Matching Items (10)
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- All Subjects: Architecture
- Creators: School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning
- Creators: Reddy, T Agami
- Member of: Theses and Dissertations
- Status: Published
Description
The ability to design high performance buildings has acquired great importance in recent years due to numerous federal, societal and environmental initiatives. However, this endeavor is much more demanding in terms of designer expertise and time. It requires a whole new level of synergy between automated performance prediction with the human capabilities to perceive, evaluate and ultimately select a suitable solution. While performance prediction can be highly automated through the use of computers, performance evaluation cannot, unless it is with respect to a single criterion. The need to address multi-criteria requirements makes it more valuable for a designer to know the "latitude" or "degrees of freedom" he has in changing certain design variables while achieving preset criteria such as energy performance, life cycle cost, environmental impacts etc. This requirement can be met by a decision support framework based on near-optimal "satisficing" as opposed to purely optimal decision making techniques. Currently, such a comprehensive design framework is lacking, which is the basis for undertaking this research. The primary objective of this research is to facilitate a complementary relationship between designers and computers for Multi-Criterion Decision Making (MCDM) during high performance building design. It is based on the application of Monte Carlo approaches to create a database of solutions using deterministic whole building energy simulations, along with data mining methods to rank variable importance and reduce the multi-dimensionality of the problem. A novel interactive visualization approach is then proposed which uses regression based models to create dynamic interplays of how varying these important variables affect the multiple criteria, while providing a visual range or band of variation of the different design parameters. The MCDM process has been incorporated into an alternative methodology for high performance building design referred to as Visual Analytics based Decision Support Methodology [VADSM]. VADSM is envisioned to be most useful during the conceptual and early design performance modeling stages by providing a set of potential solutions that can be analyzed further for final design selection. The proposed methodology can be used for new building design synthesis as well as evaluation of retrofits and operational deficiencies in existing buildings.
ContributorsDutta, Ranojoy (Author) / Reddy, T Agami (Thesis advisor) / Runger, George C. (Committee member) / Addison, Marlin S. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Passive cooling techniques, specifically passive downdraft cooling (PDC), have proven to be a solution that can address issues associated with air conditioning (AC). Globally, over 100 buildings have integrated PDC in its different forms, most of which use direct evaporative cooling. Even though all surveyed buildings were energy efficient and cost-effective and most surveyed buildings were thermally comfortable, application of PDC remains limited. This study aims to advance performance of the single stage passive downdraft evaporative cooling tower (PDECT), and expand its applicability beyond the hot dry conditions where it is typically used, by designing and testing a multi-stage passive and hybrid downdraft cooling tower (PHDCT). Experimental evaluation on half-scale prototypes of these towers was conducted in Tempe, Arizona, during the hot dry and hot humid days of Summer, 2017. Ambient air dry-bulb temperatures ranged between 73.0°F with 82.9 percent coincident relative humidity, and 123.4°F with 7.8 percent coincident relative humidity. Cooling systems in both towers were operated simultaneously to evaluate performance under identical conditions.
Results indicated that the hybrid tower outperformed the single stage tower under all ambient conditions and that towers site water consumption was at least 2 times lower than source water required by electric powered AC. Under hot dry conditions, the single stage tower produced average temperature drops of 35°F (5°F higher than what was reported in the literature), average air velocities of 200 fpm, and average cooling capacities of 4 tons. Furthermore, the hybrid tower produced average temperature drops of 45°F (50°F in certain operation modes), average air velocities of 160 fpm, and average cooling capacities exceeding 4 tons. Under hot humid conditions, temperature drops from the single stage tower were limited to the ambient air wet-bulb temperatures whereas drops continued beyond the wet-bulb in the hybrid tower, resulting in 60 percent decline in the former’s cooling capacity while maintaining the capacity of the latter. The outcomes from this study will act as an incentive for designers to consider incorporating PDC into their designs as a viable replacement/supplement to AC; thus, reducing the impact of the built environment on the natural environment.
Results indicated that the hybrid tower outperformed the single stage tower under all ambient conditions and that towers site water consumption was at least 2 times lower than source water required by electric powered AC. Under hot dry conditions, the single stage tower produced average temperature drops of 35°F (5°F higher than what was reported in the literature), average air velocities of 200 fpm, and average cooling capacities of 4 tons. Furthermore, the hybrid tower produced average temperature drops of 45°F (50°F in certain operation modes), average air velocities of 160 fpm, and average cooling capacities exceeding 4 tons. Under hot humid conditions, temperature drops from the single stage tower were limited to the ambient air wet-bulb temperatures whereas drops continued beyond the wet-bulb in the hybrid tower, resulting in 60 percent decline in the former’s cooling capacity while maintaining the capacity of the latter. The outcomes from this study will act as an incentive for designers to consider incorporating PDC into their designs as a viable replacement/supplement to AC; thus, reducing the impact of the built environment on the natural environment.
ContributorsAl-Hassawi, Omar Dhia Sadulah (Author) / Bryan, Harvey (Thesis advisor) / Reddy, T Agami (Committee member) / Chalfoun, Nader (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Food’s implication on culture and agriculture challenges agriculture’s identity in the age of the city. As architect and author Carolyn Steel explained, “we live in a world shaped by food, and if we realize that, we can use food as a powerful tool — a conceptual tool, design tool, to shape the world differently. It triggers a new way of thinking about the problem, recognizing that food is not a commodity; it is life, it is culture, it’s us. It’s how we evolved.” If the passage of food culture is dependent upon the capacity for learning and transmitting knowledge to succeeding generations, the learning environments should reflect this tenability in its systematic and architectural approach.
Through an investigation of agriculture and cuisine and its consequential influence on culture, education, and design, the following project intends to reconceptualize the learning environment in order facilitate place-based practices. Challenging our cognitive dissonant relationship with food, the design proposal establishes a food identity through an imposition of urban agriculture and culinary design onto the school environment. Working in conjunction with the New American University’s mission, the design serves as a didactic medium between food, education, and architecture in designing the way we eat.
Through an investigation of agriculture and cuisine and its consequential influence on culture, education, and design, the following project intends to reconceptualize the learning environment in order facilitate place-based practices. Challenging our cognitive dissonant relationship with food, the design proposal establishes a food identity through an imposition of urban agriculture and culinary design onto the school environment. Working in conjunction with the New American University’s mission, the design serves as a didactic medium between food, education, and architecture in designing the way we eat.
ContributorsBone, Nicole (Author) / Rocchi, Elena (Thesis director) / Hejduk, Renata (Committee member) / Robert, Moric (Committee member) / The Design School (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Defines the concept of the arcology as conceived by architect Paolo Soleri. Arcology combines "architecture" and "ecology" and explores a visionary notion of a self-contained urban community that has agricultural, commercial, and residential facilities under one roof. Two real-world examples of these projects are explored: Arcosanti, AZ and Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, UAE. Key aspects of the arcology that could be applied to an existing urban fabric are identified, such as urban design fostering social interaction, reduction of automobile dependency, and a development pattern that combats sprawl. Through interviews with local representatives, a holistic approach to applying arcology concepts to the Phoenix Metro Area is devised.
ContributorsSpencer, Sarah Anne (Author) / Manuel-Navarrete, David (Thesis director) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Sustainability (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Spatial-Temporal Analysis of Barrett Freshmen 2007-2012: Source Area Analysis and Poisson Regression
Description
In order to help enhance admissions and recruiting efforts, this longitudinal study analyzed the geographic distribution of matriculated Barrett freshmen from 2007-2012 and sought to explore hot and cold spot locations of Barrett enrollment numbers using geographic information science (GIS) methods. One strategy involved   weighted mean center and standard distance analyses for each year of data for non-resident (out-of-state) freshmen home zip codes. Another strategy, a Poisson regression model, revealed recruitment "hot and cold spots" across the U.S. to project the expected counts of Barrett freshmen by zip code. This projected count served as a comparison for the actual admissions data, where zip codes with over and under predictions represented cold and hot spots, respectively. The mean center analysis revealed a westward shift from 2007 to 2012 with similar distance dispersions. The Poisson model projected zero-student zip codes with 99.2% accuracy and non-zero zip codes with 73.8% accuracy. Norwalk, CA (90650) and New York, NY (10021) represented the top out-of-state cold spot zip codes, while the model indicated that Chandler, AZ (85249) and Queen Creek, AZ (85242) had the most in-state potential for recruitment. The model indicated that more students have come from Albuquerque, NM (87122) and Aurora, CO (80015) than anticipated, while Phoenix, AZ (85048) and Tempe, AZ (85284) represent in-state locations with higher correlations between the variables included, especially regarding distance decay, and the than expected numbers of freshmen. The regression also indicated the existence of strong likelihood of attracting Barrett students.
ContributorsKostanick, Megan Elizabeth (Author) / Rey, Sergio (Thesis director) / Dorn, Ron (Committee member) / Koschinsky, Julia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability that impacts one’s social interaction, communication skills (both verbal and non-verbal), and cognitive function. Autism affects 1 in 60 children. Individuals with autism have trouble understanding facial expressions or social cues, and often see the world around them differently than a neurotypical individual (mainly increased sensitivity to sounds, motion, or lighting). As the name implies, autism is a spectrum, and no two individuals are alike. As the saying goes, “When you’ve met one person with autism, you’ve met one person with autism.” Movies such as Rain Man (1988) or The Accountant (2016) showcase autistic individuals who are higher-functioning; they are able to verbally communicate and live somewhat independently. Other autistic individuals, such as my brother, Tyler, are lower-functioning. Tyler is non-verbal and unable to be independent, and our day-to-day life is greatly shaped by this.<br/><br/>One thought that haunts the parents of autistic individuals is, “What happens when they’re older?” Even more scary is the question “What will happen when I’m gone?” My brother is on the autism spectrum, and my mother describes these thoughts as ones that “keep [her] up at night.” She explains, “I think it’s important for him to be completely engaged and productive, and we have that right now because we’re in our little safety bubble...that’s going to end...and it’s kind of scary.” Around 50,000 children with autism turn 18 every year in the United States, and nearly 90% of autistic individuals lose access to the services they have relied on throughout their entire lives. My hope is that architecture can help to answer this question by providing a place for adults on the autism spectrum to learn how to eventually live and work independently in the future. By implementing certain design features and design criteria to minimize the sensory overload issues commonly experienced by individuals with autism, we can create a safe space for learning for young adults on the autism spectrum.
ContributorsSobelman, Jacob Evan (Author) / Zingoni, Milagros (Thesis director) / Hejduk, Renata (Committee member) / Patel, Tina (Committee member) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The dynamic between the center and periphery urban settings in El Salvador shows that the periphery lacks resources, while the center has an abundance. The resource differences can be seen in areas such as technology, education, and safety. The phenomenon of gender inequality is also ever-present; making it difficult for female youth in rural El Salvador to pursue a future outside of their communities. By identifying this social issue in El Salvador, Muchas Mas, a non-profit organization has created a hub for the rural female youth to get educational resources in the country’s capital of San Salvador. In coalition with Muchás Mas, the intent of this creative thesis project is to explore ways in which a social issue can affect the architectural design process. With the hope of exposing new conclusions about the design process, the goal is to show how architecture can work to improve a social issue.
ContributorsVelasquez, Kenneth (Author) / Mesa, Felipe (Thesis director) / Goodman, Glen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / The Design School (Contributor)
Created2022-05
Description
The rapid rate of urbanization coupled with continued population growth and anthropogenic activities has resulted in a myriad of urban climate related impacts across different cities around the world. Hot-arid cities are more vulnerable to induced urban heat effects due to the intense solar radiation during most of the year, leading to increased ambient air temperature and outdoor/indoor discomfort in Phoenix, Arizona. With the fast growth of the capital city of Arizona, the automobile-dependent planning of the city contributed negatively to the outdoor thermal comfort and to the people's daily social lives. One of the biggest challenges for hot-arid cities is to mitigate against the induced urban heat increase and improve the outdoor thermal. The objective of this study is to propose a pragmatic and useful framework that would improve the outdoor thermal comfort, by being able to evaluate and select minimally invasive urban heat mitigation strategies that could be applied to the existing urban settings in the hot-arid area of Phoenix. The study started with an evaluation of existing microclimate conditions by means of multiple field observations cross a North-South oriented urban block of buildings within Arizona State University’s Downtown campus in Phoenix. The collected data was evaluated and analyzed for a better understanding of the different local climates within the study area, then used to evaluate and partially validate a computational fluid dynamics model, ENVI-Met. Furthermore, three mitigation strategies were analyzed to the Urban Canopy Layer (UCL) level, an increase in the fraction of permeable materials in the ground surface, adding different configurations of high/low Leaf Area Density (LAD) trees, and replacing the trees configurations with fabric shading. All the strategies were compared and analyzed to determine the most impactful and effective mitigation strategies. The evaluated strategies have shown a substantial cooling effect from the High LAD trees scenarios. Also, the fabric shading strategies have shown a higher cooling effect than the Low LAD trees. Integrating the trees scenarios with the fabric shading had close cooling effect results in the High LAD trees scenarios. Finally, how to integrate these successful strategies into practical situations was addressed.
ContributorsAldakheelallah, Abdullah (Author) / Reddy, T Agami (Thesis advisor) / Middel, Ariane (Committee member) / Coseo, Paul (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020
Description
Building-integrated carbon-capture (BICC) is an envisioned mechanism capable of absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2) from the air to be stored and then converted into useful carbon-based materials without negatively impacting the environment. This dissertation builds on the authors' previous work, in which building façades were treated as artificial leaves capable of providing shade to lower solar heat gain, while simultaneously capturing CO2 through the air filters attached to the building façades by attempting a different approach capable of capturing CO2 within buildings. This dissertation presents the author’s work on BICC, where buildings are envisioned as CO2 reservoirs or vacuums, into which mechanical systems introduce fresh air, and through human activities, the air within the building becomes enriched with CO2 before being pushed out back to the outer environment. The design of a carbon-capture mechanism will take advantage of the ventilation side of existing HVAC systems, through which BICC captures CO2 from the exhaust-enriched CO2 air. BICC will utilize existing opportunities and components within buildings represented in the high CO2 concentration in buildings, ventilation guidelines, mechanical equipment represented in air handling unit and air duct network, in addition to natural gas grid connectivity. BICC will capture CO2 through buildings' mechanical system, and the captured CO2 would then be converted into renewable methane to be injected into the existing natural gas pipeline network. This dissertation will investigate the potential of BICC to offset carbon emissions from multiple commercial building types and will present a utilization strategy for the captured carbon.
ContributorsBen Salamah, Fahad (Author) / Bryan, Harvey (Thesis advisor) / Lackner, Klaus (Committee member) / Reddy, T Agami (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021
Description
As existing typologies and precedents that integrate music into architectural form don’t pay careful consideration to the composer’s intent and technique of the score into built structure and its program, the goal is propose a new architecture that integrates the site, program, and acoustics. Scenes from Childhood (Kinderszenen), composed by Robert Schumann, depict memories, dreams, hopes, candor, and games- all lost in paradise. Schumann composed the piece as an adult, reminiscing of his childhood. The rising 6th with a four-note falling figure is the main motif. The motif opens the 1st movement, reappears in the 2nd, 4th, and 11th, and is transposed in the 6th, 7th, and 9th. This motif and the implications of each movement, as well as the piece as a whole, became the organizing principle in defining form, program, and experience: a public park wedged between two elementary schools in a low-income neighborhood in Los Angeles, California. The proposal aims to integrate the lack of the two institutions’ music programs into the experience of the 13 pavilions that reflect the 13 movements in Schumann’s piece. The manifestation of the final project was just as important as the process; the program is developed through the score, and the architectural is supported by the musical curriculum as well as Schumann’s intent.
ContributorsKim, Cecile (Author) / Vekstein, Claudio (Thesis director) / Mclean, Elizabeth (Committee member) / The Design School (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05