Architecture Commons^™

The Beginning Student Of Design: Architectural Frames Of Reference, Gregory S. Palermo

Gregory Palermo

There they are, every Tuesday and Thursday -- two hundred minds seeking perspective on the means by which to access architecture: to think about it, look at it and analyze it, engage in discussions about it, and experience it. Student interests and capabilities are varied because in addition to being required for pre-architecture students, this is a university general studies course -- a threshold into the adventure of architecture! This paper addresses the content and methods of introducing architectural frames of reference to the beginning student of design in the challenging large lecture learning environment. Canon and skepticism. Five frames …

Professional Virtue And Citizenship: An Ethical Framing Of The Aia, Gregory S. Palermo

Gregory Palermo

This paper proposes that the American Institute of Architects (AIA), a corporate collective of the architectural profession, if it wishes to be more than a professional trade organization speaking to the economic self-interest of its members (and being perceived as such), has available to it two ethical courses to pursue: 1) That of improving the knowledge, skills and judgment of architects – defining and working on the virtues of the architect; and 2) That of participating in public policy decision-making and speaking out with regard to environmental design, whether proposals be public or private. Both of these concepts are embedded …

Effects Of Reverberation And Noise On Speech Comprehension By Native And Non-Native English-Speaking Listeners, Z. Ellen Peng, Lily M. Wang, Siu-Kit Lau, Adam M. Steinbach

Lily M Wang

Previous studies have demonstrated the negative impact of adverse signal-to-noise-ratios on non-native English-speaking listeners' performance on speech recognition using recall tasks, as well as implied that comprehension skills were more impaired than recognition skills under reverberation and noise. The authors have themselves previously conducted a pilot study on three native and three non-native Englishspeaking listeners to examine the effects of reverberation and noise using speech comprehension tasks. Those results suggested that speech comprehension performance is worse under longer reverberation times (RT), and that a longer RT is more detrimental to speech comprehension by non-native listeners than native listeners. This paper …

How Tonality And Loudness Of Noise Relate To Annoyance And Task Performance” Noise Control Eng. J. 65(2), 71-82., Joonhee Lee, Jennifer M. Francis, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Audible tones in noise generated by building mechanical equipment can be a leading cause of complaints from occupants. A number of metrics have been developed to quantify prominence of a tone, but previous work has shown that the impact of a certain tonality appears to vary with the level of the broadband noise signal. More work on how tonal signals of varying tonality, tone frequency and broadband noise levels relate to annoyance and task performance is needed. This paper investigates such relationships between current noise metrics, annoyance and task performance under assorted tonal noise conditions through subjective testing. Participants rated …

Acoustic Tweets And Blogs: Using Social Media In An Undergraduate Acoustics Course, Lily M. Wang

Lily M Wang

Each fall, the author teaches an undergraduate architectural acoustics course to around 40 third-year architectural engineering students at the University of Nebraska. Beginning in 2011, a social media component was introduced to explore the use of this technology and how it may supplement the students' learning experience. Students were given an opportunity to receive extra credit by using Twitter and/or blogging about course material using a set hashtag (#AE3300) or through the course website. Results were positive, and the author will discuss pros and cons that she has experienced in adding this social media component. Suggestions for future implementations and …

A Need For Evidence-Based And Multidisciplinary Research To Study The Effects Of The Interaction Of School Environmental Conditions On Student Achievement, Josephine Lau, Lily M. Wang, Clarence Waters, James A. Bovaird

Lily M Wang

With funding from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Healthy Schools initiative, a research team from the University of Nebraska– Lincoln (UNL) is currently working on establishing how environmental conditions in K-12 school buildings impact student scholastic achievement. The objectives of the research project are: (1) to study comprehensively the impacts of a wide set of indoor environmental factors (including indoor air quality, thermal, lighting and acoustic conditions) on student achievement; (2) to investigate how these environmental conditions interact with each other to impact student achievement; (3) to rank order the environmental variables in terms of their relative impact on …

Thermal And Energy Performance Of Double Skin Facades In Different Climate Types, Ajla Aksamija

Ajla Aksamija