Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Other Architecture and Urban Environment and Building'

Kampung is a pervasive concept in Malay Culture and considered counter urban in contemporary discourse. Rural to urban migration of the Malays from kampung to cities occur at an accelerated pace in urbanizing Malaysia. Rural migrants are said to remain attached to their rural kampung lifestyles and find the socio-spatial character of urban environment difficult to adapt to. Previous studies on rural kampung by anthropologists and social scientists have unpacked the socio-economic and cultural aspects of kampung Malays in rural area. My study of migrants in Alor Star and Kuala Lumpur is focused on the landscape meanings of kampung and explores how these ideas have been brought across to a city environment. I investigated the meanings and symbolic values that kampung holds to the rural-urban migrants through a ‘landscape lens’. I recorded the experiences of the rural-urban migrants in adapting to an urban landscape, identified kampung elements to which people have strong attachment with and highlighted the kampung characteristics that could be maintained or replicated in order to address the maladaptation of the migrants and enhance their urban living experience. Study participants were rural-urban migrant respondents from rural kampung in Yan, Kedah who have either moved to Kuala Lumpur or Alor Star. The case studies in the two cities were carried out using qualitative methods including photo elicitation, in-depth interviews, model mapping techniques and participant observation. Respondents provided narratives of their journey from kampung, moving to the city, and their process of adapting and settling in cities. Challenges in adaptation to city living spaces included spatial use, privacy, social relationships, safety and surveillance. My findings demonstrated that the memory of kampung plays a significant part in guiding the life of respondents in the city, and that the image of kampung is pervasive in the daily social and spatial practice of rural-urban migrants, guiding respondents’ level of adaptation and place-making in the city landscape. The use of landscape as lens was helpful in interpreting the complex and multivalent kampung meanings. Addressing a dynamic kampung idea through a landscape framework highlights the strong parallels between kampung and the early landscape concepts. The process of unweaving the meanings of kampung have illustrated that kampung ideas have the potential to inspire a landscape design language that could mitigate the harsh contrast between rural and urban Malaysia.

With the growing role of cities, rapid urbanization, transformation under shifting economic, environmental, social and demographic conditions, the purpose of architecture is changing too. The legacy of the modernist decades left a broken urban fabric of isolated buildings from the urban landscapes of streets, plots, and blocks. In its aftermath, professionals sought to revive the traditional city fabric starting from the block, as the basic element. Although recent developments produce blocks, the livability of streets and other public spaces remains questionable. With a newfound focus into the block, as the fundamental structural element in planning, architectural typologies become the starting point to translate the qualities of urban life. The relationship between two scales, the urban and the architectural, will be examined in this thesis. Architectural elements and typologies have the ability to enhance public life, fostering positive social relations through meaningful design. The following research will explore architecture in Stockholm from the scale of an urban block, to the building typologies, and finally to the modest details within a single building. The fundamental idea is to extract building types and architectural elements that have an impact on the daily life of individuals in the city of Stockholm.

Cities are not merely inanimate objects. They are complex living environments, built over time by cultures and civilisations. This thesis argues that cities have a central place in human history and civilisation because they are imbued with meaning and meaningful activity. Thus, cities are inherently political spaces, and it may be reasonably expected that they will be important sites of social transformation in the postmodern era. In order to understand the relationship between urban space and political consciousness, this thesis traces several different interpretive paths within the marxist tradition. First, we examine the work of Henri Lefebvre, who argues for an understanding of urban space as socially produced. Next, the thesis looks at the contributions of Guy Debord, particularly at his understanding of the relation between time and the city. Both writers struggle to understand the urban in the context of the shift to what we now call postmodernity. Despite their many strengths, Debord and Lefebvre ultimately fail to theorise a social subject capable of resisting capitalist domination of the city. As a result, the thesis turns to a consideration of the work of Antonio Negri. Negri’s analysis of the fate of contemporary subjectivity has reinvigorated marxist critique with a return to the question of political change. His figure of the multitude takes leave of traditional marxism in challenging and productive ways, and helps us better understand the nature of subjectivity and resistance in a world of immaterial labour and virtuality. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that there is still work to be done before Negri’s work can be mapped out onto the contemporary metropolis.

This thesis addresses the relationship between the physical dimensions and aspect ratios of urban areas and the airflow below the urban canopy height. The aim is to investigate the link between these aspect ratios and the resulting airflow patterns, wind speed and direction, and pressure coefficients on the envelope of target buildings. The research method involves several steps which seek to explore the airflow in four urban scenarios, simplified simulation using two parallel bricks; several complex urban prototype scenarios; and two actual urban areas used as case studies situated on the Cardiff Cathays Campus and the Paulista Avenue - São Paulo. The research methods employed are: atmospheric boundary layer wind tunnel (WT), steady-state standard k-e CFD simulation and field measurements (FM). Three prevailing wind directions were investigated: parallel, orthogonal and oblique. The outputs are guiven in terms of: Cp and ΔCp data displayed as graphs, tables and/ or contour plots; airflow patterns and velocity magnitude and direction, displayed as vertical profile graphs and visualized by means of CFD pathlines or WT helium bubble pathlines; and correlation displayed as scatter diagrams and matrices. A relationship was found between the urban aspect ratios and the ΔCp results. This was demonstrated by statistical methods using the data on the variables concerned, thus verifying the strength of the correlation between them. Strong correlation was found between the investigations into similar scenarios of the urban prototypes and the two case studies as regards both the aspect ratios and the ΔCp results. On the other hand, low correlation for the same variables were identified when contrasting dissimilar urban prototype scenarios. Moreover, good levels of comparison were found between the FM and the CFD simulations in Case Study 01 for both the decrease in wind velocity magnitude and direction in urban areas.

Exploring spatio-temporal flux within architecture, this thesis presents design-based research on the temporal environments of Oceania and Western evental theory. Oceanic thought and Western theories of the event share commonalities, both holding that space and time are inseparable dimensions. This spatio-temporal concept challenges Western philosophical and architectural doxa that privilege stasis over temporal flux, and offers a mode by which to introduce alterity into architectural discourse. I move over these cultural and philosophical grounds in order to explicate and further develop a personal design practice that is of this place and time for, while there is a body of writing that documents Oceanic built environments, there is less research that considers how these may be constituted and communicated through contemporary architectural design. The thesis posits two temporalised environments apparent within Oceanic spatial thought and practice – the shifting and extensive oceanscape, and the telluric groundscape that makes space; and describes two resultant spatial typologies – an oceanspace which is characterised by openness and mobility, and a groundspace which is both surface and space. These contentions are tested and theorised through three architectural experiments developed between 1999 and 2005: the Sounds House, which operates as an open and mutable spatial field; the Ground House, which forms monumental “interiors” that emerge from and relate to the earth; and Tokatea, which blends these two spatialities, fabricating a temporalised environment in between the momentary and the monumental, between interior and exterior. In presenting and discussing these speculative spaces, this thesis moves between architecture and academia, Oceania and the West, the ephemeral and the enduring, and the inside and the outside, with the aim of destabilising architecture’s discursive ground, causing its hermetic boundaries to become temporalised and fluid.

Det pågår många brottsförebyggande arbeten idag i Sverige och dessa sker oftast genom sociala insatser, men det är allt för få satsningar som avser den fysiska miljön. Den påverkar oss människor mer än vad vi tror. Syftet med denna studie är att göra en systematisk analys av den fysiska miljön i tre särskilt utsatta områden och undersöka hur dessa miljöer kan skapa brottsmöjligheter. Områdena Bergsjön, Rinkeby och Vivalla undersöks i denna rapport, dessa är valda till särskilt utsatta områden och där finns en rådande problematik och även en högre koncentration av kriminella (Polisen, 2017). Fakta och teorier som bland annat rutinaktivitetsteorin, CPTED och Jane Jacobs stadsplaneringsidéer behandlas i studiens bakgrund. Likheterna mellan områdenas fysiska miljöer sammanställs genom kartjämförelser, platsanalyser och intervjuer.    Metoden visade att trafiksepareringen hade skapat många mörka gångtunnlar in till områdena som skapade oattraktiva och otrygga inträden. Att områdena var bilfria ledde ytterligare till att många ställen blev ödsliga, obevakade och otrygga. Områdenas byggnader var vidare inte varierade och det kunde förekomma flera likadana hus bredvid varandra, till och med över hela områden. För en brottsling är det enklare att begå brott i en enkel detaljfattig miljö, eftersom det då är färre saker att hålla koll på och det blir mycket enklare att begå brottet när övriga människor inte ser sig omkring sig. En annan likhet var gatustrukturen, till exempel hade de tre områdena återvändsgator som inte sammanvävde vägarna med varandra. Detta bidrog till segregerade områden och svårigheter för polisen att komma fram och utföra sina insatser på ett effektivt sätt. Även byggnadernas placering mot gatan påverkade huruvida det skapades naturlig övervakning som kunde motverka brottslighet. Därmed blev slutsatsen att likheterna i den fysiska miljön mellan de tre områdena kan underlätta möjligheterna för att begå brott.
There is many jobs today in Sweden for crime prevention and these happen often through social efforts, but there is way too few of these for the physical environment that actually affects us more than we think they do. The purpose with this study is to make a systematical analysis of the physical environment in three deprives areas and examine if these environments can create crime opportunities. The chosen places are Bergsjön, Rinkeby and Vivalla with current problematic and high crime concentration (Polisen, 2017). Fact and theories such as the Routine Activity Theory, CPTED and Jane Jacobs’s urban ideas is treated in the study’s background. Similarities between the areas physical environment is compiled through map comparisons, place analysis and interviews.   The methods result showed that the traffic separation created many dark tunnels into the areas, which caused unattractive and insecure entries. The buildings in the areas were also not varied and there could be a several of similar houses next to each other or over the whole field. It can be easier for a criminal to commit crimes in a simple surrounding without details, because it is fewer things to keep track of and it becomes much easier to commit the crime when people doesn’t look around themselves. Another similarity was the street structures, for example the three areas had blind alleys that didn't interweave the streets with each other. This contributed to segregated areas and difficulties for the police to arrive and perform their efforts effectively. Even the buildings placement to the street affected whether they had a natural surveillance that could prevent crime. This concluded that the physical environment in these three deprived areas can affect the emergence of crime.

Landscape development[1] can provide many benefits, including the reduction of stormwater runoff and the creation of habitats for wildlife. It can also provide health benefits. Researchers, such as Roger Ulrich and Rita Berto have demonstrated that views of trees and other vegetation are associated with lower blood pressure and reduced recovery times in hospitals and that environments with more natural elements may lessen mental fatigue (R. Ulrich 1984) and (Berto 2005). As rebuilding in New Orleans continues 11 years after Hurricane Katrina, landscape development has been limited or lacking, especially in the redevelopment of commercial properties. Two prominent reasons for this deficiency are a lack of funding and, until August of 2015, the absence of a comprehensive landscape ordinance. The purpose of the research presented here is to determine the degree to which community residents express a preference for healthier commercial environments. As part of my research, I measured community perceptions of four potential redevelopment concepts for a blighted strip shopping center utilizing attention restoration theory (ART), which postulates that certain environmental qualities contribute to reductions in mental fatigue. I found that commercial environments with the most quality landscaping[2] are those that neighborhood residents most prefer and are most conducive to better health. Keywords: mental fatigue, attention restoration theory, perceived restoration scale, commercial landscape quantity, public health, healthy urban environment [1] Refer to operational definitions (pages 4-6). [2] Refer to operational definitions (pages 4-6).

This project has sought to answer the question 'How is landscape made?’ by examining the landscape of the Otago Peninsula on the east coast of the South Island of Aotearoa/New Zealand. By taking a social constructionist approach, an in depth case study has been completed using ethnographic methods combined with discourse analysis. The theoretical framework adopted led to the research question being refined and divided into two parts. The first seeks to determine the discourses that construct the landscape of the Otago Peninsula. Those identified include discourses of Mana Whenua, agriculture, environmentalism, gardening, heritage, neo-liberalism and the picturesque. These discourses interact and resist one another through networks of power. Thus the second part of the research question seeks to understand these networks and the distributions of power through them. The agricultural discourse is the most powerful, albeit under strong challenge from the environmental discourse and from the impacts of neo-liberalism. Mana Whenua discourses have gained significant power in recent decades, but their influence is tenuous. The picturesque discourse has significant power and has been utilised as a key tool in District planning in the area. Thus, the landscape is seen to be made by the dynamic interactions of discourses. This has two consequences, the first, an emphasising of the dynamism of the landscape - it is a process which is under constant flux as a consequence of both the human interactions with and within it, and the biophysical processes which continue outside of human ken. The second consequence is to stress that the landscape is not a unitary object and that this needs to be recognised in the formulation of policy and landscape management.

Despite its origins in England two hundred years ago, the picturesque continues to influence landscape architectural practice in late twentieth-century New Zealand. The evidence for this is derived from a close reading of the published discourse of the New Zealand Institute of Landscape Architects, particularly the now defunct professional journal, The Landscape. Through conceptualising the picturesque as a language, a model is developed which provides a framework for recording the survey results. The way in which the picturesque persists as naturalised conventions in the discourse is expressed as four landscape myths. Through extending the metaphor of language, pidgins and creoles provide an analogy for the introduction and development of the picturesque in New Zealand. Some implications for theory, practice and education follow.

This study presents an analysis of human encounter with place. It examines the personal and cultural importance of an attachment to place, focusing on the reciprocal relationship between cultural heritage and a sense of place. Place is constructed out of mutual meanings between people and their environment. The study begins with an indepth look at the theory of place. In a series of heritage management case studies, the theory is applied in order to illustrate how meanings of place may be expressed. Place as a normative concept provides a role for resource managers in finding the meanings people associate with places, and in nurturing and enhancing these meanings. This involves the recognition of different values and 'stories' that are associated with place. Recognising these differences helps shift resource management away from the simplicity of grand narratives and totalizing discourses, towards a respect for intangible and multiple meanings in place. To a certain extent an understanding of place is already informing both natural and cultural management decisions in New Zealand, although this may not be explicitly recognised. To approach cultural heritage management from the perspective of place, however, challenges the current directions that heritage management is taking in this country. The study proposes a way of taking up that challenge, and concludes that the importance of place should not be overlooked.

The dissertation explores the history and activities of the Brno-located Town and Country Planning Department of The Research Institute for Building and Architecture (RIBA) since its foundation in 1954 until its abolishment in 1994. As a part of the department functioning, a description of its main research tasks and publications, which had played an essential part while formulating theory and methodology of urban planning after the 2nd World War in Czechoslovakia, are introduced. Special attention is paid to tasks and publications whose authors and research workers applied interdisciplinary approaches and – in spite of the prevailing totalitarian regime – managed to apply their experience acquired abroad to produce highly influential works such as The Principles and Rules of Spatial Planning. Another objective of the dissertation is the creation of a complex bibliography of texts that were produced by the department (books, reports on the outcomes of research tasks that had been explored at the Town and Country Planning Department and that were released internally as handbooks serving research workers of the institute and other institutions focusing on building and architecture). Depictions of the Brno department of RIBA from the perspective of two of its significant representatives who have outlived the institution they had witnessed to be founded and to the functioning of which they had significantly contributed, become a key part of the text: Ing. arch. Vladimír Matoušek, CSc., the second head of the Town and Country Planning Department of RIBA and Ing. arch. Dušan Riedl, CSc., a theoretician of architecture and urban planning and a top expert on Czech national herritage. As the topic has not yet been subjected to scholarly research, the main objective of the work is to create the very first complex text on the Brno department of RIBA and its activities. The circumstances surrounding the constitution of RIBA in the context of other similarly functioning research institutes are pursued with a special focus on the fields of building, architecture and urban planning as well as legislative embedding of its foundation and functioning, its organization structure, staff, definition of taskmasters and the way the tasks were approached, relations to other institutions in the field, publishing activities and transfer of theoretical research outcomes to practice. The text also deals with the state of present-day research of architecture and urban planning. Archive material and publications released by the institute represent a predominant source of information about RIBA activities. They are now stored at the archive of ABF Foundation in Prague (the foundation has been administering both the archive and library of the Prague department of RIBA since its abolishment), at the library of The Institute for Spatial Development in Brno (the institute administers the library of the former Brno department) and at the Moravian Land Archive in Brno. Both of the archives have been thoroughly researched by the author. Critical reflections upon the urban-planning department of RIBA occurring in contemporary publications and periodicals are another important source of information which help to specify the character of its activities (recent literature mentions RIBA scarcely, a complex evaluation is still missing). Oral history reported by former employees of RIBA, who had contributed to the first-rate quality of its research activities.

Bearing witness to tragedy, the aftermath of genocide often resides quite evidently within the landscape. A potent container of memories and representation, the landscape provides both a symbolic role in which to honour the victims and give survivors a place to mourn and remember, but is also often infused with the tensions of post-genocide life. The memoryscapes of the Cambodian and Rwandan genocides illustrate these contested concerns explicitly. The case study sites investigated in this study - the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre in Cambodia, and the Kigali Memorial Centre in Rwanda - each express today (consciously or unconsciously) design strategies that engage the Euro-Western visitor. Termed Euro-Western ‘cues to connect’, encountered and existential phenomenological data is analysed in relation to design interpretation and the affective cognition of meaning. Finally, considered in relation to Berlin’s Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe, post genocide memorialisation is analysed in its ability to connect through time and culture - through its ability to transpose interpretations and evolve as the needs of society change.

Syfte: Den här studien undersöker temporär arkitektur som fenomen. Temporär arkitektur är tillfälliga rumsliga initiativ som med varierande storlek och form tar stadens offentliga rum i anspråk. Temporär arkitektur är relativt nytt och börjar dyka upp allt oftare i större städer. En del forskning finns kring ämnet, men få beskriver de bakomliggande genomförandeprocesserna och hur temporär arkitektur kan generera social hållbarhet. Målet med den här studien är därför att undersöka hur temporär arkitektur bidrar till ökad social hållbarhet och hur genomförandeprocessen för temporär arkitektur ser ut idag. Frågeställningarna är: (1) Hur kan temporär arkitektur bidra till ökad social hållbarhet? (2) Hur ser genomförandeprocessen för temporär arkitektur ut idag? Metod: Studien är av deskriptiv karaktär och syftar till att skapa ytterligare förståelse för studiefenomenet och dess inneboende egenskaper. Metoderna för datainsamling utgår från ett kvalitativt tillvägagångssätt genom riktade intervjuer med relevanta respondenter från offentliga och privata sektorn. En litteraturstudie genomförs också med syfte att klarlägga forskningsläget kring studiefenomenet. Resultat: Frågeställning 1 visar att det finns flera sätt som temporär arkitektur positivt påverkar den sociala hållbarheten på. Fyra kärnvärden som var och en förstärker varandra har identifieras. Dessa är gemenskap, delaktighet, tillit samt rörelse. Den temporära arkitekturen uppmuntrar till gemenskap och delaktighet hos människor genom att tillföra kortvariga händelser att samlas kring i det offentliga rummet. Genom nya möten möjliggörs tillit vilket leder till ökad rörlighet. Rörelse löser upp de sociala fastlåsningsprinciperna i samhället och borgar för en ökad gemenskap.  Frågeställning 2 visar att processerna för temporär arkitektur kan te sig mycket olika beroende på i vilket sammanhang som den temporära arkitekturen ska implementeras. Frågeställningen visar också på flera svårigheter som råder i genomförandeprocessen idag. Påtagligt är att utmaningarna i många fall överväger möjligheterna och initiativ kan då helt enkelt utebli. Konsekvenser: Tillfälliga rumsskapande initiativ av typen temporär arkitektur tillför sociala kvaliteter till stadslivet, bortom de kvaliteter som vanligtvis erbjuds av traditionella stadsplaneringsprocesser. Styrkan med temporär arkitektur ligger framför allt i dess gestaltningsmässiga och rumsliga flexibilitet samt i dess förmåga att skapa ökad delaktighet och bättre tillgång till stadens innehåll för människor. Begränsningar: Studien undersöker fenomenet ur ett socialt hållbarhetsperspektiv, och utesluter ekonomiska samt ekologiska aspekter av detsamma. Datainhämtningen genom riktade intervjuer är avgränsad till respondenter verksamma som arkitekter och fysiska planerare samt respondenter från den offentliga sektorn. Näringsliv, fastighetsägare och brukare innefattas inte i de riktade intervjuerna.
Purpose: This study examines temporary architecture as a phenomenon. Temporary architecture is ephemeral structures with varying sizes and shapes that takes city’s public spaces in possession during short periods of time. As a phenomenon, temporary architecture is relatively new, but begins to appear more often in larger cities. Some research has been made on the subject in matter, but few researches describes the process behind and how social sustainability can be linked to temporary architecture. The research questions are: (1) How can temporary architecture contribute to increased social sustainability? (2) What characterizes the temporary architecture implementation process today? Method: The study is of descriptive nature and aims to create further understanding of temporary architecture. Data gathering are based on a qualitative approach through targeted interviews with relevant respondents from public and private sectors. A literature review is also conducted with the intention to clarify current research situation surrounding the study phenomenon. Findings:  Research question 1 indicates that temporary architecture affects social sustainability in several ways.  Four core values that each reinforce each other have been identified. These are community, participation, trust and movement. The temporary architecture encourages community and participation between people by providing short-term events to gather around in public space. New meetings enable trust, which leads to increased mobility. Movement resolves the social constraint principles in society and contributes to an increased community. Research question 2 indicates that the implementation processes for temporary architecture can differ widely depending on the context in which the temporary architecture is to be implemented. The question also indicates that there are several difficulties in the implementation process today. Significantly, in many cases the challenges outweighs the possibilities, why initiatives can be omitted. Implications: Short-term space-creating initiatives like temporary architecture enhance social qualities to urban life beyond the qualities usually obtained by traditional urban planning processes. The strength of temporary architecture lies within its formative and spatial flexibility as well as its ability to create increased participation and better access to the city’s content for people. Limitations: The study focuses on a social sustainability perspective only and excludes the economic and ecological perspective of the phenomena. The interview study is limited to only take planning and municipal perspective in concern. Business and user perspectives are therefore not taken into account.

This research operates at both the meeting of wilderness and landscape, and also landscape architecture and design-directed research. It applies a phenomenological understanding of landscape to the New Zealand conservation estate as a means to reconsider wilderness’ prevalent framing as an untouched ‘other’. It does this through enlisting the designerly imperative found within landscape architecture as the means by which to direct this research, and through landscopic investigations located in the artefacts of cooking, haptic qualities of walking, cartographies of wilderness and a phenomenological diagramming of landscape experience. The results of this layered programme of research are four-fold. First, it finds that a landscopic interpretation of wilderness, and its tangible manifestation in New Zealand’s conservation estate, has the potential to suggest a greater depth of dialogue in which both ecological and cultural diversity might productively flourish. Second, it finds that landscape architecture has significant potential to broaden both its relevance and types of productive outputs beyond its current intent to shape specific sites. It identifies that artefacts and representations – such as cookers, track markers and maps – can be creatively manipulated to design alternative formulations of landscape. Third, through self-critique the potency of a programme of design-directed inquiry is demonstrated. In this dissertation new knowledge is revealed that extends the formal, diagrammatic and conceptual dimensions of wilderness, New Zealand’s conservation estate, and a phenomenological expression of landscape. This research illustrates the potential for design-directed research methods to be more widely adopted in ways that extend landscape architecture’s value to multi-disciplinary research. Finally, it finds a pressing future direction for landscape architecture research is to further identify and develop techniques that diagram landscopic practice and performance with the same richness and detail that spatially derived descriptions currently offer. It is the considerable distance between the spoken and written poetics of phenomenology and the visual and diagrammatic articulation of these qualities that is identified as a problematic and also productive site for ongoing creative research.

Urbanization and development of cities is necessary in contemporary society, however, these advancements are also causing urban problems, such as lack of open green space, density problems, traffic problems, and over population.Also, existing buildings are often lacking certain functions that are currently needed since they have been designed in the past. Thus, plaza and mixed used buildings, which are considered as a unit space, are needed to mention for 'publicity' that is a part of urban components as a wide spatial concept. In particular, mixed used buildings as multiply functioned facilities are needed a specific study for 'publicity' and 'urban plaza'. In general, the meaning of 'publicity' in a city seems to have started from 'agora', which is from ancient Greek. A plaza as an open space in a city was realized as a solution, which people have pursued in order to improve their psychological safety and deterioration of the physical environment. Furthermore, it was made by necessity that was able to gather people in a place and was an indicator space with culture, political, and social activity. Procuring a traffic space, which is increasing more in a city, is expressed based on declining plaza and maximizing land use, on the other hands, it indicatesthe importance of a way to vitalize social public space in urban life. In addition, urban and social modernization has caused proliferation and concentration of urban services and,as a result of it,it has caused population increase and architectural densification. In brief, open spaces and streets for pedestrians have decreased. Expansion of buildings, reduction of streets, and degeneration of urban plazas have started to diminish the space for public activity. This has connected to fall quality of its macro- environment and consciousness of sharing, and thus the quality of the city has fallen as a result. The urban plaza is an important component of urban open space and the space, which can improve social community. Thus, the objective of this study is to reconsider the concept 'publicity' in cities as a strategic space in order to vitalize the city. The study includes analyzing connectivity between urban plaza and architectural space and proposing design methods for a mixed use building which will improve interaction between urban context and the buildings., In conclusion, the study will be used to suggest a new solution for the urban design, which has had less connectivity by transportation and thoughtless development for the environment, in order to produce pleasant open space to enjoy public life for citizen focused on increasing practical use between people and their city's infrastructure with diverse function and psychological stability.

Urbanization and development of cities is necessary in contemporary society, however, these advancements are also causing urban problems, such as lack of open green space, density problems, traffic problems, and over population.Also, existing buildings are often lacking certain functions that are currently needed since they have been designed in the past. Thus, plaza and mixed used buildings, which are considered as a unit space, are needed to mention for 'publicity' that is a part of urban components as a wide spatial concept. In particular, mixed used buildings as multiply functioned facilities are needed a specific study for 'publicity' and 'urban plaza'. In general, the meaning of 'publicity' in a city seems to have started from 'agora', which is from ancient Greek. A plaza as an open space in a city was realized as a solution, which people have pursued in order to improve their psychological safety and deterioration of the physical environment. Furthermore, it was made by necessity that was able to gather people in a place and was an indicator space with culture, political, and social activity. Procuring a traffic space, which is increasing more in a city, is expressed based on declining plaza and maximizing land use, on the other hands, it indicatesthe importance of a way to vitalize social public space in urban life. In addition, urban and social modernization has caused proliferation and concentration of urban services and,as a result of it,it has caused population increase and architectural densification. In brief, open spaces and streets for pedestrians have decreased. Expansion of buildings, reduction of streets, and degeneration of urban plazas have started to diminish the space for public activity. This has connected to fall quality of its macro- environment and consciousness of sharing, and thus the quality of the city has fallen as a result. The urban plaza is an important component of urban open space and the space, which can improve social community. Thus, the objective of this study is to reconsider the concept 'publicity' in cities as a strategic space in order to vitalize the city. The study includes analyzing connectivity between urban plaza and architectural space and proposing design methods for a mixed use building which will improve interaction between urban context and the buildings., In conclusion, the study will be used to suggest a new solution for the urban design, which has had less connectivity by transportation and thoughtless development for the environment, in order to produce pleasant open space to enjoy public life for citizen focused on increasing practical use between people and their city's infrastructure with diverse function and psychological stability.

Drainage codes exist to provide appropriate and safe means of disposal of effluent from buildings. If it is seen that those codes may not be written in a way which leads to an assured appropriate outcome, then they need to be questioned. Accordingly, this thesis follows up on the author's concerns regarding the approach taken to the layout of drainage under today's building regulatory regime. Under the New Zealand Building Code any standards may be used or any approach may be taken to methods of building, drainage and plumbing, providing the approach used can be justified as complying with the non-prescriptive objectives and performance requirements of the Building Code. Under this approach drains are now being installed more often under buildings with their maintenance access points within the building. This situation, and the consequent likely emission of microbiological aerosols, are cause for concern: that is the airborne release of microscopic particles. The "Report of the Departmental Committee - Intercepting Traps in House Drains" of 1912 from the UK, parts of which are quoted in Section 7.0, reinforced these concerns of the author. But these concerns were not shared by many others who have a major influence on the form and shape of our buildings, and it was assumed that current code requirements may not have been based on any significant research. Based on a relatively widespread lack of knowledge, there was a scenario of doubt and denial as to whether or not there were shortcomings in current code requirements in New Zealand. This provided incentive for the research project within this thesis, on the basis that there may be encouragement for future code requirements to be based on even more research in order to confirm their validity. This thesis demonstrates that the ambiguity in existing approved methods of compliance with current building codes fails to adequately protect the populace from adverse potential health effects.
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abstract: This thesis focuses on the impacts of building regulations, in the form of building codes, on the development of an urban fabric. In particular, it investigates the role of building codes on a place that has an inherent sociocultural structure that manifests itself spatially. Using Kuwait City, a once traditional Islamic city, impacts of ‘international’ standards employed through master planning are explored at the neighborhood scale. Kuwait City serves as an ideal case study because of its historic Islamic and Arabic urban pattern that was derived from sociocultural customs, religious beliefs and terrestrial conditions. These influences resulted in a once cohesive city of a courtyard house typology, with narrow and shaded alleyways structured on longitudinal corridors of diverse land-uses promoting access and connectivity; however, the Minoprio, Spencely, and Macfarlane master plan of 1951 eradicated this close-knit urban fabric in favor of “modern” planning ideals which were loosely based on a fusion of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City and Clarence Perry’s Neighborhood Unit. The 1951 plan called for a tabula rasa and relocation of homes from the historic city center to newly formed ‘super-blocks’ and ‘neighborhood units’. Houses were built following strict building codes governing building heights, floor- area-ratio, and plot-line setbacks, along with other regulations. The Kuwait Building Code (KBC), introduced in 1955, is based on Western planning ideals that are far removed from the existing contextual complexities of Kuwait City. This thesis will unpack the KBC by virtually translating this canonical text into its parametric spatial envelope, proposing a framework to evaluate its impact on the performance of the urban environment. Using urban modeling and micro-climate simulation tools, the virtual build-up of the rules will allow for a quantifiable examination to evaluate the putative “efficiency” of a modernist building code that determines urban form, by considering multiple performance metrics. By objectively evaluating the role that the KBC plays in determining future urban quality, this research aims to make the case for building in enough space within the code to allow for a more diverse influence of performance indicators to promote a ‘resilient and sustainable’ built environment at the neighborhood level.
Dissertation/Thesis
Masters Thesis Urban and Environmental Planning 2016

The review of property-related literature pertaining to valuer behaviour, valuation bias and smoothing all indicate that there are many behavioural issues that may affect valuation outcomes. Evidence suggests that heuristics may be one explanation for such phenomena, but a growing literature suggests that the role of the client within the valuation should also be considered. The main aim of this study therefore is to construct a framework of client influence in order to achieve an in-depth understanding of the commercial valuation process and the role played by the client within this process. Previous research in the area of behavioural property research has been undertaken utilising a quantitative research approach, however by introducing a qualitative approach a richer and more in-depth understanding of the topic was achieved. The research question addressed in this study was established as "How do clients influence valuation outcomes?". Constructionism identified the underlying assumption about reality governing the research; based on the premise that different people construct meaning in different ways in relation to the same phenomena. The theoretical perspective was determined to be interpretivism which was guided by the study's goal of assessing the nature of reality for both valuers and clients regarding the valuation process. The research process consisted of four stages, the first being the literature review and the construction of a preliminary framework of client influence. The second stage incorporated one-to-one interviews with valuers and the compilation of an updated framework. Stage 3 consisted of one-to-one interviews with clients and the compilation of a revised framework; and Stage 4 collected feedback from a number of experienced valuers and sophisticated clients in order to enhance the trustworthiness of the findings. The framework of client influence highlights eight main factors with the potential to affect the type and amount of client influence and power over the valuation process. These are described as the type of client; external pressures; valuer traits; the type of client valuer relationship; the characteristics of the valuation firm; the valuation process; the purpose of the valuation and finally technical valuation. In addition to the formulation of a framework of client influence the results provide a comprehensive understanding of the valuation process and specifically the incentives, power and opportunities clients have to influence valuations. The results of the study suggest that there are a number of specific influences not previously documented in the property literature that appear to have the potential to affect valuation outcomes and the valuations that are ultimately reported to stakeholders. In particular the strong influence the client has over the whole valuation process was uncovered. The main findings of the research suggest that clients possess not only the incentives and the ability to influence valuation outcomes, but the valuation process itself is largely governed by the client and provides opportunities for them to exert their power over the valuer. This influence does not only exist within the formal valuation process, but informally before the valuation has been commissioned. The study concludes by identifying scholarly contributions and contributions to the property profession. These suggest that the knowledge gained from the research can assist the property profession in understanding the role of both client and valuer in the valuation process and the tension that may exist between valuer independence and customer satisfaction. This knowledge can be used to effectively educate both valuers and clients of their roles in the valuation process together with areas where a valuer may be potentially vulnerable to undue influence.

The thesis is a retrospective reporting and a critical examination of HyperSteel. This is a hypermedia application for architectural education intended to function as a learning bridge between structural knowledge-acquisition and intuitive use. It is one of many parallel developments in software design that have occurred around the world in the last decade (Mitchell 1995). Hypermedia is a set of procedures applied to computer aided learning that is based upon interactive software, typically Apple Computer's Hypercard©, and its successors. How can this medium with its strongly cinematographic characteristics best be used in the imaginative and intuitive processes of an architectural education? The term cinema - whether it means the discipline and industry of film making or whether it is the architecture of a place of entertainment - evokes diverse concepts and images. These include illusions of time and space, the sense of seeing more than one reality at the same time; and of existing at the intersection of art and technology. This thesis argues that these related concepts and images can be distilled from cinema and other established disciplines, and adapted into a common aesthetic for hypermedia. The thesis posits a chronotopic theory with respect to the computer-human interface, whose integral imaginative mechanism is the click-jump of the user interface device. Mikhail Bakhtin's chronotopic event is borrowed from literary theory to describe the progression and development of time and space as they intersect (Bakhtin 1937). It is argued that this moment of the man-machine coordinated action is the act which puts imaginative control of the learning process into the hands of the learner and thus becomes the central vehicle of knowledge delivery. The theoretical underpinning for this argument refers to depictions of architecture as a space-time experience used by historian Sigfried Giedion (1941). The perception of the intuition as tacit knowledge is developed from Michael Polanyi (1969), and the conclusions of cognitive psychologist Allan Paivio and others provide an educational principle of dual processing as a model for learning by hypermedia (Paivio 1986).The writings of Paul Ricoeur (1988) on the nature of a meaning for narrative which encompasses both time and space along one horizon in which the traveller - in this case the student architect - arrives at perceptive understanding in their learning The thesis is a retrospective reporting and a critical examination of HyperSteel. This is a hypermedia application for architectural education intended to function as a learning bridge between structural knowledge-acquisition and intuitive use. It is one of many parallel developments in software design that have occurred around the world in the last decade (Mitchell 1991). Hypermedia is a set of procedures applied to computer aided learning that is based upon interactive software, typically Apple Computer's Hypercard©, and its successors. How can this medium with its strongly cinematographic characteristics best be used in the imaginative and intuitive processes of an architectural education? The term cinema - whether it means the discipline and industry of film making or whether it is the architecture of a place of entertainment - evokes diverse concepts and images. These include illusions of time and space, the sense of seeing more than one reality at the same time; and of existing at the intersection of art and technology. This thesis argues that these related concepts and images can be distilled from cinema and other established disciplines, and adapted into a common aesthetic for hypermedia. The thesis posits a chronotopic theory with respect to the computer-human interface, whose integral imaginative mechanism is the click-jump of the user interface device. Mikhail Bakhtin's chronotopic event is borrowed from literary theory to describe the progression and development of time and space as they intersect (Bakhtin 1937). It is argued that this moment of the man-machine coordinated action is the act which puts imaginative control of the learning process into the hands of the learner and thus becomes the central vehicle of knowledge delivery. The theoretical underpinning for this argument refers to depictions of architecture as a space-time experience used by historian Sigfried Giedion (1941). The perception of the intuition as tacit knowledge is developed from Michael Polanyi (1969), and the conclusions of cognitive psychologist Allan Paivio and others provide an educational principle of dual processing as a model for learning by hypermedia (Paivio 1986).The writings of Paul Ricoeur (1988) on the nature of a meaning for narrative which encompasses both time and space along one horizon in which the traveller - in this case the student architect - arrives at perceptive understanding in their learning process, will also inform this theoretical perspective. The intention of the thesis is- to identify, and theorise digital chronotopicity as it functions in architecture education. My conclusion is that there is a role for the media practitioner and theorist in making interactive software tools effective in the context of computer technologies and architecture education.

This thesis explores the contention that planning is a moral activity concerned with the way in which people live in relation to nature or the environment. It suggests that planning is the moral framework by which communities and individuals confront their relationship with nature or the environment. It argues that certain disciplines such as town planning, resource management, environmental ethics, aspects of theology and of art are but isolated and narrowed aspects of a wider activity of planning. The rationale for embarking on such a discussion of planning relies in part on the observation that when modern planners take a more contemplative approach to their craft, they have often been perplexed about their frequent failure to deliver the good they assumed that planning set out to achieve. It is suggested that this intent to achieve good is inherent to planning and that it is a moral concern. Planning, under this analysis, is part of the wider realm of moral philosophy and decision-making - that is undertaken by all people. Planning extends beyond mere moral discourse to encompass a number of mechanisms that bind individuals and communities to the moral norms they have adopted. These mechanisms, one of which is the key institution of property rights, are also affected by ideas that change over time; they exist in a dynamic interrelationship with both planning discourse (debates about moral structures and norms) and planning codes (norms adopted by individuals and communities as standards for action). This thesis takes this broad interpretation of planning and considers it in relation to four periods in planning history. In doing so, a number of themes are identified in relation to the role of planners, the decision-making structures of planning and the nature of planning discourse. These themes are considered in relation to the way Maori planning systems have developed in New Zealand since European settlement. They are also considered in terms of whether it is possible to identify certain universal moral rules within planning and whether there are certain tasks that all planners must address.
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Over the last few decades, the world has witnessed rapid urbanisation. One of the many complex problems resulting from increased urbanisation is related to management of stormwater from developed areas. If stormwater is not managed properly, it may lead to flooding of urban areas, and deterioration of water quality in rivers and receiving waters. Urban drainage systems are used to manage urban stormwater. For design of effective and economic urban drainage systems, it is important to estimate the design flows accurately. Many computer based mathematical models have been developed to study catchment runoff (or flows) in urban environments. These models may be used in different stages of the projects such as screening, planning, design and operation. Each stage may require a different model, although some models can be used for several of these stages. A customer survey was conducted in May 1997 to study the current practice in Victoria (Australia) on stormwater drainage design and analysis, as part of this thesis. The survey was restricted to city/shire councils and consultants, who are engaged in design and analysis of urban drainage systems. The results of the survey showed that 95% of respondents used the Statistical Rational method. Also, it was revealed that most respondents were reluctant to use stormwater drainage computer models, since there were no adequate guidelines and information available to use them especially for ungauged catchments. According to 5% of the respondents, who used models, ILSAX was the most widely used stormwater drainage computer model in Victoria. The 1987 edition of the Australian Rainfall-Runoff (ARR87) suggests the ILSAX model as one of the computer models that can be used for stormwater drainage design and analysis. Due to these reasons, the ILSAX model was used in this study in an attempt to produce further guidance to users in development and calibration of ILSAX models of urban drainage systems. In order to use the ILSAX model, it is necessary to estimate the model parameters for catchments under consideration. The model parameters include loss model parameters (i.e. infiltration and depression storage parameters) and other parameters related to the catchment (such as percent imperviousness, soil cover and conveyance system parameters). Some of these parameters can be estimated from available maps and drawings of the catchment. The ideal method to determine these parameters (which cannot be reliably determined from available maps and drawings) is through calibration of these models using observed rainfall and runoff data. However, only few urban catchments are monitored for rainfall and runoff, and therefore calibration can be done only for these catchments. At present, there are no clear guidelines to estimate the model parameters for ungauged catchments where no rainfall-runoff data are available. In this PhD project, first the ILSAX model was calibrated for some gauged urban catchments. From the results of calibration of these catchments, regression equations were developed to estimate some model parameters for use in gauged and ungauged urban stormwater catchments. Before calibrating the ILSAX model for gauged catchments, a detailed study was conducted to; - select the most appropriate modelling option (out of many available in ILSAX) for modelling various urban drainage processes, - study the sensitivity of model parameters on simulated storm hydrographs, and - study the effect of catchment subdivision on storm hydrographs. This detailed study was conducted using two typical urban catchments (i.e. one 'small' and one 'large') in Melbourne metropolitan area (Victoria) considering four design storms of different average recurrence intervals (ARI). Three storms with ARI of 1, 10 and 100 years, and one with ARI greater than 100 years were considered in the study. The results obtained from this detailed study were subsequently used in model calibration of the study catchments. The results showed that the runoff volume of 'large' storm events was more sensitive to the antecedent moisture condition and the soil curve number (which determines soil infiltration) and less sensitive to the pervious and impervious area depression storages. However, for 'small' storm events, the runoff volume was sensitive to the impervious area depression storage. The peak discharge was sensitive to pipe roughness, pit choke factor, pit capacity parameters and gutter characteristics for both 'small' and 'large' storm events. The results also showed that the storm hydrograph was sensitive to the catchment subdivision. The accuracy of rainfall-runoff modelling can be adversely influenced by erroneous input data. Therefore, the selection of accurate input data is crucial for development of reliable and predictive models. In this research project, a number of data analysis techniques were used to select good quality data for model calibration. For calibration of model parameters, parameter optimisation was preferred to the trial and error visual comparison of observed and modelled output responses, due to subjectivity and time-consuming nature of the latter approach. It was also preferred in this study, since the model parameters obtained from calibration were used in the development of regional equations for use in gauged and ungauged catchments. Therefore, it was necessary to have a standard method which can be repeated, and produced the same result when the method is applied at different times for a catchment. An optimisation procedure was developed in this thesis, to estimate the model parameters of ILSAX. The procedure was designed to produce the 'best' set of model parameters that considered several storm events simultaneously. The PEST computer software program was used for the parameter optimisation. According to this procedure, the impervious area parameters can be obtained from frequent 'small' storm events, while the pervious area parameters can be obtained from less-frequent 'large' storm events. Twenty two urban catchments in the Melbourne metropolitan area (Victoria) were considered in the model parameter optimisation. Several 'small' and 'large' storm events were considered for each catchment. However, it was found during the analysis that the selected 'large' storm events did not produce any pervious area runoff, and therefore it was not possible to estimate the pervious area parameters for these catchments. The Giralang urban catchment in Canberra (Australia) was then selected to demonstrate the optimisation procedure for estimating both impervious and pervious area parameters, since data on 'small' and 'large' storm events were available for this catchment. The calibration results were verified using different sets of storm events, which were not used in the calibration, for all catchments. The optimised model parameters obtained for each catchment were able to produce hydrographs similar to the observed hydrographs, during verification. The impervious area parameters obtained from optimisation agreed well with the information obtained from other sources such as areal photographs, site visits and published literature. Similarly, the pervious area parameters obtained for the Giralang catchment agreed well with the values given in the published literature. If ILSAX is to be used for ungauged drainage systems for which no storm data are available, then the model parameters have to be estimated by some other means. One method is to estimate them through regional equations, if available. These regional equations generally relate the model parameters to measurable catchment properties. In this study, analyses were conducted to develop such regional equations for use in ungauged residential urban catchments in the Melbourne metropolitan area. The Melbourne metropolitan area was considered as one hydrologically homogeneous group, since the urban development is similar in the area. The equations were developed for the land-use parameters of directly connected impervious area percentage (DCIA) and supplementary area percentage (SA), and the directly connected impervious area depression storage (DSi). Several influential catchment parameters such as catchment area, catchment slope, distance from the Central Business District to the catchment and household density were considered as independent variables in these regional equations. A regional equation was developed for DCIA as a function of the household density. A similar equation was also developed to determine SA as a function of household density. DCIA was obtained from the model parameter optimisation using rainfall-runoff data (i.e. calibration), while SA and household density were obtained from the available drawings and field visits. These two equations showed a very good correlation with household density and therefore, DCIA and SA can be estimated accurately using these two equations. The city/shire councils generally have information on the household density in already developed urban areas and therefore, these two equations can be used to estimate DCIA and SA for these areas. For new catchments, these equations can be used to estimate DCIA and SA based on the proposed household density. The directly connected impervious area depression storage (DSi) is the only ILSAX model loss parameter that was obtained from the calibration, and this is the loss parameter that is more sensitive for 'small' storm events of the urban drainage catchments. A regional equation was attempted for this parameter by relating with the catchment slope, since the catchment slope was found to have some correlation with DSi according to past studies. However, the results in this study did not show a correlation between these two variables. Therefore, based on the results of this study, a range of 0 - 1 mm was recommended for DSi. Because of the recommended range for DSi, the sensitivity of DSi against DCIA was revisited and found that DSi was less sensitive compared to DCIA, in simulating the peak discharge and time to peak discharge for both 'small' and 'large' storm events. However, there is a little impact for runoff volume and hydrograph shape for 'small' storm events. Therefore, defining a range for DSi is justified for modelling purposes and the user can choose a suitable value within this range from engineering judgement.

Dual occupancy, the development of two dwellings on a single allotment, was initially formulated by the Victorian Ministry of Housing in the late 1970s as a housing policy. In the 1980s it became a planning issue and was then developed as a key plank of metropolitan planning policy by the (then) Ministry for Planning and Environment, resulting in specific controls being introduced into metropolitan planning schemes in 1985. By 1987 it had become a major mechanism for the implementation of the government's urban consolidation policy. This thesis traces the evolution of dual occupancy policy and discusses its impact on urban consolidation of metropolitan Melbourne. It explores three major questions: - How did dual occupancy become part of metropolitan planning policy? - What impact did dual occupancy have on housing and building options from its inception (1985/86 to 1991/92)? - Did dual occupancy contribute to increased growth rates in the established municipalities of the metropolitan area? This thesis involved the application of a number of different research methodologies, including interviews, analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data and some literature reviews. Interviews were conducted with several key people who were involved in formulation of dual occupancy policy. This enabled the policy to be put into its proper metropolitan context. A central element of the thesis involved a detailed analysis of Australian Bureau of Statistics census data for years 1985/86 through to 1991/92, including analysis of building approval statistics, population data, household size and household numbers for all municipalities within the designated metropolitan area of Melbourne. This allowed a number of trends to be established and observations to be made about the impact of dual occupancy developments on overall housing and population characteristics. The research represented in this thesis demonstrates that although dual occupancy was successful as a form of housing, it had little success as a contributor to urban consolidation. The data in this thesis shows that a large number of dual occupancies proportionate to other types of dwellings were built in the established and growth municipalities, but this form of development had a cost. Dual occupancy did not contribute to stabilising the population of established areas, nor did it contribute to reducing the rate of growth of developing (outer) municipalities.

The potential for prefabrication has been sidelined by the process of the design>build>do-it-yourself model of building, maintaining and updating houses in New Zealand. Working from an industrial design perspective this research charts the possibility of a shift in home construction from site building towards factory-manufacture. Mindful of New Zealand’s creative, do-it-yourself heritage and personal rituals of homemaking, this study explores domestic ritual and the iterative nature of amateur home alterations. Just as we have the right to alter our own body’s surfaces so too should the homeowner have the ability to alter the surfaces and services they own and with which they interact. Flanked by the design-to-manufacture model promoted by industrial design and the emphasis on inhabiting and rearranging the home from spatial design a hybrid notion of housing design and production is put forward. Suggesting a product that deals affordably with the home’s surfaces and services, within the customs of daily and seasonal acts of maintenance in the home, offers an area of prefabrication that seems attainable for New Zealand interior.

This study uses complexity theory to examine the space of the street. In a morpho-ecological city, process creates form just as form creates process. The process of movement is a critical form generator within the urban system. In this thesis, the urban system comprising streets/ car/pedestrian is examined. If this collection of urban modes of mobility is a complex system capable of selforganising behaviour, what effect does the ordering imposed by traffic engineering have on this system? I look at the driving body and the walking body as co-creating the city by their movement through urban space. I suggest that, through attention to the fragments of interactions enacted during these movements, we can, through design, allow for the emergence of selforganising behaviour. Urban shared streets, descendants of the ‘woonerf’, appear to function more efficiently than engineered streets, without the usual traffic ordering. The counterintuitive success of these streets implies a self-organising behaviour that is generated by the density of interaction between the inhabitants of the street. These designs potentially work as a change agent, a catalyst, operating within a complex system. This has the potential to move systems from one attractor state to another. A city built with these spaces becomes a city of enfilades; an open system of spaces that are adaptable to uses that fluctuate with time and avoid thickening the palimpsest of traffic engineering. I look at siting shared streets in Wellington, based on jaywalking, a transgressive use of the streetspace that prefigures a shared space, and changes to urban networks associated with such designs. Interaction within the city is a creative force with a structure. City design needs to consider and address this infrastructure and design for it. The infrastructure of interaction has been subsumed by the infrastructure of movement. Shared streets indicate there may not be a need for this – they can be integrated. The process of movement creates instances of interaction; therefore designing spaces of/for movement must be designed to enhance the infrastructure of interaction. The result of such interaction is not just somewhat better; it may be a phase change - catalytically better .

This thesis studies topology optimization method employing the homogenization method, with a focus on different microstructures and their effects on the topology optimization solutions. In the thesis, different microstructure models were investigated. The strengths and weaknesses of each type of microstructures were discussed. Homogenization method was employed to formulate the homogenized properties of the material. The optimality criteria and schemes of updating the design variables in the topology optimization process were derived for the newly developed microstructures and existing microstructures for which the information is not available in the literature. New microstructure models of one-material and bi-material were established. Based on these studies, a computer software package called Homogenization with Different Microstructures (HDM) incorporating fifteen existing and the new microstructure models was developed. By using the software, a series of problems were studied and solutions given by different microstructure models were compared.

Atelierworkshop is an innovative Wellington based architectural practice that has advanced into the area of off- site manufacture of container-based housing solutions. Their product, the Port-a-Bach (PAB) is moving into its second generation (PAB Gen-2). This product development initiative has resulted in a range of projects that have been undertaken to improve off-the-grid energy systems, water supply and storage, packaging, transportation and cost reduction. This particular project documents the design and development of an energy management and supply accessory product, called the Bach Pack. The Bach Pack seeks to create a viable product energy system solution, at reduced cost and environmental impact (compared with existing solutions) and to achieve this through the development of the usability aspects and features of the product system. The focus is on developing a quality experience for the end user with regards to the attachment and deployment of the components that make up the Bach Pack product. This accessory and modular product solution enables the PAB Gen-2 to be self-sufficient with regard to electrical energy and water supply, and can be specified at point of sale or added later if required. This document focuses explicitly on the design and development of the solar array segment of the Bach Pack.

This research project focused on the development of an appropriate interior design proposal for the Hulme F1 supercar. The Hulme F1 supercar, originally designed by Hulme Supercars Ltd, draws exterior design references from contemporary Formula One Grand Prix race cars. In addition, the Hulme F1 supercar integrated visual design cues expressing luxury, high-performance and exoticness. The existing design established the package, window openings, basic controls and door architecture for this study. Based on this material, the interior study focused on an overall aesthetic and its integration with ergonomic, technical and functional requirements. The conceptual nature of this project allowed for the inclusion of speculative and experimental design proposals that were not constrained by local contemporary manufacturing and economic issues. Consequently, the project based itself on a technological forecast of five to ten years. Research first explored and defined several key design motifs central to the Hulme F1 supercar. This involved studies into supercars, luxury, high-performance, exoticness, contemporary Formula One Grand Prix racing and the existing exterior form language. The results from this research established initial themes for development of the interior design proposal. A review of contemporary theory in visual product communication and experience was undertaken to identify an appropriate framework for this investigation. The research of Monö (1997), Norman (2004a) and Warell (2007) was reviewed. Review focused on two areas; a structure appropriate for defining design criteria and a comprehensive framework for visual analysis of exemplars to identify visual design trends. The Visual Product Experience (VPE) framework by Warell offered the most appropriate visual framework for this investigation. Using the VPE framework, a visual analysis of contemporary luxury motorcars, professional race cars and supercars was undertaken. Analysis focused on interior and interior/exterior related design trends. Findings illustrated that luxury motorcars have simple aesthetic compositions with frequent interior/exterior form element repetition. Conversely, professional race cars have complex aesthetic compositions with minimal interior/exterior form element repetition. Meanwhile, supercar interior aesthetics and appear to vary between these two spectrums depending on their overall aesthetic expression. To this end, the analysis illustrated the opposing visual qualities between luxury and high-performance. This suggested the interior design proposal required a delicate balance between complex and simple aesthetic elements to obtain an appropriate overall visual expression. Consequently, the interior design proposal used a combination of flowing soft surfaces and complex detailing to express luxury and high-performance. Research also established criteria for the design of interior functional systems required within the interior design proposal. Interior functional systems included control, body-support, display, storage and safety systems. The development process for the interior design proposal consisted of iterative design methods. This included concept generation, concept development and three-dimensional form studies. Throughout the development process, concepts were screened against design criteria in order to further direct the iterative process. Contemporary Formula One race car illustrated an abundance of visual inspiration for the interior design proposal during the development process. Elements such as exhaust and aerodynamic wing details were referenced within the interior design proposal. The intent of this was to create visual harmony between interior and exterior aesthetics. Research into ingress and egress found a conventionally fixed steering unit impeded participants. As a result, the final design proposed a steering unit that swung towards the centre of the interior for greater entry/exit space. The interior design proposal was assessed by internal and external ‘ design evaluation’ methods. Testing indicated that the interior design proposal had fulfilled most of the experience and performance design criteria and achieved the aim of this research. Overall, this investigation designed an interior design proposal to compliment the exterior design of the Hulme F1 supercar. The interior design proposal was supported by visual framework developed from this research investigation. In addition, the investigation proposed functional and ergonomic solutions to support the interior design proposal.

Can we design waste? This is a question I seek to answer through the research of design and systems. Waste is an ever evolving and growing issue in our world today. Buildings and the spaces we inhabit contribute to the vast destruction and increasing detriment to our natural world. There are many “remedies” in the construction industry that attempt to regulate building waste and inspire sustainability, but are merely ruses for a much deeper rooted problem than sustaining the way we live. Sustainability is not enough, it simply means we are doing less bad while still perpetuating the problem of waste. Design, architecture, and construction must go beyond this to eradicate the issue; producing “less” waste is not a solution, but a redefining of the essence in which we live is a mandate. This thesis seeks to explore the conundrum of waste through the lens of design. This thesis will study systems as a tool for waste remediation and regeneration. It will explore and scrutinize both building systems such as HVAC and energy efficiency as well as space making systems, scenario based, environmental, sociological, and economical systems, all which have an important and integral impact on design, our environment, and the human population. To answer the question, can we design waste, we must redefine our lives and the systems that propel us habitually in the ways we make, produce, work, eat, and live. Moving away from systems of simplicity to those of diversity and complexity. To do this we must re-examine new and existing systems from socioeconomic to the natural cycles of rain water and evaporation. We must re-define the way we live, on all levels, from how we live and what we use to what we actually need to survive happily and harmoniously with ourselves and our planet. The key – Design.

Cette thèse contribue à l'état actuel des connaissances sur la compatibilité des nouveaux bâtiments avec les environnements urbains historiques. Elle suit un mode de présentation classique: Introduction, Revue de Littérature, Méthodologie, Résultats, Discussion et Conclusion. Le problème étudié est le manque d'orientation pour intégrer les processus de développement et de sauvegarde dans les contextes établis. La littérature récente révèle que les règles de préservation, aussi appelées normes et lignes directrices, ne peuvent pas garantir une relation compatible entre une intervention et son milieu. La pensée contemporaine dans le domaine de la conservation et de la gestion du patrimoine invite donc l’exploration d'autres moyens pour lier la nouvelle architecture à l'ancienne. Ainsi, le présent projet de recherche explore une approche alternative aux règles de préservation en vue d’atteindre le but de nouveaux bâtiments compatibles et d’améliorer la prise de décision fondée sur les valeurs. Pour produire des résultats spécifiques et convaincants, un cas a été sélectionné. Celui-ci est une ville dans la région du Golfe Arabe : la Ville de Koweït. Le résultat principal est le développement d’une approche, mise en œuvre en posant des questions approfondies sur le lieu, la conception et la construction des nouveaux bâtiments. Les questions suggérées dans la thèse mettent l’accent sur les valeurs patrimoniales et les choix de conception afin de permettre un changement réfléchi au sein des environnements urbains historiques. Elles aident aussi à évaluer les nouvelles propositions de projets au cas par cas. Pour démontrer comment cette approche pourrait être présentée et utilisée par les requérants et les évaluateurs, un modèle théorique est proposé. Ce modèle a ensuite été discuté avec des professionnels locaux et internationaux qui ont identifié ses forces et ses limites. En conclusion, l’ensemble des résultats montre que la mise à disposition de règles et / ou de questions approfondies n’est pas une solution satisfaisante puisqu’il y a d'autres enjeux importants qui devraient être abordés: comment appliquer l'orientation efficacement une fois qu’elle a été créée, comment développer la compétence liée à la prise de décision fondée sur les valeurs et comment insérer la conservation du patrimoine dans la mentalité du gouvernement local et des communautés. Lorsque ces enjeux seront traités, le patrimoine pourra devenir partie intégrante du processus de planification, ce qui est le but ultime. Enfin, cinq axes de recherche sont recommandés pour poursuivre l’exploration des idées introduites dans cette étude.
This thesis contributes to the current state of knowledge on the compatibility of new buildings with historic urban environments. It follows a classic mode of presentation: Introduction, Literature Review, Methodology, Research Findings, Discussion and Conclusion. The problem under study is insufficient guidance to integrate the processes of development and safeguarding in established contexts. Recent literature reveals that preservation rules, also known as standards and design guidelines, cannot guarantee a compatible relationship between an intervention and its surroundings. Contemporary thinking in the field of heritage conservation and management, therefore, urges the exploration of other means for relating new architecture to old. Accordingly, the present research project explores an alternative approach to preservation rules with a view to achieving the goal of compatible new buildings and improving values-based decision-making. To generate specific and convincing results, a case study was selected. The latter is a city in the Arabian Gulf region: Kuwait City. The main research finding is the development of an approach, implemented by asking probing questions about the location, design and construction of new buildings. The questions suggested in the thesis put emphasis on heritage values and design options to enable thoughtful change in historic urban environments. They also help assess new project proposals on a case-by-case basis. To demonstrate how this approach might be presented to, and used by, applicants and evaluators, a theoretical model is proposed. This model was later discussed with local and international practitioners who identified its strengths and limitations. In conclusion, the overall research findings show that the provision of rules and/or probing questions is not a satisfactory solution because there are other important issues that must be addressed: how to effectively apply guidance once it has been created, how to develop the skill of values-based decision-making and how to embed heritage conservation in the mentality of local government and communities. When actions will be taken to deal with these issues, heritage could become a part of the planning process, which is the ultimate goal. Lastly, five research directions are recommended to further explore the ideas introduced in this study.
تساهم هذه الأطروحة في زيادة المعرفة المعاصرة بخصوص توافق المباني الجديدة مع المناطق المعمارية التراثية. إنها تتبع أسلوب النمط الكلاسيكي لعرض الأفكار: مقدمة، مراجعة الدراسات المعنية، جمع وتحليل المعلومات، نتائج، مناقشة، وخاتمة. فهي تتناول مشكلة نقص التوجيه لدمج عمليات التنمية والحماية في المناطق المعنية. الدراسات الأخيرة تشير إلى أن قوانين الحفاظ، المعروفة أيضا" بالمعايير والمبادئ التوجيهية للتصميم، لا تستطيع أن تضمن وجود علاقة توافق بين التدخل المعماري والمكان المحيط به. لذا التفكير المعاصر في مجال الحفاظ على التراث وإدارته يُشجع على إيجاد وسائل أخرى لربط العمارة الجديدة بالقديمة. وفقا" لذلك، مشروع البحث الحالي يبحث عن نهج بديل لقوانين الحفاظ بغاية تحقيق هدف التوافق المعماري وتحسين القرارات القائمة على القيم. للحصول على نتائج دقيقة ومقنعة، تم إختيار ودرس حالة وهي مدينة في منطقة الخليج العربي: مدينة الكويت. النتيجة الرئيسية للبحث هي تكوين نهج يمكن تطبيقه بطرح أسئلة إستفسارية عن موقع وتصميم وبناء المباني الجديدة. والأسئلة المقترحة في الأطروحة تركز على القيم التراثية وخيارات التصميم للحصول على تغيير مدروس في المناطق المعنية. كما أنها تساعد على تقييم مقترحات المشاريع الجديدة. لإظهار كيف يمكن أن يُقدم ويُستخدم هذا النهج من قبل المصممين والمقيمين، تم تكوين نموذج نظري . و قد نوقش هذا النموذج مع مهنيين محليين ودوليين حيث قاموا بتحديد نقاط قوته وقيوده. وتشيرالنتائج الإجمالية إلى أن توفير القوانين و/أو الأسئلة الإستفسارية ليس حلا" مرضيا" لأنه يوجد مسائل أخرى لابد من معالجتها: كيفية تطبيق التوجيه بشكل فعلي عندما يتم إنشاؤه، وكيفية تطوير مهارة أخذ القرارات القائمة على القيم، وكيفية إدخال المحافظة على التراث بعقلية الحكومة المحلية والمجتمع. عندما تعالج تلك المسائل يمكن للتراث أن يصبح جزءا" من عملية التخطيط. فهذا هو الهدف النهائي. وأخيرا"، يُنصح بأخذ خمس إتجاهات بحثية لمواصلة التحقق من الأفكار التي وردت في هذه الدراسة

‘Net Positive Water’ explores the capability of domestic architecture to combat the developing urban water problem. Urban intensification is contributing to the volatility of urban waters and the breakdown of the urban water cycle. Inhabitant water misuse and overconsumption is overwhelming aging municipal utilities, resulting in the decay of urban water quality. LEEDTM and The Living Building Challenge are recognized Green Building Guidelines prescribing sustainable site and building water standards. Case Studies of domestic Green Building projects will showcase water conservation to enable domestic water renewal. Net Zero Water Guidelines based on the Green Building Guidelines outline Potable and Non-Potable water use to achieve a sustainable volume of water demand at 70 litres per capita per day. Sustainable water practices are encouraged by utilizing domestic building systems to increase water value and water awareness. Time-of-Use and Choice-of-Use exposure for household water related tasks establish water savings through the use of best-performing water fixtures and appliances. Net Positive Water Guidelines will establish On-site and Building standards for sustainable harvesting and storage of water resources. Clean and Dirty water management will prescribe Passive design and Active mechanical processes to maintain best-available water quality in the urban domestic environment. Net Positive Water building typology will integrate urban inhabitation as a functional component of the urban water cycle to use, reuse, and renew water resources. The method will be tested using a Mid-rise Pilot project to deploy the necessary Passive and Active mechanisms to generate Net Positive Water quality through Net Zero Water sustainable water use. The pilot project is situated in Waterfront Toronto - The Lower Don Lands development to harness regional interests for water renewal and environmental revitalization.