The Effect of Architecture and Shear Stress on Endothelialization of 3D Printed Vascular Networks

Despite significant progress in the field of tissue engineering within the last decade, a number of unsolved problems still remain. One of the most relevant issues is the lack of proper vascularization that limits the size of engineered tissues to smaller than clinically relevant dimensions. In particular, the growth of engineered tissue in vitro within bioreactors is plagued with this challenge. Specifically, the tubular perfusion system bioreactor has been used for large scale bone constructs; however these engineered constructs lack inherent vasculature and quickly develop a hypoxic core, where no nutrient exchange can occur, thus leading to cell death. Through the use of 3D printed vascular templates in conjunction with a tubular perfusion system bioreactor, we attempt to create an endothelial cell monolayer on 3D scaffolds that could potentially serve as the foundation of inherent vasculature within these engineered bone grafts.

Place in Time: The Role of Architecture in Establishing an Emotional Connection between Man and Time

This thesis explores the role of architecture as a means of reconnecting humans to the passage of time. A neglect of the temporal in our built environment obscures understanding of the human condition in all of its sensory aspects. The exploration and design of a series of ritual engagements, both culturally, and architecturally, begin to offer a venue through which designers can engage human senses. Rituals act as a means of demarcating the passage of time. It is through the engagement with these moments that people can begin to gain a richer understanding of the ephemeral nature of their own existence. The Pritzker Architecture Prize serves as the selected ritual of exploration because of its celebration of humanity and the art of architecture. However, the notion of ritual is explored down to the level of detail of engagement with handrails and door handles.

The Architecture of Waste: Creating New Avenues for Public Engagement with Trash

The relationship between industry, waste, and urbanism is one fraught with problems across the United States and in particular American cities. The interrelated nature of these systems of flows is in critical need of re-evaluation. This thesis critiques the system of Municipal Solid Waste Management as it currently exists in American cities as a necessary yet undesirable ‘invisible infrastructure’. Industry and waste environments have been pushed to the periphery of urban environments, severing the relationship between the urban environment we inhabit and the one that is required to support the way we live. The flow of garbage from cities of high density to landscapes of waste has created a model of valuing waste as a linear system that separates input from output. This thesis aims to investigate ways that industry, waste, and urban ecologies can work to reinforce one another. The goal of this thesis is to repair the physical and mental separation of waste and public activity through architecture. This thesis will propose ways to tie urban waste infrastructure and public amenities together through the merging of architecture and landscape to create new avenues for public engagement with waste processes.

Preservation in a growing city: a consideration of conservation districts for Washington, D.C. neighborhoods

Master final project submitted to the faculty of the Historic Preservation Program of the School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation of the University of Maryland, College Park, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Historic Preservation, 2013.

Chase-Lloyd House at 250: significance of function and integrity of form

(M. Historic Preservation) -- University of Maryland-College Park, 2015 Faculty Advisor: Dr. Constance Werner Ramirez. Program Director: Dr. Donald W. Linebaugh

TIMESCAPES: an architectural process of memory and adaptation

What if the architectural process of making could incorporate time? All designers who impact the physical environment- consciously and unconsciously are gatekeepers of the past, commentators of the present, and speculators of the future. This project proposes the creation of architecture and adaptive public space that looks to historical memories, foster present day cultural formation, and new alternative visions for the city of the future. The thesis asks what it means to design for stasis and change in a variety of scales- urban, architectural, and detail and arrives at a speculated new neighborhood, institutional buildings, and landscape. Central to this project is the idea of the architect as archeologist, anthropologist, and artist. The project focuses on a rapidly changing part of the city of Fort Worth, Texas and assigns a multipurpose institutional buildings and public space as a method of investigation. The thesis hopes to further architectural discourse about into the role of architecture in the preservation of memory, adaptive potential of public spaces, and the role of time in architecture.

Integrating Architecture for a Live-Work Lifestyle

Urban centers all around the world are striving to re-orient themselves to promoting ideals of human engagement, flexibility, openness and synergy, that thoughtful architecture can provide. From a time when solitude in one’s own backyard was desirable, today’s outlook seeks more, to cater to the needs of diverse individuals and that of collaborators. This thesis is an investigation of the role of architecture in realizing how these ideals might be achieved, using Mixed Use Developments as the platform of space to test these designs ideas on. The author also investigates, identifies, and re-imagines how the idea of live-work excites and attracts users and occupants towards investing themselves in Mixed Used Developments (MUD’s), in urban cities. On the premise that MUDs historically began with an intention of urban revitalization, lying in the core of this spatial model, is the opportunity to investigate what makes mixing of uses an asset, especially in the eyes to today’s generation. Within the framework of reference to the current generation, i.e. the millennial population and alike, who have a lifestyle core that is urban-centric, the excitement for this topic is in the vision of MUD’s that will spatially cater to a variety in lifestyles, demographics, and functions, enabling its users to experience a vibrant 24/7 destination. Where cities are always in flux, the thesis will look to investigate the idea of opportunistic space, in a new MUD, that can also be perceived as an adaptive reuse of itself. The sustainability factor lies in the foresight of the transformative and responsive character of the different uses in the MUD at large, which provides the possibility to cater to a changing demand of building use over time. Delving into the architectural response, the thesis in the process explores, conflicts, tensions, and excitements, and the nature of relationships between different spatial layers of permanence vs. transformative, public vs. private, commercial vs. residential, in such an MUD. At a larger scale, investigations elude into the formal meaning and implications of the proposed type of MUD’s and the larger landscapes in which they are situated, with attempts to blur the fine line between architecture and urbanism. A unique character of MUD’s is the power it has to draw in people at the ground level and lead them into exciting spatial experiences. While the thesis stemmed from a purely objective and theoretical standpoint, the author believes that it is only when context is played into the design thinking process, that true architecture may start to flourish. The unique The significance of this thesis lies on the premise that the author believes that this re-imagined MUD has immense opportunity to amplify human engagement with designed space, and in the belief that it will better enable fostering sustainable communities and in the process, enhance people’s lives.