This thesis studies the relationship between the internal characteristics of the site, based on an existing set of artifacts, abandoned concrete railroad trestles, and external views of them. The project establishes orthogonal and non-orthogonal geometries in re-developing this urban site creating buildings that relate to the site, surroundings, and themselves. The physical, structural connections and spatial relationships reconcile the superimposition of geometries. Ultimately every decision in the project returns to the analysis of the site allowing for different buildings, people, and environments to interact as a single entity. / Master of Architecture

Within the context of the contribution that urban infill development makes to urban wholeness, this thesis examines three specific sites in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina. The thesis tests the impact upon these sites of certain environmental design theories and principles developed primarily during the twentieth century. Subsequently, it examines what effect the infilling of these sites has upon the urban wholeness of the surrounding city. / Master of Science

Syfte: Dagens urbanisering ger behov av förtätning av stadskärnor vilket kan leda till borttagande av parkering, grönområden och solljus. Att bygga och bo i innerstäder är dyrt på grund av höga markpriser, komplicerade projekt och en hög efterfrågan på bostäder. Bostäder idag utformas utefter regelverken SIS och BBR vilket i innerstäder kan få komplikationer. Målet med arbetet är därför att ifrågasätta vissa regler kring tillgänglighet, rumshöjd och ljusförhållanden i syfte att förenkla förtätning och skapa ett nytt förslag av en planerad infill-fastighet där en varierad lägenhetsstruktur uppnåtts tillsammans med en potentiell ekonomisk vinst.   Metod: Arbetets undersökningsmetoder är kvalitativa och består av litteraturundersökningar, dokumentanalyser och intervjuer. Dessa utfördes för att analysera dagens förtätning och resultera i en skissning där byggregler avskaffats för att förenkla viss förtätning.   Resultat: Arbetets skissning visar att en mångfaldig lägenhetsstruktur är uppnåbar via avskaffande av vissa BBR-krav som skapat olika lägenhetstyper, intressanta volymer, tvåvåningslägenheter och yteffektiva planlösningar. Avskaffandet av regler för att förenkla förtätning påverkar inblandade på ett eller annat sätt.   Konsekvenser: Att avskaffa byggkrav i förtätningssammanhang kan ta bort kvalitéer som dagsljus och tillgänglighet i bostäder. Kortsiktiga lösningar på parkeringsbristen finns men förtätning med levande bottenvåningar utförs för att lösa parkeringsbristen långsiktigt genom att skapa tillgångar geografiskt nära människor som minskar behovet av bil. Att avskaffa regler kan leda till enklare projektering och bidra med viss ekonomisk fördel, men dyr nybyggnation tillsammans med hög efterfrågan på centrala bostäder kan försvåra för låga budgetar och prissänkning av bostäder.   Begränsningar: Det generella resultatet av arbetet gällande regelavskaffande fungerar i förtätningssammanhang i andra täta städer men då undersökningen är baserade på Jönköpings innerstad och erfarenheter och åsikter kopplade dit kan generella giltigheten ifrågasättas. Skissningen är baserad på egna åsikter och endast lämplig i detta sammanhang.   Nyckelord: Förtätning, infill, flerbostadshus, urbanisering, byggregler, standard, tillgänglighet, rumshöjd, ljusförhållanden, stadskärna, innerstad. / Purpose: Today's urbanization requires densification of cities, which can lead to removal of parking lots, green areas and sunlight. To build and live in inner cities is expensive because of high land prices, complicated projects and a high demand for housing. Homes today are designed according to the regulations SIS and BBR, which in the inner cities leads to complications, especially regarding accessibility qualities and light conditions. The aim of this work is therefore to abolish certain rules regarding accessibility, room height and lighting conditions in order to simplify densification and create a new proposal of a planned infill property where a varied apartment structure has been achieved together with a potential financial gain.   Method: The research methods of this work are qualitative and consist of literature studies, document analyzes and interviews. These were performed to analyze today's densification and result in a sketch where building rules were abolished to simplify some densification.   Findings: The work outline shows that a multiple apartment structure is achievable via the abolition of certain BBR requirements that have created different types of apartments, interesting volumes, two-storey apartments and surface-efficient floor plans. Abolition of rules to simplify densification affects people in one way or another.   Implications: Abolishing construction requirements in densification contexts can remove qualities such as daylight and accessibility in homes. Short-term solutions to the parking  shortage exist but densification with living ground floors is performed to solve the parking shortage in the long term by creating assets geographically close to people which reduces the need for car. Removing rules can lead to simpler planning and contribute with some economic advantage, but expensive new construction together with a high demand for central housing can make it difficult for low budgets and price reductions in housing.   Limitations: The general result of this work on the elimination of rules works in densification contexts in other dense cities, but since the survey method is based on Jönköping's inner city and experiences and opinions linked to it, the general validity can be questioned. The sketch is based on one's own opinions and only suitable in this context.   Keywords: Densify cities, infill, apartment buildings, urbanization, building rules, standard, accessibility, room height, lighting conditions, city center, inner city.

I have designed a housing project that is an infill to an existing housing block in the city center of Stockholm. When I started this project the themes everydayness and building typology was central for me. That is why I also chose to work with the site Sälgen 4; a corner site and one of few remaining gaps in the block structure of the city center. Today there is a gas station on the site, which I for this project presume could be removed. When working with this project I found interest in what simplified could be called soft flexibility, where measurement, shape and connection to other spaces are dealt with in order to enable for different kinds of usage. This type of flexibility I encountered when studying late 19th century dwellings in Stockholm city center. I have developed similar apartments, often with a size of about 140 m2 with 4,5 rooms and an additional kitchen. Even all the room units are similar with over 4 m width and close to square shapes. This enabled the creation of very generic spaces but also introduced me to an interesting paradox; the on the architectural drawing less dynamic floor plan create on the other hand the most dynamic ways to inhabit the spaces. Also the loggia has been an important feature in my design. / Jag har ritat ett bostadshus som är ett infill till ett befintligt kvarter i Stockholms innerstad. När jag började projektet så var temana vardaglighet och byggnadstypologi viktiga för mig. Därför valde jag att arbeta med tomten Sälgen 4; en hörntomt och en av få luckor i kvartersstaden. Idag finns där en bensinmack men jag har sett det som en förutsättning för projektet att den kan tas bort.   Under projektets gång har jag intresserat mig för vad som förenklat kan kallas för mjuk flexibilitet, där rummens mått, form och angöring möjliggör för många olika typer av användning. Den typen av flexibilitet upptäckte jag då jag studerade gamla sekelskifteshus i Stockholm   Jag har arbetat fram likartade lägenheter på oftast runt 140 m2 med 4,5 rum och kök. Även rumsenheterna är nästan identiska med drygt 4 m i bredd och nära kvadratisk form. På så vis har jag skapat en hög grad av generallitet men också konfronterats med en spännande paradox; de å ena sidan som ritning minst dynamiska planerna, kommer å andra sidan att generera den mest dynamiska och tillåtande användningen av dem. Även loggian har varit ett viktigt inslag i min design.

<p> A moment resisting frame is one of the most commonly used lateral load resisting system in modem structures because it is suitable for low and medium rise buildings and industrial structures. It can be designed to behave in a ductile manner under seismic loads. </p> <p> Masonry infills have traditionally been used in buildings as partitions and for architectural or aesthetic reasons. They are normally considered as non-structural elements, and their effect on the structural system has been ignored in the design. However, even though they are considered non-structural elements, there is mounting evidence that they interact with the frame when the structures are subjected to lateral loads Infill walls have been identified as a contributing factor to catastrophic structural failures during earthquakes. Frame-infill interaction can induce brittle shear failures of reinforced concrete columns by creating a short column. Furthermore, infills can over-strengthen the upper stories of a structure and when they fail a soft first storey is created, which is highly undesirable from the earthquake resistance standpoint. </p> <p> There is a need for an efficient and accurate computational model to simulate the nonlinear hysteretic force-deformation behaviour of masonry infills, which is also suitable for implementation in time-history analysis of large structures. The aim is to develop a simplified advanced and cost-effective model for nonlinear time history analysis and seismic design of masonry infill frame structures. </p> <p> The objective of this research was to develop a practical and economical technique applicable for global analysis of general three-dimensional reinforced concrete infilled frames under lateral loads. Novel finite element model for the infill and the surrounding frame was developed using a special finite element configuration to represent the masonry panel. Some prescribed failure planes in different directions were defined depending on the common failure mode of masonry panels. Moreover, some of contact elements were used on the failure planes to connect among the panel elements, and between the panel elements and the boundary reinforced concrete frame. Different material models were used to represent the behaviour of concrete, reinforcing steel, mortar joints and inclined saw-tooth cracks in the infill panel. Different material models were used to describe the behaviour through and perpendicular to the prescribed failure planes. The proposed model and the used material models were described in details in the first part of this research. </p> <p> The proposed finite element model was verified against experimental and analytical results previously published by others. Different frames configurations, reinforcing details, boundary conditions and material properties were consider in that section to verify the capability of the proposed model to simulate the behaviour of different frames. The overall behaviour "Load-deflection relationship", failure point and failure mode were compared with the experimental and analytical results. Satisfactory agreement with the previously published results was obtained. </p> <p> The study investigates the capability of the proposed model to simulate the behaviour of infilled frames subjected to cyclic loads. Hysteretic loops obtained by using the new model were verified against experimental and analytical results and good correlation were obtained. The failure modes and crack patterns were compared with the experimental results and good agreements were obtained. The proposed model failed to capture some shear cracks in the RC frames as per the experimental results. </p> / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

The well-known clinoformal geometry of a basin-fill, with an alluvial to shelf segment, deep-water slope segment, and a basin floor segment, arises from the development of a wedge-shaped body of sediment at the basin-margin that has been termed a basin-margin wedge or a shelf-slope sedimentary prism. The basin-margin wedge characteristically has atopset-foreset clinoformal geometry, with its topset dominated by alluvial, coastal and shelfal processes, while its foreset is dominated by turbidite sedimentation. Tectonic configuration of the basin, sediment supply, and relative sea level variation are some of the major factors that control the development and growth of the basin-margin wedge. This dissertation documents two distinct stages of development of the basin-margin wedge at an Eocene active margin, and relates the observed variability in the nature of the shelf-margin, deep-water slope, and basin-floor deposits with these stages. The Tyee Basin in western Oregon was a forearc basin that was filled during late early Eocene and Middle Eocene under greenhouse climatic condition. The sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin include continental, shallow-marine and deep-water sandstones that are well exposed in Coast Range area of Oregon. The variability observed within the thick and laterally extensive turbidite sandstones of the Tyee Basin led to contrasting depositional models for the Tyee basin in the past. Notably, the submarine ramp model, which provides an alternative model for deepwater coarse clastic deposition, was proposed based on the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin. Reconstruction of the clinoformal geometry of the Tyee Basin succession from detailed field data (more than 1000 outcrop locations) and subsurface data reveals two distinct stages of development of this active basin-margin. Each stage has a distinct style of clinoform development and a distinct character of associated sandy deepwater deposits. At the initial stage the basin-margin clinoforms appear to be small (< 250m clinoform height) and strongly progradational, with clinoform topset dominated by the feeder fluvial deposits. At this stage, sandy unconfined (not channelized) turbidite deposits accumulated on the Tyee deepwater slope and extended to the Tyee basin-floor. Large scale sediment conduits on the deepwater slope, in the form of slope channels or canyons, are notably absent in this stage. The second stage is characterized by larger clinoform height (> 500m), higher degree of topset aggradation with repeated fluvio-deltaic cycles on the shelf, and spectacular, sand-rich, well-organized turbidite channels and canyons on the slope. The slope channels active at this stage supplied coarse sediments to the basin-floor to form unusually thick basin-floor fans. The first infill stage represents the embryonic development of a basin-margin wedge on the Tyee continental margin, and could have some similarity with the previously mentioned submarine ramp model. But this was followed by a much longer period of basin-filling when repeated fluvial and shallow-marine cycles formed on the shelf and well-organized turbidite channels were active on the slope supplying sands to the Tyee Basin floor fans. It was concluded that the two stages of development of the basin-margin wedge in the Tyee Basin is controlled largely by the configuration of the basin, that is a result of the prominent topographic/bathymetric features in oceanic basement underlying the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin. Tectonically active hinterland and greenhouse climate may have contributed to a relatively high sediment supply to the basin. The relatively small-amplitude sea level variations expected under greenhouse climatic condition of the Early to Middle Eocene are likely to have relatively minor effect on the architecture of the basin-fill. The present work on Tyee Basin builds on earlier research on this basin, but now establishes a ground trothed clinoformal growth model, revises the existing interpretation of sediment transport direction during a major part of the basin-filling history, and demonstrates a two-stage evolution of margin accretion. The observations from the active Tyee Basin was compared and contrasted with a latest Pleistocene sediment wedge on the New Jersey outer shelf. This sediment wedge, developed under icehouse climatic condition, and on a passive margin, was studied using high resolution seismic data (CHIRP). In contrast to the sedimentary succession of the Tyee Basin, the depositional architecture of the sediment wedge on outer New Jersey shelf, which was interpreted as a set of falling stage deltaic clinothems, appears to be strongly controlled by eustatic sea level variation of latest Pleistocene. / text

The following report details research and analysis in order to assess the background market and market-based feasibility of the development of efficiency apartment units in the central Austin Area. It explores the potential and opportunities of reducing the size of apartments and promoting efficiency apartment unit development as a strategy to improve housing affordability for the Generation Y (Gen Y) population while taking advantage of urban redevelopment investments near Austin’s main TODs. The body of this study will discuss: (1) Generation Y and its impact on Austin’s housing market; (2) concepts and facts related to housing affordability; (3) strategies used by the city of Austin to promote infill development and existing transit oriented development sites; and (4) an overview of key housing development strategies and the real estate development process, including market analysis and absorption forecast under current housing market conditions. The study evaluates the implications of a significant demand for less expensive and smaller alternative housing products for a growing population group near downtown Austin. This report may contributes to the policy discussion about different approaches to housing affordability and offers an assessment guide for new housing development opportunities for a diverse range of city residents. / text

This is a project about an old city block. It once housed confectioners, jewelers, restaurateurs, pharmacists, and retailers in street-level parcels with residents in the apartments above. Now, it is home to a barber, a few restaurateurs, and street vendors. Over 200 years of building and development have shaped what is now the north 100 block of E Broad Street and although most of it still stands, it shows the effects of renovations, time, and neglect. This is also a project about paths. As sidewalks move pedestrians along streets they provide paths to retailers, employers, homes, and places to gather and be. Instead of traveling alongside the city block, this project proposes a pedestrian path through it. By stitching together a series of fractured building parcels, the path begins and ends three hundred feet apart at the sidewalks of Broad and Marshall streets. Lastly, this is a project about movement. This bridge between Broad and Marshall Streets serves as a bridge between two different types of places. The collection of parcels that are united in purpose for the sake of this work touch with walls, floors, and ceilings and where they do, create opportunity for passage. Horizontal movement through the city block happens through large volumes defined by planes and program. Vertical movement occurs through perforated shafts and open layers that allow for users to comprehend distance and direction traveled.

No presente trabalho trata-se de um estudo da contribuição de painéis pré-moldados de fechamento no enrijecimento da estrutura principal, com relação às ações laterais. Inicialmente são apontados os critérios correntes de dimensionamento dos painéis pré-moldados de fechamento sem a consideração da interação destes com a estrutura principal. Em seguida, são desenvolvidas simulações numéricas em três exemplos com o objetivo de avaliar tal efeito. Estes exemplos englobam as seguintes situações: painel isolado, estrutura de um pavimento e uma estrutura de vários pavimentos. Os principias parâmetros analisados são os deslocamentos na estrutura principal, os esforços nas ligações e as tensões nos painéis. Os resultados obtidos mostram a importância da contribuição dos painéis no enrijecimento da estrutura principal. Na estrutura de um único pavimento analisada, a consideração de interação possibilita a passagem de situação em que os efeitos globais de segunda ordem são relevantes para aquela em que tais efeitos são desprezíveis. Para a estrutura analisada de vários pavimentos, a consideração de interação resulta em significativas economias de materiais apontando para economia da ordem de 20% na estrutura principal. Com base nos resultados, conclui-se que os painéis de fechamento pode ser incorporados numa estratégia de projeto, possibilitando economia na estrutura principal. / This work presents a study of the precast panels contribution in the main frame stiffness, subjected to lateral loads. At first, currents criteria of panels design are analyzed, without considering the interaction with the main frame. After that, three examples are calculated using numerical simulation to evaluate this effect. These examples include the following situations: a single panel, an one-story frame and a multi-story frame. The parameters are: the frame displacements, the connections efforts and the panels tensions. The results show the magnitude of the panels contribution. In fact, to the one-story frame, it was possible to pass from a flexible structure where the second-order effects must be taken into account to an other one where this effects could be neglected. For the multi-story frame analysis, the panels contribution produced an effective material economy of about 20% (and consequent cost reduction). Basing on these results, one can conclude that the infill panels can be included in the design strategy with economy for the structural system.

In this paper we discuss an algorithm for the construction of D-optimal experimental designs for the parameters in a regression model when the errors have a correlation structure. We show that design points can collapse under the presence of some covariance structures and a so called nugget can be employed in a natural way. We also show that the information of equidistant design on covariance parameter is increasing with the number of design points under exponential variogram, however these designs are not D-optimal. Also in higher dimensions the exponential structure without nugget leads to collapsing of the D-optimal design when also parameters of covariance structure are of interest. However, if only trend parameters are of interest, the designs covering uniformly the whole design space are very efficient. For illustration some numerical examples are also included. (author's abstract) / Series: Research Report Series / Department of Statistics and Mathematics