After gathering an overview of the subject matter(s) associated with your thesis project, now you can hone in on its building type(s) and potential interior/architectural design issues and challenges.
Your project may involve multiple building types, e.g., a student center may contain housing, recreational, dining, and even educational/learning facilities. Occasionally, the building type of your project may be unique or a hybrid combining several building type(s). For example, for an outpatient medical facility for autistic children, you may need to compare and synthesize your research on the following two or more building types: Outpatient medical facilities for children and learning environment for autistic children. Similarly, for a multi-disciplinary child advocacy center, you may need to survey the following building types and standards: Community centers for children, counseling and psychiatric facilities for children, and spaces for law-enforcement professionals, etc.
Using the same resources outlined below, you can also conduct your research on any potential interior/architectural design issues or topics associated with your thesis project, e.g., is it a healing environment for patients with post-traumatic stress disorder or a housing facility for patients with Alzheimer's disease?
The following are also excellent resources for finding case studies for your project as well. Similarly, you may need to bring together several case studies to reference the specific building type of your project, e.g., an outpatient facility for children and a school for autistic children for a project on an outpatient facility for autistic children. A case study can serve as a good or bad example for your project. Gleaning the positive elements from a good case study and learning the lessons from a bad one are part of your design process. But, nonetheless, the case studies should be similar/comparable to your thesis project, e.g., using a multi-family housing project, a temporary shelter, or a community center for abused women and children as a case study for a shelter for victims of domestic violence.
The Building T
ype Basics series is an excellent book collection to start your building type research. The library has current copies of these titles (some of them are also available electronically via Ebook Central):
These books explain the nature of those building types and often provide case studies with plans and images. These excellent sources will help you begin and formulate the basic structure of your project.
Cover from: Perkins, Bradford. Building Type Basics for Senior Living, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2013. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/nysid-ebooks/detail.action?docID=1211620.
Searching for journal articles may allow you to find literature and research specifically related to the building type(s) and design issues/topics pertaining to your project. They are also excellent sources for finding case studies relevant to your project.
NYSID Library's subscription to EBSCOhost service includes the following three major databases: Avery Index to Architectural Periodicals, GreenFile, and Art & Architecture Source. Combined, it provides you with access to full-text articles of over 600 journals. Although many of the records in the Avery Index are citations only (i.e., not full-text articles), it is very likely that either NYSID's Library or NYU's Bobst Library may have the print versions of the journals quoted in the citations. The Library can also issue a METRO pass to our users for consulting a particular book or journal in the Avery Library of Columbia University.
When searching EBSCOhost, a general search of a building type using a single keyword or term, such as housing, offices, hotels, hospitality, or museums, will probably generate a lot of irrelevant results. However, you can narrow your search by adding additional keywords to your Boolean search to find articles specifically related to your project/research topics, such as "office design" AND "tech companies," "housing" AND "abused women or domestic violence," or "restaurant design" AND "fusion."
Similarly, you may find articles on specific design issues/topics, such as "healing spaces," or "lighting" AND "autistic children" in EBSCOhost databases.
You may also find case studies relevant to your project in EBSCOhost databases by adding the term "case studies" or "floor plans" into your building type search, e.g., "libraries" AND "case studies," or "office design" AND "floor plans."
The following full-text electronic journals is also an excellent resource for finding literature and case studies on specific building types or interior design issues:
You can conduct your search in these full-text e-journals using the same search strategies mentioned above.
If your topic is related to sustainability, healthcare design or wellness, Building Green may be a good resource to consult. BuildingGreen is an online resource providing case studies and topical articles about subjects related to sustainable design and green building materials. It has both an extensive Knowledge Base which you can browse by subject, or a targeted keyword search option. BuildingGreen is located under "Other Resources" on the Library's homepage.
The NYSID Library has a significant collection of print books on various building types. Keyword searching of common building-type terms, such as libraries, healthcare, housing, museums, offices, retail, hospitality, restaurants, etc., in the Library's online catalog, Bobcat, should generate a lot of relevant results. However, do scroll down and click on the subject headings on the cataloging record of a relevant book to expand your search, e.g., the terms "domestic architecture" and "work environment" may be useful for your research on housing and offices respectively.
Similarly, you should be able to find print books on some general or common interior design/architectural issues and topics, such as healing design/spaces, environmental psychology, cognitive learning, and evidence-based design. However, if your design issues/topics are specific, you may need to use the indexes of those print books relevant to the building type(s) of your project to locate the information, e.g., the effect of lighting and colors in learning and healthcare environments, sense of security in temporary shelter/housing environment, etc.
For case studies, you can certainly add the term "case studies" to our building-type search to narrow your search, e.g., "libraries case studies." But, again, you may need to use the table of content and/or the index of a book to locate any case studies relevant to your project.
Although the e-book collection in Ebook Central contains primarily textbooks and recommended readings for other NYSID courses, they are also excellent resources for your research on building types and case studies. Apart from the following four full-text e-versions of the building type basics series, Ebook Central also contains many e-books on other building types, such as office design, commercial interiors, healthcare environments, and hotel design. A keyword search of a general building type should generate a lot of relevant results. Many of them are textbooks or recommended readings for courses, such as Contract I (office and restaurant), II (retail and hospitality), and III (healthcare environments).
Many e-books in Ebook Central may also contain chapters and/or case studies relevant to your research topics, design issues, and project. However, you may need to use the "Search within book" feature of EBook Central's interface, or browse the table of content or the index of an e-book to locate the information or case studies.
The following two special websites are also excellent resources for your research on building types, design issues, or case studies.
Architectural Record: The site offers over 800 building types studies that have been written up in past issues starting in 2000 (under Projects-- Building Type Studies). The studies offer analysis of a particular building type, with photos, drawings, specifications, descriptions and design solutions. Additional projects are added monthly. To access the full-text version of the Architectural Record site, you will need to retrieve the username and password on the Portal, on the Library Resources page under the "Student" drop-down menu. Note: For earlier content, the NYSID Library has an extensive collection of hard copy back issues of Architectural Record beginning in 1953. These are available in the NYSID Library behind the magazine display.
ArchDaily: It is an excellent free online resource for case studies (under the "Projects" tab).
