Theses and Dissertations at Montana State University (MSU)
Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://scholarworks.montana.edu/handle/1/733
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item City & nature : sensory experiences(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Huard, Dallas Christopher; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Ralph Johnson; Christopher Livingston (co-chair)Images come to mind when I take the time to think about what architecture means to me. These images, from my childhood, from exposure to my surroundings, from my experiences and training, even though this part of my life is still limited show me how simple architecture can be. I am always surprised that since I began studying the many aspects of architecture it has become so much more important to me. There are moments that I am able to recall the way the wind surged through a space or the way clouds would come alive and dance in a store window. It is these aspects of architecture that have began to shape and influence my life on an emotional and sensory level. I appreciate the simplicity of architecture when I think about summer visits to my grandparents farm. I am reminded of the sound of straw and leaves breaking under my feet, the creaking of a rusty hinge on the pasture gate, and the chill of the cold breeze from windows that were years beyond repair. These experiences are much more important to me than the visual images that come to mind because it takes more personal emotion for me to recall them; this makes for a much more powerful memory, one that last much longer than when I rely on the image alone. I remember a time when life was so much simpler and architecture was something to experience, not simply view. It is these simple experiences that hold the most personal meaning for me in my life. As I reflect upon my childhood, I realize that I rarely desire simplicity in my life as I once did years ago.Item Extroverted gravity(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2012) Wallace, Shane Michael; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Christopher LivingstonOur society has fallen victim to social seclusion. With the advent of the automobile social energy has consistently drained from our urban cores, forming the sprawling and disarranged suburbs with which we are confronted today. In accordance with this physical isolation caused by personal necessity, there is the dilemma of digital media. Though such technology was developed to facilitate communication with others, our devices have inadvertently caused people to become cognitively irresponsive to their surroundings. Personal necessity has come to diminish social interaction. By assessing the transition and communication between disparate groups of people, and developing a cohesive transportation system that plays off these assessments, people will be compelled to interact with one another while in transit. However, there still remains the issue of the personal device. By developing a scheme that actually responds to the current social media trend, people will be compelled to interact with their environment - and, in turn, with each other. The idea is to deter people from wanting to travel in isolation, while concurrently drawing them together through the actual digital media applications that currently draw our attention so profoundly. The institution of an appropriate public transit system that is linked with social media networks will inherently provide the external stimulus necessary to get people to surrender their devices and interact with one another. The conclusion is to strategically develop a multi-modal transportation hub that is centrally located in a specific urban context that will begin to provide an alternative method of travel other than the personal vehicle. Upon manipulating the existing transit network and developing a public transit center, the entire system is to be linked with digital media kiosks that will provide another means of connectivity between people.Item A solution to sprawl through public transportation(Montana State University - Bozeman, College of Arts & Architecture, 2007) Jacobs, Shane Anthony; Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Chris Livingston; Thomas McNab (co-chair)"As regard to the environment, the task of postmodern patience is to endure the limits of the land. This country is blessed with an extraordinarily rich and spacious continent. Our inability to live more nearly with the energy it yields and with its capacity for wastes bespeaks an impatient and immature culture." Driving down the streets you call home, through the hills you would hike and sled as a kid, by the rivers and ponds you swam and fished in; you realize that every trip made is to a place that is less and less like home. Entire ranches have been subdivided. The mom and pop stores have been replaced by corporate chains. Asphalt has been laid, lanes have been added, streets have been punched, and bridges have been erected. The open space and privacy that everyone moved there for is dwindling; the American Dream is deteriorating. Is sprawl unavoidable due to the inevitable growth our society demands or can we live and grow more efficiently, more sustainably? The desire to achieve a better life has broken down our city walls and depleted our resources. "The growth of the world population will lead to a tremendous demand for space, not only for buildings but also for farmland and areas reserved for nature." Even highway systems can't seem to outpace suburbia. "Why has a higher standard of living somehow failed to result in a better quality of life?" A considerable amount of architecture and the majority of land planning revolves around the concept of the automobile. "Too many architects are becoming proponents of sprawl and the one-size-fits-all mentality that is strangling the earth." In rural Montana, people build where they can drive; if one cannot drive there, someone will cut a road or build a bridge. In urban Montana, zoning has tied people to their cars due to its demand that different uses be divided throughout a given city. "People say they do not want to live near where they work, but that they would like to work near where they live." What if we could uproot where people live, work, shop, exercise, and gather; rearrange their locations; then realign them in a community that enables a proficient life, with less pollution, traffic, stress, and resources used? Obviously, this isn’t feasible due to cost and the chaos of displacement. This thesis is intended to analyze the way we live, build, and move from place to place while destroying the reason why we live where we do. This thesis will dissect transportation issues broadly in the United States and specific to the Missoula Valley and ultimately argue for the position of Missoula implementing a new model for the way it moves and grows. If realized, this process of rewiring will result in a series of incremental changes that have the ability to create a prototypical status for Missoula amongst other Montana and Northwestern cites that is unprecedented with regards to transportation as a solution to sprawl.