Perceptions of change in office space design: redesigning Barwon Water’s office environment

In early 2015 Barwon Water received State government funding to rationalise and renovate its various Geelong-based administrative offices into one complex. Integral to the renovations is a new green-star retrofit of the existing Ryrie Street complex by GHD Woodhead. The project will consolidate all of Barwon Water’s offices onto one site, increase floor space, provide a new ‘green’ atrium, and adopt an open plan layout. Having set a new strategic direction, Barwon Water is now undergoing a wholesale cultural and operational change in order to realise these strategic objectives. Aspirations for workplace design have been identified as: environmentally sustainable; foster innovation and creativity; establish connections; improve communication and collaboration; provide efficient space for effective work; flexibility over time; welcoming and connected to the community; healthy; and, up to date technology. This paper investigates Barwon Water staff perceptions and apprehensions of this prospective consolidation, particularly the proposed open plan office environment. While most research in this topic is informed by an immediate pre-design workshop of staff needs, this research provides a longitudinal perspective of human perceptions about work place environment change and a review of how changes in office environment synergistically align to architectural responses and changes in corporate strategies.

Orientation, building height and sky view factor as energy efficiency design parameters

The energy efficiency of buildings should be a goal at the pre-design phase, though the importance of the design variables is often neglected even during the design process. Highlighting the relevance of these design variables, this research studies the relationships of building location variables with the electrical energy consumption of residential units. The following building design parameters are considered: orientation, story height and sky view factor (SVF). The consideration of the SVF as a location variable contributes to the originality of this research. Data of electrical energy consumption and users' profiles were collected and several variables were considered for the development of an Artificial Neural Network model. This model allows the determination of the relative importance of each variable. The results show that the apartments' orientation is the most important design variable for the energy consumption, although the story height and the sky view factor play a fundamental role in that consumption too. We pointed out that building heights above twenty-four meters do not optimize the energy efficiency of the apartments and also that an increasing SVF can influence the energy consumption of an apartment according to their orientation.

Using modeling as a co-design approach in the planning process of new care environments

Current research shows a relationship between healthcare architecture and patient-related Outcomes. The planning and designing of new healthcare environments is a complex process; the needs of the various end-users of the environment must be considered, including the patients, the patients’ significant others, and the staff. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of healthcare professionals participating in group modelling utilizing system dynamics in the pre-design phase of new healthcare environments. We engaged healthcare professionals in a series of workshops using system dynamics to discuss the planning of healthcare environments in the beginning of a construction, and then interviewed them about their experience. An explorative and qualitative design was used to describe participants’ experiences of participating in the group modelling projects. Participants (n=20) were recruited from a larger intervention study using group modeling and system dynamics in planning and designing projects. The interviews were analysed by qualitative content analysis. Two themes were formed, representing the experiences in the group modeling process: ‘Partaking in the G-M created knowledge and empowerment’and ‘Partaking in the G-M was different from what was expected and required time and skills’. The method can support participants in design teams to focus more on their healthcare organization, their care activities and their aims rather than focusing on detailed layout solutions. This clarification is important when decisions about the design are discussed and prepared and will most likely lead to greater readiness for future building process.

Development of a climate assessment tool for hybrid air conditioner

Australian climate is highly suitable for using outdoor air for free building cooling. In order to evaluate the suitability of hybrid cooler for specific applications, a pre-design climate assessment tool is developed and presented in this paper. In addition to the consideration of the local climate, comfort zone proposed by ASHRAE handbook and specific design of building and operation of hybrid cooler, possible influence from environmental factors (e.g. air humidity and air velocity), as well as personal factors (e.g. activity level and clothing insulation) on occupant’s thermal comfort are also considered in this tool. It is demonstrated that with the input of climatic data for a particular location and the associated design data for a specific application, the developed climate assessment tool is able to not only sort outdoor air conditions into the different process regions but also project them onto the psychrometric chart. It can also be used to estimate the hours for an individual operational mode under various climate conditions and summarize them in a table “Results”.

Konexio konikodun hortzetako inplanteak: ateratze indarraren zehaztapena. Eredu analitikoa eta saiakuntza esperimentalak

[EU]Txosten honetan konexio konikodun hortzetako inplante baten eraginkortasuna aztertzen da. Zehatzagoak izanik, inplante bat ahotik kanporatu ahal izateko beharrezkoa den indarra aztertu egiten da, kontuan hartuz aldagai horren balioa ezagutzea ezinbestekoa dela pazientearen osasuna eta konforta ziurtatzeko. Proiektu honek zein eremutan garrantzia edukiko duen ikusteko, lehenik eta behin testuingurua deskribatuko da. Horren ondoren helburu nagusiak eta onura zientifiko-tekniko zein ekonomikoak adieraziko dira. Helburuak lortzeko posibleak diren bide desberdinak aztertuko dira, eta bakoitzaren abantailak eta desabantailak kontuan hartuz kasu honi hobeto egokitzen zaion alternatiba aukeratuko da. Jarraian, metodo horri dagokion azalpenari ekingo zaio, proiektuaren garapenean egindako lanak pausoz pauso deskribatuz. Proiektuaren hasieratik amaierara arte egindako lanen planifikazioa era argi batean adierazteko Gantt diagrama erabiliko da. Bertan hiru etapa nagusi ezberdindu daitezke: saiakuntzen aurre-diseinua, kanpaina esperimentala eta emaitzen interpretazioa. Azkenik, egindako saiakuntzen eta analisien emaitzak laburbilduko dira, horiek dakartzaten ondorioak azalduz. Puntu honekin hasiera batean planteatutako helburuei erantzun bat emango zaie, eta proiektu honen ondoren jarraitu ahal izango diren hurrengo pausoak aipatuko dira.

Suspensión trasera regulable pra una moto de competición: altenrativa full-floater

[ES] El objeto de este estudio consiste en el diseño de un sistema de suspensión trasera regulable y progresiva, así como el prediseño de un basculante, para una motocicleta de competición. La motocicleta compite dentro de la categoría MotoStudent, por lo que se ha realizado el estudio de acuerdo con las normas de la Organización y las especificaciones del equipo de la ETSI.

Modificación del sistema energético de la unidad móvil de donantes de osakidetza (CVTT)

[ES]Hoy en día los vehículos usados en la extracción de sangre utilizan un motor de combustión interna, no solamente para sus desplazamientos, sino también para generar electricidad con la que poder utilizar todos los aparatos del interior. Como consecuencia, el autobús es una fuente importante de ruidos y contaminación, ya que el motor diesel está funcionando durante las largas paradas en las que se realiza dicha actividad. El objetivo del proyecto es diseñar un sistema innovador basado en pilas de combustible que sirva para alimentar todos los equipos y dispositivos, evitando el ruido, las vibraciones y los gases contaminantes. Para ello y en primer lugar, será necesario estimar el consumo total del autobús. Tras esto, también se tomarán una serie de decisiones con el fin de mejorar la eficiencia energética del autobús. Finalmente, se hará un diseño del sistema energético, el cual debe incluir una pila de combustible, junto con todos sus sistemas asociados, y todas las especificaciones.

Projeto de estrutura variante de um edifício de habitação na zona de Lisboa

Trabalho de Projeto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização de Estruturas

Projeto de fundações e estrutura de um edifício em Lisboa

Trabalho de Projeto para obtenção do grau de Mestre em Engenharia Civil na Área de Especialização em Estruturas

High performance low-energy buildings

The era of legislation and creditable methods towards producing sustainable buildings is upon us. Yet, a major barrier to achieving environmental responsive design is in the lack of available information at the programming or pre-design phases of a project. The review and evaluation of climate as well as energy-efficient strategies could be difficult to consider at these preliminary stages. Until recently, introducing energy simulation tools at the design stage has been difficult and perhaps next to impossible at a pre-design or programming stage. However, analysis of this sort is essential to ‘green building rating’ or performance assessment schemes such as LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environment Assessment Method). This paper discusses the implementation of a particular tool, ENERGY-10, where ‘basecase’ building defaults are compared to a low-energy case which has applied multiple energy-efficient strategies automatically. An annual hour-by-hour simulation provides a daylighting calculation with a subsequent thermal evaluation. Calculation results provide energy consumption, peak load equipment sizing, a RANK feature of the energy-efficient strategies, reporting of CO2, SO2 and NOx reduction, optimum glazing type as well as excellent graphic output. Consideration is given as to the approach of how such information can be introduced into the building project brief enforcing a low-energy
performance target.

Workplace strategies and facilities management

This book provides comprehensive coverage of issues that facility managers in the property industry need to understand and apply in the pursuit of value for money over the life span of built facilities. The authors introduce the fast-growing discipline of facility management, examine the core competencies that facility managers should possess and study different contemporary drivers of change. The book emphasises the need to consider facilities management issues at the pre-design stage of the construction process, rather than only when the building is completed, in order to maximise value for money.

Modelo dinâmico de um túnel de vento de sopro

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Análise do conforto de aplicadores para terapia estética sob a ótica da ergonomia

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Contribution to Load-Frequency Regulation of a Hydropower Plant with Long Tail-Race Tunnel

In this paper, a hydroelectric power plant with long tail-race tunnel has been modelled for assessing its contribution to secondary regulation reserve. Cavitation problems, caused by the discharge conduit length, are expected downstream the turbine where low pressure appears during regulation manoeuvres. Therefore, governor's gains should be selected taking into account these phenomena. On the other hand, regulation services bidden by the plant operator should fulfil TSO (Transmission System Operator) quality requirements. A methodology for tuning governor PI gains is proposed and applied to a Hydro power plant in pre-design phase in northwest area of Spain. The PI gains adjustment proposed provides a proper plant response, according to some established indexes, while avoiding cavitation phenomena.