General Construction
Basic Olicognograph: Construction Economics
Architecture
World architectures look like a great expression of structural essential and cultural diversites. Structural buildings with roots in design of monumental graves, palaces, military places, towns remain for long. May be better of what remain, is shown in the strength of structural constraints, heavy loads, weights in seismic or flooded sites. Despite this science (where mechanics calculus do pretty well) there is an extraordinary diversity in forms that make any small region a unique architectural case. This is even more truer in the common housing often with extraordinary ingenious options and solutions. Especially from popular or common traditional forms when not intenting to mimic imported model of "rational modern kind of habitat unconstrained by the natural building raw material". Traditional and Local Knowledge shaped "ancient techniques and practices passed on to the generations over the territory, used for soils management, use and protection of natural areas, rural architectures and for organizing urban centres. They are the historical knowledge of humanity that allowed building architectures and landscapes with a universal value"
"The limitation of available materials and construction processes was compensated by long experience leading to a constructive balance between occupant requirements and environmental impact. Technical developments and a sudden explosion of available construction materials during the 20th century have rolled back the limits of architects' imagination and they have now the ability to develop almost any imaginable concept" but to whom can afford individually high budgets. "To meet the expectations of modern architecture, researchers have to develop complex and specific solutions. However, this complexity calls for a holistic appraisal of the building performance during the design phase to ensure a construction that meets with general acceptance".
Rational design in a modern sense, and out the proper artistic-architectural view "should provide the following: 1) project description. 2) project location. 3) programmed amount if applicable and schedule. 4) funding sources and expiration date of funds. 5) identify those funds that could be returned for new use, if not used for stated purpose. 6) work classification and type of funding. 7) scope of work. 8) minutes of conferences with customers. 9) predesign memorandums and correspondences. 10) applicable design criteria. 11) results of the site investigation. 12) demolition and disposal sites. 13) environmental and utilities coordination. 14) project phasing requirements. 15) materials standardization requirements. 16) furnished information, materials, equipment. 17) outline of specifications if a. 18) pertinent and abbreviated discipline analysis computations if a. 19) applicable building codes. 20)project approval documentation 21) any additional back up documentation required.
Top factors in order of importance for choosing a particular building site and community: 1) availability and skill level of labor force 2) pro-business government 3) corporate income tax rates 4) good roads and transportation 5) real estate prices and property taxes 6)educational system 7) proximity to customers 8) personal income tax 9) colleges and universities 10) proximity to suppliers 11) healthy 'downtown'. 12) proximity to competition.
Site Ground Studies
"From project conception through construction & throughout the operation and maintenance phase geotechnical investigations are designed to provide the level of information appropriate to the particular project development stage. In most instances, initial geotechnical investigations will be general and will cover broad geographic areas. As project development continues, geotechnical investigations become more detailed and cover smaller, more specific areas. For large, complex projects, the geotechnical investigation can involve highly detailed geologic mapping such as a rock surface for a structure foundation. The design memoranda that are distinctly geotechnical include: 1) Site geology. 2) Concrete materials or protection stone. 3) Embankment and foundation. 4) Outlet works. 5) Spillway. 6) Navigation lock. 7) Instrumentation and inspection program. 8) Initial reservoir filling and surveillance place. 9) Intake structure. 10) Relocations (roads and bridges)".
A Geological Investigation for hazardous construction may, for example have following components:"1) Faults, joints, stratigraphy, and other significant geologic features. 2) Karst topography or other features that indicate high reservoir leakage potential. 3) Water well levels, springs, surface water, water-sensitive vegetation, or other evidence of the ground water regime. 4) Soluble or swelling rocks such as gypsum or anhydrite. 5) Potential landslide areas around the reservoir rim. 6) Valuable mineral resources. 7) Mine shafts, tunnels, and gas and oil wells. 8) Potential borrow and quarry areas and sources of construction materials. 9) Shoreline erosion potential. 10) Landfills, dumps, underground storage tanks, surface impoundments, and other potential environmental hazards".
"Sort of Ground Technical Parameters to manage can be: Depth to Rock - P-Wave Velocity - S-Wave Velocity - Shear Modulus - Young’s Modulus - Poisson’s Ratio - Lithology - Material Boundaries - Stratigraphy - Dip of Strata - Density - In Situ State of Stress - Temperature - Permeability - Percent Saturation - Ground water Table - Ground water Quality - Ground water Aquifers - Flow Rate and/or Direction- Borehole Diameter - Obstructions - Rippability - Fault Detection - Cavity Detection - Cavity Delineation - Location of Ore Bodies - Borehole Azimuth - and Inclination".
Especially for high buildings can be of concern the type of ground and structural properties as": 1) Identification and classification of soil and rock: Natural soil deposits - Identification of soils - Index properties - Soil classification - Rock classification - Rock properties for foundation design - Shales. 2) Engineering properties of soil and rock : Compaction characteristics of soils - Density of cohesionless soils - Permeability - Consolidation - Swelling, shrinkage, and collapsibility - Shear strength of soils - Elastic properties (E, µ) - Modulus of subgrade reaction - Coefficient of at-rest earth pressure - Properties of intact rock - Properties of typical shales. 3) Field explorations : Investigational programs - Soil boring program - Field measurements of relative density and consistency - Boring logs - Groundwater observations - In situ load tests Geophysical exploration - Borehole surveying. 4) Settlement analyses : Settlement problems - Loads causing settlement - Stress computations - Settlement of foundations on clay - Consolidation settlement - Settlement of cohesionless soils Eliminating, reducing, or coping with settlement. 5) Bearing-capacity analysis : Bearing capacity of soils - Shear strength parameters - Methods of analysis - Tension forces - Bearing capacity of rock. 6) Dewatering and groundwater control : Foundation problems 7) Slope stability analysis: Slope stability problems - Slopes in soils presenting special problems - Slope stability charts - Detailed analyses of slope stability Stabilization of slopes. 8) Selection of foundation type : Foundation-selection considerations - Adverse subsurface conditions - Cost estimates and final selection. 9) Spread footings and mat foundations : Adequate foundation depth Footing design - Mat foundations - Special requirements for mat foundations - Modulus of subgrade reaction for footings and mats - Foundations for towers. 10) Deep foundations including drilled piers : Floating foundations - Settlements of compensated foundations - Underpinning - Excavation protection - Drilled piers. 11) Pile foundations. 12) Foundations on expansive soils: Foundations problems. 13)Retaining walls and excavation support systems : Design considerations for retaining walls - Earth pressures - Equivalent fluid pressures - Design procedures for retaining walls - Crib wall - Excavation support systems - Strutted excavations Stability of bottom of excavation - Anchored walls. 14) Foundations on fill and backfilling :Types of fill - Foundations on compacted fills - Compaction requirements - Placing and control of backfill - Fill settlements - Hydraulic fills. 15) Stabilization of subgrade soils: Vibrocompaction - Vibrodisplacement compaction - Grouting and injection - Precompression - Reinforcement - Miscellaneous methods. 16) Design for equipment vibrations and seismic loadings : Single degree of freedom, damped, forced systems - Foundations on elastic soils - Wave transmission, attenuation, and isolation - Evaluation of S-wave velocity in soils - Settlement and liquefaction - Seismic effects on foundations. 17) Foundations in areas of significant frost penetration : Factors affecting design of foundations - Site investigations - Foundation design.
Green Architecture
Social Architecture is generally provided with political good intentions, often with expansive exceedings and sometimes also generous kickbacks. Conveniently the people of the art, urbanists have developed extraordinary rhetoretic and beautiful conceptual speeches to envisioning the art of citizenship to whom will be invited to settle there, less commonly fully involved them in the process: beautiful vision for collectivity if still often an individual one.
A first step in "green" social architecture may consist in socializing a space, sometimes missed in the design, omitted in the anarchic settlement or eroded by unlicensed transformations. See for example": 1) Convenience of access for pedestrians, drivers of service vehicles, 2) Direction of prevailing wind and sun angles, 3) Land forms, grading, drainage, and tree coverage, 4) Views or closeness (desirable and undesirable), 5) Size, location and sufficiency of utility connections, 6) Future expansion.
Another register of social urbanism has to do with past traditions having cared the natural raw materials. "Regeneration of historic cities would needs to: 1) Achieve a balance between preserving our heritage and meeting modern demands and needs, 2) Appreciate the character of the specific historic environment, and its distinctiveness, 3) Recognize that the historic urban cores can be an asset for the economic and social renaissance of cities and constitute the right places for promoting social cohesion, 4) Define innovative regeneration delivery mechanisms including various forms of public private partnerships, aiming to increase private sector involvement and investment".
Green buildings guidelines are flourishing. Commonly their focused 'holistic' policies adresses like eight generic categories of analyses: 1) Energy Use; 2) Water Use; 3) Pollution; 4) Material/Product Inputs; 5) Indoor Air Quality & Occupant Comfort; 6) Transport; 7) Site Ecology; and 8) Other Sustainable Design. Comparative architecture make climate or traditional architecture in exotic countries give plenty of models for green building. "In the tropics buildings have to be designed with great care and thought and with due regard for climate. Shade and protection from dust may have high priority in some regions, while, in other regions, ventilation and trapping of air currents and breeze are the primary considerations. Generally speaking, a house in the tropics has 3 kinds of living spaces: indoor, outdoor, and an indoor-outdoor combination consisting of a veranda or a loggia".
"Ecotown projects are up-to-date schemes with “zero-emissions concept” which aims to use all wastes generated by an industry as raw material in another field to reduce waste to zero. Basic concept is to form a regional environmentally - friendly economy and society and aims to promote this concept as a cornerstone of regional development or advanced environmentally - friendly town development. Lesser extensive projects are either green residential district or since a main industrial site green industrial district".
At last, another kind of sustainable concern has to do with ground pollution and the sort of waste that have been let there, ignored then missed by past urban settlements, in and around present and past industrial sites. Sort of monitoring parameters of interest could be for example; 1) Media Monitored: Soil (in situ) - Soil (ex situ) - Sludge - Solid (slag, rock) - Sediment (in situ) - Sediment (ex situ) - Light non aqueous phase liquids - Groundwater - Soil gas - Surface water - Leachate - Air particulates - others . 2) Chemical: Halogenated volatiles - Halogenated semivolatiles - Nonhalogenated semivolatiles - Organic pesticides/herbicides - Dioxins/furanes - Polynuclear aromatics - Solvents - Benzene-toluene-ethyl benzene-xylene - Acetonitril (organic cyanide) Heavy metals - Non metallic toxic elements - Radioactive metals - Radionuclides - Asbestos - Inorganic cyanides - corrossives. 3) Physical: Water table - Soil Types - Bedrock Stratigraphy - Resistivity - Conductivity - Buried Ferrous Materials - Buried Non Ferrous Materials - Soil moisture - Temperature - Radon - Radioactive nucleids .
Kyoto Japan's commitments had also insights on urban development like: "CO2-saving urban design - Promotion of Area energy network (direct heating and cooling,etc.) - Efforts that transcend the individual boundaries of each entity (collective energy management of entire facilities and multiple buildings IT) - Reducing CO2 emissions by improving the heat environment through countermeasures against the heat island effect ".
