No description available.

Master of Science / Department of Architectural Engineering and Construction Science / Fred L. Hasler / Presently, the design basis for urban areas with a scarcity of surface space is the construction of skyscrapers. Skyscrapers, even with a lot of challenges, have been a great solution for the development of large urban areas since their introduction, per modern definition, in the early 1900’s (Kelley, 2010). This has allowed us to have a “reach a new height” type of mentality, with which the industry has been able to develop new construction ideas and concepts to improve, if not reinvent, those that have been used for nearly a century. The appreciation and application of new concepts will lead us into a progressive path to improve the overall designs within the industry. The concept of earthscrapers, best described as an underground skyscraper, is very intriguing but more than anything attractive to those in the industry. These new concepts will also bring a set of new challenges, with which solutions will arise. The concept of earthscrapers is a major game changer, with a design that offers several comparison and contrast points to skyscrapers. Some of the main focus points when discussing the approach of designing earthscrapers in comparison to skyscrapers are its space constraints, structure stability, and energy efficiency. Consequently, the paper will review the technical literature within the industry on these three subjects and evaluate their advantages and disadvantages. At the same time the paper will be reviewing the building systems of safety, mechanical, electrical and lighting applicable to this concept and discuss its challenges and effects on the overall design. Overall, this report covers and evaluates research done surrounding this design concept as well as providing topics and information that will need further testing and investigation. Initially, it covers further description of the two design solutions being discussed, skyscraper and earthscrapers, as well as its challenges and future development. The report will follow by an evaluation of the different ways that these designs provide a solution in regards to space scarcity in urban areas, as well as what each requires to be classified as an efficient design. Then, different engineering system implementations in these designs are introduced and a comparison is presented with the most up to date information available in the industry. All this with the purpose to give an idea of the differences in energy efficiency between designs as well as some of the social and psychological effects that these may have on the occupants and community. Finally, an overall evaluation is made in regards to the different benefits and challenges that approaching this new design concept faces, while also providing some recommendations on what could be done within the industry in order to make this possibility a reality.

No description available.

This dissertation looks at some of the most famous structures by talented and cryptic American architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924) for fusions of Aesthetic Movement surfaces and two-part Classical Monumentality. For architects, the Aesthetic Movement allowed for a greater amount of freedom when it came to sources, massing, and ornament, which resulted in the creation of more highly textured surfaces than ever before. Under raking light, this texture produces some scintillating effects. Sullivan used this textural freedom throughout his career, creating some surfaces that sparkle. It will also be demonstrated that Sullivan changed his drawing style to better articulate his textural visions to others. The second way in which this dissertation looks at Sullivan’s architecture is through the lens of Classical monumentality, specifically that used in Donato Bramante’s Palazzo Caprini (constructed ca. 1512), which is better known today as the House of Raphael. Composed of a basement surmounted by a major order, Bramante’s venerable two-part pattern spawned legions of descendants. This dissertation will demonstrate that Sullivan applied lessons from derivatives of this structure’s facade to a range of building types. Visual analysis of select building facades will demonstrate that Sullivan kept combining these two themes throughout his career.

Vertical Buildings (skyscrapers) challenge our perception of space, our perception of scale, our idea of movement, they challenge the way we live. Currently urban cities are becoming more and more dense. Lack of space is a big issue and now buildings are being torn down and are replaced by skyscrapers. And these new skyscrapers are being redefined to house a living and working environment. Cubism challenges our perception of depth, our tactile sense, our ideas of proportion. Cubism, as a 20th century movement, was in continuous exploration of the senses.  Cubists challenged the conception of art, and consequently shaped and influenced many social movements of their time. Like any human expression, art and architecture are in a continuous evolution. Both share the pursuit of perfection, the exploration of spatial, sensorial, and emotional feelings.  Both are a part of us. With all of these ideas in mind, I started to investigate and explore the idea of a skyscraper that would house an  art school. Where the building and its inhabitants will contribute to its surroundings of the school. There is the challenge of programing the art school into a vertical configuration and at the same time, this challenge offers the possibility of discovery for new organization of the school as a vertical world. / Master of Architecture

No description available.

The project consists in developing a 100mt high tower, harmonizing with contemporary Japanese architecture, as a symbol of vanguard and daring, in addition serving as a landmark for Tokyo city. The museum houses expositions of the fashion history of the 20th century, and also exhibition space where contemporary fashion designers present their recent work, it counts with a basic program that will occupy less than a 4,000m2 area. The project will be located on a determined plot at Omotesando Street in Tokyo. There is also a space where models will parade for a selected audience; it projects outside the main structure of the building , allowing pedestrian and other building’s users from different areas of the city to watch the fashionshows. The Japanese garden at the very top of the building has the traditional Japanese vegetation and components, suitable for Tokyo’s wheather.

A new simplified skyscraper analysis model (SSAM) was developed and implemented in a spreadsheet to be used for preliminary skyscraper design and teaching purposes. The SSAM predicts linear and nonlinear response to gravity, wind, and seismic loading of "modern" skyscrapers which involve a core, megacolumns, outrigger trusses, belt trusses, and diagonals. The SSAM may be classified as a discrete method that constructs a reduced system stiffness matrix involving selected degrees of freedom (DOF's). The steps in the SSAM consist of: 1) determination of megacolumn areas, 2) construction of stiffness matrix, 3) calculation of lateral forces and displacements, and 4) calculation of stresses. Seven configurations of a generic skyscraper were used to compare the accuracy of the SSAM against a space frame finite element model. The SSAM was able to predict the existence of points of contraflexure in the deflected shape which are known to exist in modern skyscrapers. The accuracy of the SSAM was found to be very good for displacements (translations and rotations), and reasonably good for stress in configurations that exclude diagonals. The speed of execution, data preparation, data extraction, and optimization were found to be much faster with the SSAM than with general space frame finite element programs.

The civil engineering and architectural communities are highly focused, these days, on designing buildings that maximize utilization of energy available from natural resources. This dissertation presents a quantitative study of the effect of high-rise office building morphology on energy and structural performances for the major climates. The parameters of the building morphologies are varied - the building footprint shape, the placement of the structural core/walls, and the building orientation. The energy analysis is performed using Autodesk Ecotect Analysis 2011; while using SAP2000 for the structure analysis and design. The key observations are: 1) the building morphology has a significant effect on the annual energy consumption, 2) placement of the structural core/walls in the east and west sides significantly improve the energy performance, 3) the tradeoff in the cost of placing the structural core/walls to maximize operating energy efficiency is too great, 4) for built to code buildings the energy demand may be considered marginally sensitive to changes in aspect ratio, and 5) high quality thermal properties of code-built envelope systems offer more flexibility to designers with regard to the building site planning without creating negative impacts on total energy demand.

No description available.