Designing for adaptability in architecture

The research is framed on the premise that designing buildings that can adapt by accommodating change easier and more cost-effectively provides an effective means to a desired end a more sustainable built environment. In this context, adaptability can be viewed as a means to decrease the amount of new construction (reduce), (re)activate underused or vacant building stock (reuse) and enhance disassembly/ deconstruction of components (reuse, recycle) - prolonging the useful life of buildings (reduce, reuse, recycle). The aim of the research is to gain a holistic overview of the concept of adaptability in the construction industry and provide an improved framework to design for, deploy and implement adaptability. An over-arching research question was posited to guide the inquiry: how can architects understand, communicate, design for and test the concept of adaptability in the context of the design process? The research followed Dubois and Gadde s (2002) systematic combining as an over-arching approach that continuously moves between the empirical world and theoretical models allowing the co-evolution of data collection and theory from the beginning as part of a non-linear process with the objective of matching theory with reality. An initial framework was abducted from a preliminary collection of data from which a set of mixed research methods was deployed to explore adaptability (interviews, building case studies, dependency structural matrices, practitioner surveys and workshop). Emergent from the data is an expanded and revised theory on designing for adaptability consisting of concepts, models and propositions. The models illustrate many of the casual links between the physical design structure of the building (e.g. plan depth, storey height) and the soft contingencies of a messy design/construction/occupation process (e.g. procurement route, funding methods, stakeholder mindsets). In an effort to enhance building adaptability, the abducted propositions suggest a shift in the way the industry values buildings and conducts aspects of the design process and how designer s approach designing for adaptability

Consumer Data Research

Big Data collected by customer-facing organisations – such as smartphone logs, store loyalty card transactions, smart travel tickets, social media posts, or smart energy meter readings – account for most of the data collected about citizens today. As a result, they are transforming the practice of social science. Consumer Big Data are distinct from conventional social science data not only in their volume, variety and velocity, but also in terms of their provenance and fitness for ever more research purposes. The contributors to this book, all from the Consumer Data Research Centre, provide a first consolidated statement of the enormous potential of consumer data research in the academic, commercial and government sectors – and a timely appraisal of the ways in which consumer data challenge scientific orthodoxies

In motion: a transport interchange in Rosebank

This thesis developed from an interest in pedestrian infrastructure and motorised transport. No investigation into the current situation is needed to establish the fact that these two entities struggle to find a balance in the urban and suburban landscape. What does however need investigation is the small pockets throughout the landscape that achieve a balance. R R osebank was chosen as it appears to be one of those pockets where a balance is achieved. However, with the introduction of a major Gautrain underground train station with Oxford Road being streamlined above it and an expected 100 000 daily commuters, the balance will be disturbed. The current station proposal turns its back on the pedestrian realm and promotes motorised transport with little understanding of how such a station can have a positive impact on the urban landscape. This thesis attempts to explore the Gautrain train station as more than just a single idea. Through local investigation it concludes that all forms of transport must be considered when implementing new forms of public transport. An equitable balance must be achieved throughout the entire project. It further explores and implements the theory of linking spaces and commuters throughout the project. It considers various forms of how this can be achieved and finally how visual linkage can be used to guide commuters through what can be a disorienting experience. A large amount of time was spent on site to test theories, gain an understanding of pedestrian and motorist’s needs and to fully understand the potential dynamics of how a transport interchange would affect the existing urban fabric. The project is a transport interchange using the Gautrain station as the nucleus for the platforms, station buildings, new taxi rank, new private taxi pick up point and BRT station

Consumer Data Research

Big Data collected by customer-facing organisations – such as smartphone logs, store loyalty card transactions, smart travel tickets, social media posts, or smart energy meter readings – account for most of the data collected about citizens today. As a result, they are transforming the practice of social science. Consumer Big Data are distinct from conventional social science data not only in their volume, variety and velocity, but also in terms of their provenance and fitness for ever more research purposes. The contributors to this book, all from the Consumer Data Research Centre, provide a first consolidated statement of the enormous potential of consumer data research in the academic, commercial and government sectors – and a timely appraisal of the ways in which consumer data challenge scientific orthodoxies

Estimating Movement from Mobile Telephony Data

Mobile enabled devices are ubiquitous in modern society. The information gathered by their normal service operations has become one of the primary data sources used in the understanding of human mobility, social connection and information transfer. This thesis investigates techniques that can extract useful information from anonymised call detail records (CDR). CDR consist of mobile subscriber data related to people in connection with the network operators, the nature of their communication activity (voice, SMS, data, etc.), duration of the activity and starting time of the activity and servicing cell identification numbers of both the sender and the receiver when available. The main contributions of the research are a methodology for distance measurements which enables the identification of mobile subscriber travel paths and a methodology for population density estimation based on significant mobile subscriber regions of interest. In addition, insights are given into how a mobile network operator may use geographically located subscriber data to create new revenue streams and improved network performance. A range of novel algorithms and techniques underpin the development of these methodologies. These include, among others, techniques for CDR feature extraction, data visualisation and CDR data cleansing. The primary data source used in this body of work was the CDR of Meteor, a mobile network operator in the Republic of Ireland. The Meteor network under investigation has just over 1 million customers, which represents approximately a quarter of the country’s 4.6 million inhabitants, and operates using both 2G and 3G cellular telephony technologies. Results show that the steady state vector analysis of modified Markov chain mobility models can return population density estimates comparable to population estimates obtained through a census. Evaluated using a test dataset, results of travel path identification showed that developed distance measurements achieved greater accuracy when classifying the routes CDR journey trajectories took compared to traditional trajectory distance measurements. Results from subscriber segmentation indicate that subscribers who have perceived similar relationships to geographical features can be grouped based on weighted steady state mobility vectors. Overall, this thesis proposes novel algorithms and techniques for the estimation of movement from mobile telephony data addressing practical issues related to sampling, privacy and spatial uncertainty

The CEPS Plan for the Balkans

In 1999, CEPS initiated the Europa South-East Policy Forum, a group of leading independent policy institutes from every country of South-East Europe, the network of Open Society Institutes. The objective was to contribute to the full integration of the whole of the region into the European Union. This report advocates accelerated political and economic reforms in these countries in the aftermath of the war, on the assumption that the European Union itself would make radical moves in its policies to support the process

Block Inversion in the Irish Town

This work examines an emerging process of change in the relationship between street and street-block (hereafter ‘block’) as small Irish towns adjust to new user patterns. Recent surface car parks in the core of traditional blocks have induced change in the surrounding urban fabric, with evidence of significant urban metamorphosis. The work sets out first to examine the background history of block organisation up to the mid-twentieth century, when the typical urban plot was occupied by a house over shop. Here a previously-unsearched field is explored, finding evidence of advanced block design in many towns. The work then focuses on recent metamorphosis, where upper floor residence moves to the suburb leaving its redundant back garden to become a customer car park for the ground floor shop. In time the car park joins with others to form an extensive surface car park occupying the centre of the block. As this becomes the new location of user-entry to the town, shops on the perimeter of the block begin to turn their frontage to the car park, rejecting the street in the process. The central block-core space thus becomes a place of greater importance than the surrounding streets, leading to what might be described as block inversion. The work traces this metamorphosis finding that many established principles in the organisational structure of the town are challenged, including the fundamental difference between front and back in the readability of the town by its users. A sample of sixty-six towns forms the field of study, with a focus on six case-study blocks. The research methodology is organised around sequential triangulation, using map regression, planning-file scrutiny and interviews to trace and analyse the pattern of change as a chronological progression. In it, physical limitations are identified which have significant implications for the management of towns

Refreshing the Victoria.

Leung Chi Keung Pal."Architecture Department, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Master of Architecture Programme 1996-97, design report."Includes bibliographical references.AcknowlegementsChapter 1. --- Background --- p.1Chapter 1.1 --- Client & Needs --- p.1Chapter 1.2 --- Design Objectives --- p.1Chapter 1.3 --- Planning (statutory) Constraints --- p.2Chapter 1.4 --- Site Selection --- p.2Chapter 1.5 --- Site Context --- p.3Chapter 1.6 --- Programme --- p.4Chapter 2. --- Planning Strategy --- p.5Chapter 2.1 --- Phasing of Development --- p.5Chapter 2.2 --- Design Philosophy --- p.7Chapter 2.3 --- Design Development --- p.8Chapter 2.4 --- Zoning --- p.9Chapter 2.5 --- Site Planning --- p.10Chapter 2.6 --- Functional Relations --- p.13Chapter 3. --- Environmental Issue --- p.16Chapter 3.1 --- Climatic Control --- p.16Chapter 3.2 --- Lighting Strategy --- p.21Chapter 3.3 --- Acoustics --- p.25Chapter 3.4 --- Plumbing & Drainage --- p.25Chapter 3.5 --- Power --- p.25Chapter 4. --- Life safety --- p.27Chapter 4.1 --- Compartmentation --- p.27Chapter 4.2 --- Fire Engineering --- p.27Chapter 4.3 --- Means of Escape --- p.29Chapter 5. --- Structure & Construction --- p.30Chapter 5.1 --- Structural Strategy --- p.30Chapter 5.2 --- Construction & Maintenance --- p.34Appendix --- p.35Presentation DrawingsProgramming Repor