Extracting data out of AutoCAD through Excel, recreating polygons based on imported curves, and then modeling from these polygons is an efficient and easy-to-understand method to convert AutoCAD elements to Revit. Due to the different element-specific conditions, eg. modeling columns and rooms from imported curves are two different mechanisms, each scenario shall be categorized and... Read more »
This Innovation Incubator focuses on the role of Thermal Bridging in the performance of the building envelope and its mitigation through good detailing. The trend towards performance-based standards means an increased focus on the building envelope. This in turn places an increased focus on the effects of thermal bridging in the performance of the building... Read more »
This project proposed to develop the next generation of net carbon negative, low embodied energy wood composite structural elements. The interest in mass timber construction is what brought a resource librarian and two project designers together to work on this project. During the first phase, the project team created composite fibers composed of a bio-based... Read more »
Our Water is a policy and design advocacy process for projecting green infrastructure performance for large scale projects, in order to prevent localized flooding, using GIS data. The process leverages statistical methods from demography and ecology to summarize building typologies, which then informs the total area of building rooftops in a fixed geography that are potentially... Read more »
This study is an initial design exercise that seeks to understand the changing landscape of freight delivery, and evaluates two emerging delivery technologies: drones (air) and robots (autonomous ground vehicles (AGVs), or droids) on the built environment. Given that this is a high-level exercise, the sole purpose of this document is to highlight emerging trends... Read more »
This research proposal is for the development, fabrication and preliminary evaluation of an experimental wearable, ‘pentachromic’ circadian light tracker prototype. By doing so, it would then be possible to record ‘pentachromic’ circadian illuminance indicators for a building’s occupant’s lighting environment alongside responses to intermittent polling targeting information a user’s alertness, cognitive function, psychological state-of mind... Read more »
The goal of this research is to explore the link between the built environment and occupant well-being using completed pre- and post-occupancy evaluations in conjunction with literature review on the topic. We hypothesized that investing in strategies that enhance whole person well-being in the workplace can positively impact business performance metrics. The methodology was to combine an... Read more »
Shadow boxes are commonly used in curtain wall construction, but can be problematic if not designed and detailed correctly and appropriately for the climate. Much has been written about shadow box design, both successes and failures, but there is no consensus about how, or if, the cavity should be vented. This article presents a literature review about... Read more »
We are experiencing a technologically-driven shift in the transportation industry, which is transforming the way we move and live in cities. While new mobility options have the potential to profoundly change the way that we plan, design, and build transportation infrastructure, the impacts of these technologies on livability and urban design are not well understood This study aimed... Read more »
This article reports on an ongoing academic and professional collaboration to develop and test computational, performance-based design methods, and to discover and develop design talent skilled in using them. We used the specific experiential, environmental, and economic challenges of mixed-use high-rise Living Building projects in Seattle as a context for exploration. We leveraged Perkins+Will’s Design... Read more »
Parametric analysis is an important method for design exploration in architectural practice. However, architects do not take full advantage of its capabilities because they lack systematic methods for rigorous implementation. Design Space Construction (DSC) is a parametric analysis framework aimed at making multidisciplinary design exploration more methodical. This article discusses three case studies that have... Read more »
