Thesis

Award-winning jazz musician, Dave Grusin said, “Outside-the-box thinking works best if you know what’s inside the box first.” When applied to the defining characteristics of leadership and management, this philosophy reveals how business, ideas, and profits are propelled forward through a clear understanding of the qualities of strategic management. This thesis sets out to analyze business situations of an architectural firm in order to obtain a unique point of view of a firm’s operational actives, structure, and policies. In order to be of most value to the participating architectural firm, this thesis results in a detailed report that includes an evaluation of its industry structure, an assessment of the firm’s resources and capabilities, as well as a set of detailed recommendations designed to help the firm improve its competitive position.

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In 2009, the American Community Survey revealed that social equality gaps in the US had reached the highest on record. Never has there been more need for social equality than now, and many experts predict that social divisions are only going to worsen. Furthermore, with the current state of the economy, the amount of resources available to non-profit organizations that attempt to mitigate social inequality has drastically shrunk. Organizations, such as TOMS Shoes, American Apparel, the One Percent, and many others have adopted corporate social responsibility practices into their business models to try to make a positive difference in the world. This project seeks to use the shared connection of society and the built environment to offer a unique approach to provide the basic human need of shelter, while simultaneously providing an innovative process for giving back to charitable organizations. Furthermore, this project seeks to demonstrate that there is a strategic way to design and construct buildings that mitigate the social impact of new construction and, through this process, extend the scope of sustainability beyond energy savings into social equity.

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Winston Churchill said, “We first shape our buildings, and then our buildings shape us”. This observation of the relationship that humanity and the built environment share with one another is one of extraordinary insight. When it is applied to the concept of sustainability, it becomes clear that society and the built environment are forever locked in a codependent circle. Under close inspection, sustainability is not merely thinking green for the environment, or for the sake of our pocket books, but also for the continuation and cultivation of thriving, successful, and responsible new generations. The dream of a Utopian society, comprised of self-actualizing people, can only spring from those who are sensitive to social sustainability; who seek to reinforce the ideas of sincerity and preservation as deliberate foundations for urban growth. This project seeks to identify a strategy for a real estate development intervention by designing a vehicle for introducing quality of life principles through a place-specific environment and the reallocation of private funds to the public sector.

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