Organizational Unit:

School of Architecture

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https://hdl.handle.net/1853/70770

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Organizational Unit

College of Design

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https://finding-aids.library.gatech.edu/agents/corporate_entities/1120

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 34

Guidelines to integrate life cycle assessment in building design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-11-17) Joshi, Surabhi

As the architecture and construction industry places an increased emphasis on sustainability, building researchers are seeking more comprehensive methods to evaluate and reduce a building's environmental impacts. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has emerged as one of the most capable tools to aid in this assessment. Presently there are no guiding principles for the use of LCA in the building industry. This thesis aims to provide guidelines to help architects utilize LCA methodology as part of the design process. This study reviews a number of previously-completed whole-building LCA case-studies to understand different LCA scenarios of use in the building industry. In addition, a set of North American and international LCA tools were evaluated for their utility in different scenarios. The state of research was assessed to find answers to some critical issues concerning LCA. Based on these analyses, a number of scenarios of use of LCA were identified and a set of guidelines was proposed to conduct LCA for buildings. It was concluded that the present use of LCA is limited due to limited tool capabilities, deficient databases and lack of a building-specific methodology. The study recognizes these limitations and recommends specific research opportunities for future researchers. However, it is concluded that approximate LCA results obtained from the tools available today can be useful in informing design-decisions, keeping in mind the lack of precision in the results.
Coding the urban form

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-05-04) Habeeb, Dana M.

What are the essential characteristics that constitute historic American neighbor- hoods? Do current regulations promote developments that exhibit these essential characteristics? In this thesis I analyze two historic neighborhoods in an effort to un- cover their architectonic principles. By identifying the key components that comprise these places, we can critically analyze whether regulations, such as Historic Preserva- tion Ordinances and the SmartCode, are adequately designed to govern development practices of residential neighborhoods.
Collier heights: a neighborhood case study examining the intersection of architecture and racial equality

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-04-29) Malino, Jill F.

By using the Collier Heights neighborhood in the west side of Atlanta as a case study, this thesis will examine questions which arise at the intersection of architecture and racial equality. Research will focus on the years between 1952, when Collier Heights was annexed into the City of Atlanta, and 1968, the last year of major development in the area. According to one historian, Collier Heights is regarded as "the country's preeminent mid-century African American developed suburb." This statement can be attributed to numerous factors including its importance in the realm of African American cultural heritage, community planning, and social history. As well, its architecture is noteworthy for its exceptionally intact collection of mid-twentieth century houses, which were built from custom design and stock plans.
Designing density: increasing functionality through flexibility in single family neighborhoods

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009-04-29) Smith, Alyson Rae

American cities have only recently come of age in the global sense. Therefore, most of our land use regulations have emphasized greenfield development issues over those of a mature city. The next wave of city building is redensification. This thesis argues that modern day, Euclidian zoning needs to be replaced in order to make the case for a sustainable mix of residential diversity, density, and affordability. Conventional zoning relies on simplistic measures to regulate density and shape the form of neighborhoods. Initially used primarily as a way to make the field of planning appear scientific and rational, these measures do not create functionally flexible neighborhoods for the changing needs of the twenty first century. Urban spaces should be thought of as a language, composed of pieces that evolve with cultural norms. Zoning must evolve to reflect current societal values, with an emphasis on environmental issues, while meeting the needs of changing market structures if cities are ever to sustainably house their populous. Zoning's inflexibility towards cultural shifts uses antiquated assumptions to force contemporary city design into a regulatory straight jacket. Using case studies within the city of Los Angeles because of its history in side-by-side integration of single family homes with a range of residential densities and supportive commercial uses, the thesis investigates three primary questions. First, under what zoning ordinances did the Los Angeles neighborhoods evolve and what lessons in functionality can be taken from their design? Second, looking at both conventional zoning and newer, form-based regulatory techniques, how does zoning affect the variety of housing types available? And third, what would a flexible zoning framework, created to support the future development of an evolving regional urbanization process and a changing social demographic, look like?
Big boxes and stormwater

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-07-11) Fite-Wassilak, Alexander H.

Big-box Urban Mixed-use Developments (BUMDs) are mixed-use developments with a consistent typology that incorporate big-box retailers in a central role. They are also becoming popular in the Atlanta region. While BUMDs serve an important economic role, they also cause issues with stormwater. This study explores integrating a on-site approach to stormwater management into the design of BUMDs. These new designs not only significantly lower the amount of stormwater run-off, but also have potential for better, more attractive, developments.
Deployable architecture

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-06-03) James, Andre

Folding empowers the user to change the form and function of a sheet of paper through a sequence of manipulations. Unfolding the once folded artefact produces a diagram that describes its own making that can be replicated at different scales using a new material. Architecturally, folding can be employed a morphogenetic solution to design a system that can be fabricated from a sheet material, that like paper, can be folded into a inhabitable structure. The ease and cost efficiency of fabrication based on folding can be used to design a system that executed using low cost materials can be used as a shelter that accommodates programmatic and aesthetic evolution. Thus, the system lends itself to being a transitional shelter for communities that have been displaced due to a natural disaster or other form of crisis. Technological advances in design and structural analysis can give the designer the power to define the complex process folding parametrically allowing the input a real-time feedback based design based on an a folding inspired algorithm.
The machines of perception

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-06-03) Magner, Jeremy

The following work is an attempt to feed a dynamic concept of the body into contemporary morphogenetic design procedures in order to confront critiques that topological design processes produce architectural form that is too abstract. This begins with an understanding of the body schema; the open and continuously variable relationships between the various modes of sensation and perception that can only be described in topological terms. Similar to how active matter is instrumentalized in avant-garde practice and cutting edge research towards self-organization and morphogenesis, an active body schema has the potential to be instrumentalized towards design that aims to exploit the potential performance and openness of the body when confronted with architecture, moving away from mechanistic, representational notions of function. The work follows a procedure wherein conceptual research engages physical phenomena that are abstracted into diagrams then organized into material systems or abstract machines. These machines are intended to be mobilized and consolidated to engage specific issues of program and type and further refined to be deployed upon a specific site. This morphological process of machining architecture aims to move toward a seamless exchange between research and design that effectively instrumentalizes the dynamic body schema into a design process engaging architecture of performance. Perhaps, in terms of the body, morphogenetic design produces architecture that is not abstract enough.
Terra fluxus: Urban design in the wake of deindustrialization

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-06-03) Bacon, Kevin L., Jr.

Emerging trends in the re-inhabitation of central cities and government funding of numerous financial incentives have succeeded in making brownfield redevelopment a far more lucrative opportunity for developers over the past decade. However, the redevelopment process itself remains virtually unchanged, maintaining a narrow focus on environmental remediation, site engineering, and short-term market demand. Land use, instead of design, drives the entire process. This approach fails to sustain development and recognize larger redevelopment opportunities based on local and regional context. Despite an increasing amount of public money used to fund incentives, development continues to overlook potential positive externalities presumably to avert risk and increase feasibility. The purpose of this thesis is to re-examine brownfield redevelopment from the perspective of urban design in order to define ways in which design might offer solutions to these shortcomings and play a more critical role in future redevelopments. Using case studies of past redevelopments of former auto plant sites, Landscape Urbanism in brownfield redevelopment, and design proposals for auto plant sites from the GM and Ford closings of 2005-2006, the thesis investigates three primary questions. First, what is the conventional brownfield redevelopment process, to what extent has urban design been involved, and what are the major issues and lessons that can be learned? Secondly, what examples of brownfield redevelopment have integrated urban design to addresses these issues and what are the specific principles that inform design? Finally, how can urban design strategies, based on principles of Landscape Urbanism, lead the redevelopment of brownfield sites?
Design in a simulation environment

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-04-01) Butler, Thomas

When designing a building, the architect has typically relied on the input of outside experts to determine the performance of building systems. When done properly this collaboration can yield highly effective designs, but typically this reliance has left the architect outside of the loop on performance based decisions and impeded the development of innovative solutions. With the availability of powerful building simulation tools, designers can have direct access to building performance attributes and use them to qualify the environmental impact of design-decisions. With knowledge of fundamental principles in building performance and computer modeling, a designer can effectively harness the power of these tools from the beginning of the design process. While this does not eliminate the need for expert opinion, it allows the designer to further develop and have more control over the solution through collaboration. By working effectively in this digital design environment, the practice of architecture can meet its responsibility to reduce the impact of buildings on the physical environment. To test this statement, a brief overview of the integration of analysis tools in two projects that represent the current state of the art for digital performance simulation describes the need for multiple tools to achieve effective results. Based on this experience, a study was done to explore the capabilities of four representative simulation tools to support a design process that is entirely digital. The software evaluated was Energy-10, eQUEST, Sketch-Up with Demeter (a recently released plug-in for energy analysis) and ECOTECT. These tools were chosen because they have been targeted toward architects and claim to be easy to use. The results of this investigation were used to determine an appropriate tool set to develop a design for submission to the Leading Edge Competition, chosen because one of the requirements is that entrants perform energy analyses on their schemes to show how design decisions led to improved performance, making it a good vehicle to explore the process of designing in a simulation environment.
Self-Organizing Architecture: Design Through Form Finding Methods

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2008-04-01) Isaacs, Allison Jean

Form-finding in Architecture looks at processes in nature to discover a more correct way in which to organize building. It is a study into the capability of discovering optimum form, dynamic adaptability, and exposes a set of unique relationships not relevant to Architecture previously. The beauty of these objects does not have to be designed. It is an emergent property of natural form. However, the wonder lies not in aesthetics, but in the manner in which natural forms come into being seemingly without a plan, at a multitude of scales, and in a vast array of materials. Alone, pattern in nature opens a vast array of potentialities for the study into new methods of architectural design. It is important to note that this inquiry will not be into the aesthetics of self-organized pattern, but the mathematical and procedural processes of formation itself. This study forms a set of principles, methodologies and tools for structuring a full-scale form-finding inquiry through the self-organization of pattern in nature. Following this inquiry one should be able to apply the organizational principles of patterning in nature, specifically breakdown patterns, to inform the programmatic design and layout of shopping malls. The rules set forth outline the formation of breakdown patterns, and the ordering of shopping malls. Through the use of parametric modeling software and computer programming language, sets of digital models efficiently explore of the vast number of potential pattern organizations by mimicking their formation in digital space. Through computational scripting, digital models also reveal formation changes due to the adaptation to site, circulatory loads, and spatial distribution, while still maintaining the laws of pattern formation.