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With the greatly increased rate of social and economic change in North America since World War II, the flexible/adaptable house has become an alternative to the conventional single-family, detached housing that both exceeds the needs and means of many non-traditional households. Theories and experience worldwide have shown that housing flexibility that is based on user participation allows decision-makers to adapt housing projects to meet the changing general needs. However, technological bottlenecks in the invention of new materials and techniques can restrict flexibility. This study examines construction products that contribute to increased flexibility in wood-frame low-rise housing. / Prefabrication has been the construction industry's approach to achieving housing flexibility. The strategy has been to incorporate flexibility into each subsystem or component through the use of new materials and techniques, in order to create overall building flexibility. The research presented in this thesis shows that different products offer different levels of flexibility, and that combining them does not necessarily produce greater overall flexibility. By examining the positive and negative aspects of these products, the author is able to suggest new directions for the development of future innovations in housing flexibility.

No description available.

No description available.

Although split-level townhouses have proved elusive on the continent, examples are known in the Zähringen towns of modern Switzerland: several of these towns have also developed elevated walkways. There can be little doubt that the split-level townhouse and its variants were the result of commercial pressure, and an insatiable demand, not found again after the early to mid fourteenth century, for numerous small-scale retail units and undercrofts.

This is a study of the local development of Irish Tower houses in West Cork that were built between c.1400-1650; these buildings were mostly built by Gaelic clans or Hibernicised Norman families. The study is based on fieldwork and published historical research. A corpus of individual tower house reports provide the raw data. The purpose has been to date these structures by reconstructing the development of their layout. The internal layout of these features is analysed in terms of function; apparent role changes indicated by these are related to changes in Gaelic society known from text-based research. Where possible, inferences are made from the layout of the regional tower houses to better understand the role they played in Gaelic society. The western part of the Survey region has an exceptionally high concentration of fifteenth-century tower houses. These 'raised entrance' tower houses are argued to be an archaic form directly inspired by relic Anglo-Norman hall houses; another ancestral form in the east part of the Survey region is the 'refuge tower'. The role of the tower house and its associated settlements in post-medieval seigneurial settlement and Gaelic/planter interaction is discussed. Sophisticated construction technology, including the systematic use of ratios and units, has to be considered against perceived notions of Gaelic society. The relationship of tower house construction to a wave of Friary construction in the Fifteenth Century is considered; it is argued that an undocumented fifteenth-century economic boom and population expansion in the Gaelic regions was connected with a need for the elite to define land holdings; the latter was an important departure from traditional Gaelic social organisation. The importance of 'castle studies' as a major tool of Irish archaeology is emphasised and possible inter-disciplinary avenues for further research are suggested.

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No description available.

The differing needs and expectations of building owners, users and society are driving a change towards a technology-intensive, performance-based approach to the design and evaluation of light-frame structures. A critical underlying assumption of the performance-based philosophy is that performance can be predicted with reasonable accuracy and consistency. Development of improved performance prediction technologies, for light-frame structures, requires a detailed understanding of the structural behaviour of light-frame buildings, as well as the environmental loadings to which they are subjected during their lifetime. Full-scale structural testing in the laboratory, combined with analytical modelling, are essential in obtaining this understanding. This thesis presents the results of experimental and analytical investigations into the performance of light-frame structures under lateral loading. The specific objectives of this research are to:1)develop simple, experimentally validated numerical models of light-Frame structures, which can be used to predict their performance under lateral loads, particularly seismic loads; and 2) collect experimental data suitable for validation of detailed finite-element models of light-frame structures.

Thesis (Ph.D.) -- University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, 1999. / Thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 257-262).