Browsing by Subject "Public spaces"
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Item Austin south shore : an experiential design strategy(2014) De Regt, Elizabeth Laura; Almy, DeanThis project takes an experiential design approach to urban planning. By focusing on the public spaces of an urban area, it develops a design process based on the experiences felt by those walking down the street: both visitors and residents. Each type of user has a different experience, and a variety of building-street interface typologies have therefore been developed. This project uses the same calculations and basic framework from Dean Almy’s Texas Futures Lab studio of Spring 2013. It then looks into the various user groups and adjusted the public spaces to provide more variety, reflecting the various experiences sought after by these users.Item Configuration of public space and social sustainability of urban neighborhood: a case study of the city of San Diego at the dawn of the twenty-first century(Texas Tech University, 2004-05) Pongsmas, NapassakornA socially sustainable city is able to maintain orderly relationship among its diversified residents who are able to meet their hierarchy of needs at the present and in the future. The theoretical foundation of this dissertation is that sound spatial configuration promotes the uses of public spaces and encourages strangers to interact, i.e., the existence of public realm. These, in turn, foster the development of positive tolerance, social integration, sense of community and unity, and public trust among people in the neighborhoods and throughout the city. This is the social capital for community rebuilding and prelude to the building and rebuilding of a more socially sustainable city and community. The western and central areas of downtown San Diego, California, were used as the study site. Spatial configuration was assessed and measured according to Space Syntax methodology in terms of the descriptions of connectivity, integration-3 and intelligibility (R (1.3^ ,.„;). The uses-of-public-spaces was measured based on the number of the pedestrians on sidewalks at three time intervals in seven selected neighborhoods that have the highest and the lowest values of the descriptions and social sustainability levels. The strength of public realm was measured in terms of the number of genders, age groups and personal physical conditions on the sidewalks. The level of social sustainability was assessed according to the indicators developed by the United Nations and by related literatures and availability of census data. It was found that (1) spatial configuration relates positively to the uses of public spaces and the emergence of public realm; (2) the uses of public spaces and the emergence of public realm relate positively to the level of social sustainability; and (3) spatial configuration relates indirectly and positively to the level of social sustainability (for year 2000) through the uses of public space and the strength of public realm. The study concludes that the spatial configuration should promote mixture of broad and various types of activities by combining different syntactic values of the descriptions if social sustainability is to be attained.Item Contextual design : the Chinese community planning and design(2014) Wang, Siwen; Wang, WilfriedThe MDS is about a translation of traditional Chinese courtyard space into modern housing typologies and public space. Traditional buildings normally have cultural and regional characters, while modern buildings in China are missing them. The project concentrates on contextual design, exploring whether the traditional courtyard space structure could be translated into modern urban design and meet the requirement of high density. The project is a prototype design experiment, embedding both research and design. The design intends to unite traditional culture and modern life, and be in Chinese spirit but modern in form.Item Hotel lobby design: Study of parameters of attraction(2007-12) Thapa, Dhiraj; Amor, Cherif; Russ, Randall; Curry, Zane D.Many older hotels are redesigning their lobbies to meet the needs of travelers by balancing aesthetics and design while also providing guests with the services they require (Andorka, 1995). Both the rational-price, location, service qualities-and emotional considerations-happiness, excitement-are customers' motivating factors when choosing hospitality products (Kwortnik, 2003). Various literature reviews (e.g., Bitner, 1992; Lucas, 2003; Mattila, 1999; Mehrabian & Russel, 1974; Veronique, 1997; Wakefield & Blodgett, 1996) suggest that a stimulating physical environment has the potential to make a positive impact on customers' perceptions and behavior. Salient attributes of a desirable physical environment include facility aesthetics, including the function of architectural design; interior design and decor; layout accessibility; seating comfort; and lighting also help ease or restrict movement. However, there is a lack of data pertaining to the physical environment that emphasizes attractiveness of hotel lobbies. The purpose of this study is to explore the design features that guests find most attractive in a hotel lobby, and thus, determine how these features affect their overall behaviors toward the total hotel's environment. This study used quantitative and qualitative methods. Quantitative data were obtained from questionnaires that addressed eighteen questions pertaining to the physical environment attraction. Qualitative data for this study were obtained from photographs and physical observations, which permitted a triangulation of the data. The eight different hotels, located in three areas of Lubbock, were selected to promote diversity in sampling and to include different phases of expansion. Data for the study were collected during the fall of 2006. One hundred and twenty two usable questionnaires serve as this study's source of data collection. The photographs helped generate themes that were not discovered on site. Of the 122 respondents, 62 were male and 60 were female. Majority of the respondents were either business or leisure travelers. A correlation analysis found significant relationship between various design elements, such as color, furniture layout, lighting, floor treatment as well as interioscaping and accessibility. This result could support that aesthetic features alone do not have much of an effect on guests unless the end result creates an effective environment. Since the samples were all drawn from the city of Lubbock and limited to 122 travelers staying at three stars hotels, this has limited this study's generalisability to other hotel categories. Because sample sizes varied between hotels, the samples obtained were incongruous in carrying major statistical analysis, however, the location of these hotels allowed the tangible elements in their lobby to be observed, which provides important insight into the physical environment and variables that influence the definition of lobby attractiveness.Item Understanding change : public space constructin in Bogota, Colombia, the Plaza de San Victorino(2014-05) Coronado Cabrera, Maria Camila; Diaz Montemayor, GabrielBogotá is a city that has seen rapid change in the recent years. By the 1990’s the city’s public space was in crisis and its elements were being used in inappropriate ways; some were even been illegally privatized. Inside the city’s multiple ills, a politically driven set of changes began to happen. By the turn of the millennium an urban renaissance of the city originated. Multiple public spaces, libraries, schools, and new transportation systems were built and implemented by different city Mayors. At present, after the initial thrill and polemics developed during the construction of the new public spaces, some of the major changes have settled. This situation makes it a good moment to develop an analysis of the performance of these public spaces today, in order to understand how they have evolved along with Bogotano’s during these years. The Plaza de San Victorino located in the downtown area of the city was one of the major renovation projects that the city underwent around the year 2000. Its analysis is representative of the evolution of Bogota’s public spaces during these years. This MDS makes an assessment from the point of view of the users of the Plaza de San Victorino. By making a Post-occupancy evaluation of this recently constructed public space using participant observations, mappings and surveys, this MDS generates a set of design recommendations for the Plaza and a design proposal for its improvement.