Thesis (M. Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references.

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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 278-292).

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2000. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 85-90).

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Hong Kong, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available in print.

The rental price adjustment mechanism is a fundamental component of the model for forecasting future office space requirements. This is an important area of study given the increasing significance of office buildings in the urban environment. This has resulted from the large growth in service oriented employment. Very little academic work has been completed in this area because of the lack of sufficient data. To date, only the U.S. market has been examined. The objective of this thesis is model the rental price adjustment mechanism in the Canadian office market. The intent is to further test the theory in this area, provide a comparison with the results obtained in the U.S., and provide some insight into the workings of the Canadian office market. This thesis reviews the relevant literature on inventory theory, and empirical work performed on the housing market and on data from the U.S. office market. The review points to a series of propositions about the rental price adjustment mechanism in the office market, the most important being the strong relationship between rents and vacancies. The extensions to the model developed in this paper are the specification of the vacancy variable in non linear terms and an attempt to include some proxy for growth expectations. The model is tested using data from Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Calgary, and Vancouver. The data has been collected primarily from the Royal LePage Market Survey. Visual inspection of the data uncovers unique characteristics in each individual office market. The underlying reasons point to the importance of integrating growth expectations in the model. The regression results support some degree of asymmetric price behaviour, however the specification of the vacancy variable in non linear terms is not conclusive. Inflation expectations seem to be important as landlords attempt to pass inflationary rises on to the tenants. Operating costs and interest rates do not appear to be significant factors in the model. This leads to the conclusion that they are not important in the cost of holding inventory in the short run. Finally, the proxy used for growth expectations is not significant. The most likely reason for this result is that the variable is not properly specified. The low explanatory power of the model may be attributed to the misspecification of the growth proxy and limitations in the data set. Both of these factors should be considered in future work in this area. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1982. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ROTCH. / Includes bibliographical references. / As the electric utilities face ever increasing peak power production requirements, (mostly from the commercial sector) scheduled "time-of-day" pricing schemes have become imperative. At present, most conservation strategies for commercial buildings focus on the reduction of energy consumption orchestrated (justifiably) by t he expense of electrical energy for lighting and cooling which dominate their loads. However, these conservation schemes, such as higher efficiency lamps, various glazing techniques, etc., do not alter the time of consumption nor do they utilize the lower off-peak electrical rates. The results are as before; high energy costs due to peak (daytime) consumption, and projected savings from the various conservation strategies are overshadowed or not realized. This thesis investigates a decentralized off-peak cooling system for commercial office buildings utilizing the structural mass as the thermal storage medium. The system incorporates an exposed concrete ceiling slab cooled at night with imbedded chilled water pipes and taking full advantage of off-peak electrical rates. The ceiling/slab - waterpipe system is modeled via two-dimensional finite difference methods for transient analysis. The sensitivity of the system to pipe size and spacing, internal loads, water temperatures, and surface geometry is assessed. The analytical results suggest the potential for application, however, additional research must be undertaken to investigate the economic implications of fabrication and to more adequately determine the effects of non-planar surface geometry. / by Rory Christopher Mathis. / M.S.

Thesis (M. Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references.

Research report is submitted in partial fulfilment to the requirement of the degree of Master of Science (Building) in the field of Property Development and Management, to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, School of Construction Economics and Management, University of the Witwatersrand, 2016 / The purpose of this study was to explore the type of office spaces in South Africa together with the presence of generational and cultural/ethnic differences in employee’s perception in the office environment on particular aspects. The research was carried out as a single case study of an office using private consultancy firm, located in Johannesburg, South Africa. Questionnaires were sent out to employees based in various segments within the firm. The study showed that the leading office typology is open plan/group office spaces as opposed to all other office configurations within the firm, such as private/cellular offices. The case study highlights the trade-off between collaboration and privacy in the primary office typology, open plan office spaces. The findings demonstrated that no significant differences exist between the different generations’ and cultures’ ability to conduct activities which are influenced by personal and interpersonal aspects of the office spaces. Furthermore, findings illustrated that no generational and cultural differences exist in the environmental, personal and design aspects of the office space. Lastly, findings showed that generational and cultural differences do exist in group cohesion and intension to stay. The main limitation of research is the small sample size which may have resulted in an untrue reflection in the generalisation of the population. The paper’s findings add to the cultural and ethnic differences experienced in open plan offices on personal/interpersonal, environmental and design aspects. Further studies need to explore the possible theoretical links between the workspace, group cohesion, intension to stay and productivity for South African office using firms. Keywords: generational differences, cultural/ethnic difference, employees’ experiences, collaboration, privacy, team work / MT2017