The use of financial incentives mechanisms (FIMs) in Australian government large nonresidential building projects is seen as a way to improve project motivation and outcomes and reinforce long-term commitment between participants. Yet very little empirical research has been conducted into how FIMs should be applied in the context of construction projects and what determines their impact on motivation. The primary aim of this research was to identify the motivation drivers impacting on the achievement of FIM goals. This allowed for the formulation of recommendations to improve Australian government building procurement strategies, creating the potential for better project outcomes. The research involved four major case studies of large construction projects. Analysis of motivation drivers on each project was based on interviews with senior project participants, secondary documentation and site visits. Once the motivation drivers were identified, they were ranked by the weighted number of motivation indicators impacted, to give an indication of their relative importance. The results provide Australian government clients with key areas for policy direction. The findings indicate that the following motivation drivers (in order of impact) were more important than FIM design in achieving FIM goals: equitable contract risk allocation and management scope for future project opportunities with the client harmonious project relationships early contractor involvement in design stages value-driven tender selection processes. A consequence of ignoring these key procurement initiatives can be a less than ideal FIM goal performance, despite the nature of FIM design, including the strength of the reward on offer. FIMs have the potential to be a valuable addition to any project procurement strategy. Yet, the main message of this thesis is: If clients rely solely on financial incentives as the driver of motivation it will likely result in failure.

Nowadays, the strategy of improving the energy conserving situations of existing buildingshas been playing a more and more important role of further promoting the worldwide sustainabledevelopment paths, especially in China. This thesis presents the results of a case study based researchwhere several different building Energy Conservation and Efficiency Refurbishment (ECER) options toimprove the energy performance of two representative Chinese Residential Multi-Family Buildings(RMFBs) of two very different climate conditions are evaluated and compared, which have been seenas the typical case buildings of existing and aging less energy efficient urban residential building inthat regions (i.e. one in Urumqi belongs to north cold winter region; and other one in Shanghai belongsto south cold winter and hot summer region). In order to provide a scientific base to present the detailenergy conserving improvements in a quantity and quality way, the research methods are including: therelevant literature reviews; the real case data based interview data collections from the professionalworkers in building ECER field; the simulation and analysis processes are based on the building energysimulation computer program – VIP-Energy (Version 2.0.7). The study results are presented in acomprehensive yet straightforward way, and allow for later interesting comparisons between thedifferent building ECER measures for improvement. In a broader perspective, this research will help toexplore a comparative long-term perspective point of view on the existed and most commonly usedresidential building envelope refurbishment measures in a more comprehensive way, and identify thepotential opportunities for further promoting the building energy consumption reductions to meet thefuture increasingly restrict national building energy conservation standards. In addition, the researchalso suggested the optimal RMFB envelope refurbishment strategy based on the case buildings’ statusquo and subject ECER measures, which is introducing an advancing system thinking pattern to theexisting conventional ECER measures, implementing the combined building ECER options to the casebuildings are put forward. And the separate considerations of environmental and economic benefits thatobtained by the subject ECER measures are both presenting simultaneously in the end.

This study develops a decision-support framework assisting the design of non-residential buildings with natural ventilation. The framework is composed of decision modules with input, analysis algorithms and output of natural ventilation design. The framework covers ventilation with natural driving force and mechanical-assisted ventilation. The framework has two major assessment levels: feasibility assessment and comparison of alternative natural ventilation approaches. The feasibility assessment modules assess the potential of the site with the design proposition for natural ventilation in terms of wind, temperature, humidity, noise and pollution conditions. All of the possible natural ventilation approaches and system designs are assessed by first applying constraints functions to each of the alternatives. Then the comparison of alternative approaches to natural ventilation continues by assessing the critical performance mandates that include energy savings, thermal comfort, acoustic control, indoor air quality and cost. Approaches are finally ranked based on their performance. / Ph. D.

This study aims to investigate the effects of ventilation rate, indoor air temperature, humidity and using a heat recovery ventilation system on indoor radon concentration and distribution. Methods employed include energy dynamic and computational fluid dynamics simulation, experimental measurement and analytical investigations. Experimental investigations primarily utilize a continuous radon meter and a detached house equipped with a recovery heat exchanger unit. The results of the dynamic simulation show that the heat recovery unit is cost-effective for the cold Swedish climate and an energy saving of about 30 kWh per  floor area per year is possible, while it can be also used to lower radon level. The numerical results showed that ventilation rate and ventilation location have significant impacts on both radon content and distribution, whereas indoor air temperature only has a small effect on radon level and distribution and humidity has no impact on radon level but has a small impact on its distribution.

Energy demand reduction has become a global issue involving all countries, including China. As major energy consumers in today s society, the need for buildings to be built and operated more energy efficiently is well recognized. In 1995, the national standard on building energy efficiency in China (JGJ 26-95) was refined and updated to become the new residential Buildings standard (JGJ 26-2010) published in 2010. In the new version, many changes have been made to support the construction of more energy efficient buildings in China. For example, in the new standard, all buildings are highly recommended to install personal control on the heating system, such as by Thermostatic Radiator Valves (TRVs), together with pay for what you use tariffs. Previous practice comprised uncontrolled heating with payment based on floor area. In order to reduce building energy consumption, Chinese government has revised the Chinese building design standard. In the new guide the use of individual room temperature control is highly recommended for new and refurbishment buildings. However, evidence to quantify the extent to which this improvement impact upon on the building energy consumption is currently lacking. This thesis evaluates the impact of updated building design standards on thermal conditions and energy consumption in Chinese residential buildings. In order to evaluate the impact on the building energy consumption, two types of residential buildings have been chosen, one complying with the old Chinese building design standard, while the other complies with the new standard. The study was carried out in seven apartments in each type of building, a total of fourteen apartments and comprised with a longitudinal monitoring of indoor air temperature, outdoor air temperature, window position and energy consumption of each apartment. The impact of the new design standard has been evaluated in relation to a number of aspects, that include building construction, indoor thermal environment, occupant behaviour, thermal comfort and building energy consumption. It is concluded that updating the building design standard has had a positive influence on the building conditions and energy consumption. Furthermore, a thermal comfort survey was carried out in both new and old apartments according to updated standards. The results show that the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model has a efficiently adequate predictor of occupants thermal comfort in both type of apartments. Thereby allowing confirmation that the new control refine did not compromise on thermal comfort. The percentage of acceptable of occupants is higher in new apartments compared with the old apartments.

In this project the aim was to see if there was a way to approach features and qualities which seemed detached of the function, in order to let such features and qualities be used in a variety of programs and functions in design. I wanted to see if this might be possible to achieve and in that case how this would affect the design. I tried to fulfill the intention of the project by making an attempt to lower the influence of the program on the design. In the project the rooms of the design were shown in different states, how the rooms changed and how they were altered when programs were applied to them. I also tried to reflect on how that affected the suggested features and qualities that were assumed to be outside the function. The project was not made for a specific site but Stockholm has been the place that the project was intended to relate to. / Intentionen med det här projektet var att försöka hitta ett sätt att relatera till egenskaper och kvalitéer vilka tycktes vara fristående från funktionen, som gjorde att sådana egenskaper och kvalitéer kunde användas för olika program och funktioner i design. Jag ville försöka se om det fanns ett sätt att göra detta och i så fall hur det skulle påverka designen. Jag försökte uppnå intentionen av projektet genom att minska programmets inflytande på de rum som ritades i projektet. I projektet visas de olika rummen från projektet i olika stadier samt hur rummen förändrades och anpassades till programmen som applicerades i dem. Jag försökte också reflektera över hur de förändringar som gjordes påverkade det som antogs vara egenskaper och kvalitéer utanför funktionen. Projektets design och rum planerades inte för en specifik plats men jag har försökt att relatera projektet till Stockholm som stad.

Referring from Swedish collective housing, this project is a extension from Beate Holmbakk's project Four Houses, Four women to a community for five typical women. The aim is to study if architecture can be an intervention of diffrent women identities in households situation when it is combined with the urban context of a specific site.  The chosed site is in Husby, a district with an ongoing project of feminism urban planning to have a city planning from women's perspective. The Building Oslo 1 and Oslo 9 are included in the planning proposal to be renovated as a residential community. The main problem for women in Husby is that they feel unsafe in public places and the lack of gathering spots for them. So the main concept of this project is to create a commnuty that can be a safe place for women's gatherings. Redesigned public spaces with reorganized function in the ground floor level and characterized public kitchens in residential buildings are main parts of the whole project. It could be an experiment to study if households public places can be the medium to enable more visble activities of women, so as to improve the safety and discourse of women in a family or in the city.

Current residential building designs have become very close and confined. This confinement has made the house lacking in the feeling of open space and the gradual transition from the outdoor to the indoor spaces. These units lack to ventilation, natural lighting, and the connection with the natural environments. In this study, a non-conventional design of the residential building is introduced. This design has revealed the elements of the ideal that is missing in the typical residential buildings today. / Master of Architecture

Today the vast majority of urban population in Turkey is living in multi-story apartment blocks constructed of reinforced concrete due to the fact that in the late 19th century concrete and steel took the place of traditional materials such as masonry. However, it cannot be denied that masonry is still a crucial material for load bearing walls, internal walls and cladding of buildings. In addition to this masonry construction system has many advantages. From the architectural point of view, it provides flexibility in plan, spatial composition, wide variety of colours and textures and an impressive appearance for external walls. From the construction point of view, masonry system eliminates the cost of the frame because the structure is also the enclosing wall. In spite of these advantages, until recently, masonry was not considered to be a convenient material for building construction in seismic zones of Turkey. Thus, in 1950&rsquo / s for the residential building reinforced concrete started to be used as a construction material in every region of Turkey. This building material first became popular and was widely used but after a short while it was also used in smaller cities. Before the construction of reinforced concrete residential buildings each of these small-scale cities had their own local characteristics but after a rapid urbanization period all of these cities became similar to each other. Therefore, in this study firstly residential building typologies in some small-scale cities (Bolu, D&uuml / zce, &Ccedil / ankiri, &Ccedil / orum, Kastamonu, Kirikkale) are investigated and for these cities 4-storey masonry residential buildings is proposed instead of multi-story reinforced concrete apartment blocks. Here, it is aimed to enliven the use of masonry again in these regions. To achieve this aim it is necessary to verify the fact that it is possible to construct a four-story residential building with masonry bearing walls instead of reinforced concrete beam and column skeleton system keeping the existing plan scheme in other words without changing its architectural characteristics. In order to do this, 3D models are created to compare the behaviours of the masonry building and reinforced concrete building. The behavioural investigation of the two models is performed in the finite element platform with the help of SAP 2000. Finally it is certified that this proposal is successfully efficient.

Master of Science / Department of Architecture / Michael D. Gibson / The use of Natural Ventilation (NV) to cool buildings in mixed climates can conserve significant cooling energy. In mixed climates it is particularly important during the fall and the spring, where appropriately designed buildings should use very little energy for heating or cooling. Natural ventilation is also important in residential buildings, where internal heat gain can be managed, making cooling by natural ventilation easier. Earlier investigations have clearly shown the economic, social, and health benefits of the use of NV in built environment. Studies have shown that increased airflow or air-speed during ventilation can bring a significant rise in comfort range which further reduces the cooling energy required to maintain comfort. The climatic data of the central United States (U.S.) shows that the availability of frequent high speed wind and favorable seasonal humidity conditions make natural ventilation feasible in late spring and early fall, where NV can offset most of the cooling demand for a home or multifamily residential unit, though it is not possible to maintain thermal comfort during the entire summer with NV alone. In mixed climates, NV for multifamily residential units has not been investigated thoroughly. According to 2009 International Residential Code, multifamily residential buildings are typically designed to use a code minimum amount of operable or ventilating windows, 4% of the floor area being ventilated, while also using lightweight construction methods (such as wood framing) that is prone to fast thermal response during the overheated periods of the year. While climate may favor the use of NV in these building types, the sizing of windows and the building construction type limit the potential to save energy with NV. This study hypothesized that the maximum benefits from NV in the climate of the central U.S. requires further optimization of window openings beyond the energy code minimum, and a construction system incorporating mass that can slow thermal response during overheated periods. During the study, the climatic data of the central US was scrutinized to understand the most suitable time frames where NV could be applied in order to maintain indoor thermal comfort in various construction systems in residential buildings: mainly lightweight using wood framing, and heavier construction using concrete and masonry. The location of the housing unit, first level or second level, was also examined to account for the differences in thermal gains and losses as a result of ground coupling and additional heat gain from the roof. Further, computational fluid dynamics evaluated the comfort achieved with different ventilation areas. Change in comfort hours by using NV tested the practicability of the use of NV to maintain indoor thermal comfort for different scenarios. The study concluded with design recommendations for building orientation, operable window size, and construction type as these factors relate to thermal comfort and the optimization of multifamily residential buildings to utilize NV for energy savings in the U.S.