No description available.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, issues once thought isolated to large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Mexico City—increased storm water runoff, the urban heat island effect, deterioration of air and water quality, and loss of habitat and biodiversity—now threaten a region once described as "lotus-land" (Wynn and Oke, 1992, xi). European research supports the ability of green roofs to mitigate many of these ill effects of urbanization. The investigation undertaken by this thesis explores the role green roofs might play in the Greater Vancouver's transition to sustainable design and development. The thesis limits the scope of its investigation to inaccessible, extensive systems, alternately known as eco-roofs, which are relatively lightweight and low-maintenance. The paper reviews the historical and contemporary development of eco-roofs, including past and present motivations for their use and the evolution of construction methods. It then summarizes the potential impacts—aesthetic improvements, increased biodiversity, protection of the roof membrane, meso and microclimate mitigation, improved building insulation, and stormwater management—currently attributed to green roof implementation. The remainder of the thesis evaluates which of these potential impacts apply to Vancouver, in light of the city's physical contextual setting, and the ambient influences of the Greater Regional District The reported benefits of green roofs are numerous, and incremental contributions to improving environmental conditions should not be discounted or trivialized, however, in Vancouver and its region, eco-roofs' greatest impact, and consequently financial feasibility, resides in the mitigation of stormwater volumes. Eco-roofs' detain rainfall and slow runoff from the roof during and immediately following a storm event. This reduces peak flows, and corresponding CSO and flooding problems, and encourages a more natural hydrology by increasing the chances for stormwater infiltration. Storm runoff, and issues related to it, constitutes a persistent and growing problem in the GVRD. The ability of an eco-roofs even thin profile to mitigate this pressing issue could result in widespread, and even unforeseen, positive ramifications.

No description available.

Walden (1854), by the American author Henry David Thoreau (1817--1862), is explored as a work of literature with significant implications for environmental ethics in contemporary architectural practice. This reading challenges ethical models which depend for their legitimacy on determining a static representation of the world around us. Thoreau's literary discussion of the construction of his shelter and the subsequent revealing of a view of nature is offered as a more complete approach to finding a significant discourse concerning the relationship between humanity and the earth. The relevance of the poetic imagination is asserted through exploring the many aspects of the metaphors of verticality and flight in Walden . Thoreau's effort is extended into a brief discussion of Australian architect Glenn Murcutt (born 1936) and a consideration of the natural world in light of the phenomenon of a gift.

South Africa is a developing country at the dawn of its democracy, confronting the challenge of providing suitable lives for its people, whilst still trying to compete in a new global village and face other challenges of the 21st century. In this milieu of pressing problems, constraints of time and budget, the solution is almost always a compromise. Short-sighted quick solutions are the order of the day. A lack of good strategic planning leads to isolated and disconnected developments... each construction conceived in a vacuum. But the built environment is too permanent for short-sighted solutions. The significance of design in this sphere reaches far beyond the superficiality of trend and fashion. It is the structure within which we live our lives, and the quality of our existence depends on it. Furthermore, future generations will deal with the consequences of our ill-considered blunders for hundreds of years to come. South Africa especially, cannot afford to waste limited resources on building inefficient systems. Although each isolated intervention may meet its short term goal, the ripple effect of these inefficiencies on a macro scale is unacceptable. Besides been counter-productive and hindering the countries long term development goals, the inefficient use of energy and other limited natural resources has a vastly damaging effect on our precious natural environment. An understanding and respect for the quality of our build environment needs to be installed in our collective consciousness. Only once the gravity of each seemingly inconsequential development is fully appreciated, will we be able to construct a cohesive built environment, providing the best opportunities for future success. This research seeks to establish the design criteria for a Kwa-Zulu Natal Institute for the Built Environment. This would be a centre for facilitating positive interactions between individuals from various backgrounds involved and interested in improving the quality of our built environment and promoting interest to the public. / Thesis (M.Arch.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008.

When designing a building, the architect has typically relied on the input of outside experts to determine the performance of building systems. When done properly this collaboration can yield highly effective designs, but typically this reliance has left the architect outside of the loop on performance based decisions and impeded the development of innovative solutions. With the availability of powerful building simulation tools, designers can have direct access to building performance attributes and use them to qualify the environmental impact of design-decisions. With knowledge of fundamental principles in building performance and computer modeling, a designer can effectively harness the power of these tools from the beginning of the design process. While this does not eliminate the need for expert opinion, it allows the designer to further develop and have more control over the solution through collaboration. By working effectively in this digital design environment, the practice of architecture can meet its responsibility to reduce the impact of buildings on the physical environment. To test this statement, a brief overview of the integration of analysis tools in two projects that represent the current state of the art for digital performance simulation describes the need for multiple tools to achieve effective results. Based on this experience, a study was done to explore the capabilities of four representative simulation tools to support a design process that is entirely digital. The software evaluated was Energy-10, eQUEST, Sketch-Up with Demeter (a recently released plug-in for energy analysis) and ECOTECT. These tools were chosen because they have been targeted toward architects and claim to be easy to use. The results of this investigation were used to determine an appropriate tool set to develop a design for submission to the Leading Edge Competition, chosen because one of the requirements is that entrants perform energy analyses on their schemes to show how design decisions led to improved performance, making it a good vehicle to explore the process of designing in a simulation environment.

Thesis (M. S.)--Architecture, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008. / Committee Chair: Riether, Gernot; Committee Member: Al-Haddad, Tristan; Committee Member: Choudary, Ruchi.

In Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, issues once thought isolated to large metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Mexico City—increased storm water runoff, the urban heat island effect, deterioration of air and water quality, and loss of habitat and biodiversity—now threaten a region once described as "lotus-land" (Wynn and Oke, 1992, xi). European research supports the ability of green roofs to mitigate many of these ill effects of urbanization. The investigation undertaken by this thesis explores the role green roofs might play in the Greater Vancouver's transition to sustainable design and development. The thesis limits the scope of its investigation to inaccessible, extensive systems, alternately known as eco-roofs, which are relatively lightweight and low-maintenance. The paper reviews the historical and contemporary development of eco-roofs, including past and present motivations for their use and the evolution of construction methods. It then summarizes the potential impacts—aesthetic improvements, increased biodiversity, protection of the roof membrane, meso and microclimate mitigation, improved building insulation, and stormwater management—currently attributed to green roof implementation. The remainder of the thesis evaluates which of these potential impacts apply to Vancouver, in light of the city's physical contextual setting, and the ambient influences of the Greater Regional District The reported benefits of green roofs are numerous, and incremental contributions to improving environmental conditions should not be discounted or trivialized, however, in Vancouver and its region, eco-roofs' greatest impact, and consequently financial feasibility, resides in the mitigation of stormwater volumes. Eco-roofs' detain rainfall and slow runoff from the roof during and immediately following a storm event. This reduces peak flows, and corresponding CSO and flooding problems, and encourages a more natural hydrology by increasing the chances for stormwater infiltration. Storm runoff, and issues related to it, constitutes a persistent and growing problem in the GVRD. The ability of an eco-roofs even thin profile to mitigate this pressing issue could result in widespread, and even unforeseen, positive ramifications. / Applied Science, Faculty of / Architecture and Landscape Architecture (SALA), School of / Graduate

No description available.

Color is an element of the natural environment that contributes to the identity of places. Different regions exhibit different colors according to their unique physiographic characteristics, such as vegetation, topography, climate, and soils. When designing places, it is important to consider the characteristic colors of the larger natural context because the perception of color is affected by the colors surrounding (Chevreul, 1839), and humans have a psychological need to orient and identify with the environment or, in short, experience the environment as meaningful (Norburg-Schulz, 1980). The purpose of this study is to describe the existing natural color characteristics of a place in order to develop a better understanding of regional color characteristics, and to suggest ways that this information could be used by designers to create meaningful places. Catawba Valley, in Montgomery County, Virginia, was the site from which views were selected for study. Colors were sampled from these views three times a day, once a week between July 1991 and July 1992. Data was analyzed to determine the occurrence, distribution, and dominance of hue, value, and chroma in each view. Conclusions were drawn regarding: which physical characteristics of the landscape affect color characteristics; considerations in predicting the color characteristics of a place; and how the colors in each view are related according to color harmony theory. This study ends with a demonstration of how the color characteristics of a place can be considered in designing with color. / Master of Landscape Architecture