1,721,115 research outputs found
Design and construction of three-dimensional lightweight timber grid structures explored through a mass-customised approach
No full textConceptualizing the use of system products and system deliveries in the building industry
No full textConceptualizing the use of system products and system deliveries in the building industry
No full text
Conceptualizing the use of system products and system deliveries in the building industry
No full textThis article describes the concepts system products and system deliveries based on the use of product modularization and product configuration. The concepts are outlined and discussed based on examples from both the construction industry and related industry. The description focuses partly on the product architecture and partly of the setup of the business processes by using e.g. Configure to Order processes and Engineer to Order processes. Furthermore the potential impacts from using system products and system deliveries are discussed based on the examples included
Enabling Mass Customization in Construction – Making the long tail work
No full textThe chapter discusses the development of construction management practices the past 50 years outlining the academic and practical context for the adoption of Mass Customization in Construction.Theoretically, the chapter builds on two fundamental insights: The Pareto principle and the Thomas theorem - a fundamental sociological principle. The Pareto principle is applied using the concept “The long tail”.Based on “the long tail” the three different production paradigms of Mass Production, Mass Customization, and Individual Customization are identified. It is argued that construction in the 1950s and 1960s was driven by a “Mass Production” paradigm that gradually from the beginning of the 1970s was replaced by an “Individual Customization” paradigm in which construction became a matter of tailoring unique buildings to each customer.It is identified how these two different paradigms have been driven by two partial articulated myths. In the 1960s buildings were viewed as standardized while they from the 1980s onwards have been viewed as unique.Based on the Thomas theorem it is argued that these myths have had a substantial impact on the way we build. Consequently, today’s predominant view of buildings – as unique – implies that: 1) the nature of the construction processes is chaotic, 2) the buildings are realized through onsite project work rather than through offsite production; and 3) project management is the fundamental management principle. The chapter further identifies how attempts to develop new construction practices like Lean implicitly reproduce this myth. The result is that construction research the past 25 years has been constructing the long tail in a way that hinders radical development of the construction industry. The chapter concludes that if we allow ourselves to view buildings as both unique but also as standardized we can create a new platform for developing the construction industry – a Mass Customization paradigm.<br/
Life Cycle Environmental Impact Assessment of Contemporary and Traditional Housing in Palestine
Full text linkResidential buildings consume a vast amount of energy throughout their whole-life cycles with the subsequent greenhouse gases (GHG) emitted in the atmosphere. This phenomenon will only be exacerbated by projected trends in excessive urbanisation and global population. It is therefore imperative to investigate and quantiatively evaluate the environmental impacts of housing in different regions and contexts in order to enable better and more informed decisions. This is even more urgent in cases where the possibility for urban development is limited or severely constrained. Palestine represents one such areas of the world, and this research focuses on a comparative life cycle assessment (LCA) of contemporary and traditional housing typologies in the region. Primary data has been collected to provide a reliable basis for the LCA, which has been carried out according to the existing international standards. In addition to energy demand and GHG emissions, additional environmental impact categories have been further evaluated to provide a more holistic sustainability analysis. Results – strengthened by an uncertainty analysis – show that environmental impacts, energy use, and global warming potential for contemporary houses are for the most much higher than those for traditional houses. This is mainly due to the high impact of concrete and steel, but further exacerbated by the low impact of limestone as a suitable building material for the region. The results presented in this article signpost an important starting point in investigating the real mitigation potential of specific materials (e.g., limestone and lime mortar) when employed at scale in specific regions of the world. Our findings can also contribute to developmental policies for the region, with an aim of reducing the anthropogenic pressure on the natural environment.</p
Double skin façade (DSF) technologies for UK office refurbishments: a systemic matchmaking practice
Full text linkPurposeThe purpose of this paper is to establish how UK offices and double skin façade (DSF) technologies can be best matched for refurbishment purposes.Design/methodology/approachThis research uses a mixed methodology including primary and secondary data collection, analysis and interpolation through document analysis, comprehensive critical literature review, and case study approach.FindingsIn total, 22 benchmarks have been developed to represent 75 per cent of the existing office stock in the UK. Through a comparison with 36 case studies of European buildings refurbished with DSFs, two benchmarks showed to be most suitable for a DSF refurbishment and most appropriate configurations for a successful DSF refurbishment have been identified. Findings have been also checked against a large sample of DSF buildings in the UK.Research limitations/implicationsThe benchmarks delivered in this study can be developed further into parametric models, where variations can be obtained by changing the parameters provided. A follow-up study can be designed to help define the exact share of existing stock represented by each benchmark and to foster research where a more typological or statistical approach might be intended.Practical implications– Findings from this research can be of practical use to academics and practitioners alike involved in research related to office refurbishments, DSFs, and the UK existing office stock. The design for this research can also be adapted to similar studies on its own or further developed to suit different contexts.Social implicationsImprovements to existing buildings can preserve established communities, with a clear social advantage.Originality/valueThis paper represents the first attempt to systemically shed light on how existing UK offices and DSF technologies can be best matched in refurbishments. The benchmarks developed, the DSF case studies, and guidelines for suitable DSF technologies in UK office refurbishments represent the original contribution of this research
On technology transfer
No full textThe first allusions of “Technology Transfer”, as it is aimed in this paper, may be traced back in the very early history of human beings in Palaeolithic Ages when they first started to learn from their surroundings. It has been changed during the history very diversely. Using different methods and tools, technology in general and technology transfer in particular has changed and become a subject of extensive debates during the recent years. Today, many organisations, universities and even governments have “Technology Transfer” departments or offices which devote extensive resources to finding the research results of the possible mercantile interests and developing overall strategies for how to take advantages of them. Focusing on architecture and building construction, this article will attempt to raise the issue from a general point of view. As the very main objective, to help to find out where we are at, considering the facilities and restrictions, this article will open the gates and draw an entire picture of the very recently emerging concept of “Technology Transfer”. Then to establish a basis for the issue to get started contemplatively and fundamentally, it will point at the clues and will leave the routes open for further studies. Thus aiming the fore-mentioned objectives, first of all, having a brief survey on the terms definition as a general view, this piece of writing, attempts to commit a very brief survey on possible methods of technology transfer. In this stage it will draw a perspective of the different concepts of “Technology Transfer” historically and geographically. Carrying them out into internal and external ones, subsequently, it will attempt to have a survey on the factors which are involved in the issue of “Technology Transfer” primarily in the “Synchronic” pattern of it. In this stage we will focus on the potentials it may provide, facilities and restrictions in its development process and requirements for it, both in the technology origins and its destinations. And finally, summarising the outcomes it will try to present some preliminaries for “Technology Transfer” internationally. Technology transfer, today, deeply depends on both the technology which is going to be transferred, in particular, and the technology of this transfer procedure itself, in general. The new methods which are being invented and applied in education and communication, on one hand, and complicated and sophisticated emerging approaches to manufacturing and production, on the other hand, make this reciprocal relationship inevitable. So what does “Technology Transfer” really mean? …‘Transfer’ means delivering something from one point to another one or as “Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English” suggests: “To move from one place to another; or to move something from one place to another…” This implicitly means that different bases of containing the content (technology) should exist for flowing it from one station to the other. In other words there should be a ‘source’ or ‘origin’ as a producer or holder with a higher level of technology and a ‘destination’ or ‘termination’ as a consumer or an in-need of technology; holding a lower level of it. “Technology” is application of knowledge and sciences to the practical aspects of life: “Technology may be defined as the systematic study of techniques for making and doing things. The term itself, a combination of the Greek techne, “art, craft,” with logos, “word, speech,” meant in Greece a discourse on the arts, both fine and applied. When it first appeared in English in the 17th century, it was used to mean a discussion of the applied arts only, and gradually these “arts” themselves came to be the object of designation…” (Encyclopaedia-Britannica 1985)… Later on, as explained before, concepts of “Technology Transfer” are going to be considered and then the problems and possibilities in this mainstream will be disputed. As a general conclusion, “Technology Transfer” is a very seminal necessity of our times and should be regarded very deeply as a subtle lifetime programme by developing countries. The issue cannot be prescribed as a blanket statement but needs to be contemplated and revised to get localized and fit the particular regional contexts, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and to suit the geopolitical and economical potentials of its source and its destination
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