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This research aims to collect empirical evidence on the nature of design by investigating the question: What role do procedural activities (where each design step reflects a unit in a linear process) and contextual activities (an action based on the situation, environment and affordances) play in the generation of creative insights, critical moves, and the formation of design concepts in the reasoning process? The thesis shows how these activities can be identified through the structure of a linkograph, for better understanding the conditions under which creativity and innovation take place. Adopting a mixed methodology, a deductive approach evaluates the existing models that aim to capture the series of design events, while an inductive approach collects data and ethnographic observations for an empirical study of architectural design experiments based on structured and unstructured briefs. A joint approach of quantitative and qualitative analyses is developed to detect the role of evolving actions and structural units of reasoning, particularly the occurrence of creative insights (‘eureka’ and ‘aha!’ moments) in the formation of concepts by judging the gradual transformation of mental imagery and external representations in the sketching process. The findings of this research are: (1) For any design process procedural components are subsets in solving the design problem for synchronic concept development or implementation of the predefined conceptual idea, whereas contextual components relate to a comprehensive view to solve the design problem through concept synthesis of back- and forelinking between the diachronic stages of the design process. (2) This study introduces a new method of looking at evolving design moves and critical actions by considering the time of emergence in the structure of the reasoning process. Directed linkography compares two different situations: the first is synchronous, looking at relations back to preceding events, and the second is diachronic, looking at the design state after completion. Accordingly, creative insights can be categorised into those emerging in incremental reasoning to reframe the solution, and sudden mental insights emerging in non-incremental reasoning to restructure the design problem and reformulate the entire design configuration. (3) Two architectural designing styles are identified: some architects define the design concept early, set goals and persevere in framing and reframing this until the end, whereas others initiate the concept by designing independent conceptual elements and then proceed to form syntheses for the design configuration. Sudden mental insights are most likely to emerge from the unexpected combination of synthesis, particularly in the latter style. In its contribution to design research and creative cognition this dissertation paves the way for a better understanding of the role of reflective practices in design creativity and cognitive processes and presents new insights into what it means to think and design as an architect.

Effective multidisciplinary design collaboration and increased effort during the feasibility and early design stages in architecture provide the greatest potential for added value and overall success of a built environment project, from the initial design to construction and operation of a building. This can be facilitated, supported and promoted through human-computer interactions’ technologies that allow the integration of physical and digital realms. The aim of the thesis is to investigate the concept design processes assisted by computer mediation for bridging smoothly the pre Building Information Modelling stages and the concept development with the more advanced design stages in an efficient and effective way. For that purpose, an extensive literature review and a number of interviews with senior practitioners of the Architecture, Construction and Engineering industry assisted in clearly identifying the design workflow problems and drivers. Furthermore, concept design processes have been investigated and analysed and a Conceptual Design Stages Protocol was developed to guide design teams through the feasibility stages. The Protocol was further supported by an Information Technology environment for concept design; a design software applicable to a Tangible User Interface has been developed for benefitting multidisciplinary design teams from the haptic and visual experience, which is substantial for externalising, communicating and sharing ideas among them. Three different multidisciplinary studies were undertaken that tested both the current paradigm of concept stages and the proposed Conceptual Design Stages Protocol together with the computational design tool. Based on these results a number of conclusions were drawn, with the most important ones being the promotion of cognitive and conceptual activities due to the organised approach supported from the Conceptual Design Stages Protocol, the maturity of the concept ideas owning to the multidisciplinary approach and the importance of technology for promoting collaborative design and bridging different professional viewpoints. Overall, the research provided a deep understanding of the concept stage design processes and the effect of technology on design activities and it contributed in providing an enabling context for pre Building Information Modelling collaboration; hence, the research has the potential to improve the final design solutions for buildings, by making it possible for multidisciplinary teams to work collaboratively and to involve stakeholders more effectively at the early stages of the design process.

Complexity science has been attracting the interest of researchers and professionals due to the need to enhance the efficiency of understanding complex system dynamics and structure of interactions. Complexity analysis has been used as an approach to investigate complex systems that contain a large number of components interacting with each other to accomplish specific outcomes and develop specific behaviour. The design process is considered as a complex action that involves a large number of interacting components, which are ranked as design tasks, design team, and the components of the design process. These three main aspects of the building design process consist of several components that interact with each other as a dynamic system with complex information flow. In addition, the design product – which is the building – consists of several systems that interact with each other; those systems are the architecture, structure, building envelope, power, and lighting. In this research the goal was to uncover the complex structure and the dynamics of information interactions through the design process stages based on RIBA. In addition, the research aimed to uncover the structure and the dynamics of the building systems interactions. The methodology that was used is a design research methodology; it analysed and modelled the interactions of the design process as a network and accomplished the typology of each design process stage as well as the dynamics of the process from the first stage to the technical design stage. In terms of the building systems design, the networks will modelled the interactions between each building system’s components and the components that interact with other systems’ components to indicate the typology of the building design product. Moreover, the dynamics of the building design product were applied by modelling the interactions from the architectural spaces to the interactions of the building systems’ components. Furthermore, the findings of those interactions were imported into network analysis software to identify measures that indicate the characteristics of the network typology of each building design stage as well as the characteristics of each building system’s interaction. In addition, the results highlight the characteristics of the dynamic of the building design stages through the process as well as the dynamic of the building design systems.

The demand for BIM implementation within the AEC industry has recently increased. BIM has therefore, becomes one of the significant methods for solving and preventing issues within the AEC industry. This has motivated governments and owners to require BIM within their projects, such as the UK and the USA. As the result, many construction companies and architectural firms have taken the initiative to implement BIM within their systems. However, there are some barriers that organisations face in terms of the implementation of BIM such as the lack of experts in BIM, resources, hardware and software and so on. Many scholars believe that BIM must be embedded within the AEC education sector to help close the gap between AEC education and AEC industry. Hence, several AEC schools have introduced BIM within their curriculum. Also, there are two BIM frameworks (BIM Academic Forum BAF initial Framework and IMAC framework) to embed BIM within the AEC education. However, none of these two have been evaluated yet and both of them are very general to use for Undergraduate Architecture Programmes. To dates, academics have not reached a consensus in how BIM should be taught within undergraduate architectural programmes. In term of The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), the vision is unclear for BIM within the AEC industry and AEC education. There is some evidence that reveal the need for BIM in KSA such as the number of BIM jobs required and some other non-academic resources calling for the need of BIM to be implemented within Saudi projects. However, the number, size, cost and complexity of projects in KSA which have suffered from many issues such as payment plans, delays, lack of Saudi experts and discontinued projects is worthy for motivating the Saudi Government and construction companies to implement BIM. Therefore, the aim of this study is to propose a strategic approach for embedding BIM within undergraduate architectural programmes in KSA. This aim is achieved through the development and understanding of the current teaching strategy of BIM within AEC education sectors and the industry perspectives in relation to BIM implementation. To achieve this aim quantitative and qualitative methods of data collection were adopted in order to asset the level of utilization of BIM within the AEC industry and education sector in KSA. As well as identifying educational gaps for utilizing BIM in architectural programmes in KSA. Misunderstanding BIM, the lack of development within architecture education sector in KSA and unacceptable output for AEC industry are three of the most significant findings from the quantitative data analysis. The qualitative data helped to outline the method of how BIM should be embedded. Most interviewees had realised the benefits of collaboration using BIM, and indicated their preface to introducing BIM to Integrated Design Studio with high support from other modules. The proposed BIM framework was validated by academics and professionals within KSA using semi-structured interview whereby, most comments were focusing on developing the level of awareness of BIM amongs academics. This study proposed a number of recommendations for AEC industry in KSA, academics who are interesting in integrating BIM within the curricula and researchers with an interest in BIM within AEC industry.

Background The improvement of energy efficiency in buildings is widely promoted as a measure to mitigate climate change through the reduction of CO2 emissions. Thermal regulations worldwide promote it, for both new and existing buildings. Among the existing stock, traditional and historic buildings pose the additional challenge of heritage conservation. Their energy efficiency upgrade raises the risk of provoking negative impacts on their significance. Aims and Methodology This research used an approach based on impact assessment methodologies, defining an inital baseline scenario for both heritage and energy, from which the appropriate improvement solutions were identified and assessed. The measures were dynamically simulated and the results for energy, CO2, cost and comfort compared with the initial scenario, and then being further assessed for their heritage impact to eventually determine the most feasible solutions. To test this method, ten case studies, representative of the identified typological variants, were selected among Oporto’s traditional buildings located in the World Heritage Site. Findings and Conclusions The fieldwork data revealed that the energy consumption of these dwellings was below the European average. Additionally, the households expressed that their home comfort sensation was overall positive. The simulations showed that the introduction of insulation and solar thermal panels were ineffective on these cases in terms of energy, cost and comfort. At the same time, these measures pose a great risk to the buildings’ heritage value. The most efficient solutions were obtained from behavioural changes and DHW retrofit. The study reinforced the idea that traditional buildings performed better than expected and can be retrofitted and updated at a low-cost and with passive solutions. The use of insulation and solar panels should be disregarded.

This thesis examines the role ofvalues in the conservation ofruins in England and Norway. It provides an historical overview ofthe emergence ofruins in the landscape and how the values that are associated with ruins have developed. time. The physical process ofruination is described, together with how ruins have become significant over time and how such significance has affected the way in which ruins are conserved. The.growth ofconservation and the development ofconservation legislation are also examined, with reference to international conservation charters. As the values associated with ruins become more complex, the ways in which ruins are preserved have also developed. In particular, the shift from preserving the legibility ofa ruin to preserving its narrative value is examined, with a consideration ofproblems ofretaining immaterial values such as authenticity, aura and genius loci. While some elements cannot be retained in the conservation process, ruins may also add value to the surroundings, by contributing to urban environments, through the introduction ofnew architectural elements or through re-use. Consideration is also given to the rediscovery of 'green values', where Nature is used as a preservative. Complementary case studies from the Middles Ages to the twentieth century are employed to illustrate differing approaches to ruin conservation and to highlight specific issues. These range from examples ofclassic ruin conservation to more radical and innovative solutions and illustrate how conservation has developed as new values take precedence in the light ofchanging attitudes in society, and as awareness increases ofthe wider significance ofruins. The study assesses the extent to which non-measurable values govern attitudes to the conservation ofruins and whether universally applicable guidelines can be drawn up which include such values, given that every country has its own climate, history and sense ofnational identity.

Historic dwellings in the UK make up 20% of all homes and are amongst the most poorly performing part of the English housing stock in energy use terms, with the lowest SAP rating and highest average annual CO2 emissions. The degree to which proposals to retrofit the UK housing stock can reduce emissions depends on current energy use and CO2 emissions. Current methodology relies on national aggregated statistics to provide average energy use data; historic buildings as a subset cannot be segregated. In order to assess realistic carbon reduction potential it is vital that performance of historic dwellings is established from disaggregated data sources or with validated and stakeholder accepted models that can accurately prescribe energy use in an affordable, easy to use and transparent manner. This research attempts to begin such orthodoxy. The benchmark derived in this study suggests that historic buildings in Bath use less energy than predicted by national, regional, and local average energy use, but they are not low energy dwellings. They therefore require retrofit adaptations to reduce CO2 emissions. Procedures to assess the potential for such measures are of primary importance as some adaptations impact on both fabric and aesthetics. It is therefore imperative that the contribution such alterations make towards reducing CO2 emissions can be weighed against the change they may make to our built heritage. Using the Passive House Planning Package modelling tool, predictions of energy use were provided and validated against actual energy use. The model demonstrated accuracy in predicting energy used when incorporating a reduction factor to reflect intermittent heating patterns. The model was then used to assess the retrofit adaptation measures with a suite of measures incorporating renewable energy technology, delivering CO2 emission reductions approaching 80%. This approach can be applied beyond the UK as the model permits the use of local weather data sets. In establishing a benchmark of energy use in domestic historic dwellings, this work assists in developing suitable and effective solutions that are replicable and durable, permitting built heritage to meet UK emissions targets through the provision of empirical data to evaluate any alteration to fabric or aesthetics against the benefit of carbon savings.

This thesis aims to explore the temporal and material limits of architectural drawing through the question of urban representation. Challenges posed by the latter are used to put pressure on the fixity of drawing conventions, in order to expand architectural drawing’s range of concerns to the transitory conditions of space that emerge between order and event. Since the eighteenth century, the city has acted as the ground and mirror of the productive, economic, social and epistemological breaks and turns that have marked the passage to modernity. This radical transformation of the city and its modes of experience and inhabitation, combined with the visual culture that has since emerged, have raised questions of presence and representation with regards to both the city and its image in architectural drawing. This thesis aims to bring these questions into the frame of the current concerns in architectural representation, following the deconstructive and cartographic approaches that emerged in the latter half of the twentieth century and the effects of a rising virtuality. As the understanding of space has shifted from the idea of an a priori extensity of vacuum versus matter to a dynamic multiplicity of relations, respectively architectural representation is understood as itself a transaction: a complex oscillation between the real and the mental. This research becomes concerned with exploring drawing as a situated experience that involves the inhabitation of both the space of the city and the drawing. Such a consideration of drawing as a distinct spatiality consequently brings to the fore a dynamic and productive reciprocity between the city and its representation. In order to engage with the intangible projective spatiality of drawing and the negotiations that take place in the movement of representation, the thesis examines the processes involved in the representation of the urban through the immersive site-specificity of installation. Installation is proposed as a way of drawing in space, and thus of foregrounding the question of the space of drawing. The thesis unfolds as a movement across the space of drawing, through a series of essays and corresponding installations which cumulatively form a survey of a city, while performing a close inquiry into the agency of the distinct elements of drawing. Edinburgh serves as both the object and the place of performance, the testing ground, for this act of observation and representation.

Bei der Bewältigung der Folgen des demographischen Wandels stehen viele Länder vor der Herausforderung, staatliche Dienstleistungen weiterhin flächendeckend anzubieten. Hierbei geht es darum, Dienstleistungen des öffentlichen Sektors wie Schulen, Krankenhäuser, Feuerwachen, etc. möglichst gleichwertig und kosteneffizient bereitzustellen, wenn die Standorte optimal gewählt sind. Bei dieser Optimierung sind Bevölkerungsdaten eine wichtige Eingangsgröße. Das Ziel dieser Arbeit bestand darin, die sehr spezifische und aufgrund ihrer multifaktoriellen Problemstellung hochkomplexe Thematik der Standortanalyse und -planung zu generalisieren und eine benutzerfreundliche Desktop-Applikation auf Basis der von Esri Inc. bereitgestellten ArcGIS-Technologie (Location-Allocation-Analyse, Einzugsgebiet-Analyse etc.) zu entwickeln. Dabei wurde sich auf die Location-Allocation-Funktionalität fokussiert. Die beiden Hauptkomponenten dieser sind Einrichtungen und Bedarfsstellen bzw. -punkte. Einrichtungen können sowohl bestehende als auch potenzielle Standorte darstellen. Bedarfsstellen repräsentieren die Anzahl der Bürger oder Verbraucher in einem bestimmten Gebiet. Um dieses Ziel zu erreichen, wurde ein generisches Modell für Standortanalysen und -planungen entwickelt und bereitgestellt. Dies geschah nach einer Exploration von Ausgangsdatenquellen zu Einrichtungen öffentlicher Dienstleistungen und Bedarfsstellen zur Bevölkerungsverteilung in Deutschland. Die benutzerfreundliche Applikation wurde gemäß der Methodik des Software Engineerings entwickelt. Hierbei wurden eine Anforderungsanalyse und Entscheidungen des Entwurfsprozesses, konkret, berücksichtigt. Die Implementierung wurde als Add-in namens „LA-Application“ in ArcGIS Pro integriert. Ein Add-in ist eine Erweiterung des Desktop-GIS auf Basis des ArcGIS Pro SDK for .NET. Abschließend wurde ein Testdatenbestand für die Komponenten „Einrichtungen“ und „Bedarfsstellen“ erstellt, um Lösungen für die Analyse und Planung von Standorten aufzuzeigen.:Inhaltsverzeichnis Abkürzungsverzeichnis Vorwort 1. Einleitung 2. Theorie und verwandte Arbeiten 3. Exploration von Ausgangsdatenquellen 4. Bereitstellung eines generischen Modells für Standortanalysen und -planungen 5. Implementierung einer benutzerfreundlichen Applikation 6. Anwendung der Applikation und Auswertungen 7. Zusammenfassung und Ausblick Glossar Literaturverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis A. Geschäftsverteilungsplan der Landeshauptstadt Dresden B. Anforderungsspezifikation C. Erklärungen zur Testdatenbestandskomponente 'Network Dataset' D. Digitale Anlagen Erklärung über die eigenständige Erstellung der Arbeit