With its goals, methods, and standards, sustainability has gained a lot of traction. Nevertheless, there is still room for improvement in terms of sustainability. Professionals and academics attempted to meet these demands by developing and implementing new substantial strategies for accelerating the transition to a more sustainable future. Culture is a crucial factor in evolution because it is the primary means by which our forefathers adapted to their surroundings. Resistance movements such as critical regionalism theory, resisting placelessness, and whimsical individualism arose as a result of the uncritical acceptance of the International Movement's principles and later post-modern languages. Considering all these, critical regionalism, biophilic design, regenerative design, and tourism are all investigated in this thesis. The goal is to investigate the relationship between these design approaches: critical regionalism, biophilic design, and regenerative design, and experiential hotels. A comprehensive literature review and the optimization of a collective case study are part of the methodology.By and large, critical regionalism creates autonomy and elevates its construction to an art form by providing functionally acceptable forms that are adapted to nature and the region. By translating the site's environmental characteristics within the hotel, biophilic design emulates nature through visual signs and a dramatic sense of place. By creating a design system, regenerative design aims to preserve hotel resources while also reducing carbon footprint and CO2 emissions. This study demonstrates the positive impact of combining sustainability methods and has provided individuals with a rich experience while minimizing environmental impact. Finally, based on the findings of the data and combining the three design approaches of critical regionalism, biophilic design, and regenerative design, this thesis proposes guidelines for designing experiential hotels.

Heritage conservation of built environments through adaptive reuse is an integral part of preserving and regenerating a community's cultural memory and identity. The buildings we inherit become the visual storytellers of our communities' histories and traditions; how we design tells the story of how we lived. It is that treasure that is passed down through generations that morphs the characteristics of collective cultural identity. However, zeitgeist architecture which is adaptively reused, often focuses on preservation, restoration, or conservation of the architecture or the shell. Simultaneously, the heritage interiors are transformed, losing the spirit of place to the new use and program. This thesis argues for the importance of preserving heritage interiors as a vital component of a building's story in adaptive reuse projects, referencing literature about the history of adaptive reuse and heritage conservation in built environments, as well as different approaches, tools, and strategies for heritage conservation in various projects and precedents. The thesis explores multiple case studies of varying typologies in Jordan, the Middle East, which successfully address the challenge of heritage interiors conservation. The study examines the different ways in which the spirit of the interior space is preserved and included as part of the design strategy while transforming the programming of the space and the new functions it serves. Examples of such strategies include materials and textiles, furniture, fixtures, use of original materials and architectural features, and the degree of intervention in the preservation, restoration, and conservation of the interiors. The thesis is grounded in the question of how adaptive reuse can approach heritage interiors in a way that conserves the experience of the architecture and the interiors while transforming the programming of the space.

Workplaces are the place where people spend mostly half of their life there. It is not exclusive to office buildings and companies; indeed, in each department in every building there are individuals working behind the scenes in an attempt to better the society. The workplace environment must accomplish workers’ requirements that vary between physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual needs. Thus, the employees can provide high performance and be more productive, which leads to a successful group, corporations, society, and world generally. The aims for this study were to explore the different strategies that big companies used to attract new employees and to ensure the well-being of the current workers within workplaces. In addition to investigating the effects of the workplace environment on the workers’ well-being in the previous studies, this research analyzes six cases of good examples for companies' headquarters and evaluating their design techniques. The results showed that these companies share the same factors to increase their workers’ well-being. Flexible workspaces that provide workers the ability to choose where, how, and when to work is the first factor. Promoting body movements, reducing stress and depression, and building private spaces or facilities to energize workers are other factors. However, most of the cases involved the inspirational encouragement in interior design as major factors to enhance workers’ well-being. Furthermore, some of the applied techniques in the buildings are similar, like offering a flexible workplace, while others vary following the company industry, image and location.

The artificial lighting plays crucial role in the human life in the contemporary,

globalized and highly complex world. Its influence on the physical and psychological

health of the humans was studied by numerous reputable scholars from across the globe,

however this study focuses on the impact of light on the college students living in the

dormitories. The study seeks to find whether there is a correlation between light and health

of the student, his/her performance, productivity, mood and feelings. The paper uses a

relatively new housing near Arizona State University Tempe-campus as a case study as an

attempt to substantiate the problem dimensions and suggest feasible solutions.

Basing on the available literature on the topic and the case study evaluation, the

author determined the range of possible recommendations for the lighting professionals in

the industry to maximally satisfy the needs of the students and make their stay and life in

the dormitory comfortable and healthy experience. The relevant conclusions are made

basing on the obtained results.

Our current water usage practices and consumption have run us into dire need for change: our over-usage from the Colorado River and depletion of groundwater resources have led us to draw out more than we can replenish, and this cycle is becoming increasingly more expensive.A solution to this from an architectural standpoint is to have the building work with the natural hydrological cycle of its respective site. In doing so, the building will not only benefit the environment of its site, but will provide the public with education on the need for greater
conservation.
This thesis project first looks to the Living Building Challenge’s Water Petal framework as standards for this building to follow. The framework outlines that the building needs to be water positive, meaning all the water needs to be taken from the environment, run through the building, and discharged back out into the environment in a safe manner that benefits the local environment. To begin my research, I first looked to case studies of buildings that incorporate elements of the hydrological cycles of their sites, studying how these buildings function
efficiently without causing damage or depleting resources. The project then goes onto analyze the site on which the building will sit. The prototype building is located in Papago Park, facing the Papago Buttes. The building itself is a meditation pavilion, providing a place for visitors to rest and enjoy the beauty of the natural landscape.
In terms of the water systems at work in the building, the project acquires water through several means. The first is through rain, in which the building catches rainwater on slanted planes of the roof as well as through a ground filtration system within the landscaped zones surrounding the building. The water filters through the soil, through multiple filters and eventually to a large storage tank below. Water is also collected using existing bioswales lining the nearby canal to harness water as part of the building system. This water is also filtered and sent to the storage tank. Because of the weather patterns we have here in Arizona, the storage tank is very large, needing to hold about 3,000 gallons of water. This water is then ready to be used by toilets or irrigation, or treated one step further through the process of ozonation to be used for sinks and drinking fountains. The blackwater, or sewage water, then gets pumped through a
membrane bioreactor in which sludge is sent to an anearobic digester and the remaining water continues to a constructed wetland where it ends its journey. Along the way, this water is pumped through a shallow channel in the ground in which people within the building can view as it makes its way out to the wetland. Upon reaching the wetland, the water will eventually seep back into the ground, replenishing the natural water table and thus completing the full loop cycle
of the project.

This project examines biophilic design principles to demonstrate the impact it can have on the well-being of college students at Arizona State University. This paper details our collaboration with Hayden Library, and design elements proposed using biophilic design for the new Prayer and Meditation room as part of the 2019 renovations of the library. We will explore and explain what biophilia/biophilic design is and the specific impacts it can have on humans by including a literature review of previous studies and some in-person research experiences. The literature examined includes how biophilic design has specific positive effects on humans and how we can apply this to students visiting the newly renovated Hayden Library. This project also contains data and information from a workshop (November 1, 2018) organized to gather input from professionals at Shepley Bulfinch for the design of the Prayer and Meditation room. The input from the designers is combined with the body of research on biophilic design to present
to the Hayden Library 2020 renovations team.

ABSTRACT

Recent studies indicate that there is a positive influence of nature and nature integrated built environments on human health and wellness in various physical, physiological and social domains. This thesis critically reviews formally and contextually three distinct residential typologies designed by renowned architects Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-1959), Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992), and Ryue Nishizawa (1966-), in different periods and countries; the United States of America (USA), Brazil and Japan. Yet, the buildings analyzed in the research are relatively connected by means of nature and the natural elements in their constructed essence. This research focuses on the features of the buildings that characterize the Biophilic Design, along with theoretical and practical ideas of the architects behind each building in their own process of formation.

The Biophilic Design Framework has been developed out of the Biophilia Hypothesis (Fromm, 1973; Wilson, 1984) which puts forward an explanatory suggestion that human affinity and affiliation with nature are based on genetic and environmental adaptation processes. This research is designed to display how specific natural phenomena apply to the built environment within the Framework of Biophilic Design (Kellert, & Calabrese, 2015) and how the Biophilia Hypothesis translates into the built environment. To accomplish this, two primary and three secondary research questions were developed for the study. The research will provide an understanding of the Biophilia Hypothesis and its impact on the built environment through the evaluation of research variables on the case studies using the ‘twenty-four attributes’ indicated in the ‘three experiences’ of Biophilic Design.

These architects’ approaches and the methods applied theoretically and practically to these research sites were unveiled and analyzed through three case studies. A positive correlation regarding the success of the case studies and their Biophilic characteristics is found by analyzing the research sites and critiques from the authorities in written literature. The applicability of the ‘Biophilic Design Framework’ was found and evidenced by the findings from these case studies designed by master architects and located in different climates, regions and contexts.