The Bus Delay Analysis Tool (BDAT) is a set of software and analysis procedures Nelson\Nygaard has been developing for our transit agency clients. Through the Innovation Incubator we developed the new and improved Project & Treatment Module, which enables our clients to sketch bus transit speed & reliability improvements. Additionally, using the tool to document... Read more »
This research project proposes a Framework and Toolkit to create a holistic, incremental approach to gas station adaptation & transformation. Given the current policy timeline of phasing out production of combustible-engine vehicles by 2035 in California and transition to a carbon-free economy nation-wide by 2050, the adaptation scenarios focus on tangible strategies for a near-term... Read more »
The pandemic revealed that the challenges facing K-12 schools are examples of what are referred to as ‘wicked problems’. What is a wicked problem? Problems that are complex and difficult to solve because of incomplete, contradictory, and changing requirements. As 2020 revealed, these crises come in a variety of forms and are often hard to... Read more »
Designers are storytellers. From the procession to a building’s entrance to the interior, the real experience of architecture is defined by a journey of visual cues, spatial implications, and curated thoughts. Yet too often when presenting design ideas, we are limited by two-dimensional tools of screens and slides. Real Presentations in Virtual Rooms proposes spatializing... Read more »
We investigated the resiliency of two commonly used wall types with current and projected future weather. We modified existing weather files using linear regression to predict future increases in rainfall in Houston TX. We found these weather files unreliable and ended up purchasing project files. We utilized the increased rainfall data and varying permeability of... Read more »
The threat of wildfires in California has significantly altered quality of life in the region. Adaptation will require fundamental corrections in land stewardship, development patterns, and building practices. Design professionals must make sense of an overwhelming array of information. This report summarizes design relevant information including the role of wildfire in California’s ecosystem and the... Read more »
Passive House design requires users to create a complete building model to determine the energy performance of both the whole building and its individual elements. It makes traditional PHPP modeling a dilemma at the initial design stage when design decision making through optimization is necessary, without feeding too much design details. This research explores an... Read more »
In response to the current climate crisis, we must establish widespread familiarity with carbon and its cumulative impacts, elevate our critique of sustainable design, and embrace our part in balancing the carbon budget. We set out to understand a project’s global warming potential by looking at inflows and outflows of carbon, and identified key contributors... Read more »
We now live in an era of Quantum Supremacy. This is a primer to guide an Architect through the cutting edge of Quantum Computing. Architecture is extremely complex with a vast number of design and performance criteria that are highly entangled, thus creating computationally intense analytical models that classical computers struggle to overcome. Quantum computers... Read more »
In our endeavour to build equitable, inclusive and resilient communities, collaboration and collective ownership of design is key. Phygital-UP is a co-design environment that supports equitable, inclusive, effective, and dynamic stakeholder engagement in both physical and virtual environments. Phygital-UP offers both the design team and the stakeholders the ability to work together in a synergistic... Read more »
Greywater for use on single family residential yards in Los Angeles County is a great untapped local and sustainable water resource. If implemented more widely with the use of strategic incentives and marketing, residential greywater could yield a higher quality and quantity of shade and fruit trees for homeowners across a wide range of neighborhoods... Read more »
