This thesis explored the energy conservation requirements necessary to retrofit existing historic structures. Residential and small commercial buildings were selected as significant examples. This study discussed and analyzed the historic, climatic, technical, and economic contexts which impact the energy conservation strategy. The major economic and architectural benefits were identified and described. A methodology was developed incorporating feasible retrofitting measures for historic buildings. This included technical and economic ranking of retrofitting measures with prototypical building type studies documenting the theoretical thermal performance before and after incorporation of retrofitting measures. / Department of Architecture

This creative project is a rivitalization plan of the McKinley neighborhood, Muncie, Indiana. This project is focused primarily on the existing problems, as they related to the expanding urban pattern in the City of Muncie, and uses an urban design process to produce a final research paper and neighborhood design proposal incorporating social, residential, commercial, recreational, streetscape and industrial uses, public facilities, zoning traffic systems and pedestrians. In addition this project includes a design for a portion of McKinley neighborhood (located between Jefferson and Madison street, being bordered on the south by Race street). It is a case study aimed at improving the new use of housing as well as relating to harmony within this neighborhood. / Department of Architecture

This thesis examines existing rehabilitation and environmental guidelines to determine whether the guidelines are incorporating the necessary building science knowledge to ensure that insulation is performing as intended and thus promoting energy efficiency, cost effectiveness, and environmental sustainability. The results of analyzing the existing guidelines show that they do not require all that is necessary to promote energy efficiency and environmental sustainability. While several of the guidelines have started to incorporate the necessary building science perspective by requiring a whole house air leakage test, none of the guidelines examined specifically require the zonal pressure diagnostics test necessary to ensure that insulation is working to specification. The thesis also includes a comprehensive overview of environmental sustainability and rehabilitation. / Department of Urban Planning

This thesis subjects the old Agricultural Bank Building in Mersin, which is one of the important traditional late 19th and early 20th century buildings of Mersin and which reflects important architectural features of that period. The main scope of this thesis is to prepare a conservation and restoration project for the &ldquo / Old Agricultural Bank Building&rdquo / which will pass the historical, architectural, cultural values of the building to the next generations. The study is composed of six subjects. In the introduction, short description of the building is given stating its significant architectural values. It is continued with the aim of the study, as well as the framework and methodology of the study. The second topic covers the documentation of the building and its nearby environment describing its present state together with the location of the building within Mersin and the general settlement characteristics of the nearby environment. The documentation continues with analysis of the building related to the building elements and materials / construction techniques / structural system / physical problems covering the material deteriorations and structural deformations / and finally evaluation of changes. The third subject comprises research related to the historical background of the building as well as the nearby environment within the historical development of Mersin. It is followed by the fourth topic, which covers comparative study of the physical and architectural features of the building with examples from bank and entrepot/depot buildings as well as other traditional buildings that belong to same period in Mersin. During the fifth subject, which is the restitution stage, evaluation related to the exploration of the previous states of the building is carried out. The study concludes with the last section, which covers the evaluation of collected information up to this phase stating the values, problems, potentials of the building. Finally, it is completed with proposal decisions related to the conservation and restoration of the building.

The use of air-to-air heat pumps in a church has been investigated with respect to preservation aspects and energy efficiency. The paper discusses the general problem and presents the results from a case study. The temperatures, velocities and humidity in the church have been measured for four different heating modes. The study shows that there is a significant potential for energy savings with heat pumps and that temperature distribution and air movements are comparable to conventional heating.

The objective of the present project was to develop and evaluate a solution forstorage of textiles in humid indoor environments, in this case churches. The proposed solution is based on creating a microclimate in the storage cabinets separated from the rest of the building. The cabinets were made air tight and insulated. With the use of a simple control system for conservation heating, the relative humidity can be kept below dangerous levels. The project comprises development and evaluation of textile cabinets in three churches on Gotland, Sweden. Measurements over one year show that cabinets with climate control are a simple and reliable method to prevent mould growth. Overall, the control systems have worked according to expectations. The relative humidity and temperature in the cabinets was maintained within a safe interval.

Läckö Castle is an historic building that has never been permanently heated but has been dehumidifiedsince the early 2000s to house museum collections. The purpose of the work was to evaluate thedehumidification performance and compare the climate with the state of preservation of wooden wallpaintings. Compiled climate recordings for different rooms in the castle from 1997 to 2009, before andduring dehumidification, were used and compared to the outside climate. The RH set point value of 70 % for dehumidification was not reached often, especially in winter with high outside RH. Wood painted witha linseed oil paint performed well, whereas paint containing resin was seriously damaged. It is concludedthat microclimatic differences in relation to dominating wind direction are important. The air exchangeof the building is very decisive for dehumidification efficiency.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 2008. / Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 20, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references. Mode of access: World Wide Web.

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Recent observations have shown that many sandstone buildings, including important components of the UK's cultural heritage, are becoming covered with green algal growths. This is likely to result from recent changes in air quality and the impacts of a changing climate. The northern regions of the UK in particular have an abundance of sandstone heritage and, given the likelihood of warmer, wetter winters here, algal growth on vulnerable monuments is likely to become a primary conservation concern over the next 50 years. Observations of sandstone monuments in the northern regions of the UK, in particular in Belfast (Northern Ireland), Sheffield and Edinburgh have highlighted that algal greening is notably patchy. This is likely due to the array of factors which affect the bioreceptivity of host substrates such as sandstone. The bioreceptivity of a substrate (its ability to become colonised by microbes such as green algae) is dependent on inherent, external and architectural factors. The role of these factors and the interrelationships between them requires further study. This thesis aims to investigate the inherent, external and architectural factors which encourage colonisation of sandstone by green algae through an integrated programme of laboratory and field experimentation. The primary objectives of this study are: to develop improved laboratory experimental methods to control and monitor algal growth, to investigate the role of external, inherent and architectural factors and to explore the fundamental role of moisture in the development of algal greening. In order to address these objectives, laboratory and field experiments have been linked within an integrated overall methodology. Short-term laboratory experiments have investigated the bioreceptivity of four British sandstones (Peak Moor, Dungannon, St Bees and 'baluster stone') to single and mixed green algal treatment with Stichococcus bacillaris, Chlorella vulgaris and Desmococcus olivaceus, under controlled conditions. Two field experiments have also been conducted. The first exposed unweathered blocks of Dungannon sandstone in the wet environment of Derrygonnelly, Northern Ireland for 30 months. The second exposed reclaimed sandstone balusters in a shaded and exposed site in central Oxford for 12 months. The laboratory and field experiments presented utlilise a range of simple and accessible methods to monitor biofilm development (for example novel methods to map biomass) and changes in substrate condition (such as monitoring surface moisture movements with weight change and hand-held moisture meters, and using light microscopy to help visualise the impact of green algal biofilms). The results presented in this thesis confirm that moisture plays a fundamental role in the development of green algal biofilms. In laboratory experiments, colonisation often occurred within a consistent moisture zone and preferential greening in field experiments was observed in areas of frequent moisture movement. External factors have been shown to have a strong influence, in laboratory experiments where marine salts were applied, these were found to delay colonisation by around seven days. Furthermore, salts resulted in inhomogeneous patterns of colonisation, similar to those observed in scoping studies conducted in Sheffield. Laboratory experiments have also demonstrated that inherent substrate factors such as high porosity and presence of certain minerals (such as clay laminations in Dungannon) can increase the primary bioreceptivity of sandstone surfaces. Field experiments have demonstrated that architectural factors such as aspect and geometry can increase the bioreceptivity of exposed samples. In particular, preferential greening was observed on the dynamically wetted south west facing blocks in Derrygonnelly and on exposed compared with shaded balusters in Oxford. Greening was also concentrated in areas of rainwater flows and stores. Investigation of the role of external, inherent and architectural factors in the development of algal greening as provided by this project, supplies useful information for those managing our sandstone cultural heritage. This will enable more informed decisions to be made over appropriate management and conservation strategies for the future.