Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA Performance Analysis of Cool Roof products comparing monitored data with modelled data to facilitate performance predictions( 2013-04-15)Dulux Group (Australia) P/L has applied cool roof coatings to three buildings of a retail / trade nature and monitored the energy use to determine the benefits of the cool roof coating. Energy savings have been demonstrated although as yet there is limited ability to predict the benefits of the product for other buildings. This is due to the complex interaction of variable such as climate, occupancy building form and material properties, and HVAC systems. The purpose of this study is to link the existing performance results to the ability to predict accurate energy savings of this product through energy modeling.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableIndependent Review of Thermal Performance of Roofing Material Proposal(The University of Melbourne, 2013)
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ItemTowards a contraction and convergence target based on population life expectancies since 1960(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2013-10-01)
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ItemUsing simple agent-based modeling to inform and enhance neighborhood walkability(BMC, 2013-12-11)BACKGROUND: Pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods with proximal destinations and services encourage walking and decrease car dependence, thereby contributing to more active and healthier communities. Proximity to key destinations and services is an important aspect of the urban design decision making process, particularly in areas adopting a transit-oriented development (TOD) approach to urban planning, whereby densification occurs within walking distance of transit nodes. Modeling destination access within neighborhoods has been limited to circular catchment buffers or more sophisticated network-buffers generated using geoprocessing routines within geographical information systems (GIS). Both circular and network-buffer catchment methods are problematic. Circular catchment models do not account for street networks, thus do not allow exploratory 'what-if' scenario modeling; and network-buffering functionality typically exists within proprietary GIS software, which can be costly and requires a high level of expertise to operate. METHODS: This study sought to overcome these limitations by developing an open-source simple agent-based walkable catchment tool that can be used by researchers, urban designers, planners, and policy makers to test scenarios for improving neighborhood walkable catchments. A simplified version of an agent-based model was ported to a vector-based open source GIS web tool using data derived from the Australian Urban Research Infrastructure Network (AURIN). The tool was developed and tested with end-user stakeholder working group input. RESULTS: The resulting model has proven to be effective and flexible, allowing stakeholders to assess and optimize the walkability of neighborhood catchments around actual or potential nodes of interest (e.g., schools, public transport stops). Users can derive a range of metrics to compare different scenarios modeled. These include: catchment area versus circular buffer ratios; mean number of streets crossed; and modeling of different walking speeds and wait time at intersections. CONCLUSIONS: The tool has the capacity to influence planning and public health advocacy and practice, and by using open-access source software, it is available for use locally and internationally. There is also scope to extend this version of the tool from a simple to a complex model, which includes agents (i.e., simulated pedestrians) 'learning' and incorporating other environmental attributes that enhance walkability (e.g., residential density, mixed land use, traffic volume).
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ItemUrban Actions: An Alternative Pedagogical Approach to Urban Spaces(Australian Institute of Architects, 2013)It is easy to forget that human actors or agents, as individuals or collectives, are the ones best able to create situations, stories, and life in the city. Architecture, conventionally considered as a circumscribed aesthetic object, curtailed by issues of ownership and economic return, is the setting and space for human actions and encounters, love, grief, happiness and disappointment.
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ItemAssembling Architecture(EDINBURGH UNIV PRESS, 2013)
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ItemInformalising Architecture: The Challenge of Informal Settlements(Wiley - John Wiley & Sons, 2013)Abstract Transgression is often driven by the power to exercise choice and consciously cross the line. As Kim Dovey, Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Melbourne, explains, informal settlements, which have grown up globally out of immediate need for shelter and community, and are legally precarious, transgress established codes of ‘land tenure, urban planning, design and construction’. Their condition requires transgression, even if they are subversion through necessity rather than by design. So what is architecture's future role in informal settlements? And what can be learnt from this more ad hoc and incremental model of urban design?
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ItemTeaching Informal Urbanism Simulating Informal Settlement Practices in the Design Studio(TAYLOR & FRANCIS INC, 2013-07-03)Informal settlements have become dominant forms and processes of urban development in many cities, yet the task of helping students engage with design issues in such contexts is fraught with difficulties of access, safety, and complexity. Drawing on detailed fieldwork, this article explores ways in which informal settlement formation can be taught in design studio through the use of games that simulate incremental practices of room-by-room accretion and prospects for transformation. The pedagogical goals are to effect a blurring of authorship and authority, to undermine top-down thinking, and to nourish forms of design imagination that unite process and form.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableINVESTIGATING POTENTIAL COMFORT BENEFITS OF BIOLOGICALLY-INSPIRED BUILDING SKINS(INT BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION ASSOC-IBPSA, 2013)
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ItemTowards a comprehensive energy assessment of residential buildings. A multi-scale life cycle energy analysis framework( 2013)Buildings are directly responsible for 40% of the final energy consumption in most developed economies and for much more if indirect requirements are considered. This results in huge impacts which affect the environmental balance of our planet. However, most current building energy assessments focus solely on operational energy overlooking other energy consumptions such as embodied and transport energy. Embodied energy comprises the energy requirements for building materials production, construction and replacement. Transport energy represents the amount of energy required for the mobility of building users. Decisions based on partial assessments might result in an increased energy demand during other life cycle stages or at different scales of the built environment. Recent studies have shown that embodied and transport energy demands often account for more than half of the total lifecycle energy demand of residential buildings. Current assessment tools and policies therefore overlook more than 50% of the life cycle energy consumption. This thesis presents a comprehensive life cycle energy analysis framework for residential buildings. This framework takes into account energy requirements at the building scale, i.e. the embodied and operational energy demands, and at the city scale, i.e. the embodied energy of nearby infrastructures and the transport energy of its users. This framework is implemented through the development, verification and validation of an advanced software tool which allows the rapid analysis of the life cycle energy demand of residential buildings and districts. Two case studies, located in Brussels, Belgium and Melbourne, Australia, are used to investigate the potential of the developed framework. Results show that each of the embodied, operational and transport energy requirements represent a significant share of the total energy requirements and associated greenhouse gas emissions of a residential building, over its useful life. All the scales of the built environment and the different life cycle stages should therefore be taken into consideration in order to reduce energy use in the built environment. Also, results have demonstrated that current building energy efficiency regulations may paradoxically lead to an increase in energy use. The use of the developed tool will allow building designers, town planners and policy makers to reduce the energy demand and greenhouse gas emissions of residential buildings by selecting measures that result in overall savings. This will ultimately contribute to reducing the environmental impact of the built environment.