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School of Architecture

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College of Design

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Publication Search Results

Now showing 1 - 10 of 740

An explorative study of mobile buildings' impact on resilience: A case study of outdoor and indoor thermal comfort simulation for an underserved community

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-12-18) Doersam, Max

As temperatures are predicted to soar by 2.5°C by 2050 due to the advance of climate change, the provision of shaded spaces becomes increasingly vital for the well-being of communities and the environment. This thesis aims to investigate the potential impact of optimizing shaded and covered outdoor spaces on indoor thermal comfort, while also quantifying the benefits of creating movable building spaces that promote outdoor social interactions in underperforming communities. This research is focusing on a mobile learning lab which is part of a design build research project at Georgia Tech. The study will explore how this intervention can contribute to urban sustainability and improved social well-being, with a focus on communities and resilience. A simulation-based approach is employed to investigate direct sunlight, beneath the canopy, and inside the mobile structure to evaluate varying environmental conditions and the effectiveness of each in shelter provision and daylight exposure reduction. This methodology aims to enhance resilience by comprehensively understanding and assessing thermal comfort conditions. Critical metrics of outdoor and indoor thermal comfort are examined such as, Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis, to investigate airspeed, and natural ventilation alongside adaptive thermal comfort iterations to provide guidelines when it comes to mobile structures and its shading performance in the near future. It undertakes an investigation using TMY and "morphed" weather files to assess current and future thermal conditions.
Curiosity, Memory, and the Place

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2023-05-30) Nasiri, Simin

SUMMARY Abstract The study presented here is an empirical exploration of the effects of building layouts on affect and motivation of their visitors. It does so by investigating the issue in three parts: first, the association between a spatial environment’s organization and curiosity, second the effect of curiosity on spatial memory, and third the effect of spatial layout on memory. The investigation utilizes an experimental method in which participants are placed in immersive virtual environments with head-mounted devices (HMD) and set an exploration task. The virtual environments are designed as homes, similar in area and program, that exhibit three distinct design strategies—a traditional compartmentalized plan, a fully open plan with minimum visual and physical barriers, and a Miesian open-plan with a mixed strategy of open but private space. The general hypothesis is that the open-plan strategy will generate greater curiosity, trigger increased exploration and lead to better cognitive mapping of the environment. An additional hypothesis is that the open plan will be associated with positive affect, in line with what is described in architectural literature as a sense of flow and connection. To test our hypothesis accuracy, participants’ data are collected during their exploration to capture their paths of movement, time taken to explore, and their attentional foci as variables of curiosity and later recalling the environment by programming the Unity environment in C# and the Vive Pro Eye headset’s Tobii eye-tracking feature. Participants’ neural data is also recorded by fNIRS to compare to the behavioral data and find any potential patterns especially in brain’s dopaminergic area and hippocampus which is related to curiosity and memory. Additional data come from post-exploration questionnaire by asking participants to tag environments they have experienced and attribute adjectives to them. The study reported here is a preliminary study using four participants quantitative measures that compare behavioral data and morphological properties of layout like visual information and Isovist, as well as qualitative data from the interviews that is aimed to further sharpen the hypotheses. Results indicate that the Miesian mix strategy open plan, as called semi-open plan in this research, causes more “distributed curiosity”, is more memorable, and as people described more livable. On the other hand, the compartmentalized plan that provides the lowest visual information with the lowest isovist, was the most confusing for participants, least interesting, and least memorable. In general, we can expect that different levels and layers of openness, effects different types of curiosity, which I have called them “compacted” and “distributed” curiosity, as well as different levels of memorability depending on the amount of visual information they have received and been able to map the environment cognitively. This research will contribute to understanding the way humans relate to environment in order to help a healthier, more interesting, and memorable environments design.
Developing a simulation-based framework for healing building envelopes in healthcare design

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-12-15) Naik, Tanmay Anil

In healthcare facilities, with the very nature of healing at its core, designing spaces with enhanced levels of human comfort is of prime importance. Daylighting in healthcare facilities has benefited the physiological and psychological well-being of patients receiving treatment. However, many decades of scientific and technological innovation in the field of electrical lighting have resulted in providing ambient daylighting losing its priority in the overall design process. This paper evaluates the impact of building envelope design on daylighting within a patient room setting using parameters such as window-to-wall ratio, and shading mechanisms. The performance is assessed through metrics such as spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) and Annual sunlight exposure (ASE). By using optimization tools such as Colibri and visualization tools like Design Explorer, a wide range of building envelope options are evaluated for different orientations of patient rooms. An integral part of this research is assessing the impact of daylighting in varying climatic conditions on the melanopic lux levels regulating the circadian rhythms of the patients by using the circadian lighting software ALFA. The results derived from this simulation-based framework would aid in creating a workflow to design patient rooms in healthcare settings by focusing on daylighting.
Urban Thermal Diagnostics and Extreme Heat Vulnerability in Underrepresented Communities

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2022-01-27) Alfalih, Hala

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the globally averaged surface temperatures of the Earth have increased by 0.6 ± 0.2°C in the 20th century and models have projected that by 2100 (relative to 1990), the globally averaged surface air temperature to warm 1.4 to 5.8°C. Urban environments elevate rising temperatures in cities through urban heat island effect. With global urbanization increasing, this becomes a critical aspect of climate change for research to focus on. These increasing temperatures mean we are experiencing longer and more intense summers that are leading to extreme heat events called heat waves. These extreme heat events are increasing in frequency, duration, and intensity, and have been correlated with biophysical hazards such as heat stress, air pollution, and associated public health. These impacts are expected to be more intense within vulnerable populations such as the chronically ill, elderly, and young children. This makes it crucial to focus urban and building design strategies on the populations most at risk. This thesis identifies vulnerable communities as being more at risk to the effects of extreme heat. The method of investigation is under three main titles. These are, sequentially, data, analytics, evaluation, and strategies. The first section of the thesis focuses on collecting data that will support the definition of heat vulnerability as a combination of adaptive capacity, exposure, and sensitivity. The second segment analyzes and evaluates data which was previously collected, by simulating thermal comfort and temperatures during the current climate and future climate, qualitative methods which investigate the collected demographic and social data, and finally interpretation of all the remaining data. Finally, the research will investigate possible mitigation strategies in both the long term and short term. While the research will be applied to the specific Grove Park neighborhood, this gives us an opportunity to realize how important it is to begin identifying more communities which are at risk and applying similar strategies.
PHPP2E+: Employing dynamic building simulation while pursuing passive house certification

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-12-15) Leite Goncalves, Vitor

The building sector alone accounts for around 40% of the global GHG emissions, and aiming to decrease this percentage, various organizations are trying to address the energy load of buildings. European Passive Houses are characterized mainly by construction concepts that can greatly reduce the overall energy usage. During the Passive House certification process, modelers must utilize the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP), a steady-state monthly energy balance tool provided by the Passivhaus Institut (PHI) to verify the performance of the building according to the certification criteria, but nowadays due to climate change and the improvement of hourly dynamic simulations, more detailed analysis of the thermal processes within and around the building are also desired by many practitioners to better understand the indoor environment during the design process. The aim of this thesis is to 1) create a framework to facilitate the conversion of inputs of the PHPP into EnergyPlus, allowing for an easy and quick method of utilizing hourly dynamic building simulations and performing a more detailed analysis while pursuing Passive House certification; 2) investigate the difference in the results reported by the PHPP and by commonly utilized dynamic simulations tools, such as EnergyPlus, and 3) examine how different airflow modeling approaches in dynamic building simulation, such as the standalone BEM, Airflow Network Model (AFN), or Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) can affect the results of the simulation results in terms of overheating in Passive Houses. All dynamic simulations will be evaluated using Honeybee as a front-end interface for EnergyPlus, while relying on Rhino3D’s Grasshopper integration to facilitate the input translation between the PHPP and EnergyPlus.
Addressing Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) Data Needs: A Case Study in a Low Resource Community

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2021-07-26) Heidelberger, Erin

Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) is a method of simulating the energy usage of a grouping of buildings, at the scale of a neighborhood or city, rather than the typical simulation of a single building. This can be a powerful tool to reduce current energy usage, through testing retrofit scenarios on the existing building stock, and to guide future planning efforts. This switch in simulation scales is crucial to move towards more sustainable and resilient cities. This thesis addresses data availability issues to inform UBEM studies, in all urban contexts, by establishing a list of readily available data sources as well as a multi-step, theoretical framework that can be used to gather the data required to run an accurate UBEM that considers the surrounding socioeconomic factors. This framework is demonstrated through a case study in the Grove Park neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. 110 single-family households were modeled. The results of the study analyze current energy use patterns, compare neighborhood-specific archetype definitions to default residential archetype templates, and investigate the neighborhood’s performance under future weather scenarios. The study shows that within a single neighborhood the energy use intensity (EUI) can vary by up to 92 kWh/m2 based on building envelope condition and occupancy patterns. Default archetype inputs can dramatically underestimate or overestimate the energy use of households in a low resource community. Investigating energy performance under both current and future weather scenarios allows for energy efficiency strategies that are beneficial to the neighborhood now while increasing future resiliency.
A FRAMEWORK TO SIMULATE THE NON-VISUAL EFFECTS OF DAYLIGHT ON THE COGNITIVE HEALTH OF ELDERLY INDIVIDUALS

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-10) Elsayed, Nourhan Gamal

Human health and well-being concerns have been brought to the forefront of building performance assessment through contemporary practices of sustainability design. Within the bounds of sustainability, daylighting plays a critical role in human well-being, specifically non-visual effects such as regulating circadian health, which contributes to alertness and sleep cycles of individuals. Accordingly, interior spatial investigations have been developed through simulation-based workflows, including several modeling tools such as Adaptive Lighting for Alertness (ALFA) (Solemma, 2019). However, research did not yet address challenges in vulnerable communities such as elders and individuals with dementia, focusing specifically on the impact of the non- visual effects of light on their overall health and well-being. This thesis aims to identify the daylighting requirements and metrics that are needed to design a space for elderly individuals that could entrain their circadian rhythms, promote their health, and well-being while providing an overall enhanced environment. The objectives are: 1) Explain several types of disability challenges facing the elderly population and its relationship to daylighting and circadian rhythms. 2) Define daylighting thresholds and metrics that entrain circadian rhythms and target vulnerable groups such as elderly individuals with certain disabilities. 3) Present a case study of a standard nursing home that showcases simulation techniques that focus on daylighting and health modelling for this vulnerable population, with recommendations for future work validation by deploying an ecologically valid experimental design. 4) Propose a design framework and recommendation guidelines to assist designers when designing for vulnerable groups to promote their health and well-being. A standard nursing home model is referenced from the Neuferts Architects Data 3rd edition Architectural Standards and was used as an example model. A simulation experiment is implemented using DIVA for Rhino and Climate Studio to analyze annual point in time illuminance with a threshold divided into three parts: 1500-2000 lux (minimum), 2000-2500 lux (most efficient threshold), 2500-3000 lux (maximum). The hours meeting these thresholds are analyzed into useful daylight hours. Also, Daylight Glare Probability (DGP) is simulated to understand the challenges accompanying high illuminance values that entrain circadian rhythms. The goal of the experiment is to ensure that a standard bedroom includes interior locations that can maintain a threshold of 1 to 2 hours per day with these illuminance values with minimal to non-existent glare. The results of the simulations are divided into: 1) Baseline with the standard bedroom facing north, south, east, and west orientations and 2) Design alterations of the north and south orientations to meet the threshold and increase the number of hours annually that entrain the circadian rhythm for the elderly and individuals with dementia. The simulations are run using the Atlanta, GA, TMY3 climate file. The baseline case demonstrates that the north orientation hardly receives any adequate daylight throughout the entire year at the head of the bed in the middle of the room. The annual daylight glare probability showcases an average of 17.8% disturbing and intolerable glare annually. On the other hand, the baseline results of the south orientation present an average of 62.8% disturbing and intolerable annual DGP. The south orientation functions slightly better meeting the minimum, required, and maximum lighting thresholds for almost 30% of analyzed daylight hours/ month. The east, and west orientations function better in terms of percentage of daylight hours/ month meeting the threshold, along with less annual DGP. Therefore, the south and north orientations only are expanded and investigated further in the design alterations. Both the north and south orientations in the design case show increased percentage of hours meeting the threshold in the analyzed locations. This shows the need for design enhancement and improvement to adapt to the needs of the users. Results presented difficulty in circadian entrainment in baseline case orientations due to either higher or lower annual point-in-time illuminance values rather than the required threshold, in addition to increased glare issues at the south, east, and west orientations. Overall, the results indicate that 1) Design alterations are needed for current standard nursing home designs. And 2) Thresholds that entrain the circadian rhythm for elders should be taken into consideration rather than relying on standards that do not focus on such elderly experiences. This thesis provides an overview of a simulation-workflow to create a framework for designers proposing recommendations for enhanced design options that promote the health and well-being of dementia and elderly individuals.
The Role of Positive Distraction in the Patient’s Experience in Healthcare Setting: A Literature Review of the Impacts of Representation of Nature, Sound, Visual Art, and Light

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-08) Dabrowska, Maria Anna

Background One of the key strategies to help patients reduce stress and anxiety in healthcare settings is positive distraction defined as “an environmental feature that elicits positive feelings and holds attention without taxing or stressing the individual, thereby blocking worrisome thoughts” (Ulrich, 1991, p. 102). While several studies found the impact of positive distraction on health-related outcomes, few studies have categorized the distractors and collected the evidence from experiments. Despite the common use in design and broadly accepted assumption that positive distraction brings psychophysiological benefits, there has not been a comprehensive evaluation of research on positive distraction. Methods The present literature review examined 40 peer-reviewed articles from the last 20 years on nature, artwork, music, and light to describe the phenomenon of positive distraction, review the evidence on the impact of interventions on outcomes, and investigate the quality of the research. This paper explored historic background, definitions, and organized the key information from articles into a table. Based on the similarities of themes, I categorized and described the interventions. This paper presents a framework that links the categories to healthcare settings, outcomes, and measures which were used to assess each outcome. Finally, I marked the number of studies in each category that indicated the beneficial influence of interventions for each outcome. The significance of this study lies in collecting and analyzing the studies, describing the crucial aspects that need to be considered when designing positive distractions, and pointing out the directions for future research. Results I organized interventions into the following seven categories: Real and artificial nature, Visual representation of nature, Music and Sound, Light, Illuminated projection, Audiovisual, and Audiovisual with light. The most common interventions were plants placed in a patient room as well as Illuminated projection and Audiovisual interventions with light in diagnostic imaging rooms. Pain and anxiety were the most studied outcomes. While 16 out of 22 studies found a statistically significant improvement in perceived pain, only 10 out of 24 articles found this effect for anxiety. More than 60% of studies that measured the impact of interventions on pain, satisfaction, environmental satisfaction, reduction in restlessness and calm behavior, and perceived attractiveness found statistically significant positive results. Although the positive distraction was initially recognized for its potential to reduce stress, only eight articles investigated stress and distress, but more than half of those studies found a beneficial effect. Interventions in Real and Artificial Nature, and Music and Sound, and Audiovisual with Light showed a beneficial impact on more than six outcomes and emerged as the most promising. Conclusions Despite the 40-years tradition, the field of positive distraction is still in an exploratory phase. This analysis confirmed that there is a positive correlation between positive distraction and outcomes and strong evidence that positive distraction helps reduce perceived pain. Future work should consider the division of the term positive distraction into more precise sub-terms to account for different characteristics of interventions categorized as a positive distraction as well as focus on defining the beneficial features of the distractors, explaining the underlying mechanisms, determining the effect size of interventions, and improving both aesthetics of interventions and the methodological quality of studies.
Building-integrated Biotic Carbon Sequestration Technioques: Overview and Simulation Workflow

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-07) Chhabra, Jayati

There is enough scientific consensus that anthropogenic climate change is a reality of our times. According to a report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering 2019, “By mid-century, the world needs to be removing about 10 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide out of the air each year. That’s equivalent of about twice the yearly emissions of the U.S.” To achieve this goal, the act to cease the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) alone is not enough. It is important that the structures which cover a large area of the earth start contributing to Carbon Sequestration (the process of capturing carbon from the atmosphere and storing it securely) at a massive scale. To accomplish that, a thorough understanding of building-integrated Carbon Sequestration techniques, including their mechanism, prerequisites as well as consequences, is essential. This study aims to 1) Provide an overview of building-integrated Carbon Sequestration (CS) techniques focusing on their potential environmental impact and associated costs. CS techniques are classified into three categories: a) Biotic techniques (vertical greenery systems (VGS), Green Roofs, and algae facades); b) Materials (carbon-negative and carbon-absorbing building materials); and c) Equipment (filter towers). 2) Conduct a comparative analysis specifically showing both the CS potential and design factors associated with the Biotic CS techniques to allow architects and designers to evaluate these technologies and analyze their integration potential in architectural practice based on both the factors. 3) Propose a modeling framework to estimate the amount of carbon that can be sequestered by a structure that utilizes biotic elements to enhance environmental performance. The proposed workflow accounts for site and climate-based variations in solar radiation across the globe, as well as different plant types, species, the type of photobioreactors in the case of micro-algae, and their energy conversion efficiency ratios. Preliminary literature review shows that Green Roofs and vertical gardens can capture 150gC/m2 – 650gC/m2, while algae facades go up to 2430gC/m2 - 2970gC/m2. Biomass and filter towers could absorb a relatively high amount of approximately 1 x 1015 g C and 687.5 x 109 g C, respectively (without normalization). By analyzing and summarizing each CS technique based on performance indicators like prerequisites, initial and maintenance costs, and area required, various schematic design considerations and research gaps are laid out. Further, the proposed modeling framework showcases the CS potential of the three biotic techniques in the context of five major Koppen classified climate zones – tropical, dry, moderate, continental, and polar. The workflow for algae facades is validated against measured data from collected information in practice from the BIQ house in Germany and Photo.synth.etica by EcologicStudio. A workflow is formulated specifically for Green Roofs and VGS from previously published literature by (Getter et al. 2009), (Whittinghill et al. 2014), (Pulselli et al. 2014), and (Kuronuma et al. 2018). This thesis presents a framework to employ CS integration in the built environment and discusses advances needed in order for buildings to not just limit the catastrophic effects of climate change, but also mitigate it for a better future for our built environment.
A critical review and simulation-based evaluation of green roof’s energy savings

(Georgia Institute of Technology, 2020-12-07) Saini, Deva Shree

Green roofs are often identified as energy-efficient techniques which, through their various mechanisms, contribute to a comfortable indoor environment. A significant number of published literature has investigated the thermal performance of a green roof under various climatic conditions and building parameters. A comprehensive literature review carried out in this research shows significant energy saving figures ranging from 12-60%. On the contrary, a simulation study on green roofs conducted in this research presents marginal energy-saving figures. The results of this research give a major insight into the thermal performance of the green roof based on the insulation thickness. It was observed that the insignificant results were due to comparable R-values of the original roof with the installed green roof assembly. This study, therefore, performs optimization to obtain the best set of design variables that could maximize the energy savings by green roofs on a well-insulated conventional roof. But the optimization was only able to achieve maximum energy savings ranging from -0.17-5.77%. With marginal energy savings figures, green roofs might look like a costly investment with high installation & operation costs. However, a cost-benefit analysis of green roofs shows that the other numerous benefits of green roofs such as carbon sequestration, improved air quality, reduction of noise pollution, pleasing views & aesthetics, increase in property value, etc. contribute significantly to the less known economic benefits. These several benefits of green roofs can outweigh the initial investment cost by approximately 110 million USD over its life cycle for a case-specific study undertaken in this thesis. This research thus presents the other more beneficial aspects of green roofs as key factors in establishing it as a sustainable measure. It discusses an outlook beyond the cost comparison, as green roofs can outperform conventional roofs from an ecological and social point of view.