Search results for: contemporary buildings

Authors: Alireza Mortezaei, Kimia Mortezaei

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Recordings from recent earthquakes have provided evidence that ground motions in the near field of a rupturing fault differ from ordinary ground motions, as they can contain a large energy, or “directivity" pulse. This pulse can cause considerable damage during an earthquake, especially to structures with natural periods close to those of the pulse. Failures of modern engineered structures observed within the near-fault region in recent earthquakes have revealed the vulnerability of existing RC buildings against pulse-type ground motions. This may be due to the fact that these modern structures had been designed primarily using the design spectra of available standards, which have been developed using stochastic processes with relatively long duration that characterizes more distant ground motions. Many recently designed and constructed buildings may therefore require strengthening in order to perform well when subjected to near-fault ground motions. Fiber Reinforced Polymers are considered to be a viable alternative, due to their relatively easy and quick installation, low life cycle costs and zero maintenance requirements. The objective of this paper is to investigate the adequacy of Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) to determine the three dimensional dynamic response of FRP strengthened RC buildings under the near-fault ground motions. For this purpose, one ANN model is proposed to estimate the base shear force, base bending moments and roof displacement of buildings in two directions. A training set of 168 and a validation set of 21 buildings are produced from FEA analysis results of the dynamic response of RC buildings under the near-fault earthquakes. It is demonstrated that the neural network based approach is highly successful in determining the response.

Keywords: Seismic evaluation, FRP, neural network, near-fault ground motion

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Authors: Jian Yao, Chengwen Yan

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Solar shading designs are important for reduction of building energy consumption and improvement of indoor thermal environment. This paper carried out a number of building simulations for evaluation of the energy performance of different shading devices based on incremental costs. The results show that movable shading devices lower incremental costs by up to 50% compared with fixed ones for the same building energy efficiency for residential buildings, and wing panel shadings are much more suitable in commercial buildings than baring screen ones and overhangs for commercial buildings.

Keywords: Solar shading, Incremental costs, Building energy consumption.

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Authors: O. Eren, L. Zakar

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Recycling steel building components is key to the sustainability of a structure’s end-of-life, as it is the most economical solution. In this paper the effects of usage of recycled steel material in tall buildings aspects are investigated.

Keywords: Building, recycled material, steel, structure.

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Authors: Marco Morini, Nicolandrea Calabrese, Dario Chello

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Despite the international commitment of Algeria towards the development of energy efficiency and renewable energy in the country, the internal energy demand has been continuously growing during the last decade due to the substantial increase of population and of living conditions, which in turn has led to an unprecedented expansion of the residential building sector. The RTB (Thermal Building Regulation) is the technical document that establishes the calculation framework for the thermal performance of buildings in Algeria, setting up minimum obligatory targets for the thermal performance of new buildings. An update of this regulation is due in the coming years and this paper discusses some proposals in this regard, with the aim to improve the energy efficiency of the building sector, particularly with regard to social housing. In particular, it proposes a methodology for drafting an energy performance label of new Algerian residential buildings, moving from the results of the thermal compliance verification and sizing of technical systems as defined in the RTB. Such an energy performance label – whose calculation method is briefly described in the paper – aims to raise citizens' awareness of the benefits of energy efficiency. It can represent the first step in a process of integrating technical installations into the calculation of the energy performance of buildings in Algeria.

Keywords: building, energy certification, energy efficiency, social housing, international cooperation, Mediterranean Region

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Authors: Amgad A. Farghal, Dina I. El Desouki

Abstract:

Energy consumption and users’ satisfaction were compared in three LEED certified office buildings in turkey and an office building in Egypt. The field studies were conducted in summer 2012. The measured environmental parameters in the four buildings were indoor air temperature, relative humidity, CO2 percentage and light intensity. The traditional building is located in Smart Village in Abu Rawash, Cairo, Egypt. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The three rated buildings are in Istanbul; Turkey. A Platinum LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a platinum certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 3 days resulting in 13 responds. A Gold LEED certified office building is owned by BASF and gained a gold certificate for new construction and major renovation. The building was studied for 2 days resulting in 10 responds. A silver LEED certified office building is owned by Unilever and gained a silver certificate for commercial interiors. The building was studied for 7 days resulting in 84 responds. The results showed that all buildings had no significant difference regarding occupants’ satisfaction with the amount of lighting, noise level, odor and access to the outdoor view. There was significant difference between occupants’ satisfaction in LEED certified buildings and the traditional building regarding the thermal environment and the perception of the general environment (colors, carpet and decoration. The findings suggest that careful design could lead to a certified building that enhances the thermal environment and the perception of the indoor environment leading to energy consumption without scarifying occupants’ satisfaction.

Keywords: Energy consumption, occupants’ satisfaction, rating systems.

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Authors: Cathy T. Mpanga Kowet, Aghaegbuna Obinna U. Ozumba

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This study examined and identified the inconsistencies, relationships, gaps and recurring themes in literature regarding the relationship between procurement strategies employed in the construction projects for sustainable buildings and realization of sustainability goals. A systematic literature review of studies on the relationship between various procurement strategies and attainment of sustainability outcomes was conducted. Using specific terms, papers published between 2002 and 2018 were identified and screened according to an inclusion and exclusion criteria. Current findings reveal that, although the attainment of sustainability goals is achievable with both traditional and contemporary procurement strategies, only projects delivered using modern procurement strategies are capable of meeting and exceeding targeted sustainability objectives. However, traditional procurement strategy remains the preferred method for most green building construction projects. The results suggest implications for decision makers in considering the impact of selected procurement strategies on targeted sustainability goals, in the early stages of sustainable building construction projects. The study shows that there is a gap between the reported appropriate procurement strategies and what is being practiced currently. Theoretically, the study expands on the literature on adoption and diffusion of contemporary procurement strategies, by consolidating existing studies to highlight the current gaps. While the study is at the literature review stage, deductions will serve as basis for field work involving empirical data.

Keywords: Green building, green construction, procurement method, procurement strategy, sustainability objectives, sustainability outcomes.

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Authors: T. G. L. J. Bikoko, J. C. Tchamba, S. Amziane

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This study focuses on the problem of collapsed buildings within the city of Douala over the past ten years, and more precisely within the period from 2011 to 2020. It was carried out in a bid to ascertain the real causes of this phenomenon, which has become recurrent in the leading economic city of Cameroon. To achieve this, it was first necessary to review some works dealing with construction materials and technology as well as some case histories of structural collapse within the city. Thereafter, a statistical study was carried out on the results obtained. It was found that the causes of building collapses in the city of Douala are: Neglect of administrative procedures, use of poor quality materials, poor composition and confectioning of concrete, lack of Geotechnical study, lack of structural analysis and design, corrosion of the reinforcement bars, poor maintenance in buildings, and other causes. Out of the 46 cases of failure and collapse of buildings within the city of Douala, 7 of these were identified to have had no geotechnical study carried out, giving a percentage of 15.22%. It was also observed that out of the 46 cases of structural failure, 6 were as a result of lack of proper structural analysis and design giving a percentage of 13.04%. Subsequently, recommendations and suggestions are made in a bid to placing particular emphasis on the choice of materials, the manufacture and casting of concrete as well as the placement of the required reinforcements. All this guarantees the stability of a building.

Keywords: collapse buildings, Douala, structural collapse, Cameroon

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Authors: Mahmoud Tarek Mohamed Hammad

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Despite the importance of the role and efforts made by the universities of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in reviving and preserving heritage architecture as an important cultural heritage in the Kingdom, The idea revolves around restoration and conservation processes and neglects the architectural heritage values, whose content can be used in sustainable contemporary architectural works. Educational values based on heritage architecture and how to integrate with the contemporary requirements were investigated in this research. For this purpose, by understanding the heritage architectural values as well as educational, academic process, the researcher presented an educational model of questionnaire forms for architecture students and the staff at the Architecture Department at Al-Baha University as a case study that serves the aims of the research. The results of the research show that heritage values especially those interview results are considered as a positive indicator of the importance of these values. The students and the staff need both to gain an understanding of heritage values as well as an understanding of theories of incorporating those values into the design process of contemporary local architecture. The research concludes that a correct understanding of the heritage values, its performance, and its reintegration with modern architecture technology should be focused on architectural education.

Keywords: Heritage architecture, academic work, heritage values, sustainable contemporary local architectural.

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Authors: Jaturong Som-ard

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The heavy rainfall from 3rd to 22th January 2017 had swamped much area of Ranot district in southern Thailand. Due to heavy rainfall, the district was flooded which had a lot of effects on economy and social loss. The major objective of this study is to detect flooding extent using Sentinel-1A data and identify a number of damaged buildings over there. The data were collected in two stages as pre-flooding and during flood event. Calibration, speckle filtering, geometric correction, and histogram thresholding were performed with the data, based on intensity spectral values to classify thematic maps. The maps were used to identify flooding extent using change detection, along with the buildings digitized and collected on JOSM desktop. The numbers of damaged buildings were counted within the flooding extent with respect to building data. The total flooded areas were observed as 181.45 sq.km. These areas were mostly occurred at Ban khao, Ranot, Takhria, and Phang Yang sub-districts, respectively. The Ban khao sub-district had more occurrence than the others because this area is located at lower altitude and close to Thale Noi and Thale Luang lakes than others. The numbers of damaged buildings were high in Khlong Daen (726 features), Tha Bon (645 features), and Ranot sub-district (604 features), respectively. The final flood extent map might be very useful for the plan, prevention and management of flood occurrence area. The map of building damage can be used for the quick response, recovery and mitigation to the affected areas for different concern organization.

Keywords: Flooding extent, Sentinel-1A data, JOSM desktop, damaged buildings.

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Authors: Lai-Fen Yang

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In this increasingly visual world, how can we best decipher and understand the many ways that our everyday lives are organized around looking practices and the many images we encounter each day? Indeed, how we interact with and interpret visual images is a basic component of human life. Today, however, we are living in one of the most artificial visual and image-saturated cultures in human history, which makes understanding the complex construction and multiple social functions of visual imagery more important than ever before. Themes regarding our experience of a visually pervasive mediated culture, here, termed visual spectacle.

Keywords: Visual culture, contemporary, visual spectacle.

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Authors: Abass Braimah, Maha Hussein Abdallah

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The global ascendancy of terrorist attacks on building infrastructure with economic and heritage significance has increased awareness of the possibility of terrorism in Canada. Many structures in Canada that are at risk of terrorist attacks include government buildings, built many years ago of historic stone masonry construction. Although many researchers are investigating ways to retrofit masonry stone buildings to mitigate the effect of blast loadings, lack of knowledge on the dynamic behavior of historic stone masonry structures under blast loads makes it difficult to ascertain the effectiveness of the retrofitting techniques. This paper presents a review of open-source literature for the experimental and numerical stone masonry structures under blast loads. This review yielded very little information of the response of the historic stone masonry structures under blast loads. Thus, a comprehensive study is needed to understand the blast load effects on historic stone masonry buildings. The out-of-plane response of historic masonry structures to blast loads is investigated by using single-degree-of-freedom analysis. This approach presents equations that can be used effectively in the analysis of historic masonry walls to out-of-plane blast loading.

Keywords: Blast loads, historical buildings, masonry structure, single-degree-of-freedom analysis.

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Authors: S. Feli, S. Tavousi Tafreshi, A. Ghasemi

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The present paper aims at evaluating the response of three-dimensional buildings with in-plan stiffness irregularities that have been subjected to two-way excitation ground motion records simultaneously. This study is broadly-based fragility assessment with greater emphasis on structural response at in-plan flexible and stiff sides. To this end, three type of three-dimensional 5-story steel building structures with stiffness eccentricities, were subjected to extensive nonlinear incremental dynamic analyses (IDA) utilizing Ibarra-Krawinkler deterioration models. Fragility assessment was implemented for different configurations of braces to investigate the losses in buildings with center of resisting (CR) eccentricities.

Keywords: Ibarra Krawinkler, fragility assessment, flexible and stiff side, center of resisting.

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Authors: Suppara Charoenpoom

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The objectives of this research was to design and develop a quality management of the school buildings and environment. A quantitative and qualitative mixed research methodology was used. The population sample included 14 directors of primary schools. Two research tools were used. The first research tool included an in-depth interview and questionnaire. The second research tool included the Quality Business Process and Quality Work Procedure, and a Key Performance Indicator of each activity. The statistics included mean and standard deviation. The findings for the development of a quality management process of buildings and environment administration of the basic schools consisted of one quality business process (QBP) and seven quality work processes (QWP). The result from the experts’ evaluation revealed that the process and implementation of quality management of the school buildings and environment has passed the inspection process with consensus. This implies that the process of quality management of the school buildings and environment is suitable for implementation. Moreover, the level of agreement in the feasibility of the implementation of this plan had the mean in the range of 0.64-1.00 which suggests the design of the new plan is acceptable.

Keywords: Process, Building, Environment.

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Authors: J.-P. Skön, M. Johansson, O. Kauhanen, M. Raatikainen, K. Leiviskä, M. Kolehmainen

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The building sector is the largest energy consumer and CO2 emitter in the European Union (EU) and therefore the active reduction of energy consumption and elimination of energy wastage are among the main goals in it. Healthy housing and energy efficiency are affected by many factors which set challenges to monitoring, control and research of indoor air quality (IAQ) and energy consumption, especially in old buildings. These challenges include measurement and equipment costs, for example. Additionally, the measurement results are difficult to interpret and their usage in the ventilation control is also limited when taking into account the energy efficiency of housing at the same time. The main goal of this study is to develop a cost-effective building monitoring and control system especially for old buildings. The starting point or keyword of the development process is a wireless system; otherwise the installation costs become too high. As the main result, this paper describes an idea of a wireless building monitoring and control system. The first prototype of the system has been installed in 10 residential buildings and in 10 school buildings located in the City of Kuopio, Finland.

Keywords: Energy efficiency, Indoor air quality, Monitoring system, Building automation

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Authors: S. Dorbani, M. Badaoui, D. Benouar

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The goal of the paper is to highlight the effect of the building design and epicentral distance on the storey lateral displacements, for several reinforced concrete buildings (6, 9 and 12 stories). These structures are subjected to seismic accelerations from the Boumerdes earthquake (Algeria, May 21st, Mw = 6.8). Using the response spectrum method (modal spectral approach), the analysis is performed in both longitudinal and transverse directions. The building design is expressed through the fundamental period and epicentral distance is used to represent the earthquake effect variation on storey lateral displacements and interstory drift for the considered buildings.

Keywords: Epicentral distance, interstory drift, lateral displacement, natural period, reinforced concrete buildings.

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Authors: Wenzhe Li, Xiaoyu Ying, Grace Ding

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Architecture plane form is an important consideration in the design of green buildings due to its significant impact on energy performance. The most effective method to consider energy performance in the early design stages is parametric modelling. This paper presents a methodology to program plane forms using MATLAB language, generating 16 kinds of plane forms by changing four designed parameters. DesignBuilder (an energy consumption simulation software) was proposed to simulate the energy consumption of the generated planes. A regression mathematical model was established to study the relationship between the plane forms and their energy consumption. The main finding of the study suggested that there was a cubic function relationship between the depth-ratio of U-shaped buildings and energy consumption, and there is also a cubic function relationship between the width-ratio and energy consumption. In the design, the depth-ratio of U-shaped buildings should not be less than 2.5, and the width-ratio should not be less than 2.

Keywords: Graphic parameterization, green building design, mathematical model, U-shaped buildings.

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Authors: H. Salonen, E. Castagnoli, C. Vornanen-Winqvist, R. Mikkola, C. Duchaine, L. Morawska, J. Kurnitski

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A wide range of health effects among occupants are associated with the exposure to bioaerosols from fungal sources. Although the accurate role of these aerosols in causing the symptoms and diseases is poorly understood, the important effect of bioaerosol exposure on human health is well recognized. Thus, there is a need to determine all of the contributing factors related to the concentration of fungi in indoor air. In this study, we reviewed and summarized the different factors affecting the concentrations of viable fungi in school buildings. The literature research was conducted using Pubmed and Google Scholar. In addition, we searched the lists of references of selected articles. According to the literature, the main factors influencing the concentration of viable fungi in the school buildings are moisture damage in building structures, the season (temperature and humidity conditions), the type and rate of ventilation, the number and activities of occupants and diurnal variations. This study offers valuable information that can be used in the interpretation of the fungal analysis and to decrease microbial exposure by reducing known sources and/or contributing factors. However, more studies of different local factors contributing to the human microbial exposure in school buildings—as well as other type of buildings and different indoor environments—are needed.

Keywords: Fungi, concentration, indoor, school, contributing factor.

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Authors: Andreas L. Savvides

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The proposed paper examines strategies whose aim is to counter the all too often sighted process of abandonment that characterizes contemporary cities. The city of Nicosia in Cyprus is used as an indicative case study, whereby several recent projects are presented as capitalizing on traditional cultural assets to revive the downtown. The reuse of existing building stock as museums, performing arts centers and theaters but also as in the form of various housing typologies is geared to strengthen the ranks of local residents and to spur economic growth. Unlike the examples from the 1960s, the architecture of more recent adaptive reuse for urban regeneration seems to be geared in reinforcing a connection to the city where the buildings often reflect the characteristics of their urban context.

Keywords: Public Housing, Building Rehabilitation, Urban Regeneration, Population Integration

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Authors: E. Di Giovanni

Abstract:

This paper focuses on the contemporary phenomenon of Anti-Gypsyism which diffused widely throughout social representations of the so called “Gypsies”. In Europe and especially in Italy, the media tends to reproduce racist stereotypes and prejudices through a xenophobic depiction of this ethnic group, often offering an ethnocentric point of view. From an anthropological perspective, Roma people are a minority group facing diasporic phenomena across Europe, produced by the host societies.

Keywords: Roma people, Anty-Gypsyism, Ethnocentrism, Mass Media.

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Authors: M. Elassaly

Abstract:

Damage status of RC buildings is greatly influenced by the characteristics of the imposed ground motion. Peak Ground Acceleration and frequency contents are considered the main two factors that affect ground motion characteristics; hence, affecting the seismic response of RC structures and consequently their damage state. A detailed investigation on the combined effects of these two factors on damage assessment of RC buildings is carried out. Twenty one earthquake records are analyzed and arranged into three groups, according to their frequency contents. These records are used in an investigation to define the expected damage state that would be attained by RC buildings, if subjected to varying ground motion characteristics. The damage assessment is conducted through examining drift ratios and damage indices of the overall structure and the significant structural components of RC building. Base and story shear of RC building model, are also investigated, for cases when the model is subjected to the chosen twenty one earthquake records. Nonlinear dynamic analyses are performed on a 2-dimensional model of a 12-story RC building.

Keywords: Damage, frequency content, ground motion, PGA, RC building, seismic.

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Authors: Muhammad Tariq A. Chaudhary

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The tremendous loss of life that resulted in the aftermath of recent earthquakes in developing countries is mostly due to the collapse of non-engineered and semi-engineered building structures. Such structures are used as houses, schools, primary healthcare centers and government offices. These building are classified structurally into two categories viz. non-engineered and semi-engineered. Non-engineered structures include: adobe, unreinforced masonry (URM) and wood buildings. Semi-engineered buildings are mostly low-rise (up to 3 story) light concrete frame structures or masonry bearing walls with reinforced concrete slab. This paper presents an overview of the typical damage observed in non-engineered structures and their most likely causes in the past earthquakes with specific emphasis on the performance of such structures in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake. It is demonstrated that seismic performance of these structures can be improved from life-safety viewpoint by adopting simple low-cost modifications to the existing construction practices. Incorporation of some of these practices in the reconstruction efforts after the 2005 Kashmir earthquake are examined in the last section for mitigating seismic risk hazard.

Keywords: Kashmir earthquake, non-engineered buildings, seismic hazard, structural details, structural strengthening.

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Authors: Mehran Pourgholi , Amin Lotfi Eghlim

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Explosions may cause intensive damage to buildings and sometimes lead to total and progressive destruction. Pressures induced by explosions are one of the most destructive loads a structure may experience. While designing structures for great explosions may be expensive and impractical, engineers are looking for methods for preventing destructions resulted from explosions. A favorable structural system is a system which does not disrupt totally due to local explosion, since such structures sustain less loss in comparison with structural ones which really bear the load and suddenly disrupt. Designing and establishing vital and necessary installations in a way that it is resistant against direct hit of bomb and rocket is not practical, economical, or expedient in many cases, because the cost of construction and installation with such specifications is several times more than the total cost of the related equipment.

Keywords: Explosion Waves, explosion load, Office, Residential Buildings

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Authors: Houda Najeh, Stéphane Ploix, Mahendra Pratap Singh, Karim Chabir, Mohamed Naceur Abdelkrim

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Building systems are highly vulnerable to different kinds of faults and failures. In fact, various faults, failures and human behaviors could affect the building performance. This paper tackles the detection of unreliable sensors in buildings. Different literature surveys on diagnosis techniques for sensor grids in buildings have been published but all of them treat only bias and outliers. Occurences of data gaps have also not been given an adequate span of attention in the academia. The proposed methodology comprises the automatic thresholding for data gap detection for a set of heterogeneous sensors in instrumented buildings. Sensor measurements are considered to be regular time series. However, in reality, sensor values are not uniformly sampled. So, the issue to solve is from which delay each sensor become faulty? The use of time series is required for detection of abnormalities on the delays. The efficiency of the method is evaluated on measurements obtained from a real power plant: an office at Grenoble Institute of technology equipped by 30 sensors.

Keywords: Building system, time series, diagnosis, outliers, delay, data gap.

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Authors: Trevor N. Haas, Thomas van der Kolf

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South Africa has some regions which are susceptible to moderate seismic activity. A peak ground acceleration of between 0.1g and 0.15g can be expected in the southern parts of the Western Cape. Unreinforced Masonry (URM) is commonly used as a construction material for 2 to 5 storey buildings in underprivileged areas in and around Cape Town. URM is typically regarded as the material most vulnerable to damage when subjected to earthquake excitation. In this study, a three-storey URM building was analysed by applying seven earthquake time-histories, which can be expected to occur in South Africa using a finite element approach. Experimental data was used to calibrate the in- and out-of-plane stiffness of the URM. The results indicated that tensile cracking of the in-plane piers was the dominant failure mode. It is concluded that URM buildings of this type are at risk of failure especially if sufficient ductility is not provided. The results also showed that connection failure must be investigated further.

Keywords: URM, Seismic Analysis, FEM.

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Authors: E. Kalcheva, A. Taki, Y. Hadi

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High-rises and placemaking is an understudied combination which receives more and more interest with the proliferation of this typology in many British cities. The reason for studying three major cities in England: London, Birmingham and Manchester, is to learn from the latest advances in urban design in well-developed and prominent urban environment. The analysis of several high-rise sites reveals the weaknesses in urban design of contemporary British cities and presents an opportunity to study from the implemented examples. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to analyze design approaches towards creating a sustainable and varied urban environment when high-rises are involved. The research questions raised by the study are: what is the quality of high-rises and their surroundings; what facilities and features are deployed in the research area; what is the role of the high-rise buildings in the placemaking process; what urban design principles are applicable in this context. The methodology utilizes observation of the researched area by structured questions, developed by the author to evaluate the outdoor qualities of the high-rise surroundings. In this context, the paper argues that the quality of the public realm around the high-rises is quite low, missing basic but vital elements such as plazas, public art, and seating, along with landscaping and pocket parks. There is lack of coherence, the rhythm of the streets is often disrupted, and even though the high-rises are very aesthetically appealing, they fail to create a sense of place on their own. The implications of the study are that future planning can take into consideration the critique in this article and provide more opportunities for urban design interventions around high-rise buildings in the British cities.

Keywords: High-rises, placemaking, urban design, townscape.

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Authors: Ambalika Ekka

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In today’s world, the growing demand for urban built forms has resulted in the production and consumption of building materials i.e. embodied energy in building construction, leading to pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Therefore, new buildings will offer a unique opportunity to implement more energy efficient building without compromising on building performance of the building. Embodied energy of building materials forms major contribution to embodied energy in buildings. The paper results in an approach towards designing an energy efficient apartment building through embodied energy assessment. This paper discusses the trend of residential development in Rourkela, which includes three case studies of the contemporary houses, followed by architectural elements, number of storeys, predominant material use and plot sizes using primary data. It results in identification of predominant material used and other characteristics in urban area. Further, the embodied energy coefficients of various dominant building materials and alternative materials manufactured in Indian Industry is taken in consideration from secondary source i.e. literature study. The paper analyses the embodied energy by estimating materials and operational energy of proposed building followed by altering the specifications of the materials based on the building components i.e. walls, flooring, windows, insulation and roof through res build India software and comparison of different options is assessed with consideration of sustainable parameters. This paper results that autoclaved aerated concrete block only reaches the energy performance Index benchmark i.e. 69.35 kWh/m² yr i.e. by saving 4% of operational energy and as embodied energy has no particular index, out of all materials it has the highest EE 23206202.43  MJ.

Keywords: Energy efficient, embodied energy, energy performance index, building materials.

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Authors: Mohammad Aminnia, Mahmood Hosseini

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Environmental and functional conditions, sometimes, necessitate the architectural plan of the building to be asymmetric, and this result in an asymmetric structure. In such cases finding an optimal pattern for locating the components of lateral load bearing system, including shear walls, in the building’s plan is desired. In case of shear wall in addition to the location the shape of the wall cross-section is also an effective factor. Various types of shear walls and their proper layout might come effective in better stiffness distribution and more appropriate seismic response of the building. Several studies have been conducted in the context of analysis and design of shear walls; however, few studies have been performed on making decisions for the location and form of shear walls in multistory buildings, especially those with irregular plan. In this study, an attempt has been made to obtain the most reliable seismic behavior of multi-story reinforced concrete vertically chamfered buildings by using more appropriate shear walls form and arrangement in 7-, 10-, 12-, and 15-stoy buildings. The considered forms and arrangements include common rectangular walls and L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan, located as the core or in the outer frames of the building structure. Comparison of seismic behaviors of the buildings, including maximum roof displacement and particularly formation of plastic hinges and their distribution in the buildings’ structures, have been done based on the results of a series of nonlinear time history analyses, by using a set of selected earthquake records. Results show that shear walls with U-shaped cross-section, placed as the building central core, and also walls with Z-shaped cross-section, placed at the corners give the building more reliable seismic behavior.

Keywords: Vertically chamfered buildings, non-linear time history analyses, L-, T-, U- and Z-shaped plan walls.

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Authors: Taechit Cheuypoung

Abstract:

The purpose of this research was to design costume by the inspiration from the configurations, colors and decorations of Thai Royal Barges. The researcher investigated the bibliographies and the important of the Thai Royal Water-Course Procession, configurations and decoration techniques of four Royal Barges history. Furthermore, the researcher combined the contemporary architecture which became part of the four costumes with four patterns in this research. The four costumes designed by applied the physical configuration of the Royal Barge with the fold techniques which create the geometry pattern that are part of the Royal Barge-s decoration and contemporary architecture. Therefore, the researcher united each identity color of the barges with each costume composed with the original patterns by adjusted new layout and resized. Lastly, the new attractive patterns appeared. Nevertheless, the beauty of Thai traditional still remain by using Thai painting figure with black and white color which are the prevalent colors for the contemporary architectures.

Keywords: Costume Design, Figurehead, Thai Royal Barges.

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Authors: Xiaoling Dai

Abstract:

Many Chinese artists have used digital photography to create works with features of Chinese landscape paintings since the 20th century. The ‘New Mountains and Water’ works created by digital techniques reflect the fusion of photographic techniques and traditional Chinese aesthetic thoughts. Borrowing from Chinese landscape paintings in the Song Dynasty, the Chinese photographer Yao Lu uses digital photography to reflect contemporary environmental construction in his series New Landscapes. By portraying a variety of natural environments brought by urbanization in the contemporary period, Lu deconstructs traditional Chinese paintings and reconstructs contemporary photographic practices. The primary object of this study is to investigate how Chinese photographer Yao Lu redefines and re-interprets the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity. In this study, Yao Lu’s series work New Landscapes is used for photo elicitation, which seeks to broaden understanding of the development of Chinese landscape photography. Furthermore, discourse analysis will be used to evaluate how Chinese social developments influence the creation of photographic practices. Through the visual and discourse analysis, this study aims to excavate the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity in Lu’s works. According to New Landscapes, the study argues that in Lu’s interpretations of landscapes, tradition and contemporaneity are seen to establish a new relationship. Traditional approaches to creation do not become obsolete over time. On the contrary, traditional notions and styles of creation can shed new light on contemporary issues or techniques.

Keywords: Chinese aesthetics, contemporaneity, New Landscapes, tradition, Yao Lu.

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Authors: Fanny Guay

Abstract:

Building resilience, sustainable buildings, urbanization, climate change, resilient cities, are just a few examples of where the focus of research has been in the last few years. It is obvious that there is a need to rethink how we are building our cities and how we are renovating our existing buildings. However, the question remaining is how can we assure that we are building sustainable yet resilient cities? There are many aspects one can touch upon when discussing resilience in cities, but after the event of Grenfell in June 2017, it has become clear that fire resilience must be a priority. We define resilience as a holistic approach including communities, society and systems, focusing not only on resisting the effects of a disaster, but also how it will cope and recover from it. Cities are an example of such a system, where components such as buildings have an important role to play. A building on fire will have an impact on the community, the economy, the environment, and so the entire system. Therefore, we believe that fire and resilience go hand in hand when we discuss building resilient cities. This article aims at discussing the current state of the concept of fire resilience and suggests actions to support the built of more fire resilient buildings. Using the case of Grenfell and the fire safety regulations in the UK, we will briefly compare the fire regulations in other European countries, more precisely France, Germany and Denmark, to underline the difference and make some suggestions to increase fire resilience via regulation. For this research, we will also include other types of resilience such as technological resilience, discussing the structure of buildings itself, as well as community resilience, considering the role of communities in building resilience. Our findings demonstrate that to increase fire resilience, amending existing regulations might be necessary, for example, how we performed reaction to fire tests and how we classify building products. However, as we are looking at national regulations, we are only able to make general suggestions for improvement. Another finding of this research is that the capacity of the community to recover and adapt after a fire is also an essential factor. Fundamentally, fire resilience, technological resilience and community resilience are closely connected. Building resilient cities is not only about sustainable buildings or energy efficiency; it is about assuring that all the aspects of resilience are included when building or renovating buildings. We must ask ourselves questions as: Who are the users of this building? Where is the building located? What are the components of the building, how was it designed and which construction products have been used? If we want to have resilient cities, we must answer these basic questions and assure that basic factors such as fire resilience are included in our assessment.

Keywords: Buildings, cities, fire, resilience.

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