Date of Submission
Spring 5-12-2026
Degree Type
Dissertation/Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Architecture
Department
Architecture
Committee Chair/First Advisor
Christopher Welty
Abstract
Architecture is traditionally understood as the design of spaces for people. Buildings, cities, and landscapes are typically evaluated through how humans move through them, occupy them, and experience them. My thesis begins by asking a simple shift in perspective: what happens when architecture is designed not for humans, but for other living beings, specifically aquatic life?
My research focuses on understanding how spatial design principles can be used to create better environments for fish and aquatic ecosystems. Rather than treating aquariums as decorative objects or displays for human enjoyment, I approach them as lived-in spaces where fish are the primary inhabitants, users, and clients. If aquatic life spends its entire existence within these environments, then the spaces they inhabit deserve the same level of care, intentionality, and spatial consideration that architecture gives to human life.
To build this connection, my thesis positions gardens as the bridge between architecture and aquascaping. Gardens exist between nature and design. They are constructed spaces shaped by human intention, yet they remain alive, changing, and responsive to natural systems. Because of this, gardens offer a shared spatial language that both architecture and aquascaping already understand. They organize movement, frame experience, balance control and freedom, and choreograph how space is revealed over time. These same concerns are central to the design of aquascapes.
My research examines three major garden traditions: French, English, and Japanese gardens, each of which offers a distinct way of thinking about space. French gardens emphasize hierarchy and order through strong geometry, axial organization, and controlled perspectives. English gardens prioritize flow, creating organic movement through curves, transitions, and naturalistic compositions. Japanese gardens focus on symbolism and journey, using layering, sequence, and concealment to reveal meaning gradually as one moves through the space. Together, these garden types form a spectrum of spatial thinking, from strict control to natural freedom to layered narrative.
I analyze selected case studies from each garden tradition using Christopher Alexander’s five aspects of the city: paths, edges, districts, nodes, and landmarks. This framework allows me to study gardens not just as visual compositions, but as spatial systems that guide movement, define boundaries, organize experience, and create moments of focus. By applying this analytical lens, I am able to translate garden principles into architectural logic, and then connect that logic to aquascaping through composition, balance, spatial sequencing, and care for living systems.
Alongside garden literature and case studies, I study aquascaping through Takashi Amano’s Nature Aquarium World, which frames aquascaping as the careful composition of living environments rather than the decoration of a tank. Amano’s work reinforces the idea that space, not objects, is what ultimately shapes experience and well-being for aquatic life.t
In this thesis, space is defined as the environment in which a living being exists and experiences the world. Space is not just physical dimensis or form, but the relationships between movement, openness, enclosure, and perception over time. I believe space should be primary in design, and that form should emerge from the experience the space creates. By defining space this way, designing for aquatic life becomes an architectural act rather than a purely technical or aesthetic one.
As architectural tools and methods continue to evolve, I also used artificial intelligence as a research and organizational tool throughout this project. AI assisted in synthesizing readings, comparing ideas across literature, and helping clarify relationships between gardens, architecture, and aquascaping. It did not generate design decisions or replace critical thinking, but functioned as a support tool within the research process, allowing me to focus more deeply on analysis, interpretation, and spatial reasoning.
Ultimately, this thesis is not about fish tanks or buildings in isolation. It is about understanding how shared spatial principles can create harmony between life, nature, and structure. If architecture has the power to improve the environments we design for people, then it also has the responsibility to consider the quality of spaces we create for life below the surface.