About 25 % of the total buildings in the European Union have been categorized as ”old buildings”. Followed the recent strickt rules for carbon emissions reduction, each house has to approximetely cut 20 % of CO2 by 2020. Countries like England, have taken the issue very seriously and planning to reduce the carbon emissions by 30 % until the end of 2020 and by an extra 80 % by 2050 (Francis Moran, 2014). The aim of the report is to present how a traditional house can be retroffited into a passive house and also to identify the key points that every passive house should have. For the purpose of the project an avtual house, based in Gävle, was provided and all the simulations are based on actual data. The initial design of the house which was used for the simulation and the 3D design, was provided by the house owner. The building was built in 1953, information regarding the current insulation of the house was provided by the owner as well. For the simulations and the 3D design a software know as IDA ICE was used, license and access to the software were given by the University of Gävle. The report simulates the current house and compares the results with two possible scenarios that are reducing the energy demand of the house. Furthermore, the possible ways and tools that could be used to reduce the energy demand of the house and cost estimation for the retrofitting is available in the paper.The first simulations were occured on the actual house, the first retrofitting package introduces new simulations based on new insulation materials, like wood and cement, that are placed mainly on the roof and on the outer walls. Also, the thickness have changed, thus the new insulations are thicker.Moreover, the second and final retrofitting package, introduces an HVAC system, which is a standard system. The aim is to achieve further energy demand reductions and prove that simple and basic changes can improve the quality of living and reduce CO2 emissions.After the completition of the first analysis, a reduction equal to 60 % and after the addition of the HVAC a further 20 % reduction achieved.

The aim of this paper is to study the effect of interest rates on house price changes in Sweden for the case of one and two dwelling buildings. Basically, three procedures were used for analysis. First, correlation analysis was used to investigate and test if there has been any relationship between interest rates and house price in Sweden in the past two decades. Second, multiple regressions analysis with consideration of hetroskedasticity autocorrelation or HAC (newey-west standard) errors was applied to test the impact of changes of interest rates on house price. Finally, distributed lag model was applied to examine the impact of interest on house price through time. The result shows that there is strong inverse relationship between interest rates (governmental bond rates, mortgage bond rates, lending rates and repo rates) and housing price index. The regression coefficients show that the decrease in the interest rate is followed by corresponding increase in the housing price index for all the given interest rates. The other finding is that more than 92 percent variation in the housing price index is explained by changes in interest rates, changes in net house hold disposable income, inflation rate and supply. The result also shows the lag effects of changes of interest rates on housing price. The major implication of this study is that fluctuations in interest affect homebuyers, home sellers, household incomes and investors. The study also suggests that further detail investigation on house price dynamics is crucial for monetary policy.

I ett naturreservat intill en camping i utkanten av Järnaområdet skapades en ny typ av Folkets hus. Byggnaden är placerad i sydostlig riktning på toppen av en udde, med ett stort entréplan som starten av huset som sedan klättrar sig ned längs med landskapet mot stranden, där man finner den avslutande badplatsen. Det inrymmer en hosteldel med café och en butik för cykel- och båtuthyrning, samt försäljning av allt som hör friluftsliv till, för att knyta samman platsen och byggnaden med naturreservatet och de motionerare som på olika sätt tar sig till platsen. Här finns även en restaurang, konferenssal, utställning samt öppna gemensamma ytor så som offentliga kontor, mötesrum och ett gemensamt allrum där centrets olika gäster kan möstas. Alla dessa ytor knyts samman av en serie trappor som klättrar med byggnaden ner för berget, med öppna plattformar där man närsomhelst kan kliva av och på byggnaden. Naturreservatets redan befintliga stråk har jobbats in i projektet och passerar genom byggnadens entréplattform och fortsätter vidare från butiksplanet, våningen under. Från byggnaden kommer nya stigar skapas genom besökarnas naturliga rörelse genom och runt alla avsatser. / In a nature reserve next to a campsite on the outskirts of the Järna area, a new type of Folkets hus was created. The building is located in a south-easterly direction on top of a headland, with a large entrance floor as the start of the house which then climbs down along the landscape towards the beach, and ends with a bathing spot. It houses a hostel part with a café and a shop for bicycle- and boat rental, as well as sales of everything that belongs to outdoor life, to connect the place and the building with the nature reserve and the exercisers who pass through the place in different ways. There is also a restaurant, conference hall, exhibition and open common areas such as public offices, meeting rooms and a common living room where the center's various guests can meet. All these surfaces are connected by a series of stairs that climb with the building down the mountain, with open platforms where you can exit and enter the building at any time. The nature reserve's already existing trail have been worked into the project and pass through the building's entrance platform and continue on from the store floor, one floor below. From the building, new paths will be created through the visitors' natural movement through and around all ledges.

The concept for Nynäshamn’s new house for the people is a flexible, living building with possibilities for adaptation. The idea is to not dictate what the people need, but instead create a space that can develop and adapt over time with the help of movable walls suspended from a grid of rails in the ceiling. A large unobstructed space is needed to house all manner of activities and the outer shell of the building is designed to enable that, with steel truss work spanning 42 meters. Steel and glass were chosen as practical materials for constructing a large hall without columns, but is also a long lasting material that can be recycled. The overhead rail system is simple to use and the walls can be pushed by hand, so that using the building becomes highly intuitive and immediate change is possible.

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This study explores the use of gardens and agricultural spaces at historic house museums, and the potential these spaces have for supporting positive change. At the turn of the twenty-first century, house museums grappled with a crisis of limited funding and ever shrinking visitor capacity, which continues to affect the success of these spaces today. I argue that garden spaces can provide interpretive revitalization, community relevancy, and increased income for historic house museums that can positively support a house museum. By surveying house museums throughout New Jersey and Pennsylvania, I show that garden spaces provide a tool for house museums to gain stability amidst crisis. / History

A place is said to be meaningful when man feels "at home." Looking at industrial cities, one finds an immense density to them. This results from the communities surrounding the industry. These communities developed from the housing supplied by the factories for the workers, primarily immigrants. They generally formed communities based on their ethnic origins and/or religious beliefs. The craftsmanship, quality and conditions were not the best. Within this context some of the strongest communities developed. Industry supplied these families with minimal housing. These families created something greater - a place to live - a shelter they could return to and a community to grow. The workers and their families succeeded in making a place of their own. / Master of Architecture

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