BIM Helps Habitat for Humanity Partner Family Take a Virtual Tour of Their New Home
Written by Kristin Dispenza Fri May 04 2012 12:00amBy implementing BIM, Habitat for Humanity of Metro Denver found a way to shorten construction schedules as well as to achieve better communication with volunteers and partner families.
BIM improves efficiency and thereby improves the bottom line: Companies that were early adopters of BIM have been educating us on this fact for several years. What may not be as immediately apparent is that improving efficiency can sometimes improve more than just the bottom line. When non-profits implement new technologies with the result of achieving greater efficiencies, it can enable them to improve the lives of more people -- and do so more quickly -- than was ever before possible.
After a bicycle accident left her paralyzed 12 years ago, Rosemarie Rossetti realized that the two-story home she shared with her husband, Mark Leder, would never be able to fully accommodate her needs. Rossetti and Leder began to look into design options for a new home, and soon their personal project evolved into a mission to research, design, and build a home that would serve as an educational resource for the building industry as well as for consumers. The product of their campaign is the Universal Design Living Laboratory (UDLL), a National Demonstration Home in Columbus, Ohio, that seeks to incorporate three different design movements: universal design, green building (targeting LEED for Homes certification), and healthful, chemical-free products.
Weathering steel, more commonly referred to by the U.S. Steel tradename Cor-Ten™, is a group of steel alloys that develop a stable oxidation requiring no additional coating. Upon exposure to normal environmental stresses, it acquires a dense, dark brown colored barrier layer that protects it from further oxidation.
Many people like the natural appearance and simple maintenance that weathering steel fabrications provide. In addition to being used in structural framing, roofing and siding panels, weathering steel is often used for decorative fabrications, including signage and sculptures.
There are two different ways to harness the power of solar energy: active solar systems and passive solar systems. Solar panels and other solar energy collectors are considered active systems. Generally, their purpose is to collect, store and distribute solar energy to heat water or air inside a building. The term ‘passive solar’ refers to the process of constructing and orienting a building to take advantage of sunlight as a source of light and heat without the use of solar equipment. The goal, aside from the healthy benefits of natural light, is to reduce overall dependence upon mechanical systems.
There are many things an exterior wall should do. Among the most significant performance requirements is environmental separation; "it needs to keep the outside out and the inside in," according to Joseph Lstiburek, Ph.D., P.Eng. It also must be safe and structurally sound, and it has to look good. Structural engineers do a good job of keeping structures from falling down. Building codes do a good job of ensuring that buildings are safe. Architects do a good job of making buildings look good. Where we most often fail is in the environmental separation.
With the advent of high rise buildings, fire safety has been of particular concern for architects over the last 100 years. Architects must understand the basics of fire and smoke and the risks associated with creating tall buildings. The spread of toxic smoke that results from fires has been shown to often cause more damage than the fire itself, and it is responsible for more injuries and fatalities.
Since the Roman Empire, concrete has been used as a construction material because of its versatility. Concrete can take on several forms and serve many functions. Unité d’Habitation, by Le Corbusier, is an example of using concrete to easily transition from floor to wall and from rooftop to pool. Concrete can also be formed into geometric and organic shapes, as demonstrated by Richard Meier in the Jubilee Church.
Grocery stores have undergone significant changes over the past decade. Fifteen years ago, if a recipe called for a rare ethnic ingredient, you would have to search all across town for it; now the average mega mart has most of the ethnic ingredients you could ever want. For years, grocery stores veered away from the old time service meat and deli counters and focused on self serve. The size of the grocery store has expanded at a rapid rate; the average mega mart is around 50,000 square feet. The stores started to feel less inviting and more sterile, much like a warehouse. Grocery chains seemed to have lost touch with the customer. Now jump to the present: the grocery store of 2009 is no less than a one-stop shop with all the bells and whistles. Our grocery stores of today supply us with fresh food, dry goods, prepared foods, toiletries, housewares, clothes and even banks. They have come a long way, and so have the designs.
The human body has its own heating, ventilating, and air conditioning plant. The epidermis, or skin, is its control system. Water, being available in abundance in the human body, is a natural means of storing heat or rejecting it. Remember science class in high school? Who remembers what percentage of the body is water? Wasn’t it some ridiculously high percentage? When we heard the teacher tell us, we all made kind of an unconscious mental note that that just couldn’t be. Nevertheless, when the human body needs warmth, the pores of the skin close up or constrict, hence the body retains moisture and stays warmer. When the body needs to be cooled, the pores open up, allowing moisture to escape in the form of perspiration. As the perspiration evaporates, heat is removed from the body and we feel cooler. Evaporation requires one of two elements: either the surrounding air must be dry (we call it low humidity) or it must be moving. If either exists, evaporation can occur. In the old days, all cooling was by ventilation and it occurred by means of evaporation. That’s why a convertible in the heat of summer can still be comfortable, even though the temperature is 95 degrees. We do not feel hot because, at 75 miles per hour, there are plenty of breezes to cause the evaporation we need to feel cool... unless, of course, we are parked on the expressway during rush hour.
