Thesis submitted in partial compliance with the requirements for the Masters Degree in Technology: Mechanical Engeering at Technikon Natal, 1999. / Housing is currently one of the most critical development areas in the Republic of South Africa (RSA). This developmental project forms part of a possible solution in the delivery of housing through mass production. The objective of this study is to establish a empathetic connection between modem geodesic construction and the traditional dome and to design an effective and efficient prefabricated dwelling unit suited to be easily built by semi-skilled persons. The success of this project will fulfill one of the major objectives of the RSA's Reconstruction and Development Programmes (RDP) - 'A better lifefor all'. / M

Kraven på att nybyggda bostäder ska vara energisnåla i driftskedet ökar hela tiden av flera anledningar. Dels vill brukarna hålla driftskostnaderna så låga som möjligt och dels är det miljöaspekten som spelar in. Men hur energisnål kan en villa egentligen göras och hur påverkas arkitekturen då den görs extremt energieffektiv? I den här rapporten utreds tio energieffektiva principer som kan användas för att göra en villa mer energisnål och energiproducerande. Alla tio principer har tillämpats i en villa som projekterats under arbetets gång. De tio principerna är: Husets utformning Konstruktion Isolerade skjutluckor Solceller Solavskärmning Energitak Uppvärmningssystem Vindkraftverk Vindskydd Medvetenhet och inredning Resultaten visar att villan kommer ge ett energiöverskott på cirka 6 000 kWh/år enligt enklare handberäkningar av husets energiförbrukning och den producerade energin. Arkitekturen blir tydligt påverkad av de energieffektiva principerna men huset är ändå fullt funktionellt. Att tillämpa tio energieffektiva principer i en villa kan vara svårt att försvara ekonomiskt då pay-off tiderna är långa på grund av höga investeringskostnader. Arbetet har utförts på KTH campus Haninge i samarbete med Sweco Architects AB. / The demands on newly constructed buildings to be energy efficient in the operational stage are increasing all the time by many reasons. Partly because the people living in the house want to keep the operational costs as low as possible and partly because of the impact on the environment. But how energy efficient can a villa be made and how does it affect the architecture when it is made extremely energy efficient? In this essay ten energy efficient principles are investigated which can be used to make a villa more energy efficient and energy producing. All ten principles have been applied in one villa that has been designed during this project. The ten principles are: The design and shape of the house Construction Insulated sliding slots Solar panels Sun shading Energy roof Heating system Wind power turbine Wind protection Consciousness and interior design The results show that the villa will produce an overbalance of energy of about 6 000 kWh/year according to simpler calculations of the house´s energy consumption and the energy that it produces. The architecture is clearly affected by the energy efficient principles but the house is still fully functioning. Applying ten energy efficient principles in one villa can be hard to motivate economically because of long pay-off times caused by high investment costs. This thesis has been made at KTH campus Haninge in cooperation with Sweco Architects AB.

This thesis deals with questions concerning the sedentary settlement in central Norrland: its origins, function and development. This type of settlement appears at the start of our calendar. The material comprises an almost fully excavated farmstead from the Early Iron Age (1-600 A.D.), situated on Genesmon in the parish of Själevad, northern Ångermanland. Particular stress has been put on the description of the individual structures and on questions concerning the construction and room-division of the houses. The farm's resource utilization, handicrafts and development are also analysed and discussed.The basic material for the thesis has been obtained through archaeological excavations. To a limited degree a comparative method has been used with regard to the form and content of the farm settlement. In addition data has been extracted from the presence, distribution and species of carbonized seeds, which were collected from post-holes, hearths and other features in and around the nine house foundations found hitherto.Contrary to the views of previous research, the results show that even northern Ångermanland obtained sedentary settlement at about the same time as Hälsingland and Medelpad. With regard to the origin of this settlement a critical examination is made of previous research, which has largely been in agreement that it was a result of colonization from the Mälar Valley. Some circumstances are presented which can be interpreted rather as internal development under influence. The settlement on the excavated site at Gene consists of a farmstead, with a three-aisled long-house and smaller three-aisled houses nearby with special functions. The number of small houses increases with time. Only a few remnants of dividing walls have been encountered. Room analyses show that the long-house was probably divided into six rooms or sections, each with its own function. The general layout and this room-division corresponds well with other contemporary houses in, for example, S.W. Norway and on Jutland. There are however tendencies towards regional differences. During the Migration Period both iron-forging and bronze-casting have taken place on the farm. These handicrafts were probably not carried out by professional smiths. The remains of bronze working show that relief brooches, keys, rings and pins were cast. A preliminary going-through of the literature also shows that bronze-casting was considerably more common on the Migration Period farms in Norden than one generally assumed. The farm on Genesmon is suggested to have been relocated during the 6th or 7th century A.D. Since a similar restructuring or movement of settlement can be noted over large parts of Norden during this period, the explanations for the relocation of the Gene farm must be sought in changes in a long-established inter-regional structure. / digitalisering@umu

Following the recession of 2007-2009, conditions in the housing and finance industries favored an increase in renter occupied homes relative to owner occupied homes. With rental properties comprising an increasing share of the housing supply, the home building industry should consider housing products that meet the needs of renters. This thesis proposes a build-to-rent product for single family home builders, to be offered as a complement to the traditional built-for-sale product. The purpose of the research is to demonstrate that a build-to-rent product is financially feasible under ordinary market conditions. In order to determine the viability of a build-to-rent product under likely market conditions, a financial model has been developed for a single family build-to rent product. The research involves reviewing the literature related to similar investment product types in order to develop a business model for the proposed build-to-rent product. The proposed model utilizes financial parameters currently in the industry, respectively, in the analysis of homebuilding projects and rental property investments. Using the analytical methods used for analogous investment classes, the author calculates a projected market range of input variables for the model. Sensitivity analysis of the model was then used to test the financial feasibility of a build-to-rent product. The analysis showed that the proposed product would be feasible under ordinary market conditions. Additional recommendations for future research has been explored based on the findings of this study.

In Conakry, the capital city of Guinea, more than two thirds of the housing stock consists of self-built housing. Self-built housing is the result of uncoordinated choices of households who buy land, decide the kind of houses and on-site facilities to build and implement their projects often without compliance with land use management policies. As a result this type of housing causes considerable environmental problems that affect the city population as a whole. Unless Conakry local authorities, i.e. communes develop capacities to design and carry out technically and financially appropriate strategies to address and improve households individual actions, the city's environmental conditions will continue to deteriorate. On the basis of lessons learned from theories and successful experiences of self-built housing improvement, the present creative project suggests general and specific guidelines, that commune officials can employ to develop the said capacities and generate substantial changes of housing conditions in Conakry. / Department of Urban Planning

The subject of my diploma thesis is elaborating the project documentation for making a new building of a separately standing apartment house. The building is situated on the outskirts of town Bystřice nad Pernštejnem, on a slightly slanting land which goes up to the northeast. The building is without cellar, four-storeyed with a flat roof. On the first floor above ground level there are an indoor garages, cellar units, a staircase and an elevator. On the second, third and fourth floor above ground level there are separate housing units, a staircase and an elevator. There are other parking areas on the exterior of the building. The vertical constructions are designed within the system HELUZ, the horizontal constructions are made of ferroconcrete. The perimeter structures are designed with the contact insulation system. The building will be based on foundations.

Thesis (MTech (Business Administration in Project Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / According to Section 26 (1) of the constitution of Republic of South Africa, everyone has a right to have a satisfactory house to restore and honour the dignity of the South Africans. However South African government implemented several housing programmes to bridge the gap of housing backlog in South Africa. One of the housing programmes that South African government implemented is People Housing Process (PHP). It was approved in 1998 by South African government. South African government shifted focus on the quality of houses and mainly focused on the quantity of houses delivered through the financial year. There have been a lot of quality complaints on PHP. The quality defects are signs of foundation failures, cracks on foundations, water flooding around the houses, water not properly channelling to the drain, cracks on walls, dampness of walls, mould on walls, water seeping through the windows, poorly applied external plaster, incorrect bonding of internal walls to external walls, walls that are not straight walls, sagging ceiling panels, gable not properly filled with mortar, roof structure not properly tied up, sagging roof coverings, roof leaks, sagging roof tiles and ridges, rust on painted iron material, poor quality of blocks used, insufficient cement on mortar mix and peeling off paint. National Home Builders Registration Council (NHBRC) are the custodians of the home building industry. They were excluded from PHP from 1998 till March 2012. NHBRC was approved to inspect PHP house in April 2012. Thus, the aim of the study was to compare the houses that were built before NHBRC involvement in PHP with those that were built after NHBRC involvement in PHP. The sample included 50% of each of the two groups (those in houses built without NHBRC involvement and those built with NHBRC involvement), the research involved at least 50 respondents per group (McMillan, et al 2001:177 – recommends 15 respondents per group). The sample size per group has been put at 50 since the larger the sample the higher the accuracy. The study is classified as quantitative research because it intended to quantify the variation in occurrence, situation, problem or issue; the information was gathered using predominantly quantitative variables and the analysis was geared to ascertain the magnitude of the variation. The findings of the study revealed that the quality of the houses that were built under PHP programme before NHBRC intervention on PHP was not up to standard however the quality on those that were built after NHBRC involvement improved. Therefore it is recommended for Western Cape government to implement the rectification programme which was approved by National Department of Human Settlements in 2009 mainly focusing on houses that have been severely structurally compromised and are regarded as unfit for human habitation as it poses a threat to the health and safety of the occupants (The National Housing Code, 2009: 11-13).

This thesis is based on a qualitative research which followed the construction process of a self-sustaining house Earthship that is located in the larger centre of Prague. I am making use of Tim Ingold's approach of ecological anthropology which allows me to track the lines of the material flow and the exchange of materials which take place within the house and during the construction process of the Prague Earthship. Apart from humans there are other actants involved in these construction processes, that is non-human materials and elements of the natural environment which the building is an integral part of and which it is embedded in. With the help of the Ingold's concept of meshwork I interpret the Earthship as a living and dynamic organism, which is connected to its environment and which is through its becoming involved in various social processes. The materiality of the building navigates actions of its builders and residents and directs them to changing their life style and everyday practices towards more sustainable consumption.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Urban Studies and Planning, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / by Richard Alan Daynard. / Ph.D.

Byggbranschen står inför en återkommande produktivitets- och kvalitetsproblematik. Plattformar är en central del i det industriella byggandet som är ett strategiskt utvecklingsområde som strukturerar tekniska lösningar, processer och produktionsmetoder inom ett företag. Effekterna är bland annat effektivare arbetsmetoder, skalfördelar och en förutsägbarhet i processerna som mångt och mycket i teorin skulle kunna avhjälpa delar av den rådande produktivitets- och kvalitetsproblematiken i branschen. Dock går det att ifrågasätta om plattformar lyckats nå sin fulla teoretiska potential och genomslagskraft i branschen.Syftet med detta examensarbete är att skapa bättre förståelse av varför branschen inte får ut mer effekt av plattformar i byggproduktionen. Detta genom att i kontexten av byggföretaget NCC:s byggproduktion beskriva och förklara användandet av attityder och verktygen kopplat till NCC:s tekniska bostadsplattformar.En litteraturstudie har utförts och företagsintern dokumentation har använts för att kartlägga befintliga erfarenheter och kunskaper inom det industriella byggandet och NCC:s tekniska plattform. För att nå kunskap och erfarenheter om produktionens plattformsanvändande, har åtta plats- och projektchefer intervjuats tillsammans med en bakgrunds- och referensintervju av en specialist och chef inom projektering- och installationsstyrning.NCC:s tekniska bostadsplattform kan i teorin definieras som en teknikplattform. Plattformen försöker möta kunders krav när kunden kommer in någonstans i projekteringen (ETO), även om kunders krav kan komma att utvecklas och förändras med tiden. Plattformen är i stort projekteringsledd och består till stor del av projekteringsanvisningar på komponentnivå med ett något begränsat fokus på standardiserade produktionsmetoder. Dock uttrycker majoriteten av de intervjuade projekt- och platscheferna ett behov av standardiserade arbetsberedningar. Intervjuer och teori tyder på vikten av att involvera och skapa en delaktighet och ägandeskap i dessa processer och standarder.    Användandet i produktionen beror till stor del på i vilken omfattning projekteringen har skett utifrån plattformen. Utan att veta den exakta implementeringsgraden, uttrycks ett förändrat och minskat användande av plattformen. Två vanligt uttryckta förklaringsmodeller som förklarar varför styrningen mot plattformen har minskat är att det inte längre är ett krav att arbeta utifrån plattformen och att plattformen inte har utvecklats tillräckligt mot den upplevda förändrade beställarrollen. Analysen visar att i teorin betyder det att det finns en dålig koppling mellan process- och teknikplattformen, då ett föråldrat kund- och marknadsfokus riskerar att göra det svårare för plattformen att säljas in hos kunder, implementeras och utvecklas. Att ha en systematisk erfarenhetsåterföring från byggprojekten till plattformen som skapar en kontinuerlig innovations- och kunskapsackumulation är minst lika viktigt som att ha ett aktuellt utbyte mellan process- och teknikplattformen. Produktionspersonalens inställning till plattformen beror även på hur väl erafenhetsåterföringen fungerar.  Denna studie visar att användandet, verktyg och attityder är nära sammanflätade och beroende av varandra. Plattformen är ett viktigt verktyg som skapar uppskattade effekter i produktionen, som i allmänhet skapat grundläggande positiv attityd och acceptans till plattformen hos samtliga projekt- och platschefer. Dock exemplifierar samtliga respondenter en historisk men även rådande problematik hos vissa tveksamma lösningar och beskrivningar inom plattformen. Om plattformen inte är uppdaterad ändras attityderna snabbt och historiska fel ekar länge i produktionen. Negativa attityder går att koppla till utvecklingen, kommunikationen eller utbildningen inom plattformen, vilka alla är nära sammankopplade med erfarenhetsåterföring, involveringen av produktionspersonal, och kopplingen mellan teknik- och processplattformen.Det krävs fortsatt forskning för att förklara hur produktionen ska använda plattformar på ett effektivt sätt. Stort fokus ligger på projekteringen men inte på ett produktionsanvändande. Istället behövs ett mer tvärvetenskapligt angreppsätt som lämnar mer plats för det mänskliga samspelet i produktionen och hur plattformar bör användas i produktionen. / The construction industry is facing a recurring productivity and quality problem. Platforms are a central part of industrial housebuilding, which is a strategic development area that structures technical solutions, processes and production methods within a company. The effects include more efficient working methods, economies of scale and a predictability in the processes that in many ways could in theory remedy parts of the prevailing productivity and quality problems in the industry. However, it is possible to question whether platforms have succeeded in reaching their full theoretical potential and impact in the industry. The purpose of this thesis is to create a better understanding of why the industry does not get more effect from platforms in construction production. This is done by describing and explaining the use of, attitudes and tools connected to NCC's technical housing platforms in the context of the construction company NCC. A literature study has been carried out and NCC's in-house documentation has been used to map the existing experiences and knowledge within the industrial housebuilding and NCC's technical platform. To gain knowledge and experience about the platform use in production, interviews have been a major tool. The sample of respondents include eight site- and project managers as well as a reference interview by a specialist and manager in design and installation management. NCC's technical housing platform can in theory be defined as a technical platform. The platform tries to meet the client requirements when the client enters the house-building design process (ETO), even though client’s requirements may develop and change over time. The platform is largely design-led and largely consists of design instructions at the component level with type solutions and has a somewhat limited focus on standardized production methods. However, most of the interviewed project and site managers demand a need for standardized work planning that, together with the theory, show the importance of involving and creating participation and ownership in these processes and standards. The use in production largely depends on the extent to which the design has taken place based on the platform. Without knowing the exact degree of implementation, a changed and reduced use of the platform is expressed. Two commonly expressed explanatory models that explain why the use of the platform has decreased is that it is no longer a requirement to work with the platform, and that the platform has not developed sufficiently in relation to the perceived changed customer role. The analysis shows that in theory this means that there is a poor connection between the process platform and technical platform, as an outdated customer and market focus risks making it more difficult for the platform to be sold to customers, implemented and developed. From a platform development point of view and based on the production staff's attitude to the platform, it is equally important to have a systematic feedback of experience from the projects to the platform that creates a continuous accumulation of innovation and knowledge. This study shows that usage, tools and attitudes are closely intertwined and interdependent. The platform is an important tool that creates appreciated effects in production that have generally created a positive attitude and acceptance of the platform by all project and site managers. However, all respondents exemplify a historical but also prevailing problem with some doubtful solutions and descriptions within the platform. If the platform is not updated, attitudes change quickly, and historical errors resonate in production for a long time. These factors can be linked to the development, communication or training within the platform, all of which are closely linked to experience feedback, the involvement of production staff, and the link between the technology and process platform. Further research is required to explain how production should use platforms effectively. Great focus is on the design process but not on a production use. Instead, a more interdisciplinary approach is needed that leaves more room for human interaction in production and how platforms should be used in production.