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published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität, Salzburg, 2003. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 11-30) and index.

published_or_final_version / abstract / Urban Design / Master / Master of Urban Design

Form-based codes are “A method of regulating development to achieve a specific urban form. Form-Based Codes create a predictable public realm primarily by controlling physical from, with a lesser focus on land use, through city or county regulations.”1 Based on their ability to regulate the form and design of the built environment while looking to historic patterns of development and existing architecture, it seems that formbased codes should go hand-in-hand with historic preservation. This thesis explores that possibility by analyzing three case studies in Nashville, Tennessee, and concludes that form-based codes do indeed have the potential for success in preserving the character of historic areas. / Introduction -- Evolution of land development regulations -- Form-based planning in Nashville -- Three Nashville case studies -- Form-based codes and historic preservation. / Department of Architecture

"An organization of a variety of useful references and tools for evaluating typical situations that have to be addressed in a performance based fire safety design are structured in this project. The chapters in this paper are arranged the same way as the situations may appear in fire scenarios. Each chapter discusses relevant issues for regulatory required sub evaluations in fire safety engineering. In this paper the sub evaluations are named; Fire spread within the origin, Barriers and fire spread beyond the origin, Fire detection and initial action, Automatic sprinkler systems, Smoke movement, control and toxicity, Structural frame, Fire brigade intervention and Life safety. The paper addresses standards and publications to evaluate fire safety in buildings. The tools and references presented are an assortment from a variety of methods and correlations that have been developed through the years in order to achieve knowledge of the dynamics of the fire and how to control its severity. The topics for the sub evaluations are codes and standards, design fire development, fire protection efficiencies in fires, reliability issues, building and construction characteristics, occupant characteristics, evaluation tools and evaluation software."

"As jurisdictions throughout the world progress toward performance based building codes, it is important that the proper tools be made available to the engineering profession in order that they may take full advantage of these new codes. There is currently a large body of work written on the subject of performance based or engineered structural fire safety. Unfortunately, most of this information is scattered throughout technical journals from different countries and organizations, and not easily accessible to the practicing engineer. Under the current prescriptive code regime there is generally no requirement to undertake an engineering approach to structural fire safety, since the required fire resistance ratings are prescribed and the fire resistance ratings of materials/assemblies are determined through standard tests. However, these methods have been shown to be both unnecessary and expensive in some cases. A method will be developed that can be used to determine required fire resistance ratings for fire exposed structural steel based on a realistic engineering approach. A procedure is summarized for calculating time-temperature curves from a real fire in a typical compartment. With this time-temperature relationship a realistic time to failure for structural steel members can be determined. The method is summarized. Comments regarding important considerations and a worked example are provided to demonstrate the utility of the method."

This study focuses on the development of a new, formal method for the automated checking of pedestrian circulation rules in Courthouse Design Guide. Automated building rule checking is an automated process of design evaluation against design requirements. Since the early 1970's, when the electronic representation of building design became available, automated building rule checking, a computational process, has been a focus of study, and it continues to be a popular research area because it facilitates the design evaluation process by reducing the checking time and evaluation costs and by increasing the objectivity and the reliability of the evaluation. Thanks to the emergence of BIM (Building Information Model) authoring software, BIM became available to use in real building design, and several automated building code checking systems were developed based on BIM. In practice, the use of a rule checking system in real design evaluation may be influenced by several factors. Among the factors that affect the accuracy and the reliability of automated checking such as checking algorithms and rule interpretation is the level of completeness of the BIM in the design process, which can cause limitations in the application of a rule checking algorithm to the model. Problems caused by the incompleteness of the BIM occurred in CORENET project, a project initiated by the Singapore government in 1999 for automation of building code checking, and GSA Courthouse Design Guide Automation project (GSA), initiated at Georgia Tech in 2007 also faced with the same problems caused by incompleteness of BIM in the development stage. This thesis is a continuing research of GSA-Courthouse Design Guide Automation project (Simply, GSA project). The theoretical goals of this study are to provide a logical foundation upon which one can build an automated checking module for circulation rule checking and that is capable of outlining the rule-validation process independently from its diverse implementation. The theory for circulation rule checking is devised to represent the process of the validation of a building design in the development stage. The theory deals with issues of validation caused by the lack of data in the development of a building design.

Common urban development patterns have given Middle Eastern cities their distinctive character. This identity is partly due to the climatic and regional similarity. The remarkable degree of unity and homogeneity amongst Islamic cities is also attributed to the common religious backgrounds and the behavioural expectation of Islamic society in its urban context. / In the past, when religion and politics acted as one body, the Islamic building principles played a major role in shaping the traditional settlement of Damascus. Political, economic, social and cultural changes introduced a new system of government. The reform movements changed the structure of the administration and established a new judicial system. The authorities implemented the Building Code and other pieces of legislation, with the object of organizing the growth of the urban form of Damascus. / This paper analyzes a cluster of traditional houses in a residential quarter of Damascus, with the objective of exploring the reciprocal effect between the physical form of the cluster and the social life that existed within it. Thereafter, in the same manner, the new settlement currently replacing the old one will be analyzed. These two settlements will be compared, with regard to the traditional building principles in the old quarters, and the new building code and regulations in the new settlements. Building guidelines that make the built environment and the social life of its inhabitants complementary will be the ultimate goal of this thesis.

Univ., Diss--Bochum, 1999.