Building Committee Research Articles

Adapting Glasshouses for Human Use: Environmental Experimentation in Paxton’s Designs for the 1851 Great Exhibition Building and the Crystal Palace, Sydenham

When the horticulturist Joseph Paxton first published his proposal to house the 1851 Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations inside a glasshouse of enormous scale at Hyde Park, London, the scheme was praised as a more practical alternative to an earlier idea that had been put forward by the Royal Commission for the Great Exhibition’s own Building Committee. However, the feasibility of Paxton’s idea soon became the subject of concern. The use of glasshouses for the cultivation of plants was well established, but could this type of building now be adapted to the task of accommodating artefacts? Could it also provide visitors to the Exhibition with a comfortable environment? A particular worry was the issue of cooling, given that the Exhibition was to take place in summer. Prospective exhibitors anxiously made reference to the hot and humid conditions inside greenhouses such as the Palm House at Kew Gardens and the Conservatory at Regent’s Park, and they criticized Paxton’s idea as a risky experiment. Paxton did not ignore the challenge. He pointed out that his design incorporated shading devices, provision for evaporative cooling and natural ventilation, all of which were intended to maintain comfortable temperatures on hot days. He argued that his proposals had been informed by his previous experience with conservatory design, claiming that he had validated the effectiveness of his ventilation and cooling strategy through smalls-cale experiments at Chatsworth House. That Paxton’s plans were accepted and realized was largely due to good fortune. His design was considered to be the only one that could be constructed in time for the opening of the exhibition, which had already been advertised internationally. The Executive Committee, however, requested that conditions inside the building be carefully monitored. In effect, the Great Exhibition Building at Hyde Park became a significant early experiment in what would now be termed ‘environmental design’ (Fig. 1).

CATHOLIC LAITY INVOLVEMENT IN CHURCH BUILDING PROJECT

The Hong Kong Catholic Church introduced laity involvement in building project management for worship places in the 1970s. Following the liturgical reforms established by the Second Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the Diocesan Liturgical Commission in the late 1970s commenced initial measures to involve the laity. However, their influence remained limited until the early 1990s. Then, the Diocesan Building and Development Commission (1995) promoted an increase of professional laity from the building industry through the highly organized commission. It provided laity with substantial policy and decision-making influence, resulting in the establishment of a standardized project management method.

Yeshiva College and the Pursuit of a Jewish Architecture

Yeshiva College and the Pursuit of a Jewish Architecture Eitan Kastner (bio) In the 1920’s, New York City saw the culmination of a great Jewish building boom. Between the end of the Great War and the onset of the Great Depression, elaborate and impressive synagogues, temples, and educational institutions were built by the entire range of the city’s prominent Jewish factions. The members of the oldest Reform congregation in Manhattan, Temple Emanu-El, raised a colossal Romanesque house of worship on Fifth Avenue in 1929.1 The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTSA), which would serve as the flagship institution for Conservative Judaism, opened the doors to its grand Georgian Morningside Heights building in 1930.2 And while these two institutions decided upon established aesthetic styles for their buildings, the fledgling Orthodox Yeshiva College chose a striking and innovative combination of traditional and modern styles for the first structure of its Washington Heights campus in 1928.3 As is apparent from promotional documents aimed at potential donors, public statements from the schools founders, and comparisons with other buildings constructed by the school’s architects, the appearance of the Yeshiva College campus served as a physical embodiment of the school’s mission. At a time when American Jews struggled to find an appropriate and fitting architectural aesthetic for their various structures, Yeshiva’s founders chose to erect an edifice [End Page 141] that boldly proclaimed pride in their ideology of teaching secular and sacred Jewish studies under one roof. In the battle to retain a strong modern Orthodox population, the founders of Yeshiva sought to impress American Jewry with a grand and original Jewish aesthetic that simultaneously emphasized their commitment to Jewish tradition and progress. The Origins of Yeshiva College Yeshiva sprang from the combination of two of the earliest Orthodox educational institutions in America: Etz Chaim and the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (RIETS).4 Founded by Eastern European immigrants on Manhattan’s Lower East Side in 1886, Etz Chaim served as the first full-time Jewish school in the country. The students spent the bulk of their day in traditional study of the Talmud and Jewish law. In the late afternoons, the school administration hesitantly sanctioned the teaching of state-mandated secular courses, but Jonathan D. Sarna points out that Etz Chaim “resisted modernity as much as possible.”5 A decade after Etz Chaim entered the scene, the Orthodox eastern European Jews of the Lower East Side founded RIETS, America’s first yeshiva (institute for the advanced study of Talmud), where high school graduates could continue their traditional Jewish studies. Many of the students at RIETS desired pastoral training and secular studies as supplements to their Talmudic learning, but the yeshiva’s higher-ups frowned upon such pursuits. The restrictive atmosphere caused some of the students to transfer to JTS, especially after noted Cambridge scholar Solomon Schechter took control of the Seminary in 1902. While the Seminary could not boast a strength in traditional Talmud study as RIETS could, it offered the combination of rabbinical training and academic Jewish studies that many found attractive.6 While the students and administration clashed over the nature of the education at RIETS, the Orthodox community felt overburdened by its support of two educational institutions. In 1915, Etz Chaim and RIETS [End Page 142] merged under the new umbrella organization known as the Rabbinical College of America and thus streamlining their expenses. Both schools retained their original names and purposes, but shared expenses while the high school served as a feeder of students and funds for the rabbinic ordination program of RIETS.7 Prominent New York builder Harry Fischel, the new vice president of the institution, chaired the building committee for the Rabbinical College’s new home at 9–11 Montgomery Street on the Lower East Side. Fischel, who possessed a strong interest in architecture, had struck it rich as an investor in real estate.8 Just a few years prior to his involvement in RIETS, he held the presidency of the Uptown Talmud Torah, a modernized Orthodox supplementary school. Fischel’s push for modernization, such as placing a piano in the Talmud Torah’s sanctuary and showing motion pictures at...

Professional Development and School Restructuring: Mutual Processes of Reform

For five years we have facilitated professional development leading to restructuring and reform at Ravine Junior High (RJH) (a pseudonym, and now Ravine Middle School). Our work at RJH has been funded by a U.S. Department of Education GEAR-UP grant and supported by the universities where we serve as faculty members in education. As we present our work with colleagues from Ravine Junior High people ask, How did you get teacher buy-in? Our answer is simple: don't get teachers to buy-in, we get teachers to drive the Scholars have critiqued the deskilling of teachers over the past century, and only recently have teachers been recognized as necessary leaders in school reform (Spring, 2002). Kahne and Westheimer (2000) coined the phrase pedagogy of collective to describe teachers, informed by theory, working together to change practices. Webb, Neumann, and Jones (2004) discussed leadership, the process through which stakeholders deliberate both the ends and the means of reform, and Mohr and associates (2004) detailed how teacher research can lead to better schools. Christensen (2005-2006) urged district curriculum leaders to put classroom teachers with exemplary practice and curricular expertise at the center of professional development. At RJH, we facilitate collective action for critical leadership by creating spaces in which teachers can lead by sharing ideas, garnering peer involvement, and moving reforms forward. The reform model Such an approach ain't brain surgery, as Kretovics, Farber, and Armaline (2004) noted in their article describing the multi-site reform effort of which we are a part. In our particular school, we facilitate a three-pronged approach: 1. School restructuring, first organizing smaller learning groups, or clusters, then moving to a middle school model. 2. Student enrichment, including a teacher-developed, research-based benchmarks program to guide student performance in areas known to correlate with success. 3. Teacher professional development, through which all restructuring and enrichment is conceptualized and enacted. Throughout the process of developing this approach to reform, professional development has shifted from university-led to teacher-driven activities, as depicted in the timeline in Figure 1. Years 1 & 2: University-led change Graduate courses designed and taught by university faculty during the first two years of the professional development program are central to our restructuring process. The first-year course, School Restructuring and Urban Reform, engaged 63 teachers and administrators, organized into teams, in researching topics of their choosing and drafting recommendations for their school. They revised their draft recommendations based on feedback from colleagues, and these became the school's plan for restructuring. The second-year course, Action Research and School Reform, involved 25 teachers and the principal developing ideas for change based on their own research, presenting the ideas to peers, and revising the restructuring plan based on their new insights. Years 3 & 4: The transition The third-year course offerings were developed by university personnel but informed by teachers' reflective assessments of their accomplishments and a building-wide survey. Data led to dividing coursework into one-credit modules, all but one of which were led by university faculty to facilitate more teacher involvement. A teacher led the technology module, which had not only the highest enrollment but also the most positive evaluations. We got the point. Instead of a problem serving as a roadblock, we worked to use the problem as a tipping point in how our work evolved and changed. At the end of that year, we worked with the building's teacher leader to form a Professional Development Committee (PDC) with representation from clusters (the building's name for teacher teams), academic disciplines, the union building committee, and administration. …

Decision model for energy performance improvements in existing buildings

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe a tool that supports an investment strategy aimed at improving the energy performance of existing buildings. It is particularly aimed at large building portfolios, such as encountered on university and corporate campuses, where typically a plethora of potential refurbishment interventions are candidates for a greening effort.Design/methodology/approachThe investment optimization strategy is implemented in a web‐based software tool. Under a chosen financial constraint and investment time horizon, the tool empowers campus facility management to make the difficult “greening” decisions as part of their continuous building commissioning. The tool calculates and accepts user data that reflect different types of risks, posed by uncertainties in investment costs, energy performance, and energy cost scenarios. In addition, decision makers (DMs) can set different investment priorities, reflecting their financial risk attitude and commitment to “greenness”.FindingsThe tool helps DMs determine the best investment options from a set of available energy efficiency improvement options in the light of expected long range energy costs. It will enable the choice of the optimal mix of technologies and buildings within a given budget limit and predict the long‐term monetary as well as “green” return on investment.Research limitations/implicationsThe tool has been tested on a portfolio of campus buildings, but needs further validation with a larger set of buildings in a real life campus management setting. The tool can become a trusted instrument in the hands of portfolio managers faced with the problem to select the optimal mix of technologies, and buildings within the given budget. It should be noted that “investment returns (IRs)” and “commitment to greenness” are just two elements considered in the broader decision making framework of portfolio energy management.Practical implicationsThe investment tool can provide an essential instrument for campus managers who are faced with the task to refurbish buildings in their portfolio to increase their energy performance. In the current business culture of campus management, the decision to investment in energy savings needs to be weighed against competing initiatives that target greener campuses. The target of the research was to develop an instrument that can help DMs to verify rapidly what can be achieved if a budget line item of, say $10 million would be added to the campus budget for energy performance improvements.Originality/valueThe research output from this paper is valuable for continued efforts in the development of indicators that measure “IRs” and “commitment to greenness”. Other elements that impact portfolio decision making can be identified in a common decision framework of which the investment tool will become an integral part over time.

Pay Now or Pay Forever: The Design of Control System Software

ABSTRACT The engineering community has typically done an excellent job advancing the capabilities of the HVAC system. However, it has been a common practice to specify control intent and then to allow the controls contractor to develop the final design documents. All too often, these documents are limited to a set of wiring diagrams and a book full of manufacturer's generic documentation for the devices installed on the job. A critical, yet often underspecified aspect of the design is the integration software. Design intent documents must specify, in detail, the sequence of operations at the integration level in order to ensure the building will operate to the desired level of occupant comfort, air quality, and operating cost. Commissioning agents engaged at the design phase must be able to recognize and resolve deficient integration software specifications, and then commission the resulting implementation. While this adds to the upfront costs for building owners, the alternative is higher utility and maintenance costs for the life of the building. This article uses case study data from a midwestern university to show the types of operational problems that exist because of improper or insufficient design intent specifications. It defines a set of deliverables ranging from control software logic specifications to the inclusion of an operator's instruction manual specific to the design of the project's HVAC systems. It concludes with examples showing re-specified control sequences and the operational commissioning process. This article was originally published as part of the proceedings of the 15th National Conference on Building Commissioning, held in Chicago, IL, in May, 2007.

Costs and Benefits of Building Commissioning

Building life-cycle performance depends on the quality of process from planning through to demolition, including testing and commissioning. Commissioning costs depend on the scope of work and quality of management oversight, with the benefits also dependent on the persistence of the commissioning outcomes. Commissioning practices are evaluated for their effectiveness in terms of outcomes, costs and benefits, suggesting that Hong Kong buildings would benefit from enhancements to local practices.

Music and acoustics for Catholic churches: history and modernity

The paradoxical challenge of providing crisp speech intelligibility and lush musical reverberance in Catholic liturgical spaces has long vexed acousticians, architects, and church building committees. Compounding the complexity is the variety of musical and liturgical styles, including ethereal Gregorian chant, post-Reformation strophic hymnody, and modern ‘‘praise music’’ (e.g., folk, gospel, and amplified pop music). In this paper we first survey official Catholic documents on music and sound in liturgy. Then we consider melodic structures and tempi of various kinds of liturgical music and relate them to acoustical decay parameters. Finally, we present a sample outline of music for a Catholic Mass and discuss attendant requirements from acoustical and musical perspectives.

Report of the International Conference 'The EU, the US and the Reform of the United Nations: Challenges and Perspectives'

The 2005 World Summit was announced as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reform the United Nations so as to provide it with the institutional and policy tools needed to meet the challenges and threats to peace and security in contemporary world. But the Summit was also meant to be a crucial test for the EU common foreign policy and for the state of transatlantic relations. As a matter of fact the success of any UN Reform could be hardly envisaged without the capacity of EU Member States to advance common and consensus-gathering positions and without bridging the gap between US and EU strategic visions on multilateralism and global governance. In order to discuss whether in New York an historic occasion has been seized or rather lost, a group of distinguished scholars and high level diplomats was convened in Florence at the joint invitation of IAI, EUI and UNICRI in the aftermath of the World Summit. This Working Paper reports the debate held at the international conference and offers a first assessment of the main outcomes of the Summit while drawing the future perspectives of the UN reform process. It is submitted that the Summit has fallen short of the historical UN reform the Secretary General had hoped for, but nonetheless it records some positive advancements. This is especially the case of those issues where a transatlantic agreement was reached, such as the decision to establish a Peace Building Commission for post-conflict reconstruction, the establishment of a Human Right Council and of a Democracy Fund to strengthen the countries' capacity to implement the principles of democracy and the express endorsement of the new guiding concept of responsibility to protect the victims of severe violations of rights. In other fields, achievements have to be measured against the ambiguity of the final text and room is left to further negotiations. For instance, the key concept of human which have been launched in the Report of the High Level Panel's on Threats, Challenges and Changes (A More Secure World: Our Shared Responsibility), is endorsed but watered down to some very generic statement and a clear commitment to discuss further the notion in the General Assembly. Similarly, the historic decision to set up a new Human Right Council fails in addressing all the relevant features of the new organ (compositions, status, powers and relationship with existing organs and procedures) which are left to further negotiations in the General Assembly. A final evaluation remains therefore controversial. Lack of progress has to be recorded in core policy areas. In the field of development and environment the outcome document simply restates principles and commitments already affirmed. In the field of peace and security, no significant progresses were made in providing a global framework to combat terrorism nor specific commitments on disarmament and non-proliferation were assumed. In the highly-politicised issue of Security Council Reform, the division among EU member states did not help to reach a compromise solution. However, as a test for the EU capacity to act jointly and effectively on the international level, the World Summit has yielded positive results. The EU member States succeeded in putting their political weight behind a proactive attitude throughout the process, in pursuit of a number of clear objectives. On many issues, Europe may take the lead of the reform process, building on its own experience in promoting a lasting peace, protecting rights and fostering development. Its commitment to an effective multilateralism attempts to promote a successful global governance without yielding to the temptation of unilateral drifts. No matter how determined and powerful, a single State or group of virtuous States cannot face the threats and challenges of a global world alone. In its endless opposition to unilateralism, multilateralism is mandated by the need for an effective global governance. For many, respect – and maybe with the exception of the field of global economic governance – the UN remains a viable and irreplaceable institution. In this regard, the foremost achievement of the World Summit is precisely the fact that all the members of the UN have restated the central role of the Organization in providing global governance and have committed themselves to strengthening its effectiveness.

Bernini and the bell towers: architecture and politics at the Vatican

In 1638, the great artist-architect Gianlorenzo Bernini began one of the most ambitious architectural projects of his career: to design and construct massive twin bell towers atop St. Peter's basilica at the Vatican. But the project failed spectacularly. Bernini's reputation was permanently tarnished, and the scandal of the bell towers sparked a controversy that persists to this day. What happened? Who was responsible? How did events unfold in this dramatic episode of architectural history? This illustrated volume tells the complete story of the bell towers. Presenting both visual and documentary evidence, Sarah McPhee reconstructs the entire affair, the architectural and political milieu, the evolution of the designs, and the varying influences of all those involved in the project. McPhee examines the multiple constraints under which Bernini worked, including the ambitions of the Pope, the criticisms of rival architects, the financial and political constraints of the building committee, the monumental history of the basilica, and the geology of the site. She reinterprets Bernini's role as architect and shows convincingly that the failure of the bell tower was not Bernini's own. Instead, it was the failure of the institution of the Vatican, driven by liturgical and political imperatives, that doomed the project despite the architect's heroic efforts.

Academic Library Construction

Academic library construction projects are complex undertakings, best conducted by an integrated team composed of architect, builder, owner's representative (OR, also called clerk of works), and the library director. Whether the institution selects a traditional design-bid-build strategy, or the newer design-build approach, OR and the library director are key players from design-development through building commissioning. The outcome of any project stands a better chance of meeting or exceeding expectations if a cohesive team is in place from the outset.

庁舎におけるリニューアルの実態とその実施時期判断手法の適用性の検証

The purpose of this study is the verification of the applicability of "The formulas which can conveniently calculate at Life Cycle Cost (LCC) considering the maintenance conditions" that had been sueeested previously by us to the government office buildings. First, the actual conditions of each maintenance cost in those buildings were clarified, and the renewal costs in those buildings were analyzed. Next, the difference of the managements of maintenance costs between the private office buildings and the government office buildings was shown. The main differences were as follows; 1) Comparing with the private buildings, the government office building's commission costs were lower and the expenses for electricity were a little higher. 2) Although the expenditure times of maintenance costs in the private buildings were concentrated at the same stage,the times in the government office buildings were not concentrated. As a result of having applied the formulas to the government office buildings, the formulas were useful to those buildings. Besides, the execution times of the renewal in the buildings were considered by having applied "The evaluation method for judgment on renewal term".

The building blocks of the building project: a case study of the Kalamazoo (MI) Public Library

Provides the sequential history of Kalamazoo Public Library’s $18,700,000 building project. How the library strengthened its relationship with its community through the building project is the most important message. Information about the project’s inception, how decisions were made, and the tax levy are included. The establishment of a building committee and the nuances involved with fund development for art are addressed.

Needs and opportunities for improving the health, safety, and productivity of medical research facilities.

Medical research facilities, indeed all the nation's constructed facilities, must be designed, operated, and maintained in a manner that supports the health, safety, and productivity of the occupants. The National Construction Goals, established by the National Science and Technology Council, envision substantial improvements in occupant health and worker productivity. The existing research and best practices case studies support this conclusion, but too frequently building industry professionals lack the knowledge to design, construct, operate, and maintain facilities at these optimum levels. There is a need for more research and more collaborative efforts between medical and facilities engineering researchers and practitioners in order to attain the National Construction Goals. Such collaborative efforts will simultaneously support attainment of the National Health Goals. This article is the summary report of the Healthy Buildings Committee for the Leadership Conference: Biomedical Facilities and the Environment sponsored by the National Institutes of Health, the National Association of Physicians for the Environment, and the Association of Higher Education Facilities Officers on 1--2 November 1999 in Bethesda, Maryland, USA.

Laurentian Patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio: The Frescoes of the Sala Dei Gigli

The nature of Lorenzo de' Medici's artistic patronage in the Palazzo Vecchio is considered in this essay. By constitutional means and through political patronage, Lorenzo shaped the building committee of the Palazzo Vecchio into an instrument of his artistic patronage. The process by which work was commissioned and supervised by the members of the building committee under the direction of Lorenzo is revealed by a study of the fresco decoration of the Sala dei Gigli (1482–90). Lorenzo's influence and interests are demonstrated in the form, iconography, and progress of this work.

Air Leakage and Ventilation Effectiveness for Confinement Livestock Housing

With new building materials and construction technology, infiltration still contributed a large portion (about 47%) of the minimum ventilation in swine buildings. This ventilation can significantly reduce the ventilation effectiveness and may even cause failure to control the indoor environment. Infiltration through a building envelope is analogous to an electrical circuit. Similar to the insulation value (RSI), air leakage resistance (RL) could be a standard parameter to express the building material, construction, and performance during building commissioning.

Working with design professionals: preventive conservators as problem solvers, not problem creators

The planning of a museum building is a long, involved process because of the difficulties that this building type presents for the design team. By understanding the role that preventive conservation should play, and how to make preventive conservation contributions which are valued by the design team, the job of the preventive conservator can be made more productive. Since there is no single correct building solution, and since preventive conservators do not have decision-making authority, studying a museum building to see if a preventive conservator provided good advice is not an accurate method of assessment. Preventive conservation input should be judged on whether or not the building committee was able to make informed decisions, not on whether or not the correct decision was made with regard to preservation.

Giovanni di Lapo Ghini and a Magnificent New Addition to the Palazzo Vecchio, Florence

In a previously unnoticed provision of 1371, the Signoria and Councils of Florence approved a plan to construct an addition to the Palace of the Priors, now known as the Palazzo Vecchio. This article analyzes the main features of the provision, including financing for the project, selection of a building committee, and appointment of the architect Giovanni di Lapo Ghini as superintendent of the work. The implications of the term "magnificence" used in the provision to justify the project are examined in the context of the contemporary understanding of Aristotle's theory of magnificence. Unfortunately, the provision omits a detailed description of the addition. To clarify the nature of Ghini's project, the evidence concerning an earlier addition proposed by the Duke of Athens in 1343 is reviewed. On this basis, I conclude that very little of the duke's project was actually realized. Instead, it is proposed that the newly discovered project of 1371 revived the earlier idea of extending the Palazzo Vecchio to the east.

Tenant Mobilization and the 1907 Rent Strike in Buenos Aires

In September of 1907, the residents of a largeconventillo, or tenement house, in Buenos Aires protested a 47 percent rent increase by striking against their landlord and refusing to pay. The strikers called on the residents of other rental buildings to join with them and organized a central committee. The strike spread quickly. By October 1 tenants from more than 750 buildings had joined in the strike. That number increased to nearly 2,000 buildings before the end of 1907. Neighborhood and building committees arose throughout the city as nearly one tenth of the total population of Buenos Aires, and tenants in several other major cities as well, joined the strike in one of the largest and most unusual forms of working-class collective action in early twentieth-century Argentina.

A lesson from the history of psychiatry: competitive tendering for services and defective central heating systems in Georgian New Bethlem

Entries in the minute books of the New Bethlem Hospital Building Committee from 1813–1816 contain details of the commissioning, installation and subsequent extensive modification of a system for heating the hospital. The system adopted was chosen principally for its cheapness, but in a manner that may seem familiar in the current climate of competitive tendering, with adoption of the cheapest proposal; through the incompetence of its manufacturer it was to prove problematic and dangerous.