The external walls are regarded as an important source for the thermal exchange between the outside and inside of a building. Despite the significance of building walls for energy savings, a large body of research has focused mainly on thermal comfort, environmental impacts, and economic costs of residential buildings. However, few researchers have addressed the thermal performance of common bu...

One factor influencing quality in the building industry is the ability of users, such as residents, to identify and express their requirements for the product, i.e. the residential building. However, the handling of communication with users in building projects has been insufficiently specified and studied. Drawing on a study of user involvement in building project design, production, and manag...

Design and procurement based on holistic whole life appraisal can improve functional quality and, therefore, the overall cost effectiveness and performance of buildings. It is furthermore expected these principles can strengthen the competitiveness of concrete. The initial part of the work, analysed requirements on buildings and how concrete provides answers to these. Life cycle costing, enviro...

In this paper, the performance of Belgian building code compliant residential ventilation systems is evaluated on multiple performance indicators: occupant exposure to bio-effluents, occupant exposure to other use-related pollutants (odours) and occupant exposure to building material emissions. The fitness of the proposed criteria in this context is then discussed in a broader context and this ...

This paper presents a method for automatic derivation of urban structures types with focus on residential areas. It is based on scanned topographic maps at scale 1:25k and a given urban block geometry from a national topographic database. The procedure consists of five steps: (1) definition of a typology of urban structures, (2) extraction of building footprints, (3) computation of measurements...

It has been determined from extensive testing conducted between May 1987 and May 1988, in the hot and humid climate of central Florida, that pressure differences within the envelope of residential housing exists. These can range from near neutral to pressures, either positive or negative, as great as 0.24" W.C. (60 pascals). Reasons sighted and discussed in this paper include duct system design...