significant threat to a largely unprepared area. The region must address the challenge of designing a resilient architecture in an earthquake prone environment. Buildings should respond to their context to better connect people to their environments and react ...

America has had a century long obsession with automobiles. The United States has become synonymous with car travel and road trips. But climate change challenges us to rethink these relationships and consider alternative modes of travel and transit. Known as the place for innovation and reinvention, the time is ripe for the ...

Abstract Future-proofing is the process of anticipating future events and developing methods of adaptation. This process includes mitigation of negative effects while taking advantage of positive effects of changes, shocks, and stresses imposed on buildings. This thesis defines future-proofing, develops the Principles of ...

This is a study of light: an investigation into the ability of light to not only illuminate, but also to awaken a deeper sense of the existence of the natural world. Universally, light is an essential aspect of life: it provides illumination, a core quality of human existence. Without illumination, we cannot visualize spatial ...