• Sustainable rooftops : public schools and educational facilities in Beirut 

  Jabbour, Marie Noel (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2022-12)

  As cities are growing today, various problems are appearing and created by this growth; and Beirut is no exception. The main outcome of this is investments in land for construction, which leads to lack of open spaces and especially green spaces. Beirut is suffering from the over crowdedness of people and buildings and most importantly the lack of green spaces. On the other hand, rooftops are usually large empty spaces that resemble mostly to the empty lots before the construction of their respective buildings, so they are an urban layer that can make up for the lack of open spaces in the city, ...
• Under the custody of the uncanny : a reading of the "New Aesthetic" with the contemporary frame 

  Khairallah, Jad (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2015)

  My dissertation explores the influential power of visual culture in reforming how we aesthetically behave with relation to contemporary television images. This influence depends on psychological and cultural structures that are linked to the television imagery, and more precisely to visually disturbing images. The approach to this question aims at examining a new aesthetic generated by the means of its television persona. I intend to tackle this by, first, drawing on the meaning of the weird and strange imagery that underlies the new aesthetic. Second, to recognize the new aesthetic tangible ...
• Towards connecting with children : developing creative arabic illustration talents in Lebanon 

  Bezirjian, Aline Grace (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2015)

  This research presents the problem of Arabic illustrated picture books in the Lebanese market that need to be enhanced in relation to the design and illustration aspects for children aged five to seven. The aim of this thesis is to increase readership and learning in the Arabic language among children in Lebanon and guide illustrators in enhancing the quality of their picture book illustrations. Several aspects appropriate for the development of picture book illustration guidelines for children were reviewed including communication through visual language, the contemporary approach of including ...
• Occupant visual comfort and energy consumption in Mar Mikhael buildings of the twentieth century (1951-1964) : a study of existing conditions and architectural solutions in densely populated residential neighborhoods 

  Maatouk, Samar (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)

  This thesis examines visual comfort of existing buildings in densely populated residential neighborhoods of Mar Mikhael, in specific those built between 1951 and 1964 (which constitute the largest number). Visual comfort is one of the most overlooked aspects while designing residential buildings, even though it promotes a user’s circadian rhythm (a 24-hour cycle that optimizes a body’s processes) and health. Thus, there is a lot of room for improvement in the design of facades because opening positioning, window to wall ratio, shape, and shading, have a major role to play in occupant ...
• The impact of sustainable daylight performance according to decree 9091 on southern classroom orientation in the coastal zone of Lebanon - Beirut 

  Saliba, Anastasia (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)

  This paper examines the impact of daylight performance on classroom orientation in Beirut district and its suburbs. Daylight conditions in educational buildings have been of interest since the discovery of artificial light in the nineteenth century. Classroom orientation is crucial in optimizing daylight performance, which can positively impact student health, learning achievements, and psychology. In Lebanon, Government Decree No. 90911 recommends classrooms to have a southern orientation, with the longest part of the southern facade facing south. However, the decree does not provide any further ...
• Optimizing vernacular building design towards net-zero energy 

  Moussa, Christelle (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)

  Construction industries may play a critical role in dominant energy usage as pressure mounts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency investments can be a profitable way to reduce carbon emissions. Solar buildings with Net-Zero Energy are emerging as a promising way for reducing buildings' environmental impact. In Lebanon, there is a transition from vernacular to modern architecture in the early twentieth century. It is tightly related to the implementation of concrete in construction and the formation of the national cement industry, which paved the way for the creation of ...
• Green classrooms and student performance impact of daylight and indoor air quality on grade 10 students achievement in Lebanon 

  Jurdi, Janan (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2017-01)

  This research intends to uncover the relationship between learning environments and pupils’ academic outcome. What difference would the qualities of light and air make in the actual academic ambiance and in the process of transforming incoming students into active learners? With theoretical foundation, the research proceeds to look at the integration of green principles of design inside classrooms and their effects on pupils’ achievement. What do students really need? According to recent pedagogy research, some of these needs mainly are comfortable thermal and visual conditions, and healthy ...
• Inclusive packaging : design guidelines to improve packaging visibility for people with low vision in Lebanon 

  Habib, Massoud George (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2014)

  People with low vision form a user group that graphic designers and visual communicators often fail to address. Product packages are just one example of a design output that may not need of low vision clientele. This study consolidates and summarizes literature relevant to the design needs of people with low vision including literature on inclusive design, visibility of colors and pictures, readability and legibility of type and packaging semantics. The aim of this thesis is to set guidelines for packaging designers and introduce the needs of people with low vision in their design practices. To ...
• Buildings converted for Covid-19 patients : ventilation in the isolation rooms monasteries in Kesserwan converted for the Covid-19 patients 

  Simonian, Jessica (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2020)

  The emergence of respiratory diseases and pandemics through history such as the severe acute respiratory disease (SARS), the Spanish flu, and the current Covid-19 epidemic highlight the importance of ventilation in the transmission of airborne diseases. This research examines the buildings in Lebanon converted for hosting the cases of the Covid-19, focusing on the three pillars of sustainability which are the economic-social and environmental. This pandemic is affecting all the countries in the world, and concerns have risen about future epidemics that can cause the death of the population. In ...
• Generative identity between non-durability and resistance : identity, identity design and redesign and the role of generative grammar 

  Moubarak, Rita (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2016)

  Durability is a term that has widely affected the design industry in general and the graphic design industry in particular over the last decade. It has given the design profession in general a problem-solving aspect and a fundamental role in creating and promoting more responsible design solutions. In the graphic field, a logo design plays a partial but important role in the communication of an identity: A logo is for “identification” of a business or product in its simplest form. Case studies show that logo design is not durable. It is periodically re-designed, as an attempt to update the ...
• Action research on rate of screen reading comprehension : depicting the increased rate of computer screen reading comprehension of Georgia & Verdana Latin typefaces vs those of Arial & Times New Roman in the history of interior design course at NDU 

  Chamoun, Marlyse (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2012-01)

  This thesis observes the readability and the legibility of the selected fonts and sizes in the information web pages by the performance of web designers and how this issue may affect the rate of comprehension while reading on screen. It considers how four different fonts may influence the rate of comprehension, the typefaces Georgia, Verdana with their sizes 8, 10, and 12 pt, which are made to be read on screen in information web pages in comparison to those of Arial and Times new Roman that are displayed on the web pages on computer screens by the web designers. A problematic question was raised ...
• Uncovering acholi classical past : investigating design interpretation of acholi ethnic visual designs 

  Achaa, Millie (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2015)

  I have read in Aidoo’s Dilemma of a Ghost that it is sometimes assumed by the west that Africans were incapable of coherent reasoning. With this ambiguous implication, one is forced to conclude that, this meant that African ethnicities and their visual art designs lacked the matter and the form which made the other groups of mankind supposedly think more logically. I intend to dispel such myths as far as Acholi of Uganda are concerned by introducing a peak look through the designs of living expressed in the Acholi ethnicity. I hope, through this little work that scholars of other academic ...
• Elvish remedy for the uncanny valley : theoretical framework for character design and development 

  Melki, Henry (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2015)

  As technology evolved, its user reliance increased in many domains as it provided a range of new opportunities in the process of creativity and design. The notion concerning whether these advancements are improvements or not, is debatable since they gave certain results but were also the reason behind the emergence of a new problematic. In the field of animation, it is not strange to see the re-occurring term “The Uncanny Valley” in critiques of realistically animated films. This term was proposed by Dr. Masahiro Mori to describe a drop in likeness of realistically rendered characters after they ...
• Thermal performance of passive envelope systems in liwan typology: case of Mid-Mountains regions in Lebanon 

  Fatayri, Bassel (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2022)

  Vernacular architecture (VA) can be a model for sustainable architecture (Mirahmadi and Altan, 2017), while maintaining harmony with the context, environment, climatic conditions, and uses local available materials. Vernacular practices vary by the use of techniques, materials, and methods of construction in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment (Al Tawayha et al., 2019). It bears a cultural identity that is often lost in some rural areas and has developed strategies that are considered as climatic responsive, minimize the energy consumption, and assure the indoor thermal ...
• Suggested new design for nutritional facts label found on Lebanon products 

  Hamwi, Sarah Abed El Kader (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2013)

  The issue of health is a major concern for most people; therefore, I have chosen a field that combines this concern with my discipline, namely, design. This project will tackle the issue of nutritional facts label design, which has a direct correlation with consumers' health, since, according to the Food and Drugs Administration (FDA), the nutritional facts label is the source of information that communicates the serving size and lists the weights of the macronutrients (fats, carbohydrates, protein) of the recommended dietary allowance of a 2000-calorie diet (the average of calories required per ...
• Maaluma: effective in inducing affect 

  El Khoury, Leyla (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2013)

  Preoccupied with the Arabic language’s complexity, and striving to find one common pointer of educational strength, this thesis, epistemological in its core, deals, manifestly with typographic issues. Nevertheless, it engages in the cultural, psychological, and neurological in order to serve the educational. It builds upon substantiated historical study of the genetic descent of the letters in general and the Arabic alphabet arbitrariness in particular with their respective cross-cultural interpretations along with related criticisms. From the naïve Cuneiform system of writing to the most elaborate ...
• Color and ornamentation as an expression of social status and its impact on the lebanese architectural development 

  Melki, Habib (USEK Press, 2009)

  Color and ornamentation are remarkable elements present trough diverse forms in the Lebanese architecture. Throughout history, Lebanon has been the crossroad of a variety of cultures and civilizations. Diverse currents coming from the East and the West including the Canaanites, the Phoenicians, the Greek, the Roman, the Franks, the Mamluk, the Ottoman rule and the French mandate carried new forms. Many concepts, new technologies and socio-cultural aspects merged with the local tradition to unfold into what we currently know as Lebanese architecture. The rich historic background contributed to ...
• The impact of the class environment on high school students’ learning in public schools in keserwan, Lebanon 

  Farhat, Tina (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2021)

  Public schools guarantee education that is invariably available to pupils, even to those who have financial difficulties. Being easily accessible, attending such schools has remained high until today; in 2019, US public institutions educated over 50.8 million scholars, to which the national average number of pupil per public school was about 526 scholars (Brian D. Ray, 2021). Conversely, public schools in Lebanon do not enclose such high number of students due to their unsatisfactory reputation: most of these schools are in bad conditions, outdated, and have limited classroom resources. Also, ...
• Wadia Sabra : universal scale and new unit of interval measurement 

  Daou, Joe (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2021)

  In his writings, Wadia Sabra (1876-1952) announced the creation of a “Universal Scale” and a “New Unit of Interval Measurement”. However, it is noteworthy that this particular work lacks precise information related to its numbers. This study aims to reconstruct and reveal the related numbers and tables, by researching Wadia Sabra’s archive. Also, this study reviews the acoustical and musical characteristics of this particular work of Sabra, its validity, and its possible new input to the musical field.
• Educational wellbeing driven by despecialized contextual design 

  El Hage, Yasmin Hamze (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2018)

  Many university students work in poorly designed facilities and these environments negatively affect them, by causing physical discomfort and posing a threat to their wellbeing. Additionally, studies show that the physical environment can affect students’ wellbeing, satisfaction, and productivity. This research explores the effect of desks in educational facilities on students’ wellbeing. It proposes to address the characteristics of desks that would enhance physical wellbeing among students through a despecialized approach. The research investigates the current state of desks within the three ...

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