Architecture Commons^™

Residential Energy Recovery Radiant Heat System, Scott Sharp

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Energy recovery systems aim to recover waste energy that is normally lost to the environment. Waste energy comes in a variety of forms. Many processes involving building HVAC involves transferring energy from one working fluid to another. Governing codes put strict requirements on ventilation requirements for various occupancy types. Increased ventilation demands more from the HVAC equipment since outdoor air (ventilation air) is being brought into the building and requires tempering in order to retain occupant comfort. The energy required to temper this air increases as ventilation rates increase. Many commercial buildings have implemented exhaust air energy recovery, or runaround …

Bs News May/June

Building Services Engineering

No abstract provided.

Cultural Sustainability Of A Post-Industrial Brownfield In Wanzhou China: Maintaining Cultural Value Through Brownfield Redevelopment, Yi Zhang

All Theses

The post-industrial brownfield, generally regarded as one type of brownfield, is defined as an industrial property that remains abandoned or underutilized in part because of environmental contamination. In China, more and more post-industrial sites are abandoned because of changes to city land use, often becoming an obstacle for healthy city growth. This phenomenon places more concerns on brownfield redevelopment in China. Chinese professionals in landscape architecture can borrow some methods and techniques for addressing brownfields from more developed countries. While the brownfields in China share some similar characteristics with those in developed countries, they also have some specific features. For …

One Small Step: An Analysis Of International Space Law And How It Effects Historic Preservation, Joseph Patrick Reynolds

All Theses

From 1969 to 1972 NASA's Apollo Program successfully completed six separate manned lunar landings. Since 1972 there has been no human presence on the Moon. The lunar landing sites of Apollo's 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17 have sat in situ for forty years in the absolute zero vacuum of outer space. As the next phase of lunar exploration draws closer, it is important to protect the Apollo Lunar Landing Sites from exploration and damage because of their importance to human cultural heritage. This thesis assesses the international treaties that govern outer space, the Moon, and other celestial bodies …

Fort Drive: Reestablishing Its Significance Within Washington, D.C.'S Park System, Kathryn Kelly Finnigan

All Theses

This thesis is an in-depth examination of Fort Drive, a 20th century proposed parkway connecting the principal Union Army fortifications which encircled Washington, D.C. The goal of the work is to determine if the landscapes acquired for Fort Drive are eligible for the National Register of Historic Places. This paper answers two questions: what role did Fort Drive play in establishing the Nation's Capital's park system; and are the remnants of the Fort Drive endeavor significant? These questions were answered through analysis of the National Capital Planning Commission's records, a comparison of the standards set by current National Register designations, …

Castle Pinckney: Past, Present, Future, David Weirick

All Theses

Castle Pinckney is one of a few surviving 'castle' style forts. At the time of Castle Pinckney's construction in 1811 these all masonry, circular, casemated fortifications were a revolutionary experiment in military architecture, inspired by the theories of the foremost military engineers in the world. The southern theater of the War of 1812 never materialized, and Castle Pinckney was not called upon to demonstrate its superior tactical capabilities. As military technology progressed during the nineteenth century, Castle Pinckney became increasingly outdated, but its strategic location in Charleston Harbor caused its continued use as an important military post during the Nullification …

Detroit's Field Of Dreams: The Grassroots Preservation Of Tiger Stadium, Rebecca M. Long

All Theses

From 1987 until the time of this writing, several grassroots organizations have fought for the preservation of Detroit's Tiger Stadium and its historic field. The goal of this thesis is to chronicle those efforts, examine how these organizations fit into the history of preservation movements, and delve into what continues to draw people to this historic site: its `power of place.' In order to accomplish these objectives, this thesis will detail the history of the site from its storied time as the home of Major League Baseball's Detroit Tigers from 1896-1999, up to the preservation efforts which have been the …

Dendrochronology: A Status Report For The Eastern United States, Elyse Harvey

All Theses

Architectural historians and historic preservation practitioners have turned with increasing frequency to dendrochronology to determine dates of construction for houses and other timber structures for which the application of traditional dating techniques, chief among them historical documentation and stylistic analysis, failed. Since the advent of modern, statistically-driven tree-ring dating, analysis of the application of dendrochronology on the eastern region of the United States reveals that the use of this scientific technique has been unevenly applied and is most often used in New England and the Chesapeake. While the techniques used by American dendrochronologists are generally similar, practitioners have failed to …

Value Add And Sustainable Parking Strategies: A Financial Evaluation And Real Estate Developer Perspective, Ryan Letzeiser

All Theses

Innovative techniques for parking lot design over the past 15 years have resulted in new approaches which address stormwater concerns on commercial real estate sites. A mixed method approach was taken to establish financial value in these new techniques being used. Sheraton Station, a proposed mixed use Transit Oriented Development (TOD) site with multi modal transportation in Hollywood, Florida was used as a research and demonstration project to evaluate ways to make sustainable parking lots more cost effective for real estate developers. After conducting interviews and a survey to evaluate real estate developers' perceptions on the use of sustainable features …

Little Houses, Big Expenses: A Financial Study Of Small House Museums In New England, Marie Elise Haremski

All Theses

This thesis is examines the finances of house museums in New England with annual receipts under $250,000. It discusses the need to compile and evaluate data of this nature and the steps that were taken to obtain and present that data. This study maps how house museums behaved during this period. It will also present recommendations for practices that can be implemented to either drive revenue up or costs down.
It analyzes the various income and expense categories as they have been reported to the Internal Revenue Service for the filing years 2000 through 2009. The income categories analyzed include: …

Cox, Carolyn Ann (Helm) (Fa 79), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

Folklife Archives Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Folklife Archives Project 79. “1920-1930 Logan CountyFurnishings: The Felts House,” oral history project executed for a folk studies class at Western Kentucky University. Interviews were recorded on cassette tape and are indexed.

Exploring German And American Modes Of Pedagogical And Institutional Sustainability: Forging A Way Into The Future, Lindon N. Pronto

Pitzer Senior Theses

Rooted deep in Germany's past is its modern socio-political grounding for environmental respect and sustainability. This translates into individual and collective action and extends equally to the economic and policy realm as it does to educational institutions. This thesis evaluates research conducted in Germany with a view to what best approaches are transferable to the United States liberal arts setting. Furthermore, exemplary American models of institutional sustainability and environmental education are explored and combined with those from abroad to produce a blueprint and action plan fitting for the American college and university.

Revitalized Streets Of San Francisco: A Study Of Redevelopment And Gentrification In Soma And The Mission, Lucy K. Phillips

Scripps Senior Theses

San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood and the Mission District are facing new forms of redevelopment. The deindustrialization of SoMa has posed an opportunity for a 'new model' of gentrification to create a mixed-use, mixed-income neighborhood from an area previously occupied by abandoned warehouses and vacant lots. In the Mission, awareness of the threats of gentrification and increased community participation are fighting to preserve the neighborhood and eliminate displacement. The innovative approaches to urban revitalization in these two neighborhoods demonstrate how redevelopment may occur without gentrification.

North Bottoms: A Participatory Redevelopment And Sustainable Community Engagement Process, Andrea C. Koerner

Community and Regional Planning Program: Professional Projects

This project addressed the economic, social, and environmental ill effects occurring in the North Bottoms in Lincoln, Nebraska. This neighborhood requires the use of innovative community engagement to counteract minimal resources, civic engagement, and social capital in order to accomplish sustainable redevelopment when traditional methods have been unsuccessful. The initial goal of the project was to involve citizens in the design process to create an effective and development strategy and design project for the neighborhood.

Although traditional methods were sufficient to develop a comprehensive approach to sustainable development, it became obvious through engagement with citizens and civic officials that a …

The Gesamtkunstwerk Of A Reunifying Metropolis: Berlin’S Kunsthaus Tacheles, Emma Camille Scheidt

Scripps Senior Theses

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, the city of Berlin was faced with the challenge to reunify in both political and cultural realms. Berlin is noted throughout history as a metropolis that is characterized by flux; the Post-Wende [Post-Wall] era is another remarkable transitional phase in Berlin’s history. During this era, the city was extremely porous and susceptible to cultural forces that could easily define the city’s malleable future. This essay discusses such forces and events that were planned by the city government, as well as an organic grassroots force that was especially significant in the cultural reunification. This …

A Composite Structural Steel And Prestressed Concrete Beam For Building Floor Systems, Nathan Dewit

Durham School of Architectural Engineering and Construction: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Precast prestressed concrete beams, such as rectangular and inverted tee beam, currently used in residential and commercial buildings are deep, heavy, and limited to span-to-depth ratios of 15. The research proposes a composite structural steel and prestressed concrete beam that is shallow, light, easy to produce and erect, and able to achieve a span-to-depth ratio of 24. The proposed beam is designed to be used with precast columns, hollow-core planks, and a cast-in-place topping to create a moment-resisting floor system that minimizes the need for shear walls. The goal of this system is to eliminate as many of the limitations …

Exploring Passive Solar Design In Minnesota’S Residential Construction Sector, Luke Albers

Purdue Polytechnic Masters Theses

This directed project analyzes the cost and benefit relationship of incorporating passive solar heating and cooling designs into a national home builder’s standard house plan. The orientation, glazing area, glazing type, and solar shading features of the home are all analyzed. The goal of this directed project is to determine if passive solar can make an impact on energy costs for a national home builder’s standard house plan. The focus of the study is on one standard home plan and analyzing what impact passive solar design changes can have on annual heating and cooling energy consumption. The construction costs of …

Encouraging Creativity In The Workplace Through The Physical Environment: Focusing Of The Office Workstation, Dale R. Landry

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

People can be creative anywhere but how can designers and organizations encourage this process to occur at an office workstation through the physical work environment? This four stage study investigated what Interior Designers, experts in a field that judges creativity, felt they needed to enhance their creativity while occupying a workstation in a commercial or home office.

An exploratory mixed method of social science qualitative and quantitative research was employed that applied methodological triangulation validating the data through cross verification of codes produced through the narrative process that were perceived to influence the creative phenomena in office workers. In stage …

Monotonic Behavior Of Mississippi River Valley Silt In Triaxial Compression, Shuying Wang, Ronaldo Luna

Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering Faculty Research & Creative Works

The static behavior of Mississippi River Valley silt was characterized using triaxial compression testing. Silt specimens, especially over consolidated ones, showed dilation behavior. There was no unique critical state among specimens with different over consolidation ratios (OCRs). with OCRs of 1, 2, and 8, the specimens exhibited normal behavior and dilated more as effective consolidation pressure dropped. However, for an OCR of 4, the specimens showed opposite behavior and dilated more as effective consolidation pressure rose. the friction angle of the silt was computed on the basis of several failure criteria, and the limiting strain was found to be the …

Assessment Of New Energy Use Policy In Land Use Planning, Xun Liu

Community and Regional Planning Program: Theses

In modern society, energy has long been a part of human life. However, traditional energy resources will be used up eventually, and they also cause environmental pollution. In contrast with traditional energy resources, new energy has three major advantages: it has high efficiency, renewable and environmentally friendly. Considering new energy’s efficiency, local government should adopt appropriate policies. New energy policies are the most effective and direct method to enable governments to achieve their goals.

This study mainly focuses on how energy policies can improve the efficiency of new energy use. More specifically, this research addresses three major questions: 1) To …