New architecture will invariable be placed next to the old architecture because cities and human settlements last for generations and as humans and tribal species we invariably congregate and build new buildings to live-in, work-in and entertain in. Thus we create cities from ever increasing smaller settlements. And the city is the playground where the new merges with that which has been built already – merging the new and the old. Old town Alexandria is one such place where new and old exist side by side. There is no question that new architecture will be built. The questions are only what the new architecture will look like? What will it's existence respond to and what issues we as a society will choose to tackle with new architecture, if any. Will the new architecture and particularly infill architecture convey a purpose and meaning to rival that of its time-tested historic neighbors? And how the meaning and purpose be achieved in new architecture? This thesis explores the topic of new/ infill architecture finding place in historic districts in particular - Old Town Alexandria Historic District and Parker-Gray district. What has been the approach that has dictated the image and purpose of new architecture in historic districts in Alexandria? And can the new architecture have meaning and purpose all its own to rival that of its predecessors. / Master of Science

Residential infill development and the associated increases in impervious cover and stormwater runoff have the potential to overwhelm aging infrastructure causing erosion, flooding, and ecological degradation of waterways. The lack of greenfield sites available for new development around urban centers coupled with a desire for maintaining a traditional neighborhood aesthetic drives residential infill and replacement of existing smaller homes by significantly larger structures, minimizing open space available for stormwater mitigation. An analysis of residential infill development trends in Fairfax County was performed to characterize the effects of intensified development. Development patterns were identified and assessed using digitized impervious cover data extracted from aerial imagery of the study area for six selected years from 2002 to 2015. The average annual increase in percent impervious area was computed to be 0.3%. Redevelopment was found to be mainly occurring in areas zoned as lower-density residential. The spatial distribution of redevelopment showed trends of clustered increases as opposed to isolated events. The hydrologic analysis performed revealed that from 2002 to 2015, there was an 8,930 m3 (7.2 acre-ft) increase in stormwater runoff volume, 38% of which is contributed to by runoff generated from development that is considered exempted from regulation in Fairfax County. Additionally, there was a 28 kg/year (62 lb/year) increase in total phosphorus loads attributable to the change in impervious cover due to residential development throughout the study area. The results of this study provide a quantitative basis for municipalities to amend policies regulating residential development and its associated stormwater management. / Master of Science

My thesis project is an infill housing project in the inner city of Stockholm. I studied and draw existing facades and mapped all potential infill sites in Stockholm as a process method in the beginning of the project.  The plot I then chose for my project is located at Högbergsgatan, Södermalm, and is a gap of 14 meters in between a gable and a courtyard facade of two existing residential buildings. Since a row of window from the existing building, on whose plot my building stands, needs to be removed for the new additional structure to fit, I set the rule for myself that if I take a window I have to give one back. As a result, my addition includes an extension to the existing apartments as well as one new apartment on each floor.  The part of my addition that houses the apartment extensions is treated differently in the facade. It is slightly recessed and seemingly has no contact with the ground. The roof eaves and some of the ornamentation on the facade spills over from the existing house making the floating part of the building act as a bridge connecting the new with the existing.

Mitigation of health and heat-build-up issues related to black, granulated crumb rubber infill (GCRI) in synthetic turf fields (STF) while maintaining acceptable impact absorption properties was the central goal of this study. The first step was establishing a STF baseline performance of GCRI samples that originated from several sources while elucidating the synergistic parameters between infill and turf that promulgate acceptable impact performance. Based on the knowledge base built on the GCRI-STF standard, three polymeric waste streams selected for their benign chemical contents, non-black colors and competitive low costs were evaluated as alternate turf infill materials: post-consumer carpet broadloom (PCCB), post-consumer carpet tile (PCCT) and recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) drink bottles. For ground PCCB carcass (the base on the carpet construction remaining after the face fibers were removed), the heterogeneous composition of unconfined fine particles and remaining short fibers prevented sufficient material integration to allow sufficient impact energy absorption. The ground PET homogeneous particles alone lacked sufficient impact absorption capabilities, and their synergistic interactions with the turf blade yarns were not sufficient to meet specified levels of impact performance. Only the PCCT infill crumb possessed a heterogeneous structure that effectively filled the STF to yield sufficient impact cushioning comparable to standard GCRI. In conclusion, PCCT was shown to be a technically-viable candidate for GCRI infill replacement, warranting further development to bring it into closer cost competitiveness to GCRI and ensure long-term wear and weathering performance in synthetic turf.

Quantifying infill potential in marginal oil fields often involves several challenges. These include highly heterogeneous reservoir quality both horizontally and vertically, incomplete reservoir databases, considerably large amounts of data involving numerous wells, and different production and completion practices. The most accurate way to estimate infill potential is to conduct a detailed integrated reservoir study, which is often time-consuming and expensive for operators of marginal oil fields. Hence, there is a need for less-demanding methods that characterize and predict heterogeneity and production variability. As an alternative approach, various authors have used empirical or statistical analyses to model variable well performance. Many of the methods are based solely on the analysis of well location, production and time data. My objective is to develop an enhanced method for rapid assessment of infill-drilling potential that would combine increased accuracy of simulation-based methods with times and costs associated with statistical methods. My proposed solution is to use reservoir simulation combined with automatic history matching to regress production data to determine the permeability distribution. Instead of matching on individual cell values of reservoir properties, I match on constant values of permeability within regions around each well. I then use the permeability distribution and an array of automated simulation predictions to determine infill drilling potential throughout the reservoir. Infill predictions on a single-phase synthetic case showed greater accuracy than results from statistical techniques. The methodology successfully identified infill well locations on a synthetic case derived from Cut Bank field, a water-flooded oil reservoir. Analysis of the actual production and injection data from Cut Bank field was unsuccessful, mainly because of an incomplete production database and limitations in the commercial regression software I used. In addition to providing more accurate results than previous empirical and statistical methods, the proposed method can also incorporate other types of data, such as geological data and fluid properties. The method can be applied in multiphase fluid situations and, since it is simulation based, it provides a platform for easy transition to more detailed analysis. Thus, the method can serve as a valuable reservoir management tool for operators of stripper oil fields.

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-75).

This report discusses the feasibility of multifamily development through the use of undeveloped or underutilized parcels of land in the central east core of downtown Austin. Included in the discussion is the history of the market area, tools the City of Austin is using to promote infill development, the housing development process, financing of infill housing projects in Austin, a supply and demand analysis of the current market, and site selection theory and application. The author found that there is significant quantitative demand for a multifamily product in this market area and this report may act as a general guide to the process of bringing a multifamily product to market. / text

Thesis (M.U.D.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 74-75) Also available in print.

0 / SPK / specialcollections@tulane.edu

In most design codes, infill walls are considered as non-structural elements and thus are typically neglected in the design process. The observations made after major earthquakes (Duzce 1999, L’Aquila 2009, Christchurch 2011) have shown that even though infill walls are considered to be non-structural elements, they interact with the structural system during seismic actions. In the case of heavy infill walls (i.e. clay brick infill walls), the whole behaviour of the structure may be affected by this interaction (i.e. local or global structural failures such as soft storey mechanism). In the case of light infill walls (i.e. non-structural drywalls), this may cause significant economical losses. To consider the interaction of the structural system with the ‘non-structural ’infill walls at design stage may not be a practical approach due to the complexity of the infill wall behaviour. Therefore, the purpose of the reported research is to develop innovative technological solutions and design recommendations for low damage non-structural wall systems for seismic actions by making use of alternative approaches. Light (steel/timber framed drywalls) and heavy (unreinforced clay brick) non-structural infill wall systems were studied by following an experimental/numerical research programme. Quasi-static reverse cyclic tests were carried out by utilizing a specially designed full scale reinforced concrete frame, which can be used as a re-usable bare frame. In this frame, two RC beams and two RC columns were connected by two un-bonded post tensioning bars, emulating a jointed ductile frame system (PRESSS technology). Due to the rocking behaviour at the beam-column joint interfaces, this frame was typically a low damage structural solution, with the post-tensioning guaranteeing a linear elastic behaviour. Therefore, this frame could be repeatedly used in all of the tests carried out by changing only the infill walls within this frame. Due to the linear elastic behaviour of this structural bare frame, it was possible to extract the exact behaviour of the infill walls from the global results. In other words, the only parameter that affected the global results was given by the infill walls. For the test specimens, the existing practice of construction (as built) for both light and heavy non-structural walls was implemented. In the light of the observations taken during these tests, modified low damage construction practices were proposed and tested. In total, seven tests were carried out: 1) Bare frame , in order to confirm its linear elastic behaviour. 2) As built steel framed drywall specimen FIF1-STFD (Light) 3) As built timber framed drywall specimen FIF2-TBFD (Light) 4) As built unreinforced clay brick infill wall specimen FIF3-UCBI (Heavy) 5) Low damage steel framed drywall specimen MIF1-STFD (Light) 6) Low damage timber framed drywall specimen MIF2-TBFD (Light) 7) Low damage unreinforced clay brick infill wall specimen MIF5-UCBI (Heavy) The tests of the as built practices showed that both drywalls and unreinforced clay brick infill walls have a low serviceability inter-storey drift limit (0.2-0.3%). Based on the observations, simple modifications and details were proposed for the low damage specimens. The details proved to be working effectively in lowering the damage and increasing the serviceability drift limits. For drywalls, the proposed low damage solutions do not introduce additional cost, material or labour and they are easily applicable in real buildings. For unreinforced clay brick infill walls, a light steel sub-frame system was suggested that divides the infill panel zone into smaller individual panels, which requires additional labour and some cost. However, both systems can be engineered for seismic actions and their behaviour can be controlled by implementing the proposed details. The performance of the developed details were also confirmed by the numerical case study analyses carried out using Ruaumoko 2D on a reinforced concrete building model designed according to the NZ codes/standards. The results have confirmed that the implementation of the proposed low damage solutions is expected to significantly reduce the non-structural infill wall damage throughout a building.