Search

Shape grammars allow a designer to explore a diverse and broad design space. Especially among architects and engineers, the opportunity to evaluate numerous alternatives in the conceptual phase facilitates creativity. Since the introduction of shape grammars 50 years ago, significant research and development have been performed: new applications, combinations with optimisation and integration in digital environments, among others. Consequently, there is a need to map the existing literature to encourage further progress in the field and a lower threshold for those interested in learning more about shape grammars. This study, therefore, presents a systematic mapping of shape grammars in architecture and engineering. Mapping is performed by identifying a query of relevant keywords used in five databases, with the results forming the basis of the mapping. Each of the included articles is then screened to filter out those that do not fit the content criteria. The remaining publications are then evaluated and organised based on the attributes’ application, research type, implementation, engineering and optimisation. The outcome is organised in explanatory illustrations and tables. The final discussion highlights the extensive work performed with shape grammars in the generation of two-dimensional floor plans, an increase in digital development in recent years and the need for further research. The findings indicate a gap between the state of the art and the necessary level of applicability for shape grammars to be an attractive design tool, especially for non-experts.

As long-spanning timber floor elements attempt to achieve a meaningful market share, proof of serviceability continues to be a demanding task as international consensus remains unsettled. Initiatives to improve vibration levels are achievable, but a lack of confidence in the market is resulting in increases in margins for both manufacturers and contractors. State-of-the-art concrete alternatives are offered at less than half the price, and even though timber floors offer reduced completion costs and low carbon emissions, the market is continuously reserved. Cost reductions for timber floor elements to competitive levels must be pursued throughout the product details and in the stages of manufacturing. As new wood products are introduced to the market, solution space is increased to levels that demand computerized optimization models, which require accurate expenditure predictions. To meet this challenge, a method called item-driven activity-based consumption (IDABC) has been developed and presented in this study. The method establishes an accurate relationship between product specifications and overall resource consumption linked to finished manufactured products. In addition to production time, method outcomes include cost distributions, including labor costs, and carbon emissions for both accrued materials and production-line activities. A novel approach to resource estimation linked to assembly friendliness is also presented. IDABC has been applied to a timber component and assembly line operated by a major manufacturer in Norway and demonstrates good agreement with empirical data.

Long-span timber floor elements increase the adaptability of a building and they exhibit a significant market potential. High cost of the floor elements is a challenge, and the timber sector is under substantial pressure to find more economical solutions without weakening otherwise favourable environmental performance. The range of technical timber-based materials and components, structural typologies, overlays and ceiling systems represent an immense solution space when searching for a competitive design for a specific building application. Finding the optimum solution requires a computational procedure. In this study a recent development for the accounting of manufacturing resources for timber elements is utilized to build an optimization framework for cost and ECO2 minimisation of timber floor elements finalized at the factory gate. The design of the element is formulated as a discrete optimization problem which is solved by a mixed-integer sequential linearization procedure. Various material combinations and constraint combinations are treated. The optimization framework provides a tool for rapid design exploration that can be used in timber floor design situations. The results of the calculations carried out in this study provide insight on the general trends of optimum floor elements. The optimization model is used to analyse the characteristics of the optimum designs, and a comparison between the current and the proposed method for the second generation of Eurocode 5 is chosen as a vehicle for demonstrating achievable implications. publishedVersion

Long-span timber floor elements increase the flexibility of a building and exhibit a significant market potential. Timber floor elements are endeavouring to fulfil this potential, but building projects employing long-span timber floors have encountered drawbacks. High costs and vibration performance are challenging, and the timber industry is under substantial pressure to find attractive solutions for building components with otherwise favourable environmental features. Only a few existing studies have investigated serviceability sensitivity in relation to timber floor connections. Interconnections are inexpensive to produce and install and may offer a resource-efficient approach to improving serviceability performance. In the present study, the effect of interconnections is investigated in a full-scale structural test. Floor elements positioned in different configurations have been tested for static and dynamic performance using different types of interconnections. The observed effects of interconnection types vary according to the configuration and direction of mode shapes, and are assessed in terms of shift in frequency, damping and resonant energy. These can all be utilised in combination with observed differences in the deflection parameter. The present work demonstrates that connections between timber elements have significant effects on timber floor serviceability and may offer interesting solutions to improve the vibration performance of long-span timber floors. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Floods and stormwater events are the costliest natural catastrophes. Costs are expected to increase due to urbanization and climate change. Mitigation is needed. Different stakeholders with different motivations unfortunately often evaluate vulnerability by using fragmented and incomplete data sources. This paper intends to review the different approaches for collecting and analyzing data, and to evaluate their usefulness within the proposed framework for a “smart” use of data. The objectives of this work have been to review qualitatively and quantitatively a selection of Norwegian stormwater-related databases and to propose measures for improvement. The findings are seen according to the climate services literature and show that that data is spread around a heterogeneous community of stakeholders concerned with different motivations, different needs, and different levels of data processing. In general, the needs of the different stakeholders have not been surveyed and defined systematically enough and there is a substantial potential in upgrading from the delivery of passive raw data to the delivery of knowledge-driven decision-support tools. Keywords: Climate adaptation, Climate services, Databases, Stormwater management, Flooding damage databases

In the building sector, various adhesive materials are experiencing an increased usage for sealing of overlaps and joints between most commonly used building materials, around penetrations, pipes and windows for increasing the moisture tightness and the airtightness of buildings. Among the adhesive materials are adhesive tapes that are used to ensure adequate airtightness of a building and thus must be able to withstand severe environmental conditions without significant long-term deterioration. Durability test methods are needed to evaluate whether the tapes fulfill their performance requirements for the service life of the whole building. However, there is a lack of reliable test methods and evaluation procedures for tapes used for building applications. This study was performed to evaluate tape durability testing and evaluation methods, which hence form a basis for further improvements of the existing methods.

Mould growth is a biodeterioration phenomenon that jeopardizes the integrity, functionality and durability of building envelopes. The performance to withstand biodeterioration depends on the critical hygrothermal conditions inside the envelope. These conditions are subject to the configuration of building envelopes, and climate exposure, accounting for both the outdoor weather and indoor environments‘ conditions. These critical conditions are likely to intensify in response to the changing climate, and hence, modification and adaptation of the envelopes‘ configuration will be required. An understanding of the implications of envelope configurations‘ choices is required to set up guidelines for forthcoming building envelope design. Parametric analyses are a potent source of insight to investigate how the input parameters influence the desired outcome. In light of this, a parametric analysis is carried out to investigate the performance of three building envelopes to withstand mould growth. The impact of climate change in the performance evaluation is accounted for by employing both historic and future climate change scenarios in which the global climate temperature change is forecast to be 3.5º C. Input parameters related to the simulation of mould growth are also investigated. Recommendations to current building envelope design guidelines are drawn for the performance evaluation to withstand mould growth

The present study has investigated to what extent additive manufacturing technologies can be successfully applied to the construction of large-scale structures. The central concept of additive construction was defined, and a systematic mapping study was performed in order to assemble relevant publications selected according to a well-defined set of criteria. Knowledge gathered from the relevant publications was organised into four main categories: material science, engineering, building design and market analysis. The lack of focus of material science research towards the characterisation and potential improvement of construction-related material properties has been emphasised. The evolution of technological solutions to deposit the construction materials from gantry solutions to more lightweight systems has been described. The governing parameters for deciding on the most appropriate solutions have been identified as the type of building component, the location for production, and the assembly technique. Benefits of additive construction for building design were shown to mostly address the perspective of end-users, but should instead be understood as the emergence of new opportunities and new constraints that will necessitate a greater degree of rational decision-making in the design phase. The relevant markets for additive construction were shown to be closely related to the inherent specificities of the project in question. This implies that additive construction can be successfully applied in connection with general housing projects only if housing in general changes to become more optimised and more individualised. It was concluded that additive construction has the potential to revolutionise the construction industry, its success depending on how the whole building industry is ready to tackle three challenges: the need for an architectural paradigm shift, the need for a holistic design process, and the need for rational designs. A list of suggestions for further research is provided, among them the development of tools for assessing the disruptive potential of additive construction in an objective and scientific way.

This study employs a systematic literature review to investigate how insurance data can be applied in the analysis of Surface Water Flood events. The study firstly identifies the variables expressing insurance data and those explaining them, together with their interrelationships. Damage variables may be expressed as either monetary-based or number of claims-based. Explaining variables may be subdivided into four categories: meteorological, geographic, demographic and property/building-based. Most of the common and under-researched combinations of these variables and their expression are discussed. Secondly, a comparative analysis is presented of current models, highlighting their differences and similarities. The study demonstrates that the scope and approach of the models varies in relation to scale, the coverage and period of incorporated insurance claims, and the methods used for model development and validation. Thirdly, the study proposes a generic and adaptable framework, constructed from an aggregation of information contained in relevant literature, to define a workflow for model development and future deployment. The study concludes with a discussion of the challenges facing model development and opportunities for deployment.

Purpose Additive manufacturing (AM) and building information modelling (BIM) are emerging trends for which it has been claimed that both increase both efficiency and productivity in the construction industry. This study aims to synthesise and aggregate the literature addressing BIM integration in the AM of concrete structures and to exploit the joint value creation potential. Design/methodology/approach This study firstly applies a mixed-review method to achieve mutual corroboration and interdependency between quantitative and qualitative research approaches. Bibliometric mapping is applied to identify, map and synthesise the relevant literature. Scoping review is used to examine the extent, gap, range and nature of the research activity. Afterward, a cross-situational analysis, the threats, opportunities, weaknesses and strengths2 matrix, is proposed and applied to exploit the joint value creation potential of different aspects of AM and BIM. Findings The study reveals a substantial interest in this field. However, progress in terms of integration is slow compared to the rapid development in interest in the two trends individually. The literature discusses or conceptualises such integration at building-scale, while prototyping or proof-of-concept processes are only rarely used. The study identified 12 joint value creation potentials through the integration of BIM in AM for concrete structures, which can create value by enabling more optimised designs, automated construction processes and data analytics that can apply throughout the building life-cycle process. Originality/value The advancements of BIM integration in the AM of concrete structures are analysed and joint value creation potentials are proposed. The study proposes a cross-situation analysis that can be applied to structure joint value creation potentials from the multi-dimensional integration of different factors and topics, especially for emerging technologies.

The building industry is responsible for approximately 40% of energy consumption and 36% of greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union (EU). The most efficient way of reducing a building&rsquo, s environmental impact is addressing it in the design stage. Here, design freedom is the greatest, but uncertainty is high and there is a nearly limitless number of design options. Based on experiences with zero emission buildings (ZEB) and zero emission neighbourhoods (ZEN), a mapping review has been conducted to analyse how parametric life cycle assessment (LCA) and algorithms have been used to address neighbourhoods, buildings, and construction materials. Results have identified a general gap of knowledge regarding the use of parametric LCA models for decision-support purposes, demonstrated by the substantial focus on analytical methods compared to procedural methods. Implications for the evolution from ZEB to ZEN are twofold: (i) an integrated approach with multiple tools and methods is required, and (ii) further development of algorithms in the tool are needed to address complexity, sensitivity, and uncertainty. This study is expected to foster the development of algorithmic approaches to improve the ZEB tool as a decision-support tool. Further research should address the key questions of when and how.

The increased use of multi-storey timber buildings can potentially create a significant reduction on the life cycle environmental impact of a building. However, with an increasing height of timber buildings the challenge is to maintain the same expected performance independent of the height; tall buildings are particularly exposed to high wind pressures combined with wind-driven rain. Additionally, tall buildings require longer construction times in which the structural elements are especially exposed to moisture. Furthermore, inspection, maintenance and repair possibilities are limited compared to low-rise buildings. This work develops a parametric life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology to evaluate the consequences (greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) caused by a potential moisture damage of a failure event (considered as the mould and decay growth) in typical ventilated timber wall constructions from four countries: Germany (DE), France (FR), Norway (NO) and Sweden (SE). The environmental performance is evaluated throughout the life cycle of the wall construction in accordance with the modular system of life cycle stages as defined in EN 15978. Global warming potential (GWP) is used as a proxy for environmental impact. Product specific average environmental product declaration (EPD) is used as a main data source in GHG emission calculation. Three parameters; i) number of windows, ii) extent of damage around the window area and iii) the number of damaged layers; are used to evaluate the potential risk of GHG emission from moisture damage around window connections. A probabilistic-based design methodology is also applied to assess the mould and decay occurrence. The total GHG emission results from different scenarios considered in this study and the magnitude of environmental impact related to probabilistic damage are presented. The results show that GHG emissions increase with increase of the number of windows, the damaged area and the increase in the number of replaced layers. This is due to the additional GHG emissions from the materials used to replace the damaged layers. The probability of failure is sensitive to the defined unacceptable level of mould growth. This affects the risk assessment, where the perturbation derived from the different probabilities of failure for different layers are observed at the corresponding replacement interval. The results also show that the parametric results are sensitive to the variables used to estimate the area of replacement, the number of windows, the number of damaged layers and the considered failure event. This study can be used to evaluate and minimize the potential GHG emission of possible moisture damages scenarios on building envelopes. Furthermore, it can enable to consider various improvement measures that reduce the risk, resulting in a robust construction with good function, longer service life and lower embodied emissions during the building's life time. The study also highlights the need for further analysis of the assumptions and background data used when developing the parametric tool.

Predicting mould growth on facade constructions during design is important for preventing financial loss, and ensuring a healthy and comfortable indoor environment. Uncertainties in predicting mould growth are related to the representation of the biological phenomenon, the climate exposure and the material uncertainties. This paper proposes a probabilistic-based methodology that assesses the performance of facade constructions against mould growth and accounts for the aforementioned uncertainties. A comprehensive representation of mould growth is ensured by integrating several mould models in a combined outcome. This approach enables a more comprehensible and useful illustration between continuous mould growth intensities and their corresponding likelihoods. The outdoor climate exposure is represented by stochastic models derived by real time-series analysis according to autoregressive–moving-average models. The methodology is applied to investigate the influence of several parameters and the performance of several construction assemblies. This paper proposes a method to evaluate the facade performance that can facilitate reliability-based design and optimisation of facade construction.

Up to now, the performance-based concept has been very rarely extended from engineering phase to other phases within the building process. To achieve more sustainable and more intelligent constructions, the construction industry needs decision support systems that integrate a selection of processes, constraints, time span, and performance criteria that are relevant to all involved stakeholders. This paper intends to demonstrate a design methodology that solves these challenges, and provides several frameworks for decision support systems deemed relevant to the construction industry. Examples of current applications are provided, together with a discussion on future opportunities. The possible synergy with new technologies is emphasized.

This paper systematically reviews mould models that are applicable to wood-based materials. Both similarities and differences are observed with respect to governing factors and their interrelations, methodology, experimental set-ups, substrate and extensiveness, and how the result is communicated. Therefore, a generic framework, representing the general computation procedure of all models, is developed considering the factors that govern mould behaviour. This framework, adapted to each model, is used to structure, evaluate and compare current models. This outline supplemented with a comparison table, revealing the models’ extensiveness and differences, establishes a basis to ensure better adequate application of the selected mould model for the case at handd © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)

This paper applies a probabilistic-based approach as a methodology to analyze and compare the mould growth computations’ results from three different mould models. This approach, instead of the conventional deterministic ones, offers the advantage of accounting for uncertainties concerning prediction of mould growth. The results are able to demonstrate more realistic and conclusive outcomes that can be applicable to real-life situations. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

The aim of this study is to conduct a multi-objective parametric study by simultaneously analysing the thermal and structural performance of a wood-frame window. The finite element simulation program COMSOL is used to carry out the thermal and structural analysis. A global sensitivity analysis is performed to screen and rank the dominant parameters. Afterwards, a parametric analysis is performed by varying the dominant parameters. The results demonstrate that the performance of the frame configuration of the wooden window can be improved from the nominal configuration. The results suggest that the methodology can be further improved by conducting form-finding and typology-based optimization studies while accounting further for the impact of the window on the energy use for heating in buildings.