Introduction of new into an existing condition stimulates a dialogue between the two. The new and the existing are juxtaposed. The new structure penetrates into the existing structure. These INSERTIONS are the nexus which connects the new and the existing. The intersections of the new and the existing are the crucial junctions which are explored throughout the process. The insertions are made with a creating a space around it, the VOID which bridges the two eras but retains their distinct characteristics through CONTRASTS. / Master of Architecture

This thesis proposes the renovation of existing rental units in ten low-rise apartment buildings in order to foster urban and ecological resilience. Existing ex-military apartments on the north shore of Maynard Lake in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada are adapted through strategic additions and subtractions to create a gradient of spaces: from private to communal to public. The site is conceived as an urban threshold to the lake, organized around new communal amenity spaces for the inhabitants and new diverse mixed-use spaces for the public. At the heart of the project lies the design strategy of effecting big change in the quality of existing space through small interventions. Relatively low-cost incremental design moves transform bleak and alienating spaces into livable places where renters will benefit from the support of their community.

The healthcare sector is mainly characterised by changing technologies, increasing market demands, social pressures, and political pressures. A significant amount of money has been invested by the Department of Health through the National Health Services (NHS), Private Finance Initiative (PFI), and Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) to provide healthcare services. This has resulted in development of several new healthcare facilities. Since formation of the NHS in the mid 19th century, significant developments in medical technologies, and increasing health and safety and privacy related concerns almost every decade new approaches towards designing were observed. Thus, modern technologies (interoperable tools) and concepts such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), building simulation, healthy/sustainable facilities, healing environments and so forth have been incorporated and proved to be major catalysts for a change in overall design practices for healthcare. Despite significant investment and advancement in technologies, many existing healthcare facilities, even today remain significantly unimproved or inadequate when energy and overall performance is considered. It is, therefore, important to evaluate existing facilities and, consequently, refurbishment processes and tools for the same. This was the focus of this research. Recently, energy efficiency and carbon emissions are considered major issues by industry and government because of increasing importance of environment and issues related to global warming, climate change. In 2008, existing healthcare facilities were responsible for over £410 million worth of energy consumption and 3.7 million tonnes of CO2 emissions. Considering the above mentioned issues, the government has imposed following two key targets especially for existing healthcare facilities; to achieve 55-65 GJ/100m3 energy consumption and to reduce the level of primary energy consumption by 15 per cent (0.15 million tonnes carbon from 2000 level) by 2015. Also, the literatures suggest these facilities are energy inefficient because their performance is unsatisfactory and they fail to provide comfortable environment for patients despite significant energy consumption. Thus, these facilities should be considered for refurbishment. Recent developments in the construction sector such as BIM based tools or tools that are interoperable can help the project team involved during a refurbishment of a healthcare facility to take decisions and maintain acceptable environmental quality during and post refurbishment. However, there are many ideas and methodologies proposed for development of new healthcare facilities, but the challenges in using these methodologies, such as BIM, energy simulation for refurbishment of existing healthcare facilities and above mentioned targets provided a base and context for this research. The research used both primary and secondary data collection techniques, such as literature review, case studies and a questionnaire survey. The later phases of the research highlighted a clear need for immediate actions on existing healthcare facilities, if government targets related to energy consumption and overall performance are to be achieved. Thus, redevelopment of existing healthcare facilities to support the 21st century (modern) technologies to reduce environmental impacts and improved users' satisfaction was considered as priority areas. One of the key challenges for existing healthcare facilities is the presence of occupants during refurbishment in adjacent spaces, which may not be a problem for other types of existing buildings; there is also a lack of information on existing healthcare buildings. The research findings revealed that refurbishment lacks broad perspective, for example, issues related to mechanical systems, aesthetic considerations and redesigning facilities have never been given a sufficient importance. A Healthcare Energy and Refurbishment (HEaR) framework and decision making process was developed as part of this research to enable healthcare organisations to adopt modern methods for re-designing of existing facilities, and to exploit refurbishment practices with consideration to energy consumption. The framework was validated by demonstrating it to professionals; experts from the industry. Keywords: Building Information Modelling, energy, existing healthcare facility, framework, refurbishment.

Mucosal delivery of recombinant adenovirus serotype 5 (rAd5)-based vaccine preparations are appealing for vaccine development in terms of lowering toxicity induced by high viral loads and substantial liver accumulation following systemic injection of the vaccine. However, this mode of delivery is currently under-developed due to the relatively low T-cell mediated immune responses generated against the encoded transgene. The first study described in this thesis demonstrated that sublingual immunization induces rapid migration of MHCII+, CD11C+ antigen presenting cells to the delivery site and elicit antigen-specific T and B cell-mediated immune responses in naïve mice and those with pre-existing immunity (PEI) to Ad5 at a level higher than that achieved after oral immunization. More importantly, this strategy improved protection of animals with PEI to Ad in contrast to poor protection after IM injection. The second study was designed to establish a method for inducing PEI that most accurately reflects natural infection in rodents and identifies the immunologic parameters elicited by rAd5-based Ebola vaccine necessary for protection against lethal infection. When immunization occurred by the same route in which PEI was induced, the antigen-specific multifunctional CD8+ T cell and antibody responses were significantly reduced. This correlated with poor survival after challenge with a lethal dose of Ebola Zaire in rodents. The data suggests that 1) establishment of PEI by the same route used for immunization is the most stringent test for a novel formulation designed to be effective in those with PEI to Ad5, and 2) for a formulation to be effective in those with PEI, it must be capable of restoring antigen-specific multifunctional CD8+ T cell and antibody responses, compromised by PEI. The third study screened novel formulations for their ability to improve in vitro transduction efficiency and immunogenicity and efficacy in vivo in the presence of anti-Ad5 neutralizing antibodies. Formulations consisting of pharmaceutically acceptable, non-immunogenic excipients that can prime the arms of immune response compromised by PEI improved survival after lethal challenge with Ebola Zaire challenge for rAd5-based Ebola vaccine in rodents with PEI. Taken together, these studies provide insight on how to reconstitute necessary immune responses in vaccine protocols by establishing a reliable PEI model in rodents, testing routes of administration, and formulations of the rAd5-based Ebola vaccine. / text

The thesis challenges how the existing fabric can be adapted and transformed to generate similar benefits to that of a new construction. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2009. / Architecture / unrestricted

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

The built environment puts the greatest pressure on the natural environment out of all human activities, so it has a fundamental obligation to be environmentally sustainable. Carbon dioxide (CO2) or carbon emissions is a significant greenhouse gas that is inevitably associated with energy use when energy is produced via the combustion of fuels. Total life cycle energy, embodied and operational energy over a building's lifetime, creates significant environmental impacts through the production of CO2. By keeping and reusing existing and historic buildings rather than discarding them and building new, the embodied energy, or the energy that is locked up, can help to mitigate future damage. These buildings already exist, which indicates that the energy consumed to build them has been applied and the carbon associated with their construction has been released. The greenest buildings are ones that are already built. They are inherently more sustainable than any new buildings even with green and zero net energy systems and can be retrofitted to become more energy efficient. To demonstrate this thesis specifically, a design project engages with an abandoned late nineteenth-century bank building in Philadelphia and transforms it into a high-performance building that is prepared for long-term use. For the immediate next use, the project creates a work environment and a new vertical expansion of residential units. The preservation field always confronts the challenge of bridging the gap between embodied energy and operational energy. In the abandoned bank, there are some aspects of this building that are near permanent and define its character, such as brick walls with masonry ornament, two bank vaults, Wissahickon Schist foundation wall, and ceiling trusses. This thesis explores new approaches to leverage the embodied energy of the permanent parts of the abandoned bank and transform it into a high-performance building. A lot of energy of the abandoned bank, the building's material, and thermal mass is still actively performing. The building's envelope, the thick masonry wall, provides a moderately good insulating effect that will temper the indoor air that also preserves its historical character both inside and outside. The embodied energy of the building's envelope is leveraged by pairing it with localized heating and cooling using a radiation and conduction system. Other approaches that increase energy performance in the existing building, include the use of phase-change material for cooling the process water, solar hot water, creating drinking water via a solar still in the skylight, and distilled water from radiant cooling surfaces. In the new construction, a thermal switch facade and double-skin facade for the residential units are proposed, along with providing flexible space with thick mobile interior wall units. / Master of Architecture / Global warming as a problem of the twenty-first-century increase concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere due to human actions like burning fossil fuels. The built environment puts the greatest pressure on the natural environment of all industrial parts, and it has a fundamental role to manage the environment sustainably. Total life cycle energy, embodied and operational energy over the lifetime of the buildings, creates significant environmental impacts through the production of CO2. Embodied energy is the whole amount of energy applied to extract the raw materials, manufacture, transport, install, and use the product across its life cycle. Assessments of the embodied energy of historic and existing buildings are helping to mitigate future damage to resources. These buildings already exist, which indicates that the energy consumed to build them has been applied and the carbon associated with their construction has been released. The greenest buildings are ones that are already built. They are inherently sustainable and can be retrofitted to become more energy efficient. Specifically, this design engages with an abandoned late nineteenth-century bank building in Philadelphia and transforms it into a high-performance building that is prepared for long-term use. For the immediate next use, the project creates a work environment and in a new vertical expansion, residential units. In the abandoned bank, there are some aspects of this building that are near-permanent and define its characters, such as brick walls with masonry ornament, two bank vaults, Wissahickon Schist wall, and ceiling trusses. This thesis explores the new approaches to leverage the embodied energy of the permanent parts of the abandoned bank and transform it into a high-performance building. This is achieved through various means such as providing localized heating and cooling by using a radiation and conduction system, the use of phase-change material for cooling the process water, solar hot water, creating drinking water via a solar still in the skylight and distilled water from radiant cooling surfaces. In the new construction, a thermal switch facade and double-skin facade for the residential units are proposed, along with providing flexible space with thick mobile interior wall units.

Elizabeth Castle forms part of the South-East Granite Complex of Jersey, Channel Islands and is one of several multi-magma complexes in the region. The rocks have calc-alkaline signatures indicative of a subduction zone setting. In the western half of the Elizabeth Castle complex, the outcrops are wholly granophyre, while to the east, granophyre and minor monzogranite are intimately associated with diorite. The dioritic rocks form part of a layered series which is preserved at several localities. The layered diorites were initially intruded by multiple sub-horizontal granitic sheets. All contacts between the diorite and the granitic sheets are crenulate, indicating that the two were present as coexisting magmas. Fine-grained, dark margins in the diorites contain quench textures such as spherulitic plagioclase and acicular apatite, and are interpreted as chilled margins. At many contacts a narrow tonalitic marginal zone, with acicular amphiboles, is present. Field relationships suggest that this is a hybrid produced by interaction between coexisting dioritic and granitic magmas and this is confirmed by modelling based on geochemical data. It is proposed that within the marginal zones the presence of volatile-rich fluids, increased temperatures and a decrease in viscosity promoted chemical diffusion across the dioritegranite interface. The transfer of elements, together with the presence of volatiles, promoted the growth of hydrous mafic phases and suppressed crystallization of alkali feldspar. At the same time, fluid infiltration modified the composition of the dioritic magma. Field evidence indicates that these processes took place in a narrow time frame prior to further granitic intrusion. Parts of the sheeted complex were extensively disrupted by the later granitic intrusions, producing large areas rich in dioritic enclaves. Within these disrupted areas a grey inhomogeneous rock is encountered. Field and petrographic evidence suggest that this is a hybrid rock produced by the physical mixing of dioritic and granitic magmas. Linear chemical trends confirm this interpretation. Minor intrusions comprising red granite dykes, basic dykes, composite dykes and aplite sheets cut the complex.