Date of Award
Spring 5-31-2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master in Interior Architecture [Adaptive Reuse]
Department
Interior Architecture
First Advisor
Jeffrey Katz
Second Advisor
Elizabeth Debs
Abstract
This thesis envisions a proposal to adaptively re-purpose Rhode Island’s extant industrial building stock into affordable housing tailored to the needs of its older and more vulnerable citizens. Architectural dignity, in terms of older citizens amidst this housing crisis, is the creation of living environments that honor their autonomy, comfort, and identity through design interventions that provide accessible, luminous, breathable, and socially enriching spaces, reaffirming their rightful place within the community. With humanistic care and logical rigor, it establishes a mathematical framework for assessment and execution, anchored in five criteria: light, air, space, accessibility, and livability, and presents itself in the form of an idea book. A collection of design interventions is derived from the five criteria to visualize what architectural dignity means for older adults and to encourage designers and developers to assess and retrofit existing housing with thinking beyond regulations and codes.
Recommended Citation
Ma, Weiyi, "FROM INDUSTRIAL BUILDING TO AFFORDABLE SENIOR HOUSING: AN IDEA BOOK BEYOND CODE" (2025). Masters Theses. 1386.
https://digitalcommons.risd.edu/masterstheses/1386
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 International License.
Included in
Community Health Commons, Furniture Design Commons, Historic Preservation and Conservation Commons, Interior Architecture Commons, Interior Design Commons, Other Architecture Commons, Other Mental and Social Health Commons, Social Justice Commons, Urban, Community and Regional Planning Commons