Building Systems Integration for Enhanced Environmental Performance

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Direct Price: $79.95

By Shahin Vassigh and Jason R. Chandler
Hardcover, 8.5 x 11, 164 pages
ISBN: 978-1-60427-015-0
August 2011

This book is also available for rent

Description

As the environmental impact of buildings become increasingly recognized, the role of building designers and the initial decision making process that determines materials, systems, and construction processes becomes more critical. This timely book addresses sustainability in building design through a series of examples presented as three dimensional models of well integrated building systems. The book organizes buildings into three sections – structure, envelope, and mechanical systems – based on the integration of paired building systems. The book demonstrates the performance of each systems pair in terms of interaction and contribution of each individual system and the synergetic benefits resulting from the unique pairing. The last section of the book is devoted to buildings that have a higher degree of integration and cannot be studied as paired systems. Each building is illustrated with full graphical display, text and analytical drawing to demonstrate its performance in a particular environment.

Key Features

  • Demonstrates the best practices and principles of designing and constructing buildings that are both environmentally responsible and architecturally expressive
  • Incorporates an innovative and unique approach for introducing and organizing building systems into categories based on pairing systems interaction and their performance rather than the traditional typological organization based on building systems
  • Presents the content as a catalogue of illustrated building systems, diagrams and details
  • Utilizes easy-to-understand axonometrics, concise narrative and graphics to illustrate building systems integration
  • Exposes the complex layers of the building components revealing the interworking of systems integration typically hidden in photographs
  • WAV offers two short video animations that bring to life the discussion and color illustrations provided in the book depicting the ventilation methods used in the Debris Building in Berlin and the Helicon Building in London — available from the Web Added Value™ Download Resource Center

About the author(s)

Shahin Vassigh is an associate professor at the Department of Architecture at Florida International University and teaches courses in structures and building technologies. Vassigh has built a nationally recognized body of research work focused on improving building technology and sustainable building design education by developing alternative teaching pedagogies. She is a recipient of two major federal grants for “A Comprehensive Approach to Teaching Structures” and “Building Literacy: the Integration of Building Technology and Design in Architectural Education.” Both projects developed interactive learning environments using state of the art computing technology. She is the author of Interactive Structures: Visualizing Structural Behavior (2005). She received a Master of Architecture, a Master in Urban Planning and a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from University at Buffalo, the State University of New York.

Jason R. Chandler is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architecture at Florida International University and teaches courses in architectural design and building technologies. He is a registered architect in the State of Florida and is the principal of Chandler and Associates in South Miami. His academic and professional activities focus on building construction and its influence on architectural and urban design. Professor Chandler’s research has been supported by grants and fellowships from The National Institute for Architectural Education, The International Hurricane Center, The National Renewable Energy Laboratory and The United States Department of Education. His design work has received several awards and has been exhibited nationally and internationally. He received his Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University and his Master of Architecture from Harvard University.

Table of Contents

Introduction 
Section 1. Structure + Envelope 

Singapore National Library, Singapore
William J. Clinton Presidential Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA 
Heifer International Headquarters, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Paul L. Cejas School of Architecture, Miami, Florida, USA
Agbar Tower, Barcelona, Spain 
Rehab Basel, Basel, Switzerland
Thermal Baths, Vals, Switzerland 
Arup Campus, Solihull, England 
Manchester Civil Justice Center, Greater Manchester, England
Section 2. Envelope + Mechanical
Caltran District Headquarters Building, Los Angeles, California, USA
Bregenz Art Museum, Bregenz, Austria 
Debis Headquarters Building, Berlin, Germany
Housing Estate in Kolding, Kolding, Denmark
Helicon Building, London, England
Section 3. Structure + Envelope + Mechanical 
Council House 2, Melbourne, Australia 
San Francisco Federal Building, San Francisco, California, USA
Loblolly House, Taylors Island, Maryland, USA
Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
Manitoba Hyro Place, Manitoba, Canada
Braun AG Headquarters, Kronberg, Germany
BRE Environmental Building, Watford, England
Bibliography
Index