Architectural Technology 1
The Role of Architectural Technology will change the future of Construction Industry
[Author’s Name]
[Institution’s Name]
Abstract
Architectural technology is the field of construction industry dealing with the design of buildings. This is a new field that emerged recently due to introduction of new technology in designing and construction of buildings. World has witnessed much advancement in the architectural designs. During last few decades world has witnessed innovative designs of buildings and successful completion of projects like Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Current paper was aimed at exploring the role of architectural technology in the future of construction industry. The author has focused on the new technologies, green building, and explored its benefits as well as impact on the future construction industry. It is evident that architectural technology and the rising demand of building green have been triggering so many changes in the construction industry. Architectural technology will change the role of construction industry in future as itwill reduce cost and time of construction. New buildings will be more environment friendly having more facilities with less external energy needs. The new technologies and innovative methods in construction industry will be useful for all the stakeholders including contractors, subcontractors, architects, labor force and customers. Using green technology makes buildings environment friendly and the buildings become self sufficient as regards energy needs. The trend of isolated buildings, installation of solar panels, and use of smart devices in construction helps to reduce future costs and the buildings fulfill electricity needs by acquiring energy through natural resources.
Table of Contents
Abstract
Chapter-1 Introduction
Background
1.2 Aims and Objectives
Research Questions
Chapter 2- Literature Review
Software to Design Building Maps
Durability Checks:
Prediction Features:
Chapter 3-Green Technology in Construction:
Adjusting Green Technology:
Smart Construction Materials:
Chapter-4 Case Studies:
UK Construction Industry
The Dynamic Tower of Dubai
Chapter 4-Impact of Architectural Technology in Construction Industry:
Architectural Technology and Impact on Contractor/Owner
Environmental, Performance, and Efficiency Benefits
Increases the Compliance of the Project Design Standards with the Environmental Regulations of Building Control Authorities
Enhanced Relationships with Stakeholders
Improved Ability to Market to Pro-Environmental Consumers
Enhanced Community Livability
Chapter 6-Conclusion:
References
The Role of Architectural Technology will change the future of Construction Industry
Chapter-1 Introduction
Background
Architectural technology is the discipline that deals with the design of buildings. World has been witnessing radical changes since the day human beings have landed on it. The need and desire for safe shelter has been one of the basic dreams of human beings. With the passage of time and development in technology, the things have gone complex. World is moving towards Green technology solutions. Moreover, with the passage of time, there has been increasing demand of unique designs. For this purpose, the construction industry has gone through many changes over the passage of time. Recent technological advancements in architecture and growing green concerns have been putting the construction industry towards revolutionary changes.
Increasingly construction firms have begun to use innovative land and construction techniques. Several techniques have changed including those which develop the land, the materials used when constructing the buildings and homes how the home is constructed and located. All these procedures not just reduce environmental impacts, but it also has the ability to be environmentally beneficial. For example, builders in the far north and south build more efficient homes due to the dramatic changes in climate. The use of energy efficient heating, ventilation, and air condition (HVAC) systems and products not only benefits the consumer, but reduces the amount of GHG emissions as well (DOEa, 2008). Increased innovation and the subsequent development of more efficient homes have helped control residential emissions despite the boost in population of United States. From 1990-2008, while the U.S. population grew by an average of 1.1% per year, the housing sector carbon dioxide emissions grew by an average of 1.3 percent for the same time period (Pew Center, 2009). The consumption choices of households play a major role in determining
Aims and Objectives
Main aim of the study is to explore how the role of architectural technology will change the future of construction industry. Current chapter is a review of the literature related to the research topic. The author has discussed architectural technology and its role in construction industry. The topics such as latest designing soft wares, latest construction techniques, green technology, electronic devices, and energy efficient buildings have caused revolutionary changes in the construction industry have been included in the review of literature.
There is a going trend of adopting green technology and construction techniques and materials that make the buildings more environments friendly. People will be looking in many features in the construction industries only after a few years.
First of all they will be using materials that are green in all terms. The list made above tells that world is growing conscious about the way it has been utilizing and exploiting energy sources of nature. People and organizations are looking for such construction and design solutions that should reduce their energy consumption to the maximum extent.
Secondly, customization of materials will be more attractive and in demand in future construction industry: When people have the materials with them, there is need to customize them with the growing complex and highly demanding design solutions. This is the most important part of the whole process. If there has been not much research and development in this regard, superb designs will not get materialized due to limited customization capabilities of green construction materials.
Thirdly, customers must also be able to make, understand and use compatible construction software andtechniques. They need to come up with construction solutions that are fully compatible with the deign needs. Much research and development is needed for keeping both the parties on same track.
Another future trend is the concept of zero energy homes. The level of energy utilization in these homes is zero. These types of homes use natural sources of energy by converting it into different forms. This energy is used to perform activities of daily life. A ZEH (Zero Energy Home) is a combination of state-of-the-art, energy-efficient construction techniques in which renewable energy are utilized. Most commonly solar and wind power is used to create the energy as per building requirement. (.icfmag.com, 2012)
Recently much advancement has been seen in the architectural designs. Current paper is aimed at exploring the role of architectural technology in the future of construction industry. Recently world has witnessed innovative designs or buildings and successful completion of projects like Burj Khalifa in Dubai. The author has discussed new technologies that have emerged in the designs and building materials. The increasing impact of architectural technology has been discussed using Dubai and UK construction industries as case studies.
Research Questions
Current research study addressed following research questions;
- What are the developments in Architectural Technology and what is its impact on construction industry?
- How the role of Architectural Technology will change the future of construction industry?
Chapter 2-Literature Review
Architectural technology has been evolving since the day human beings started constructing homes on this globe. With the passage of time advancements in calculation methods and techniques for determining the durability of designs made by architects, world has been changing in appearance. There are more horizons for architectures for shaping new buildings than ever.
(quadlock.com, 2008) describes the necessary characteristics of the home design as:
“Design and Orientation: Roof overhangs, window size and placement, and overall home shape have a major impact. Consider the direction of prevailing winds and how to manage solar gain. If you will be using solar collectors, ensure that a portion of the roof faces true south. The placement of porches, garages, trees, and nearby buildings also have an effect. Insulate and Seal the Building Envelope: Most of a home's energy is spent heating and cooling the interior. Minimizing heating and cooling requirements is the most important step in building a ZEH.”
These homes have high production cost at the moment but, awareness has been increasing and governments are introducing special subsidies and packages for construction of such homes.
Software to Design Building Maps
Below is a brief description of some important software
- 3D Architectural Software:
These software emerged during the second half of the 20th century. This software originated in very primitive form and by the passage of time it has evolved so greatly that whole of the building is at first created in this software and later on handed over to the construction specialists for the purpose of creating a real life building out of it. Following are the major feature of this software:
Sources:
(Saha, n.d.) has listed most widely used 3D architecture software is as follows:
- SierraSoft Vista 2009:
This is a texture making software. Some of the textures are built in and others we can make of our own choice. This is most simple and widely used software by the beginners.
- Google Sketch Up:
This is even simple and beginner software. It enables color filling and texture adding features to the sketches. It also ensures 3D motion of the objects and scenes for accurate designs. IT is compatible with most of other architectural software.
- Chief Architect Premier:
This is relatively advanced 3D architectural design software. It enables users to create real life models of the houses and other construction projects using images and other data from internet and many other resources.
- Revit
Revit is the hot favorite choice of architects and architectural companies. This is a highly complex and detail oriented software made for the purpose of creating quite realistic 3D houses and samples.
In addition to these (Dan, 2010) has listed ArchiCad, Chief Architect, Punch Software, AutoCad Architecture, Vectorworks Architect as the top five Architecture software laden with following features:
- Electronic Design
Electronic design software allows architects to look for solution needed for the purpose of making superb designs of any shape. They just make or take or make shapes of some sort and command the software to come up with possible design elements and details needed for such a design. They can design roofs, walls, even tiles of a house using this software.
This design is multilayered. There are many skins for the design. The innermost skin is the skeleton and as we come outward, the skins keep on adding to give a finished look.
Durability Checks:
This software is designed to tell and compare durability of designs hence made. Designers can compare and contrast different design technique for the purpose of reaching most efficient and workable solution. This relives the efforts of testing each solution in real laboratories.
Prediction Features:
Latest design software is also laden with all properties and features of different materials. They can predict how a fire will spread in a building or how short circuit will cause damage. Moreover, they can also tell heat resistance, resonance reactions, earthquake reactions, storm reactions and wind reactions of a particular design.
All of these features have made Architecture, one of the most creative and daunting professions of the day. These changes in technology when coupled with the changes in the customer preference for construction material and technology are moving the construction industry towards all new form and functionality. Green technology is on high demand these days and much research has been done for incorporating it in regular building architecture and construction.
Chapter 3-Green Technology in Construction:
There are many types of Green Technology that are purely aimed at reducing the need to use electricity and other sources for adjusting temperature of homes at different times of the year; resulting in emission of green house gases and adding to the environmental problems. Research has shown that effective insulation is the main focus of this preventive type of green technology. Various insulation methods are being applied to stop the exchange of heat between the inside and outside the home. Below is a discussion of some of these methods:
Denim Insulation material is made from the recycled denim. It is mainly sandwiched in between the wooden walls and roofs of the house (Gabriel, 2011). Denim is a superb insulator and it keeps the houses cool in summer by blocking the entrance of heat into the houses and keeps them warm by preventing the loss of inside energy by dissipating outside in winters.
Cellulose Insulation:This insulation is made of recycled paper. Again it is very effective in preventing the exchange of temperatures between the inner and outer atmosphere of the houses; hence reducing the need of additional energy resources for the purpose of temperature regulation. (Fisette, 2005)describes additional features as:
It has been claimed by the Cellulose Insulation Manufacturers Association (CIMA) that insulating a 1500 ft house with cellulose recycles as much newspaper as an is used by an individual within 40 years. If this cellulose is used to insulate all new homes, these 3.2 million tons of newsprint will be utilized from waste stream of the nation annually. These are the features that make it a far better insulation material than fiberglass.
Another insulation method is thermocol insulation.This insulation, made up of the sea foam is favorite material in the hot areas where there is summer season for most of the time of the year. It keeps the roofs cool by trapping the heat generated by sunlight in the space between the real roof and the thermo core roof. It helps a lot in keeping the room temperature down to three to four degrees than and reduce pressure on the air conditioners.
Generative Green Technologyis type of technology may be referred to as the technology that uses natural energy resources without the production of any harmful gases and facilitates temperature regulation in homes while producing electric energy for other uses. Following are the major forms of this technology:
Solar Energy:This is the most famous type of green technology for the purpose of fulfilling energy needs of all types of a home. Following are the major types:
Passive Solar Energy:Passive Solar Energy has been in use since the times immemorial. In the ancient times and even in today’s rural areas, houses were designed in a way to ensure three following processes:
- Entrance of Sunlight in the house through windows
- Entrance of air trough doors and ventilators
Utilization of sunlight and moonlight to perform all types of chores that do not involve usages of special energy based devices
(Holloway, 2011)explained the time old use of this technology as:
“At the beginning of the 21st Century it is ironic that the idea of solar energy technology seems so new and intimidating. It is fact man has used sun even when he had not become "civilized". “With pundits arguing over the price of the last obtainable fossil fuel, as well as the end of the AGE OF COMBUSTION, it is time to remember our most important and economic energy resource--the sun.”
Socrates' beautiful sun-tempered house-
All of these efforts would greatly reduce the need of other energy resources for the purpose of maintaining a home. Lawns and trees were must have parts of these houses, coupled with ventilators would create romantic and less killing atmosphere in summers.
Active Solar Energyis used in the form of Solar Panels for the purpose of generating electricity for the need of a house. Solar panels are installed on the roofs and other places of the houses which are exposed to sunlight most of the time of the day. The cost of deploying solar panels for energy production is relatively higher but, when compared with the other resources in terms of all types of benefits, the cost does not matter at all.