Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Kimberly W. Kramer / Trusses are an efficient way to span long distances with minimal material required. This report is a parametric study of the different design and construction aspects for a 300’-0” span, steel, Warren type truss. The study specifically examines the vertical loading on the truss, including components and cladding wind loading. The engineering variables investigated are panel point location, steel shape size and type, steel grade, member orientation, and connection design. Each of these aspects are studied independently with major results accounted for later in analysis. This allows for the most economical truss by reviewing each alternative possibly not commonly used in steel construction. However, trusses require special consideration in constructability compared to a common steel structure such as an office building. Because of this added complexity, constructability issues are also examined after all parametric studies are completed for engineering variables. Transportation regulations and restrictions, steel erecting (including the construction loading of the ASCE 37-02), and temporary structures are considered for the 300’-0” span steel truss. The results of the engineering design variables are documented showing the benefit of using W-Shape members with higher grades of steel in select members, and the rotation of members for truss stability and simplified connection detailing. Each of the multiple construction considerations are presented, providing the most recent information available at the time of this report.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Julia Keen / Conserving energy and minimizing utility consumption are primary focuses in educational facilities because annual budgets are often limited. Consequently, building energy audits are an effective tool to assist in evaluating existing buildings and identify methods of reducing annual energy use. Therefore, this report describes what building energy audits are, how they can be performed, and how to discover energy saving measures from the results. Specifically, the research considers physical building features and building operations and evaluates them for possible modification to reduce energy use. Proposed solutions vary from no-to-low cost options to larger capital investments. The research also analyzes building components for economic viability using the net present cost and payback period as the basis of comparison, permitting recommendations. The audit procedure and the economic analyses are presented in a manner that allows individual educational facility managers to assess their own buildings.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Fred Hasler / Ground-coupled heat pump (GCHP) systems use the ground as a heat source or sink that absorbs heat from or rejects heat to the soil, respectively; this is referred to as the geothermal heat exchanger. Apart from the geothermal heat exchanger, there are two other main system components that make up a GCHP system: heat pumps and circulation pumps. This report studies four GCHP pumping systems and makes comparisons between the four using life-cycle cost analyses for six building models. The goal for this analysis was to discover commonalities between the models in order to provide designers insight into which pumping system is the most cost effective. The analysis was performed by first creating energy models to obtain system and zone load information, as well as system part-load data and geothermal heat exchanger performance. From the zone load information, heat pump selections were then performed to indicate the worst case piping path that is required for pump head calculations. Piping layouts were created to establish pipe lengths for the pump head calculations as well. Other piping components such as valves and fittings and the air separator pressure drops were also calculated. Once the pump head calculations were complete for each system, pump schedules were created. From there initial unit and installation costs were determined for each pump, as well as their replacement costs. The part-load data from the energy models were then used to obtain annual pump energy consumption and pump utility cost. Finally, assumptions were made to establish regular and preventative maintenance requirements for each pumping system. Initial and replacement unit costs, annual utility cost and regular and preventative maintenance costs were the components used in the life-cycle cost analysis. Each of these components was converted to 30-year projected costs and added to create a total life-cycle cost for each pumping system. Comparisons were then made and the results showed that a primary pumping system with VFD control and 100% redundancy was the most cost effective system. However, there are other considerations such as controllability, flexibility and availability that might persuade designers to choose one of the other alternate solutions.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Fred Hasler / This paper discusses the color rendition capabilities of light emitting diodes (LEDs) and their relationship with the current standard for color rendition quality. The current standard for judging light source color rendering properties, known as the color rendering index (CRI), has come under heavy scrutiny in recent years with the introduction of LED in commercial lighting applications. LEDs, depending on construction type, have highly structured spectral distributions which do not scale well under the color rendering index; moreover, CRI for LEDs has become disjointed with the subjective measurement of human color preference. Unfortunately, given the multidimensional nature of color, an all-encompassing scale with a single rated value for color rendition capabilities of a light source has proven difficult to establish. An analysis on the human visual system is first discussed, establishing how the visual system first detects color in the eye and subsequently encodes that color information through a color-opponent process, formulating conscious color appearance. The formation of color appearance leads into a discussion on human color vision and the creation of three dimensional color space, which is subsequently used for the measurement of color fidelity (CRI) of consumer light sources. An overview of how LED lamps create light and color is then discussed, showing that the highly structured spectral distribution of LED lamps is often the cause of discrepancy within the CRI system. Existing alternatives to the CRI system are then compared and contrasted to each other, and the existing CRI system. A final color preference study was conducted where four LED lamps where compared to a reference lamp of equal correlated color temperature. Observers were asked to rate the various test lamps against the reference lamp in terms of vividness, naturalness, overall preference, and individual color preference. It was found that no significant difference was found between the first three dimensions measured but significant trend lines existed for the preference of individual colors when illuminated by either LED lamps or the reference source. Recommendations are then made for how the lighting industry could move forward in terms of color metrics.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Kimberly Waggle Kramer / This document addresses East Africa's need for safe, sustainable, and affordable housing and promotes use of bamboo as a structural material by providing adequate information and resources to evaluate the strength of bamboo. East African housing is a leading issue for the region because of the population growth, specifically in urban areas where housing resources and infrastructure cannot match the population growth. The solution may be bamboo housing as an alternative to urban slums. The bamboo species Oxytenanthera abyssinica is available throughout East Africa region and has been accepted and implemented in traditional housing throughout the region. This document references the resources provided by the International Code Council (ICC), International Organization for Standardizations (ISO), and International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) for the use of bamboo as a structural material in buildings. This paper also discusses the mechanical strength of bamboo, and the structural behavior of bamboo in buildings. In addition, bamboo construction shows the tools, connections, and preservatives used in the field. The design example, using Oxytenanthera abyssinica, provides the traditional layout and materials for an Amhara house, and calculations show the practicality of bamboo in structural design. This document has led to recommendations for engineers and the bamboo industry, including the development of a codebook for bamboo design, promoting bamboo farms and plantations, creating a uniform connection, and increasing bamboo's service life. From research, bamboo is in need of further development before being considered a viable structural material to provide for commercial use but would suffice for the housing shortage in East Africa.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering / Kimberly Waggle Kramer / Reinforced concrete slabs are one of the most common components in modern building construction. Reinforced concrete slabs with plastic voids slabs are a new and innovative type of structural, concrete slab system developed to allow for lighter self-weight of the structure while maintaining similar load carrying capacity of a solid slab. Plastic voided slabs are capable of reducing the amount of concrete necessary to construct a building by 30 percent or more. This reduction can be beneficial in terms of financial savings as well as building performance. This report examines a two-way, reinforced concrete slab with plastic voids construction in comparison to traditional flat plate reinforced concrete slab construction. The design process for plastic voided slabs is directly compared with traditional two-way flat plate reinforced concrete slabs through a design comparison of typical bays of 20’ by 20’ (6m by 6m), 25’ by 25’ (7.6m by 7.6m), 30’ by 30’ (9m by 9m) and 35’ by 35’ (10.7m by 10.7m). The traditional slab design process follows the ACI 318-11 Building Code Requirements for Structural Concrete chapter 13 Direct Design Method, while the plastic voided slab design process is modified from the BubbleDeck Design Guide for compliance with BCA using AS3600 and EC2. Sizes of traditional slab bays are compared to sizes of plastic voided slab bays. Results of the comparison study are presented.

I denna uppsats har historiserande arkitektur studerats. Uppsatsen är avgränsad till att undersöka området Jakriborg, en stadsdel i medeltida arkitektur byggd 1999 i Hjärup, Skåne (Sverige). Detta för att få en djupare förståelse för hur äldre, historiska referenser inom arkitektur kan uppfattas vid nybyggnation samt för att undersöka hur Jakriborg framställs i media. En konflikt som finns gällande Jakriborg är skillnaden i arkitektoniska värderingar mellan arkitekter och lekmän. Samtidigt som Jakriborg har visat sig vara omtyckt bland allmänhet och Jakriborgs invånare, provocerar gestaltningen en del av arkitektkåren. Den främsta kritik som riktas mot Jakriborg är att stadsdelen utger sig för att vara något det inte är och har ett formspråk som inte speglar vår tid. Ett av incitamenten för beställarna när de planerade Jakriborg var motvisionen– en monoton och avskalad 1960-talsarkitektur. För att uppnå motsatsen till detta planerade de enligt ledord som variation, detaljrikedom, småskalighet och funktionsblandning. Slutsatserna pekar på att det är mycket viktigt att skapa en förståelse mellan arkitekter, beställare och allmänhet gällande arkitektur, speciellt med tanke på hur viktig gestaltningen är för människor som ska bo och vistas i de nybebyggda områdena samt med tanke på att arkitektur bör hålla över tid. / In this bachelor thesis I have studied newly constructed buildings that are built with historicizing architecture. The thesis is limited to examining the area Jakriborg, a neighborhood of medieval architecture built in 1999 in Hjärup, Skåne (Sweden). This is to gain a deeper understanding of how the older, historical references in architecture can be seen in new construction as well as to examine how Jakriborg is portrayed in the media. A conflict about Jakriborg exists, about the difference in architectural values between architects and laymen. While Jakriborg have shown to be popular among the public and Jakriborg's inhabitants, the architecture provokes some architects. The main criticism of Jakriborg is that it is pretending to be something it is not and has a design that does not reflect the present time. One of the incentives for the developer when they planned Jakriborg was their contrary-vision - a monotonous and stripped 1960-century architecture. To achieve the opposite of this they planned with keywords as variety, details, small scale constructions and mix of functions. The conclusions suggest that it is very important to create an understanding between architects, developer and the general public regarding architecture. Especially considering the importance of the design for people living and staying in the newly built areas, as well as that architecture should maintain over time.

I denna studie undersöks hur grönskan i staden kan bidra till restorativa värden och med positiva värden för människors hälsa, välbefinnande och livskvalité. Syftet är att undersöka hur gröna inslag kan tillföra människan restorativa värden samt vilka intentioner arkitekturprofessionen har med planering av gröna inslag i staden. Genom design som metod mynnar studien ut i en verktygslåda för implementering av grönska i en befintlig stadsdel. För att undersöka detta har fallet Varvsholmen i Kalmar valts ut där metoden för implementering av grönska testas. Med hjälp av den insamlade teorin samt empirin prövas hur en restorativ miljö kan implementeras genom design på olika skalnivåer.   Restorativa miljöer används som studies teoretiska utgångspunkt för att undersöka stadsplanering och implementeringen av grönska i efterhand samt hur grönska kan bidra till människors välbefinnande. Denna studie utgår således från att gröna miljöer i staden kan påverka människors mående. Studien tillämpar aktör-nätverksteori som metodansats där intervjuer genomförs och dokument studeras. Empirin i denna studie utgörs av tre intervjuer av djuplodande karaktär tillsammans med tre plandokument. Utifrån semistrukturerade intervjuer har tillgång till arkitekturprofessionens tankar och erfarenheter fåtts, detta med utgångspunkt i de utvalda plandokumenten.  Resultatet av empirin påvisar skillnader i arkitekturprofessionens intentioner med grönska där det identifierats att planarkitekten menar att grönska främst ska bidra till pulshöjande aktiviteter medan landskapsarkitekten snarare menar att grönska ska skapa rumslighet. Gemensamt för de intervjuade arkitekterna samt de analyserade plandokumeten är avsikten att med grönska skapa sociala mötesplatser. Författarna av denna studie identifierar träd, flera träd, växthus/odling, gräs, buske, bänk, flyttbara sittelement, grönt vindskydd, hav samt pergola som gröna element som kan implementeras i ett redan befintligt område och sedan kombineras genom principerna avstånd, mängd, placering och skala, detta för att skapa en restorativ miljö. Huruvida alla aktörer i det identifierade nätverket enrolleras (eng: enroll) ifrågasätts av studiens författare då planarkitektens intresse inte kan anses uppfyllas av de utvalda elementen. Det ifrågasätts också om planarkitekten kan anses ingå i det identifierade nätverket på grund av att planarkitekten har liten möjlighet att påverka implementering av grönska.  För att verka för människors hälsa och välbefinnande genom grönska och bidra till att människor upplever restorativa värden av naturen bör kompensation ske när grönska tas i anspråk för bebyggelse. Detta eftersom det skapar möjligheten att säkerställa att ny grönska implementeras när befintlig tas i anspråk.

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Following a review of the paradigmatic context of broch towers in 2012, a revised standard model (the RSM) was defined. The then prevailing paradigm supports a view of broch remains as single monuments of highly variable form that continued in use over perhaps a millennium or more, without significant modification of their original tectonics i.e. their people/constructed-space relationships. This thesis challenges the pre-2012 paradigm by testing the hypothesis that brochs were built to the standard canonical form of the RSM and that their apparent diversity results from anthropic and, or natural modification, not design variability. The fieldwork tests could but did not find refutation of these hypotheses in the observable evidence and offered more profound interpretations of several surviving feature-types. The loading on the stone lintels of the entrance passage through the massively built outer wall and the structurally overladen inner wall created a major structural challenge, evoking a complex engineering solution. Its elements were individually noted pre-2012 but the significance of the engineering response to compression management had not been identified. This structural response was necessary for a tall structure with massive loads, and meaningless without one and its elements are therefore, jointly and severally, clear diagnostics of a broch tower. The entrance engineering was probably the inspiration of one individual or of a small group of master mason-types, not vernacular responses, contra the 2012 paradigm. Isolated stacked voids high in the inner wall are relict features indicative of significant modification of the inner wall. Other anomalous features are shown to be relict stacked void fragments. The East/West differences in brochs across Scotland have long been identified and these are generally attributed to their lithologies. Accepting that, this thesis argues that the principal differences are attributable to the social processes that gave rise to centralisation of settlement around, in and over brochs in the east and north, possibly during the first century BC, and the absence of centralisation in the west; perhaps also explaining the differences in the scale and composition of the artefact assemblages between the two zones. The canonical form facilitates calculation of the relative social costs of broch building for hard-rock and sedimentary stone types. This indicates that the costs of building, increase between 16-, and 32- fold over the buildable range of brochs. Constraints of design down-scalability, design weakness in ground loading, and design cost were major constraints on the mind of the broch builders. Canonicity and the limitations of drystone building technologies predicated specific forms of decomposition on the canonical broch, further complicating their autobiographies and their conservation: the main challenge now being that of finding ways to conserve the evidence for a sequence of processes while conserving the products of those processes.