▼ This essay offers browsing—a consumer activity motivated not by ends but means—as an alternative modus operandi for work on the problem of utopia. When browsing, one simply looks, without knowing what one is looking for, working at a leisurely pace and with vague desiring parameters. One often picks a genre and scans, yet within these vague parameters, a seemingly infinite variety exists. The search engine is a perfect example. Enter a simple query in Google's search algorithm and one is guaranteed at least one surprise. Likewise, utopian thought is often of vague constitution, and never demonstrable. A further distinction must be made between browsing and mere choice.
Parametric design often bills itself as the medium of choice, generator of manifold possibilities from which one chooses. Browsing, however, is different from choice because the relationship between options is not always discernible. Parametrics are either overdetermined or lean too heavily on the "happy accident," their surprises either too specific or not specific enough. Moreover, to think utopically one must leave ration (and one's manifolds) behind. Must we leave parametric design behind in order to discover new utopic possibilities? Advisors/Committee Members: Kipnis, Jeffrey.

Advisors/Committee Members: Samuelson, R.

Advisors/Committee Members: Schwartz, Robert.

▼ Architecture [Criticism] or Revolution is an exploration in journalistic architecture criticism. The current state of journalistic architecture criticism is uninspiring. There are two few of voices, and its field of influence is too narrow. The first article details the current position of journalistic architecture criticism. It accounts its history, its voices, its influence, and its future. The second two articles are explorations in writing on architecture for the people of Columbus, Ohio. They are meant for a non-professional audience, and begin to explore ways of educating the public on issues of contemporary architecture, and calls upon them to demand better design for our city. Advisors/Committee Members: Schafer, Ashley.

Advisors/Committee Members: Chafetz, S.

▼ Playgrounds are designed to give children space to explore and develop into well-rounded individuals, yet a growing body of research in the fields of education, pediatrics, child psychology, architecture, and landscape architecture suggests that the current model of prefabricated playground design is woefully underperforming this expectation. There is an additional body of research that points to the developmental capabilities of nature-focused playscapes. This research shows that such playscapes outperform the dominant prefabricated playgrounds in aiding the child’s holistic cognitive, social, emotional and motor development. Landscape architects are perfectly situated to explore nature-based trends in playground design, as they are specifically trained to create dynamic outdoor environments for people. (Herrington, Lesmeister, Nicholls, & Stefiuk, 7 C's, n.a.) As more research points to the importance of play in nature to a child’s holistic development, playground design that integrates natural elements and the landscape will become ever more relevant. This paper reviews the history of playgrounds in North America, and the current criticisms of contemporary playground design. The focus is to show how this research can be synthesized into a design for a specific play setting in Columbus, Ohio. Advisors/Committee Members: Lara, Jesus J.

▼ The passing of Ohio Senate Bill 16 into law in November, 2007 levied state wide regulations on the adult entertainment industry and limited home rule authority. The additional regulations imposed limited the hours of operation and entertainment activities of sexually oriented businesses. This is counter to a number of studies which, over recent decades and across the country, have shown that sexually oriented businesses do not produce the often attributed negative secondary impacts, such as higher crime. This study examines crime in the areas around exotic dance businesses within Columbus, Ohio and compares them with crime around other adult uses which did not feature adult entertainment (bars and pubs). This study concludes that there is no statistically significant difference in the counts of crimes occurring around these two business types. Further, there is no statistically significant drop in crime resulting from the new regulations imposed by the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 16. Without the attributed negative secondary impacts, restrictions on the adult entertainment industry may be subject to repeal by the court system. The findings of this study demonstrate that for Columbus, Ohio, restrictions on the adult entertainment industry imposed by zoning regulations and the passage of Ohio Senate Bill 16 are not necessary from a crime reduction stand point. The findings support equal regulation of all adult uses, not special regulation for sexually oriented businesses. Advisors/Committee Members: Conroy, Dr. Maria Manta.

▼  The visual world is about an individual's perception or understanding, while one unfolds the concepts of visual phenomenon multiple unknown characters come to fore. The realization of these changes is accredited to elapse of time and cognition of brain and eye. There are multiple layers involved in visual perception for knowing the intended phenomenon. In the first layer the characters are neutral and unidentified on the given picture plane. They create what is called the retinal images in the back of the eye. Once the brain registers these fragments in each other's proximity it is able to recognize the image as whole. The recognition may also be accredited to historicizing. The essence of visual perception lies in the analysis of the view; this could be in either of the following two ways; exploring the real from the created illusions or experiencing the overall space by getting integrated within, through the view. For a writer experiencing is the most important is well said by Maurice Merleau-Ponty; “How would the painter or poet express anything other than his encounter with the world?”1 For a writer of any field, experiencing what they write would be their practical knowledge. It plays the role of chemistry or biology laboratory. Similarly in architecture understanding human perceptions needs personal experiencing. Knowing that visual perception has multiple phenomenons to display, minimum number of structures studied could not be less than two and considering the factor of laboratory backup to my thesis (as I would call it), It was ideal for them to be located on Ohio State University campus. The cases studies carried out during the Thesis; explore the multiple layers of perception that happen in the structures. Peter Eisenman's Wexner Center of 1989 is probably one of his unintentional design that envelopes the optical illusion phenomenon of visual perception in it very artistically. The structure is one that functionalists might refute but experientialists would support. They would also support Mack Scogin Merill Elam Architects' Knowlton School of Architecture of 2004 which identifies Maurice Merleau-Ponty's phenomenology it its spatial quality. 1 - Pallasma, Juhani. The eyes of the skin: Architecture and the Senses, Touching the World. Great Britain, TJ international Advisors/Committee Members: Mcmorrough, John.

▼ This study arose from an idea that air pollutants and greenhouse gases from vehicles could be reduced by changes in urban form. Analyzing the results of related prior investigations showed that the researchers mainly argued that adjustment of typical urban form characteristics (e.g., degree of population density or sprawl) can reduce the amount of vehicle emissions. The policies considering typical urban form change cannot be easily realized, however, because changing population density and stopping urban sprawl are both very difficult and require a long time. In view of that limitation, this study tried to uncover more effective urban form factors to reduce vehicle emissions within the mid- or short-term. This research also attempted to examine vehicle emission reduction by changing both absolute and relative locations of urban functions (i.e. population, employment, and commercial facilities). To observe the relationship, some spatial-related variables from the location of urban functions are developed. To determine the relative location among urban functions, certain measurements are built. Based on the location concepts, key variables are constructed. Average daily vehicle miles traveled (ADVMT) is estimated to measure the amount of vehicle emissions, and then statistically tested its relationship with eight urban form factors. Based on the analysis results, when we have urban areas with similar population densities, an area with clustered populations and closely concentrated clusters produces fewer ADVMT and emissions. In addition, a short average distance between residences and the commercial areas they use frequently generates fewer emissions, too. The results also show that high population density, employment centrality, and longer commuting time also reduce vehicle emissions. This study additionally simulates the change in vehicle emissions based on residential development scenarios. The results show that residential development in suburbs considerably increases both VMT and vehicle emissions, compared with development in a downtown area. Based on the estimated VMT and quantity of vehicle emissions in the urban areas, there are definite differences according to the conditions of urban form factors. In addition, according to the simulations, considerable benefits exist with decreasing the quantity and costs of vehicle emissions through the changes of urban form factors. This study verifies the relationship between VMT, the quantity of vehicle emissions and urban form factors with a distinctive approach that also includes conventional factors. This study emphasizes the importance of the distribution of populations and other urban functions. Advisors/Committee Members: Viton, Philip.

Advisors/Committee Members: Borchers, Perry E.

▼ Warren H. Manning (1860-1938) was a landscape architect who has been credited with developing a spatial analysis technique for landscape planning. This method is related to contemporary practices, yet there is no clear picture of how, when, or where it was developed. The thesis clarified Manning's role in the early development of spatial analysis techniques by studying a cross section of his city and regional plans, and by determining whether there is evidence of other spatial analysis users during Manning's career. In addition, Manning's background was studied to provide context for his accomplishments. Data collection was performed through library database searches, the review of a known collection, and with a literature search in the Ohio State University libraries. The thesis was justified because it addressed significant literature gaps, it focused on a person important to the landscape architecture profession, and the spatial analysis techniques under study are related to contemporary practice... Advisors/Committee Members: Way, Douglas S.

▼ The paper explores the notion of a digital detail for the design and the fabrication of a multi per formative building skin. The performative aspects of the building skins are inquired using a taxonomy which classifies the envelope according to the materials, the structural system, the passive thermal strategies, the transparency and the construction techniques. The research proves the need for a rational computational approach, a digital detail that integrates the materiality, the performance and the fabrication techniques. The method employs an algorithmic process that synthesizes the information from a double curved surface to construct an emergent, a performative and an intricate detail. The process uses a recursive computing technique to generate the variations, which makes it difficult to decide a discrete moment where the transformation happens from structure to transparency or vice versa. The material and tectonic implications of the process are addressed in a smaller scale, using a material that simulates the fabrication and construction technique. Advisors/Committee Members: Alexandros, Tsamis.

Advisors/Committee Members: Chafetz, Sidney.