Building envelope shape design in early stages of the design process: Integrating architectural design systems and energy simulation

The envelope shape, the most salient design characteristic in a building, has significant influence on its energy performance. However, in the early design stages, when the envelope shape is defined, energy performance information is normally nonexistent, due to modeling for energy simulation being a time-consuming task, frequently overlooked at this phase. This paper presents a methodology to assist design decisions regarding the building envelope shape considering its implications on energy performance. Basically, this methodology involves a flexible design system, to generate alternative envelope shape designs, with integrated energy simulation, to calculate the energy demand of each design. Shape grammars are particularly suitable to encode architectural design systems, given their ability to encode compositional design principles. Their downside is the complexity in developing computer implementations. This methodology converts a grammar into a parametric design system and is illustrated with an application to the grammar for Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie houses.     

Simulation modelling in manufacturing process design

The design of manufacturing processes has become more complex as the need for flexibility and speed has increased. Discrete-event simulation modelling tools have advanced and visual interactive modelling software now permits model building using icon-based systems. This case study involves the use of simulation modelling as a tool to help managers understand the complexity of the interactions involved in manufacturing processes, from which they can derive strategies for improvement to current systems and plan for future design. The skills required for successful implementation and the limitations of the approach are also discussed     

Drama,play-making and ambiguity in the early stages of design

A number of techniques from drama and theatre have been appropriated for use in design to stage performances with and about users. In this paper, we address how drama and play-making can benefit design at moments other than staging. Building on the work of drama-in-education scholar Gavin Bolton, we articulate design-relevant learning qualities of using drama in design. We recognise that significant moments of learning about human conditions and technology take place in making and managing staged performances. We point to how significant but often implicit design decisions are taken in the making of a play and study their conditioning effect on the continuation of a design process. The focus of our inquiry is on the development of an oblique angle and its indirect directive qualities as a pre-set framing for using drama in design as well as an emergent framing that follows from using drama in design.     

Method and simulation program informed decisions in the early stages of building design

The early stages of building design include a number of decisions which have a strong influence on the performance of the building throughout the rest of the process. It is therefore important that designers are aware of the consequences of these design decisions. This paper presents a method for making informed decisions in the early stages of building design to fulfil performance requirements with regard to energy consumption and indoor environment. The method is operationalised in a program that utilises a simple simulation program to make performance predictions of user-defined parameter variations. The program then presents the output in a way that enables designers to make informed decisions. The method and the program reduce the need for design iterations, reducing time consumption and construction costs, to obtain the intended energy performance and indoor environment.     

Influence of process variables on the modelling and design of a rotating biological surface

An investigation of the Rotating Biological Surface (RBS) process variables to determine the efficiency of BOD₅ removal from wastewater is presented.Operating parameters including influent substrate concentration, liquid retention time, stage temperature, flow rate, disk surface area, hydraulic loading, disk rotational speed, disk sizes, number of disks, fractional submergence, were evaluated.The process parameters were obtained from a pilot scale RBS plant constructed and applied to the treatment of municipal and industrial wastewater and from the literature.The data were employed to determine a kinetic equation of general application, whch tends to the well-known Michaelis-Menten equation for municipal wastewater and easily degradable substrates.The study shows that influent BOD₅ concentration, the type of substrate, hydraulic loading, stage number and wastewater temperature are the most significant variables predicting the RBS system performance.The model presently developed was verified by field data concerned with the treatment of domestic and low strength industrial wastewater.The obtained model for urban wastewater cannot be applied to high strength industrial wastewaters where poorly biodegradables substrates are present together with easily degradable substrates.The situation has been verified by treating straw paper and tannery wastewaters.For those substrates a more complex equation has been obtained that becomes the Michaelis-Menten type equation at high values of a BOD fraction in the effluent.     

Building information model based energy/exergy performance assessment in early design stages

Due to the rising awareness of climate change and resulting building regulations worldwide, building designers increasingly have to consider the energy performance of their building designs. Currently, performance simulation is mostly executed after the design stage and thus not integrated into design decision-making. In order to evaluate the dependencies of performance criteria on form, material and technical systems, building performance assessment has to be seamlessly integrated into the design process. In this approach, the capability of building information models to store multi-disciplinary information is utilized to access parameters necessary for performance calculations. In addition to the calculation of energy balances, the concept of exergy is used to evaluate the quality of energy sources, resulting in a higher flexibility of measures to optimize a building design. A prototypical tool integrated into a building information modelling software is described, enabling instantaneous energy and exergy calculations and the graphical visualisation of the resulting performance indices.     

Understanding the early stages of the innovation diffusion process: awareness,influence and communication networks

The themes of awareness and influence within the innovation diffusion process are addressed. The innovation diffusion process is typically represented as stages, yet awareness and influence are somewhat under-represented in the literature. Awareness and influence are situated within the contextual setting of individual actors but also within the broader institutional forces. Understanding how actors become aware of an innovation and then how their opinion is influenced is important for creating a more innovation-active UK construction sector. Social network analysis is proposed as one technique for mapping how awareness and influence occur and what they look like as a network. Empirical data are gathered using two modes of enquiry. This is done through a pilot study consisting of chartered professionals and then through a case study organization as it attempted to diffuse an innovation. The analysis demonstrates significant variations across actors’ awareness and influence networks. It is argued that social network analysis can complement other research methods in order to present a richer picture of how actors become aware of innovations and where they draw their influences regarding adopting innovations. In summarizing the findings, a framework for understanding awareness and influence associated with innovation within the UK construction sector is presented. Finally, with the UK construction sector continually being encouraged to be innovative, understanding and managing an actor’s awareness and influence network will be beneficial. The overarching conclusion thus describes the need not only to build research capacity in this area but also to push the boundaries related to the research methods employed.     

Application of cross validation techniques for modelling construction costs during the very early design stage

Building client/owners need estimates of likely construction costs for budgeting purposes early in the procurement process when little detailed design information is available beyond the type, size and location of the facility. One of the more sophisticated techniques available for this purpose is the storey enclosure method, developed by James in 1954. This uses the basic physical measurements of the building envelope, together with an arbitrary set of multipliers, or weights, to forecast tender/bid prices. Although seldom used in practice, James succeeded in showing his method to be capable of significantly outperforming alternative approaches.

The research reported in this paper aimed firstly to reassess James’ claims with new data and secondly to advance his method by using regression techniques to obtain the weights involved. Based on data from 138 completed Hong Kong projects for four types of building, two types of regression models were developed. This involved the use of sophisticated features such as leave-one-out cross validation to simulate the way in which forecasts are produced in practice and a dual stepwise selection strategy that enhances the chance of identifying the best model. An algorithm was also designed to select the appropriate parametric and non-parametric tests for objective and rigorous model evaluation against alternatives.

The results indicate that, contrary to James’ claim, both his original method and the two regression-based alternatives are not significantly better or worse than other models. Surprisingly, the widely used floor area model was found to under-perform in terms of consistency for offices and private housing. For private housing in particular, it was felt that the storey enclosure method was likely to offer good prospects of improvement on those methods currently in use in practice.     

LCA profiles for building components: strategies for the early design process

Construction professionals are required to integrate environmental concerns in the earliest design phases. However, environmental assessments need large amounts of precise data that are typically not available in the early design process, as most variables are still fluid. To address this concern, a new approach explores how environmental information on building components can be simplified for strategic use early in the design process in a Danish context. In this paper, life cycle assessments (LCAs) are undertaken for several hundred typical external wall solutions, based on relevant standards. A full bivariate linear regression analysis is performed, showing statistically significant correlations with strong direct relationships between environmental impact categories. A simplified LCA profile consisting of total primary energy, global warming potential and acidification potential is developed. This simplified LCA profile presents environmental data in a more understandable way, creating a strategic overview that can be easily used by non-technical clients and construction professionals in the early design stages. This has a scientific and statistical validity generated by environmental assessment standards, and creates a parallel between the precision of the approach and its time of use in the design process.     

Information in the design process

John George of the Building Centre Trust, London and Graham Keirle of The Centre for Educational Research in the Construction Industry (CERCI) discuss recent developments in new technology. The independent visual and text database INFODISC is described and the authors show how designers and specifiers can benefit from new stand-alone technology that combines colour images and text.     

谈校园规划中整体式的设计策略

对校园规划中整体式的设计策略，从其产生背景、在校园规划中起到的积极作用等方面进行了论述，指出整体式的设计策略作为一种新的设计手法为校园规划提供了一种新的设计思路。     

Environmental aspects of VOCs evolved in the early stages of human decomposition

In the present study, the time profile, measured as "accumulation", of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) produced during the early stages of human decomposition was investigated. A human cadaver was placed in a sealed bag at approximately the 4th day after death. Evolved VOCs were monitored for 24 h by sampling at different time intervals. VOCs produced were analyzed by thermal desorption/gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (TD/GC/MS). Over 30 substances were identified in total. These included mainly aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons, oxygenated compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, ketones) and organic sulfides. The last were the most prominent class of compounds identified. Eleven compounds were present in all the sampling cycles and constitute a "common core": ethanol, 2-propanone, dimethyl disulfide, methyl benzene, octane, 2-butanone, methyl ethyl disulfide, dimethyl trisulfide and o-, m- and p-xylenes. The last sampling cycle yielded the most abundant compounds in number and quantities. Inorganic gases such as CO2, CO, NH3 and H2S were also determined. The fundamental physicochemical properties of the evolved VOCs were used for evaluating their environmental impacts. It appears that the decay process, which is a dynamic procedure, can provide chemical signals that might be detected and properly evaluated by experts in the fields of forensic sciences, search and rescue units and environmental scientists.     

Integrating energy consciousness in the design process

The design process for an intelligent, energy conscious building which was built, along with the design tools that were applied, is presented. The building, situated in the hot–humid climate of Rehovot, Israel, houses the laboratories and offices of the Weizmann Institute's Environmental Science and Energy Research Department. Alternative bio-climatic design options were proposed and evaluated throughout the detailed design stage. A building energy performance index (BEPI) was established for each alternative. This index reflects the total amount of energy consumption for heating, cooling, ventilating and lighting used per square meter of floor area. Thermal modeling for the different design alternatives were carried out by means of an hourly dynamic simulation model. The model solves simultaneously the heat transfer equations through all exterior walls, taking into account the thermal mass of each external wall as well as internal partitions. The model was extended to include hourly calculations of daylighting and geometrical shading coefficient of the windows, as well as automated and `smart' control strategies.     

The role of modelling in structural fire engineering design

This paper discusses structural fire engineering modelling, and how modelling techniques have allowed practicing engineers to learn lessons about global structural fire performance. Some of these lessons have been adopted in the design of new buildings, and some are also being fed-back into the design process to improve structural performance in fire and mitigate known structural vulnerabilities. The complexity of this modelling has permitted structures to be designed and lessons to be learned about whole frame behaviour in response to fire. This paper examines how the lessons learned from finite element modelling may be further disseminated to the structural engineering community through the creation of full frame design guidance. The benefits of this would be to improve the delivery of structural fire safety by increasing the impact of the discipline across structural engineering, while facilitating and encouraging the use of more in-depth structural fire models as appropriate.     

谈设计过程中的创意思维

介绍了创意的含义,从立意、设计思想的转化方式以及设计的表达手段三方面探讨了如何实现创造性思维的方式,重点论述了设计思想的转化方式,为设计者创造出好的创意打下了良好的基础。     

A state machine approach in modelling the heating process of a building

Process models and their applications have gradually become an integral part of the design, maintenance and automation of modern buildings. The following state machine model outlines a new approach in this area. The heating power described by the model is based on the recent inputs as well as on the past inputs and outputs of the process, thus also representing the states of the system. Identifying the model means collecting, assorting and storing observations, but also effectively utilizing their inherent relationships and nearest neighbours. The last aspect enables to create a uniform set of data, which forms the characteristic, dynamic behaviour of the HVAC process. The state machine model is non-parametric and needs no sophisticated algorithm for identification. It is therefore suitable for small microprocessor devices equipped with a larger memory capacity. The first test runs, performed in a simulated environment, were encouraging and showed good prediction capability.     

建筑设计意向造型表达与场所精神

通过分析晋江市科技工业园标准化厂房的创作实践过程，分析在建筑设计意向造型构想过程中，如何关注和把握场所精神（地域因素、行为因素），同时结合实践进一步探讨场所精神的意向表达方式。     

设计过程的信息传播

阐述了建筑信息及审美信息所包含的内容，研究了审美信息传播在人与建筑的双向互动过程中的作用，指出这种信息为人提供了包括物质性和精神性多方面多层次的含义。     

结构设计过程中概念设计的应用

阐述了建筑结构设计的概念及阶段,结合结构设计的常规过程,强调了概念设计尤其是抗震建筑的概念设计在结构设计过程中的重要地位,以保证建筑物具有可靠的抗震性能。