Architecture Commons^™

Measuring Construction: Prices, Output And Productivity, Rick Best, Jim Meikle

Rick Best

Despite the size, complexity and importance of the construction industry, there has been little study to date which focuses on the challenge of drawing reliable conclusions from the available data. The accuracy of industry reports has an impact on government policy, the direction and outcomes of research and the practices of construction firms, so confusion in this area can have far reaching consequences. In response to this, Measuring Construction looks at fundamental economic theories and concepts with respect to the construction industry, and explains the merits and shortcomings, sometimes by looking at real life examples.

The International Comparison Program And Purchasing Power Parities For Construction, Rick Best, Jim Meikle

Rick Best

Extract: It is not uncommon to hear or read statements that suggest that people in some countries are living on just a couple dollars a day. "How can they survive?" we ask ourselves. The answer is that price levels are different between countries, and that is very much the case between wealthy industrialized nations and poorer developing countries. If one earns five local dollars a day and it costs only two to live, then survival at least is possible. The inconsistency lies in the use of money market exchange rates to convert amounts of money to the same currency and …

Setting The Scene, Jim Meikle, Rick Best

Rick Best

Extract: Peter Drucker, a prolific writer on various aspects of management, is often erroneously cited as the originator of the phrase, "If you can't measure it, you can't manage it". Exactly where the phrase came from is unknown, but the idea remains valid. Measuring construction in the sense of measuring quantities of building work is a well-established technical process carried out routinely by quantity surveyors and estimators, and in many places there are agreed-upon rules and procedures that are used for such work. Measuring construction industries or parts of those industries is another matter. While there must have been construction …

International Construction Cost Comparisons, Rick Best, Jim Meikle

Rick Best

Extract: Comparisons of the cost of construction across national boundaries have been routinely undertaken for many years for a variety of purposes. For clients, the reason may be as simple as wanting to know how much it will cost them in their own national currency to build a facility in another country; for governments and other agencies, it may be about how competitive their industry is in a global marketplace. For example, in 1949, a UK group, the Building Industry Productivity Team, visited the US (Anglo-American Council on Productivity 1950). A primary purpose of the visit was to compare the …

Grey Forecasting Of Construction Demand In Hong Kong Over The Next Ten Years, Yongtao Tan, Craig Langston, Min Wu, Jorge Ochoa

Craig Langston

The Hong Kong construction industry since 1997 has experienced a difficult time in regard to construction output until recently. The future of the local construction industry remains uncertain. Forecasting of future development would be attractive to parties in the industry. Based on past data of the local construction industry, a grey forecasting model is developed to predict the annual growth of construction demand for Hong Kong over the next ten years. With the implementation of ten large infrastructure projects and further collaboration with the Pearl River Delta region, there will be many potential opportunities for the local industry, especially in …

Cellular Tessellation, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons, Nathan Freeman

Chris Knapp

Cellular Tessellation is a small yet generous pavilion put on display as part of the Sydney Vivid Light festival in 2014. The project is both spatial and aesthetic, bringing the quality of architectural inhabitation and visceral experience to an urban festival which is typically limited to visual engagement.

Planning For The Gold Coast: Processes, Challenges And Opportunities, Bhishna Bajracharya, Linda Too, Daniel O'Hare, Isara Khanjanasthiti

Bhishna Bajracharya

Extract: This chapter provides a broad overview of the Gold Coast from an urban planning perspective. What are the social and physical structures of the city? How has the city developed over time? What are some of the key planning challenges and opportunities the Gold Coast is facing? To answer these questions, the chapter provides a brief social profile of the city and examines its current land use patterns and urban form. It then discusses the planning processes and the role of key stakeholders in development of the city. Next, key current planning initiatives for the Gold Coast are outlined. …

Planning For The Gold Coast: Processes, Challenges And Opportunities, Bhishna Bajracharya, Linda Too, Daniel O'Hare, Isara Khanjanasthiti

Daniel O'Hare

Extract: This chapter provides a broad overview of the Gold Coast from an urban planning perspective. What are the social and physical structures of the city? How has the city developed over time? What are some of the key planning challenges and opportunities the Gold Coast is facing? To answer these questions, the chapter provides a brief social profile of the city and examines its current land use patterns and urban form. It then discusses the planning processes and the role of key stakeholders in development of the city. Next, key current planning initiatives for the Gold Coast are outlined. …

The Pink Poodle, Swimming Pavilions And Miami Ice, Lynne Armitage, Shelley Burgin

Lynne Armitage

Extract: The 3 km of golden beach that lap the shores of Surfers Paradise have become synonymous with urban beaches worldwide. Its name was invented, in a stroke of marketing genius, by Jim Cavill who proposed the name 'Surfers Paradise' and pipped the previous preferred title of'Sea Glint' for this beachside hideaway. Jim Cavill also built the first hotel in Surfers Paradise, in 1933, and subsequently his Surfers Paradise Zoo. However, it was not until the late 1950s and through the 1960s that the ribbon development of the Gold Coast increased rapidly. Many motels, guesthouses and holiday homes were built …

Internationalization Of The Construction Industry, Weisheng Lu, Huan Yang, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Extract: With the globalization of the world economy, today’s construction business is fast becoming an internationally interdependent marketplace. Construction yields on the order of USD4.6 trillion annually and contributed 6.6% to the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2011 (Davis Langdon 2012). A significant part of that total is attributable to international contractors. With the rise of modern industrialized countries, more and more complex civil engineering projects are being procured, and the increased scale of these projects has provided a launching pad for international construction. For instance, data published by Engineering New-Record (ENR) shows that ENR’s top 225 international contractors …

Performance Measures For Construction, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Extract: The global construction industry is highly competitive, fragmented and cyclical and frequently operates on low margins (Loosemore 2003). Yet construction accounts for a significant portion of economic activity and is a catalyst for many other sectors. The industry is also labour intensive and project specific and involves team relationships that form and disband on a regular basis. It is not surprising, therefore, that construction performance and reform have dominated research within the industry for more than 50 years.

Refining The Citibloc Index, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Extract: The previous chapter investigated the performance of selected high-rise construction projects completed between 2003 and 2012 in the five largest cities in Australia and the United States. Part of this research required the conversion of cost data into a comparable form. Cost conversion is critical to international performance comparisons. A reliable method for doing this is necessary. Purchasing power parity (PPP) is generally accepted as the appropriate philosophy, but there are a number of detailed approaches for determining indices. Which one should be used? How can we be sure that cost conversion using currency exchange rates is unreliable? How …

Pedagogical Examination Of An Award-Winning Instructor’S Studio Teaching, Ji Young Cho

Ji Young Cho

Design studio, as a core of architectural education, has been a significant topic for research in the field of architecture. However, there is little research on teachers and their pedagogical approach to teaching, such as what constitutes excellent teaching in the design studio. This may be due to the complexity of the study topic and a rigorous research procedure. Since the day-to-day education does not allow for immediate responses, it is difficult to find out which strategies, tactics, and techniques impact students’ learning and advancement without being in the studio context for a sufficient period of time. This paper attempts …

Understanding Furniture Design Choices Using A 3d Virtual Showroom, So-Yeon Yoon, Hyunjoo Oh, Ji Young Cho

Ji Young Cho

This study is a Web-based investigation that utilizes virtual reality technology to understand the factors considered for residential furniture purchase and furniture style preference. In residential interior design, furniture has significant financial and symbolic meaning. From a broader perspective, residential furniture is important to the domestic furniture industry as well as to woodworking and textile markets. Despite this importance, little is known about how consumers make residential furniture choices and what designs or styles are preferred. The purpose of this study is to understand the most important factors involved in choosing living room furniture and to identify preferences for furniture …

Emotional Responses To Color Environments: An Experimental Study On Young And Older Adults Using A Ssemi-Immersive Virtual Environment, So-Yeon Yoon, Ji Young Cho

Ji Young Cho

Color in our environment is known to bring emotional, social, and physiological reactions to people. This study is about young and older adults' emotional responses to color environments using a semi immersive virtual environment. As a theoretical framework, this study explores Japanese psychologist Kobayashi's color image scale with real-scale, high-fidelity computer simulations. There are three goals of this study: (a) to test universal applicability of Kobayashi's color image scale theory in western country; (B) to understand similarities and differences of emotional responses to color environment between young and older adults group; (C) to provide a practical framework for empirical research …

Student Perceptions And Performance In Online And Offline Collaboration In An Interior Design Studio, Ji Young Cho, Moon-Heum Cho

Ji Young Cho

Competence in collaboration is one of the critical abilities that interior design majors are expected to develop during the course of their education; however, few students are competent to collaborate with others online. The purposes of this study were to identify student perceptions and performance in online collaboration compared to those of offline collaboration and to explore the way students collaborate online. A total of 29 junior interior design students participated in the study. After finishing each online and offline collaborative project, they completed a survey. The findings show that students are more satisfied with offline collaboration and perceive offline …

Aesthetic Theory And Interior Design Pedagogy, Ji Young Cho, Benyamin Schwarz

Ji Young Cho

No abstract provided.

Customization And Autonomy : Characteristics Of The Ideal Design Studio Instructor In Design Education, Ji Young Cho

Ji Young Cho

Design studio is a unique type of course in architecture and interior design education, in which learning is based on student-instructor interaction and learning by doing; yet little research has been conducted on student perceptions of the ideal design studio instructor. The purpose of this paper was to identify characteristics of the ideal studio instructor from student perspectives. Three award-winning design studio instructors' studio activities were observed, and the three instructors and their 40 students were interviewed. As a result, characteristics in four categories were identified. The author argues that providing customized feedback and allowing student autonomy are the two …

The Process Of Aesthetic Education In Design Studio: A Layperson's Acculturation To The Architecture And Design Community, Ji Young Cho

Ji Young Cho

Discussions about various aspects of students' design solutions are the essential resource for knowledge in architectural design studio. One of those aspects is aesthetics. Using an empirical study of three design studios, this paper seeks to identify how architectural design studios deal with and teach the aesthetic aspects of architecture. Having spent a year of research involving observations and interviews using the grounded theory approach, the author argues that learning aesthetics in design studio is a process by which laypersons acculturate to the architecture and design community. The research findings identify design studio as a place for students to (1) …

Sustainable Campus: Engaging The Community In Sustainability, Linda Too, Bhishna Bajracharya

Linda Too

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the major factors necessary for engaging university campus community in sustainability. While general awareness in sustainability issues has improved in recent years through mass media coverage, this knowledge is not always translated into actual sustainable practice. Studies have indicated that there are many factors for engaging the community in sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach – A multi-disciplinary literature review is first undertaken to distil the drivers that enhance participation in sustainability programmes by the university community. Next, to illustrate the applicability of the factors identified in the community engagement framework, two case studies …

Contsructing Atmospheres, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons

Jonathan J Nelson

This paper documents and critically reflects upon the design, development, fabrication, and implementation of three pavilion projects developed during 2013-14. The core investigation of this work is the production of architectural spaces characterized by a quality of enveloping, diffuse, visual and spatial atmospheres. The principal activity of the research is aimed at refining methods for software-based exploration of formal complexities and the subsequent need to control variability and efficiency in fabrication output, using Grasshopper for Rhino to develop customized definitions particular to each specific project scenario. Linking the projects together are issues of scale, resolution of effect, and intent to …

Contsructing Atmospheres, Chris Knapp, Jonathan Nelson, Michael Parsons

Chris Knapp

This paper documents and critically reflects upon the design, development, fabrication, and implementation of three pavilion projects developed during 2013-14. The core investigation of this work is the production of architectural spaces characterized by a quality of enveloping, diffuse, visual and spatial atmospheres. The principal activity of the research is aimed at refining methods for software-based exploration of formal complexities and the subsequent need to control variability and efficiency in fabrication output, using Grasshopper for Rhino to develop customized definitions particular to each specific project scenario. Linking the projects together are issues of scale, resolution of effect, and intent to …

Narrowing Gaps Between Research And Policy Development In Climate Change Adaptation Work In The Water Resources And Agriculture Sectors Of Cambodia, Dany Va, Bhishna Bajracharya, Loius Lebel, Michael Regan, Ros Taplin

Michael Regan

Narrowing research and policy, while challenging, is especially important in climate change adaptation work (CCA) due to the high uncertainties involved in planning for climate change. This article aims to seek stakeholders’ opinions regarding how research and policy development can be bridged within the Cambodian water resources and agriculture sectors. The study used institutional ethnography methods with informants from government organizations, local academia, and development partners (DPs). This article identifies a number of challenges, and barriers for narrowing research–policy development gaps, including: limited effectiveness of governmental policies and planning; lack of relevant information required to promote evidence-based planning and policy …

Narrowing Gaps Between Research And Policy Development In Climate Change Adaptation Work In The Water Resources And Agriculture Sectors Of Cambodia, Dany Va, Bhishna Bajracharya, Loius Lebel, Michael Regan, Ros Taplin

Bhishna Bajracharya

Narrowing research and policy, while challenging, is especially important in climate change adaptation work (CCA) due to the high uncertainties involved in planning for climate change. This article aims to seek stakeholders’ opinions regarding how research and policy development can be bridged within the Cambodian water resources and agriculture sectors. The study used institutional ethnography methods with informants from government organizations, local academia, and development partners (DPs). This article identifies a number of challenges, and barriers for narrowing research–policy development gaps, including: limited effectiveness of governmental policies and planning; lack of relevant information required to promote evidence-based planning and policy …

Narrowing Gaps Between Research And Policy Development In Climate Change Adaptation Work In The Water Resources And Agriculture Sectors Of Cambodia, Dany Va, Bhishna Bajracharya, Loius Lebel, Michael Regan, Ros Taplin

Dany Va

Narrowing research and policy, while challenging, is especially important in climate change adaptation work (CCA) due to the high uncertainties involved in planning for climate change. This article aims to seek stakeholders’ opinions regarding how research and policy development can be bridged within the Cambodian water resources and agriculture sectors. The study used institutional ethnography methods with informants from government organizations, local academia, and development partners (DPs). This article identifies a number of challenges, and barriers for narrowing research–policy development gaps, including: limited effectiveness of governmental policies and planning; lack of relevant information required to promote evidence-based planning and policy …

Measuring Good Architecture: Long Life, Loose Fit, Low Energy, Craig Langston

Craig Langston

Good architecture is something that we all seek, but which is difficult to define. Sir Alexander John Gordon, in his role as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects, defined ‘good architecture’ in 1972 as buildings that exhibit ‘long life, loose fit and low energy’. These characteristics, nicknamed by Gordon as the 3L Principle, are measurable. Furthermore, life cycle cost (LCC) provides a method for accessing the economic contribution or burden created by buildings to the society they aim to serve. Yet there is no research available to investigate the connection, if any, between 3L and LCC. It might …

Designing For Better Building Adaptability: A Comparison Of Adaptstar And Arp Models, Sheila Conejos, Craig Langston, Jim Smith

Craig Langston

Can sustainability and adaptability be integrated in a single decision tool for designing future buildings? Indeed, it is not possible to know what lies ahead for future buildings but, using current research on sustainability and the impact on natural resources and climate, it is possible to forecast the connection between built environment activity and sustainability. This paper demonstrates that the assessment of future adaptation in newly designed building is achievable by using the adaptSTAR model. This new design-rating tool, based on detailed analysis of 12 award-winning adaptive reuse projects in Australia, will assist designers in making decisions to achieve optimum …

Sustainable Campus: Engaging The Community In Sustainability, Linda Too, Bhishna Bajracharya

Bhishna Bajracharya

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the major factors necessary for engaging university campus community in sustainability. While general awareness in sustainability issues has improved in recent years through mass media coverage, this knowledge is not always translated into actual sustainable practice. Studies have indicated that there are many factors for engaging the community in sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach – A multi-disciplinary literature review is first undertaken to distil the drivers that enhance participation in sustainability programmes by the university community. Next, to illustrate the applicability of the factors identified in the community engagement framework, two case studies …

Daytime And Nighttime Uhi Statistical Models For Atlanta, Bumseok Chun, Subhrajit Guhathakurta

Bumseok Chun

No abstract provided.

Workplace Building Design And Office-Based Workers' Activity: A Study Of A Natural Experiment, Jonine Jancey, Sarah Mcgann, Robyn Creagh, Krysten Blackford, Peter Howat, Marian Tye

Sarah McGann