A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
A platform for research: civil engineering, architecture and urbanism
Research Approaches for Building Enclosure Studies
Research in building enclosure studies aims primarily to answer questions about the characteristics and behavior of roofs, walls, and foundations. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that the designs proposed by architects and other building design professionals are realized in ways that will prove beautiful, useful, and sustainable. The focus is often on the multifaceted performance of building assemblies; this performance can be considered in terms articulated in The Building Systems Integration Handbook in a chapter by Hartkopf et al. (Chapter 6: integration for performance. In: Rush RD (ed) The building systems integration handbook. Wiley, New York, 1986), namely, “spatial performance, thermal performance, air quality performance, acoustical performance, visual performance, and building integrity” (p. 232).
As with most efforts undertaken within the discipline of architecture, the task of the beginning researcher to study these aspects of performance is not straightforward; it must be navigated with the benefit of insights garnered from previous endeavors. In this chapter, a course is charted to enable the researcher to consider four potential research approaches and to select one or more that best fit the objectives of the study. First, the basic attributes of these research methods are presented. The reader is then introduced to two building enclosure studies conducted by the author. Next, a decision-making system is introduced and applied to these two case studies to demonstrate how an appropriate strategy, in these cases, field experimentation, was chosen and implemented. The chapter closes with advice for beginning researchers embarking on the process of selecting appropriate research methodologies for their studies.
Research Approaches for Building Enclosure Studies
Research in building enclosure studies aims primarily to answer questions about the characteristics and behavior of roofs, walls, and foundations. Its ultimate goal is to ensure that the designs proposed by architects and other building design professionals are realized in ways that will prove beautiful, useful, and sustainable. The focus is often on the multifaceted performance of building assemblies; this performance can be considered in terms articulated in The Building Systems Integration Handbook in a chapter by Hartkopf et al. (Chapter 6: integration for performance. In: Rush RD (ed) The building systems integration handbook. Wiley, New York, 1986), namely, “spatial performance, thermal performance, air quality performance, acoustical performance, visual performance, and building integrity” (p. 232).
As with most efforts undertaken within the discipline of architecture, the task of the beginning researcher to study these aspects of performance is not straightforward; it must be navigated with the benefit of insights garnered from previous endeavors. In this chapter, a course is charted to enable the researcher to consider four potential research approaches and to select one or more that best fit the objectives of the study. First, the basic attributes of these research methods are presented. The reader is then introduced to two building enclosure studies conducted by the author. Next, a decision-making system is introduced and applied to these two case studies to demonstrate how an appropriate strategy, in these cases, field experimentation, was chosen and implemented. The chapter closes with advice for beginning researchers embarking on the process of selecting appropriate research methodologies for their studies.
Research Approaches for Building Enclosure Studies
Azari, Rahman (editor) / Rashed-Ali, Hazem (editor) / Grant, Elizabeth J. (author)
Research Methods in Building Science and Technology ; Chapter: 2 ; 33-49
2021-09-10
17 pages
Article/Chapter (Book)
Electronic Resource
English
| British Library Online Contents | 2012
| ASCE | 2012
Springer Verlag | 2021