When we examine the word “dignity” regarding the built environment, we must look at how the building creates a sense of respect and honor. Buildings placed into communities without thoughtful consideration in how they will make occupants feel is undignified design. Design decisions that place the form of a building over its function allows aesthetics to become the primary criteria for judgement. When it comes to well-designed spaces, they should not just be a matter of aesthetics since they can shape our ideas about who we are and what we deserve. We need design that addresses the inhabitants needs, enhancing their overall experience. This is dignified design. We can ensure good design is a fundamental right by understanding the impact that the education system has on architects, and on shaping design to meet people’s needs. In this paper, I will address how a shift in the Architectural Education system could lead to more dignified design

According to Dr. Chris Donaghue, Ph.D., LCSW, CST, “There are a good number of psychological benefits associated with incorporating sex toys into relationships and self-pleasure”. This is also widely accepted across the pleasure product and medical industries. Pleasure products like sex toys can positively impact users’ quality of sleep, self esteem, and relationships. While there is a wide variety of pleasure products available on the current market, few of these options are suitable for people with limited range of motion. This inequity within the sex toy industry negatively impacts the wellness of people with limited range of motion. These negative impacts range from lowered self esteem and happiness to greater stress and conflict within sexual relationships both with others and with themselves. This project seeks to provide a meaningful design solution for people with limited range of motion, and provide insight on the design considerations that must be taken within the pleasure product industry to better address the needs of people with limited range of motion.

This creative is established in the field of business, with an emphasis on fashion, art, and<br/>the creation of a body-positive exhibit. Using qualitative research from experts on fashion<br/>curation, we seek to create, curate and pitch a fashion exhibit. Using the information we gather<br/>from experts from two different museums, we will create a new age exhibit that pushes the<br/>boundaries of fashion as art through our theme of body positivity.

An exploration of how architecture can react to American hyper-consumption of clothing products. With the goal to raise public awareness and create systemic, sustainable change in the fashion industry, this project synthesizes each part of manufacturing, including production, consumption, and post consumption, into one local campus. By bringing manufacturing back into the daily rhythms of an urban context and combining a prototypical mix of fashion related programs, ethically minded consumers are formed.

The intent of this study is to develop a new eco-cultural design model of development for the Salt River watershed and surrounding areas with renewed respect for the land in modern society. It includes both conceptual and practical community guides to facilitate and catalyze a new community-driven typology of planning prepared for rapid community change and climate challenges. This study includes the review of prominent existing projects, both regionally and globally, with expertise in the areas of urban development, culture and place keeping/making, ecology and water management. This study aims to exhibit the diverse components of urbanism and its effects on the Salt River corridor, surrounding urban ecosystems and climate. This thesis argues for simultaneous and codependent cultural and ecological growth and healing, and its necessity for sustainable urban development. Lastly, an urban revitalization framework is manifested in a community-oriented handbook based on key findings to produce a unified vision executed by watershed community co-design of the Phoenix metropolitan area.

This project was inspired by Dr. Kelli L. Larson’s research which disproved three common landscaping misconceptions in the Phoenix Valley. The first misconception states that newcomers, not long-time Phoenicians more often have and prefer grassy lawns instead of xeric, desert-adapted landscapes when actually the opposite is true. Secondly, the rise in xeric landscapes is not due to personal choice but rather a variety of other factors such as developer decisions. Finally, Dr. Larson’s research also disproves the assumption that people who possess pro-environmental attitudes correspondingly demonstrate sustainable landscaping behavior, and finds that people with those attitudes actually tend to irrigate more frequently in the winter months. Debunking these misconceptions is important because the long-term impacts of global climate change could have effects on water use in the desert southwest, and promoting water conservation in urban residential landscaping is an important step in the creation of sustainable water use policy. <br/><br/>The goal of my project was to make this information more accessible to broader public audiences who may not have access to it outside of research circles. I decided to create a zine, a small batch, hand-made mini-magazine, centered around disproving these myths so that the information could be distributed to broader audiences. I conducted informal stakeholder interviews to inform my design in order to appeal to those audiences, and constructed a 16-page booklet which debunked the myths and encouraged critical thinking about individual water use and urban landscaping habits. The zine included hand-painted illustrations and was constructed as a physical copy with the intention of eventually copying and distributing both a physical and digital version. The purpose of this project is to create a way of accessing reliable information about urban landscaping for residents of the Phoenix Valley, where the climate and geography necessitate water conservation.

The United States of America has the highest incarceration rate in the world per capita. In 2019, the American criminal justice system held almost 2.3 million people in prisons. The current prison system is failing us. Eighty percent of prisoners return to jail within 5 years of being released because the prison system focuses on punishment, not rehabilitation, making reintegration into society nearly impossible for released criminals. Solitary confinement, abuse and a lack of resources only make this worse. Roughly 600,000 prisoners are released every year, back into your community to interact with your children and family, after years and years of sensory deprivation, violence, and being medically neglected. Unfortunately, there are hundreds of contributing factors and products of the mass incarceration crisis, but the most threatening and in need of attention are: the overcriminalization of drugs, inmate treatment and living conditions, the arrest and trial process, the prioritization of punishment over rehabilitation, and long sentence lengths for non-violent offenders.<br/><br/>The goal of my project is to bring awareness to this often overlooked problem. Throughout my research, I faced many unsettling emotions including fear, anger and deep sadness. While I do not wish to cause you pain, I noticed the impact my emotions had on my response to this issue. Therefore, I included disturbing content in my design to bring out similar emotions in you, because you should be fearful and angry about what is happening in our country.

This Thesis presentation and book review is on social media manipulation and the issue of media algorithms developing a close minded perspective in individuals. It discusses the mechanics of these algorithms, the definition of social media manipulation, and the neutral negative impacts on the polarization of our country. It also goes into detail on how I applied this research to design projects throughout 4th year of the Visual Communication Design Program.