A lean construction overlay to RIBA Plan of Work

This short paper describes an on-going research into developing a new overlay to RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) Plan of Work (PoK) for adopting lean principles and techniques in construction project across work stages. The research was defined to answer an identified research question, which has been identified with regard to not only adding new knowledge but also making useful contributions to further research and practice

The indispensability of good operation & maintenance (O&M) manuals in the operation and maintenance of low carbon buildings

Increase in energy usage, particularly from fossil fuel sources is widely understood to be responsible for the environmental problems (Climate Change) experienced globally today. Response to mitigating this anthropogenic induced consequence created the need for innovative low carbon and renewable technologies in buildings. In the UK presently, every new building is expected to be low-carbon and energy-efficient. However, it is widely acknowledged that significant differences often exist between designed and in-use performances of the buildings. Clients and end-users of these technologies appear not to be getting long term value for their investments; much attention has not been given to how these innovative technologies can be operated and maintained long into the future. Recent researches also underpin the fact that the wide information gap existing between designers and building end-users is one of the factors responsible for the performance-gap. This paper therefore presents excerpts of a research aimed at exploring a best practice approach to operability and maintainability of low-carbon-buildings. The research methodology involved the use of interviews, surveys and case study. Findings suggest that a properly prepared O&M manual is a potential document that that could bridge this gap and that it is an indispensable tool for the effective and efficient operation and maintenance of low carbon buildings

Beyond words: Aesthetic knowledge and knowing in design

Aesthetic knowledge comes from practitioners understanding the look, feel, smell, taste and sound of things. It is vital to work in many organizational contexts. In this paper, we explore aesthetic knowledge and knowing in organizations through detailed observation of design work in the architectural practice Edward Cullinan Architects. Through our research, we explore aesthetic knowledge in the context of architectural work, we unpack what it is, how it is generated, and how it is applied in design projects, shared between practitioners and developed at the level of the organization. Our analysis suggests that aesthetic knowledge plays an important part in organizational practice, not only as the symbolic context for work, but as an integral part of the work that people do. It suggests that aesthetic reflexivity, which involves an opening up and questioning of what is known, is experienced as part of practice as well as a `time out' from practice

The use of building simulation within an architectural practice

This paper documents the development and implementation and use of simulation within an architectural practice and reports how its use facilitates the practice's commitment to Sustainable Design

A traveling theatre

The VII IUA (International Union of Architects) Conference took place in the summer of 1961 in London. It was organized by Riba (Royal Institute of British Architects) and under the general name “Architecture and Technology”, where the debates focused on new architecture materials and techniques. An international student contest under the theme “A Travelling Theatre” was set up at this conference. In the academic year of 1960/61 the Fine Arts Schools of Porto and Lisbon embraced the UIA proposal by giving some of their 4th year students the chance to develop a project for the mentioned contest. In this period, the Fine Arts School of Oporto headmaster’s, the architect Carlos Ramos, was at the same time vice-president of the UIA, since 1959 - he had been elected at the General Assembly that took place in Lisbon, that year. The first prize of the contest was awarded to Spanish student Emilio Perez Piñero. Yet we believe the projects by the architecture students from Porto, the ones we know from the photographs by Teófilo Rego, present solutions, we think deserve a broader approach, so that, the cross-relations among the Carlos Ramos’ school, the proposed program for the contest by the UIA, and the relation with the Portuguese social and cultural context, particularly in the Theatre’s sphere.Este texto foi co-financiado pela Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia I.P. (PIDDAC) e pelo Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional – FEDER, através do COMPETE – Programa Operacional Fatores de Competitividade (POFC), no âmbito do projecto "Fotografia, Arquitectura Moderna e a «Escola do Porto»: Interpretações em torno do Arquivo Teófilo Rego" (PTDC/ATP-AQI/4805/2012

The Olympic Buildings as a new typology for architects and engineers

Integration between Architecture and Engineering is one of the cardinal elements of the IASS activities and is generally perceived either as a ‘starting point’, being a quality of the ancient Master Builders of Medieval and Renaissance times or as a ‘final destination’ to be eventually reached by the two disciplines in times to come. In both cases, such integration seems absent in contemporary buildings. In contrast, there has been in the recent past, also in the present and will be forthcoming in the future, particular occasions in which such a ‘fusion’ was not just a possible solution but consistent practice, a built fact. These special occasions are certainly represented by the buildings for the Olympic Games. The ‘Olympic Buildings’ are designed to represent both an architectural and an engineering challenge to the existing world of construction. They aspire to become icons of a particular time and to set a new standard in terms of building technologies/materials. It is not a coincidence that some of the most influential designers of our times linked their names to the Olympic Games. Indeed, figures like Pier Luigi Nervi (Rome 1960), Yoshikatsu Tsuboi (Tokyo 1964), Frei Otto (Munich 1972) and more recently, Mamoru Kawaguchi (Barcelona 1992) and Santiago Calatrava (Athens 2004) designed some of their masterpieces for such events. This paper, which is an outcome of a broader, international and in-progress research on this topic, will, through a re-reading of some the most significant post-war editions of the Olympiads, illustrates the historical progress of so-called ‘Structural Design’. Considering in depth the casestudy of Rome 1960 as a starting point, and comparing it with buildings designed for other Olympiads, it became apparent that all of the works examined in this article, in spite of their international success, managed to keep what can be defined as a ‘Regional character’, distinctive of a particular culture in terms of architectonic language and technological resources. This characteristic seems to be lost in the most recent editions of the Games (Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008) and represents one of the challenges to the next Olympic cities, starting with London 2012

The battle for 'the Mack'

No abstract available

Education for a smarter profession

We must build for this nation a big passion for innovation. We must make the development of the creative mind a national agenda. Unless we get really serious about cultivating creativity and promoting innovation, the transformation to an innovation economy will not really happen

The Influence of international boards validation upon the architecture curriculum in the Arab region

Well recognized accreditation and validation bodies ensure that architecture graduates will be technically competent who are capable of defining multiple career paths within a changing societal context. These accrediting bodies require an accredited program to produce graduates who are able to solve architectural design problems, including the integration of technical systems, environmental systems, and health and safety requirements; and comprehend architects' roles and responsibilities in society. The criteria at which the accrediting bodies work and their influence on Architecture schools, the students and syllabus in Arab region are discussed. The RIBA and the CAA are the key professional bodies that perform accreditation beyond their original national borders. In this paper the RIBA validation system will be discussed in order to find out to what extent such validation process can affect the teaching and curriculum structure within architectural schools. The paper presents the validation process carried out at the Architectural Engineering and Environmental Design Department, Arab Academy for Science and Technology (AAST). The AAST architectural department is the first architecture school to be accredited by the RIBA accreditation board in the Arab region

Enhancement of BIM Data Representation in Product-Process Modelling for Building Renovation

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has the potential to become a technology which will help to use a holistic information repository to generate and represent relevant information in different building life-cycle stages (BLCS) to dedicated groups of stakeholders. However, the scope of model components of BIM data (e.g., IFC meta-data) is limited and some parts of it are not modelled in a manner that supports the diversity of engineering use cases. This paper aims to address this deficit by identifying the capability to formulate inference rules as one of the major benefits in the ontology-based information modelling approach. However, before one can formulate inferencing rules a detailed and in-depth understanding is required on how stakeholder information needs are defined in different BLCS and on how available, open-BIM meta-data models support these information requirements. Therefore, the research progressed initially on existing definitions for Level of Detail (LOD) and selected process-modelling standards (BLCS). In the subsequent part, different renovation Activities and the Stakeholder involvements are analysed. Use cases are defined and used as a grouping mechanism for selected scenarios. Based on these grouping mechanisms, a methodology of how components of a BIMmodel could be classified to support automated inferencing in the future. The outcome of this research is an established 6-dimensional intercommunication framework (LOD, BLS, Scenarios, Stakeholders, Use Cases, BIM model data) based on the Linked Building Data approach and focusing on renovation processes optimization. Based on the framework, a renovation Product-Process Modelling ontology is developed to connect existing components and to support new interoperable applications.:Abstract 1 Introduction and Backgroung 2 Renovation Framework 2.1 Level of Detail (LOD) 2.2 Building Life-Cycle Stage 2.3 Activity and Stakeholder 2.4 BIM Object (Product Information) 2.5 Use Cases 3 Product-Process Ontology 3.1 Activity – BIM Data – LOD 3.2 BLCS – Activity – Stakeholder 4 Validation 5 Conclusion 6 Future Work Reference