Architecture, Building and Planning - Research Publications
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ItemRepertory Grid Methodology to Research Tacit Knowledge in Construction(CIB, 2022)Quality and buildability are important issues in construction, and both emerge at the earliest stages of design. However, neither are well-defined concepts. Our premise is that behaviour, values and culture impact on quality and buildability in the design stage, but these are also vulnerable to precise definition and difficult to investigate within a typical hypothesis-driven positivist approach. A better method may lie in a theory of personal constructs or ‘constructivism’ which takes the human experience as a whole. Qualitative research methods and data collection techniques are critically reviewed to assess those methods best fit for the purpose of approaching the research problem. Personal Construct Psychology (PCP), using repertory grids, emerges as a suitable candidate and is applied in two pilot studies in Australia and Singapore. Preliminary results show the appropriateness of the approach for engaging in buildability studies.
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ItemComputational design and robotic fabrication of a self-supporting acoustic shell(ICSA, 2022)In the early twentieth century, acoustic shells were primarily conceived as permanent structures, generally made in reinforced concrete. Architects like Candela and Niemeyer exploited the high density and plasticity of concrete to realise forms that could reflect sound efficiently. However, building doubly-curved shapes required laborious construction methods, including using complex and wasteful formworks. This paper presents the development and application of a computational workflow for the design and fabrication of acoustic concrete shells. The workflow allows controlling the shape of discrete, curved panels that can be assembled into continuous surfaces. The panels are designed to comply with the robotic fabrication requirements of a novel Parametric Adjustable Mould (PAM) technology and assembled to create shells that satisfy a set of acoustic requirements. The technology is used to fabricate custom curved concrete panels using a single mould frame that reduces waste in concrete formwork.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableMFR 2021: Masked Face Recognition Competition(IEEE, 2021-08-04)
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ItemCity diplomacy and Australian LGAs: The Potential for Global Urban Leadership in Pluralised Systems of Local Government(Analysis & Policy Observatory, 2022-05-05)Australian LGAs have become central actors in globally networked urban initiatives, such as C40 Cities, ICLEI and the Urban 20 track of the G20. The City of Melbourne, for example, has 15 formal transnational city network memberships, the same number as London and Berlin, while the City of Sydney has eight. However, the mostly pluralised form of local government in Australia’s largest cities, such as Melbourne and Sydney, often contrasts with centralised models we see in peer cities abroad where local authorities commonly have significantly larger populations, and at times authorities, than their Australian counterparts. This article questions whether the more limited jurisdiction of LGAs in Australia’s largest cities hinders their capacity to maximise the benefits of ‘city diplomacy’ within their countries when compared with peers? Or can the leadership of these authorities in connecting with global urban agendas bring tangible benefits to the greater metropolitan city-regions in which they reside?
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ItemVentilation for Reduced Heat Stress in Apartments(The Architectural Science Association (ANZAScA), Australia, 2017)The increase in building code requirements of modern buildings are correlated with increased overheating, particularly in apartment buildings. This research addresses the comparative performance of the Australian apartment stock with international heat wave regulations, six apartment buildings were performance modelled based on the extremes of the 2009 Victorian heatwave that began on the 27 January with daytime temperatures topping 43°C across 3 days, with night‐time minimums of above 25°C. All 6 apartments failed the four international summer comfort standards that were reviewed. The worst performing apartment underwent further investigation. Retrofit strategies were tested to determine the most effective method for reducing overheating. As found in the literature, improved ventilation is often the most effective retrofit method. Further investigation revealed that ventilation opportunities are significantly restricted by the Australian NCC window protection requirements that restrict window openings, reducing typical ventilation area from a window from 50% to 20%. This has a significant impact on the ability to use natural ventilation for reducing of overheating in apartments.
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ItemFuture proofing the accuracy of building simulations by addressing climate change projections in modified weather files(The Architectural Science Association and The University of Adelaide, 2016)Complex building simulation is increasingly common in the design process of buildings in Australia. Traditionally, building simulation has been conducted using weather files constructed from typical historical weather data, but in a period of climate change the use of historical data to assess performance has been criticised as inappropriate. Modern buildings need to be efficient and comfortable today, but also into the future. This new design challenge requires adaptability and resilience to be included in building designs from the outset, and necessitates that data used for simulation is as accurate and reflective as possible of the environmental conditions in which buildings are likely to operate. This research utilises the improved imposed offset method proposed by Guan to construct a future hourly weather data file for various Australian locations that can be used in building simulation software. This approach will produce weather time series that incorporates the RCP8.5 climate change scenario while maintaining the local and realistic characteristics of the original weather file. This future weather data can then be used by designers and building engineers to assess off-axis scenarios in the simulation and address the risks of overheating during the lifetime of the building.
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ItemStaged Competition as a Driver of Construction Innovation(Elsevier, 2017)Globally building operation contributes 30-40% of the primary energy demand in most developed economies. At the same time the construction industry is repeatedly found to have lower rates of adoption of innovation than other industries, despite being described as "a lively source of new ideas". A general conclusion is that the rate of innovation lags behind most other sectors. A new mechanism for innovation generation, diffusion and adoption is required. The automotive industry provides a benchmark for innovation, and has a distinct advantage with regards to generation, implementation and adoption of innovation. Automotive 'staged competitions' (e.g. motorsport), occur within the industry between manufacturers, and rely heavily on the involvement of suppliers within the industry. Such competition provides an excellent platform for marketing, testing, and development of innovation within and beyond the parent industry. Although rare and fleeting, construction competitions already exist in the construction industry. However they are not as advanced as motorsport is for the purposes of generating, diffusing or adopting innovations. This case study research considers three unique existing construction competitions, and shows how each example can contribute to the increase in innovation in the construction industry. The research shows that none of the case study competitions are able to provide the required steps to progress radical innovation from generation to adoption, and are thus failing as a new innovation mechanism for the construction industry. Further discussion of how these competitions can be optimized to drive innovation within the construction industry is provided with the ultimate aim to reduce resource use and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
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ItemMulti-Scalar Mapping of Transit-Oriented Assemblages: Metropolitan Mobilities, Neighbourhood Morphologies and Station Design(tab edizioni, 2022)With the vast expansion of cities enabled by motorised transport, the conjunction between metropolitan and neighbourhood mobilities has attracted increasing attention in transport and urban research. Within these fields, transit-oriented urbanism has become a key paradigm for environmentally sustainable, healthy and creative environments. While the importance of urban design has been acknowledged, research has generally focused on exploring correlations between metrics of built form characteristics and transport, health or environmental outcomes. However, many of these metrics are not capturing the spatial complexity of actual urban forms and are poor proxies for capacities for movement. Urban morphological studies on the other hand, while exploring historical change at neighbourhood scale with spatial precision through mapping, often neglect the importance of metropolitan transport networks. Based on case studies from Chicago and Melbourne, this research is seeking to bridge the gap between micro-, meso- and macro-scalar urban morphological studies, by focusing on metro stations as the inter-scalar interfaces between walkable neighbourhoods and rapid transit networks. In this pursuit, new mapping methods for capturing capacities for movement at multiple scales are developed. It is shown that urban mobilities are mediated by the complex assemblage of station architecture, neighbourhood form and the metropolitan transit network.
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ItemUsing image processing to understand 20th-century architectural colour schemes in Singapore(Archetype Publications, 2018-05-25)Increasing awareness of architectural heritage in Singapore has led to greater shared responsibility in preserving the urban fabric. There is now widespread public acceptance of conservation guidelines and the gazetting of listed buildings as part of the planning process. However, conservation efforts are hindered by gaps in our knowledge of historic buildings materials and architectural finishes. This is certainly the case with historic paint and colour schemes in Singapore. If urban planning authorities are to advise building owners on historically appropriate colour schemes, it is vital to understand what colours and finishes were used in the past. This paper examines how image processing, machine learning and computer-aided visualisation can complement more established colour research procedures such as paint analysis to fill the gaps in our knowledge. This project utilises colour photographs of historic streetscapes in the Urban Redevelopment Authority's collection, taken as part of a heritage survey conducted from the mid-1980s to the early 1990s, to complement conventional paint and plaster sampling to further our understanding of historic architectural colour schemes in Singapore. As colour photographs deteriorate over time, controlled digital restoration is necessary to provide more accurate colour information from the time when these images were captured. With further refinement, these processes, used in tandem with more conventional paint sampling techniques, could be of some use for researching and dating historic architectural colour schemes. It is hoped that this paper will provide a starting point for further discussion into these digital research techniques.
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ItemThe Airshell prototype: a timber gridshell erected through a pneumatic formwork(HafenCity University Hamburg & International Association of Shell & Spatial Structures (IASS), 2017-09-25)This paper presents the construction of Airshell, a small timber gridshell prototype erected by employing a pneumatic formwork. Inspired by the work of Frei Otto and Dante Bini, the technique is based on a pneumatic membrane and an Arduino® board – the former used as dynamic formwork and the latter to monitor both the structure height and the membrane pressure throughout the process. The prototype was erected in Pesaro, Italy, in December 2016; the design replicates a gridshell built in Lecce in 2009 by the Italian company Gridshell.it, which was built through a more conventional push-up technique. A comparison between the two erection methods is therefore proposed in terms of construction speed and accuracy/precision of the built form. Design and technological aspects, as well as time frame and budget of the proposed construction technique are detailed within the text. The paper also discusses the relationship between the digital simulation of the erection process, which was already formulated by Liuti et al. in 2015, and the actual results achieved.