Home Construction Research Articles

Human indoor climate preferences approximate specific geographies.

Human engineering of the outdoors led to the development of the indoor niche, including home construction. However, it is unlikely that domicile construction mechanics are under direct selection for humans. Nonetheless, our preferences within indoor environments are, or once were, consequential to our fitness. The research of human homes does not usually consider human evolution, and, therefore, we are without previous predictions about indoor climate preference. We worked with citizen scientists to collect indoor climate data from homes (n = 37) across the USA. We then compared these data to recent global terrestrial climate data (0.5° grid cells, n = 67 420) using a climate dissimilarity index. We also compared some climate-related physiological parameters (e.g. thermoneutral zone (TNZ)) between humans and a selection of non-human primates. On average, our study homes were most similar in climate to the outdoor conditions of west central Kenya. We found that the indoor climates of our study homes largely matched the TNZ of humans and other primates. Overall, we identified the geographical distribution of the global outdoor climate that is most similar to the interiors of our study homes and summarized study home indoor climate preferences.

* b o : m][h o Ʊ m] - Living on a Tree

This writing is about a performative installation called [ *b oː m ] [ h o ʊ m ] (or boom home; boom is the Dutch word for tree). Both concept and realisation were done by me, …, in the context of the scenography exhibition A Tiding Of Magpies in June 2018. The tree home construction was strapped onto a platanus tree in front of De Gelderlandfabriek in Culemborg, the Netherlands, for one week. It was inhabited by me for three days and two nights. The term public intervention seems an appropriate characterisation, because the main intention was the interaction with people in public space. In this essay, I provide a description and reflection on both the process and the project starting with my main principle and some artistic influences. In the second part, the focus is on the process, from concept development to actual construction. The third chapter defines the methodology of the project as research layers and describes effects on the spectator (quantitative) and on myself as performer (qualitative). The fourth part is used for reflection on selected content layers: safety, basic needs, intimacy, normality, consumption and housing situation. The last chapter gives a prospect on next steps and following projects. Keywords:      public intervention, ecological art, performative installation, artistic research

“INSIDE IS REALLY LOVELY…ONCE YOU GET INTO IT” Conflicting narratives of home ‘either side of the wall’ in Basil Spence’s Claremont Court housing scheme

ABSTRACTThis article interrogates the articulation of architecture and home through the lens of residents’ domestic narratives in Claremont Court housing scheme (1959-62), Edinburgh. The Scottish tenement, a housing form underpinned by the Victorian domestic model, is the backdrop for the exploration. While Claremont Court dwellings are a representation of the modern home, the spatial arrangement of the scheme builds on Victorian working-class tenements. Such paradoxical conflation of domestic images within the design of Claremont Court serves as a framework for the exploration of the domestic narratives of five households through the use of semi-structured interviews. In revealing conflicting narratives of home ‘either side of the wall’, the findings problematize the wall as domestic boundary and contribute by showing the spatial relation between housing and its context as a culturally specific device in the construction of home. This, the article expands on the symbolic meanings of the home’s ‘interior’ and ‘front’.

Comparison of eco-effectiveness and eco-efficiency based criteria for the construction of single-family homes

The built environment faces diverse sustainability challenges concerning the ecological, the economic and the sociocultural dimension. However, common construction practices mainly focus on the reduction of environmental impacts, especially the energy consumption in the usage phase. Despite their long tradition of implementation, these eco-efficiency based strategies can only be regarded as a useful and groundwork lying step and opportunity to reduce the ecological impact in the short-term, but are insufficient for addressing the need for fundamental redesign of buildings in the long-term. In contrast, the cradle to cradle concept offers a model for fundamental redesign of buildings allowing positive interaction with the ecosystem based on the eco-effectiveness approach. The paper will analyse and compare eco-efficiency and eco-effectiveness based criteria for the construction of single-family homes with the help of guidelines and assessment methods for buildings and materials. The analysis serves the aim of identifying learnings from the long-term experience in the field of eco-efficiency and benefitting from it for the future implementation of eco-effectiveness based strategies. Single-family homes are chosen as typology as they represent the most popular housing type in Germany, but show numerous disadvantages regarding the ecological, economic and socio-cultural dimension compared to other forms of housing. Representing the smallest but worst typology from a sustainability point of view, they offer an ideal starting point. In a next step, the results can be transferred and expanded to other typologies.

Discount Rate Water Absorption Plant Fibers / Treatment of Physical Rice Straw by Dumping in Soil Solutions

The rice straw (agricultural waste) was included in the construction of homes in Africa. This application is still useful since it improves some physical properties of materials. However, the great absorption of water of such fibers constitutes an obstacle to the hydration of cement. To remedy this we offer a fiber processing technique. This technique using soil reduces from 15 to 33% absorption rate of rice straw. The processing performance depends on the soil used.

Collective ingeniosity in the construction of the popular home: The challenge of the know-how in Sahara

Collective ingeniosity in the construction of the popular home: The challenge of the know-how in Sahara

"Home" in Peace and Conflict Studies: A Site of Resistance and of Reform

This article aims to examine one aspect of the "local" that has been little considered in IR: the concept of home and its significance as a place of meaning and as a site of resistance. Existing studies of the concept of home in other disciplines include their study as "profound centers of human existence" in human geography and as the place of "many cultural practices that forge social memory." More recently, the plight of refugees has thrown into sharp relief both the need for an examination of home and its current under-theorization. After a wider examination of the meaning of home and in particular the significance of home in an IR context, this article will examine the construction of home in everyday life and its potential use as a site of resistance before analyzing the significance of this analysis to the wider field of IR.

Making Place, Making Home: Lesbian Queer World-Making in Cape Town

Abstract: Two dominant, contrasting, narratives characterise public discourse on queer sexualities in Cape Town. On the one hand, the city is touted as the gay capital of South Africa. This, however, is troubled by a binary framing of white zones of safety and black zones of danger (Melanie JUDGE, 2018), which simultaneously brings the ‘the black lesbian’ into view through the lens of discrimination, violence and death. This article explores lesbian, queer and gay women’s narratives of their everyday lives in Cape Town. Their counter narratives reveal how they ‘make’ Cape Town home in relation to racialized and classed heteronormativies. These grey the racialised binary of territorial safety and danger, and produce modes of lesbian constructions of home, notably the modes of embedded lesbianism, homonormativity and borderlands. These reveal lesbian queer life worlds which are ephemeral, contingent and fractured, making known hybrid, contrasting and competing narratives of the city.

Energy management of smart homes equipped with energy storage systems considering the PAR index based on real-time pricing

The construction of smart homes under the infrastructure of smart grids (or micro grids) is currently one of the most important topics in the field of smart energy systems. Demand-side management confers many benefits on both users and utility companies. This paper proposes a novel scheduling procedure for power consumption in homes equipped with energy storage devices. The proposed optimal power scheduling method can reduce electricity bills and improve peak-to-average ratio (PAR) while taking into account the comfort of residents. Real-time pricing combined with an inclining block rate (IBR) tariff is used to prevent high power consumption at times of low cost, and to simultaneously improve the PAR index. Because erroneous determination of the state of the charge of storage systems can have deleterious effects on PAR, a revised formulation is therefore applied to attain the best solution of the problem. Home devices and batteries are modelled in a practical and efficient manner. The proposed multi-objective optimization problem is solved with non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) using MATLAB software. Then fuzzy decision is applied to obtain the most preferred solution.

FAKTOR-FAKTOR PENGHAMBAT PEMBANGUNAN RUMAH LAYAK HUNI UNTUK KAUM DHUAFA DI PROVINSI ACEH (STUDY KASUS: KABUPATEN ACEH UTARA)

The habitable home construction activity is the North Aceh Regency Government program dedicated to the Dhuafa people. The implementation of the project is submitted to the contractor as responsible for completing the construction of a habitable home. Each planned project must have an implementation plan, when the start and end of the project, on-site technical and resource provision is essential to avoid the risk of obstacles in the implementation of the project. Problems that arise in the field are very risky and should be avoided so that the project being done can run smoothly. The purpose of this research is to identify the factors of inhibition in the implementation of habitable home project for the Dhuafa as well as to analyze a good strategy in minimizing the inhibition. The research method used is mix methode between qualitative and quantitative method. The number of executors of Dhuafa house construction in 2016 is 64 companies. The number of respondents obtained from the slovin formula of 39 companies. The results of the research explain that the factors causing the occurrence of obstacles during the execution of work is the labor factor with the value of frequency index (FI) of 0,84; design and planning factors with an FI value of 0,81; factor of equipment with value of FI 0,77; factors beyond the contractor's ability with a FI value of 0,75; material factor with value of FI 0,55; field condition factor with FI value of 0,46; and implementation factor and working relationship with FI value of 0,40. The ways that can be done to avoid the occurrence of barriers in terms of labor is to improve the quality of labor, increase the workforce who are competent in their fields, and work in accordance with the procedure. In terms of design and planning is to do a design review of the project.

Constructions of home: the politics of lesbian world making in Cape Town

Two dominant, contrasting, narratives have come to characterise public discourse on queer sexualities in Cape Town. Cape Town is often touted as the gay capital of South Africa, while simultaneously, ‘the black lesbian’ is brought into view through a discourse of discrimination, violence and death. This article explores lesbian, queer and gay women’s narratives of their everyday lives in Cape Town. Based on 23 semi-structured in-depth interviews and two focus groups, the participants’ counter narratives reveal how they ‘make’ Cape Town home in relation to racialized and classed heteronormativies. Their productions of symbolic home are read through the modes of embedded lesbianism; homonormativity and borderlands. Their material homes are constructed as sites of identity, community building and belonging; and as sites of political education and public consumption, which stretches their meanings of home to ‘homeplace’. Lesbian queer life worlds are ephemeral, contingent and fractured, making known hybrid, contrasting and competing narratives of the city.

An introduction to compulsory purchase powers for development and infrastructure schemes

This paper is an introduction to the history behind the use of compulsory purchase powers, its uses today by government agencies and utility providers, including objecting to their schemes, and comment on how these powers might be used in the future to deliver housing policy if the ‘open market approach’ fails. The Government’s use of compulsory purchase powers to enable infrastructure schemes to be completed took off in the 19th century with the expansion of the railway network, leading to the first major legislation to regularise the legal framework in 1845. Since then there have been multiple changes, including bespoke powers for the various utility providers (gas, water, electricity and telecoms). The basic principles behind property owners’ rights are common to all claims, known as the ‘Compensation Code’, but there are subtle, and at times, illogical differences in the detail of the approach to the valuation of losses. In the 1960s the Government used its powers of compulsory purchase to acquire land aggressively for the delivery of its housing policy, enabling more extensive construction of new homes than is being achieved today. The powers are there, and may be used again, to meet the Government’s ambitious housing policy targets.

Introduction: Implementation Science to Reduce Household Air Pollution (HAP) Exposures in Low and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs)

HAP exposures are responsible for a major proportion of the total disease burden in LMICs. To address this, the NIH led Clean Cooking Implementation Science Network (ISN) is developing methods to elucidate technologies, conditions, and implementation strategies that can result in the largest reductions in HAP exposures. The challenge is to accelerate widespread, sustained and nearly exclusive adoption of clean cooking to promote public health. In this symposium we present a brief introduction to the network and its approach, followed by study results from interventional and natural experiments in India and Sub-Saharan Africa. For example, India has recently launched an enormous effort to provide access to clean cooking fuels such as Liquified Petroleum Gas (LPG) to nearly 50 million homes by 2019, but challenges of sustaining LPG use remain to be overcome. Implementation science has evolved precisely to meet this kind of complex, multidimensional problem. Finance, access to services, ambient air quality, climate, home construction, community structure, cultural traditions and gender are among the complex variables addressed in the network’s research. The ISN projects presented here use a diversity of methods – including social network analysis, microfinance experimentation, novel survey methodologies and sensor-based monitoring of stove-use and resulting exposure levels – to understand the potential drivers of decision making in rural and peri-urban, low income settings. In this brief introduction to the research we provide background on the scope of the problem and an outline of the approaches we are taking to employ research that will accelerate the transition to clean cooking fuels around the world.

Domesticity On-Demand: The Architectural and Urban Implications of Airbnb in Melbourne, Australia

The home-sharing platform, Airbnb, is disrupting the social and spatial dynamics of cities. While there is a growing body of literature examining the effects of Airbnb on housing supply in first-world, urban environments, impacts on dwellings and dwelling typologies remain underexplored. This research paper investigates the implications of “on-demand domesticity” in Australia’s second largest city, Melbourne, where the uptake of Airbnb has been enthusiastic, rapid, and unregulated. In contrast to Airbnb’s opportunistic use of existing housing stock in other global cities, the rise of short-term holiday rentals and the construction of new homes in Melbourne has been more symbiotic, perpetuating, and even driving housing models—with some confronting results. This paper highlights the challenges and opportunities that Airbnb presents for the domestic landscape of Melbourne, exposing loopholes and grey areas in the planning and building codes which have enabled peculiar domestic mutations to spring up in the city’s suburbs, catering exclusively to the sharing economy. Through an analysis of publically available spatial data, including GIS, architectural drawings, planning documents, and building and planning codes, this paper explores the spatial and ethical implications of this urban phenomenon. Ultimately arguing that the sharing economy may benefit from a spatial response if it presents a spatial problem, this paper proposes that strategic planning could assist in recalibrating and subverting the effects of global disruption in favor of local interests. Such a framework could limit the pernicious effects of Airbnb, while stimulating activity in areas in need of rejuvenation, representing a more nuanced, context-specific approach to policy and governance.

Thermal performance analysis of net zero energy home for sub zero temperature areas

With the increase in energy demand globally, environmental risks are also becoming more serious than ever before. Emission of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) are hastily contributing to global warming and ozone depletion phenomenon. Buildings play a major role in consumption of energy and emission of greenhouse gases. It is need of the hour to design such buildings which have zero emission and have renewable resources of energy for on-site generation. The theory of net zero energy and zero emission home is hot topic in the sustainable building industry these days. This study targets to design a model towards energy-neutral or net-zero energy home in sub-zero temperature areas. On-site renewable energy resources are employed to generate energy independently including solar and wind energy. System is simulated for whole year on hourly basis in TRNSYS® simulation software. Results have shown good tendency for the construction of net-zero energy homes and renewable energy resources have shown promising outputs for on-site energy generation. Cold climate areas may have lower energy generation due to lower solar insolation during winter season. Pakistan has shown very good results and surplus energy produced. Lowest value of photovoltaic electric power generated is recorded 680 W in Barcelona during January, whereas Sydney has a lot of potential for PV generation of 1400 W. For wind turbine with hub height at 46 m, system produced 0.2 MW lowest value in California and highest value 1.85 MW in Karachi. Annual peak zone temperature has been recorded for Lahore 65 °C. System designed finds highest implementation with stated conditions.

Design of Power Monitoring Security Module for Embedded Device with Elliptic Curve Algorithm

Currently, we are pursuing smart home construction, intelligent living environment, environment-friendly residential living and quality of life. However, power monitoring terminals using various wired and wireless networks and protocols in home networks are very vulnerable to security. In this study, we design and develop security system for smart meter terminal which can analyze the cryptographic technology of smart meter, which is vulnerable to physical attack, and exposes personal information from the outside, and maximize the efficiency of terminal.

The role of Alpine development regimes in the development of second homes: Preliminary lessons from Switzerland

In a majority of the tourist municipalities of the Swiss Alps, more than 50% of residences are second homes. However, the growing awareness that second homes contribute to the shortage of available land and to the standardization of landscapes in sensitive alpine environments has had little effect on the pace of development. Following the adoption of the popular initiative “Stop the endless construction of second homes”, which aimed to limit the share of second homes in a municipality to 20% of homes in the area, a new law came into force on 1 January 2016, taking a clear stand against further uncontrolled development of second homes.Although it is too early to measure the impact of this new legislation, many observers proclaimed the beginning of a new development era in alpine regions. However, this optimism did not consider the strong position of the developers in these regions and their strong ties to local decision makers. This article appraises the impact of the new legislation on the long-term development model of Alpine tourist destinations, which is still largely based on strategies of land rent capture. Relying on urban regime theory, we maintain that the impact of the new regulation will depend on its ability to weaken Alpine development regimes. Urban regime theory allows us to capture the complexity of the changing context of the tourism industry and highlight five main factors that potentially impact the status of the development of second homes as a central issue of local governance. Based on empirical evidence from the Upper Engadin region, we discuss the measures implemented to regulate the growth of second homes and formulate preliminary remarks on the effectiveness of the new regulations in curbing development of second homes.

Bottle house: A case study of transdisciplinary research for tackling global challenges

Globalisation has brought a number of challenges to the fore, particularly those problems which require collaboration, innovation and capability development between nations. There are some complex issues piquing the attention of researchers with respect to sustainable development, such as, waste management, climate change, and access to amenities, housing or education. Non-Governmental Organisations, Institutions, governments and others working in the field of international development have been grappling with these difficulties for decades. However, it is becoming apparent that many of these difficulties require multifaceted solutions, particularly in Low and Middle Income countries (LMIC) where it is difficult to consolidate gains and fund schemes. Development work can sometimes be disjointed and inefficient, impairing the capability of local communities and inhibiting sustainable and innovative approaches. Transdisciplinary collaboration is reliably a more efficient way of tackling some of the most pertinacious challenges. This paper presents findings from a transdisciplinary research project focussed on developing resources and capacity for the construction of affordable homes in a low income community in Nigeria. The project explored the suitability of using upcycled materials such as plastic bottles and agricultural waste in construction. Using a user-centred, co-creation methodology, a team of experts from the UK and Nigeria worked with local entrepreneurs to build a prototype home. The study explores the functionality of the home and the sustainability of project. The findings demonstrate the benefits of tackling global challenges from a transdisciplinary perspective. This has implications for researchers focused on developing technical solutions for low-income communities.

Studi Pekerjaan Pasangan Bata Berdasarkan Produktivitas Jumlah Tenaga Kerja Dengan Metode Work Study

Research on the comparative analysis of masonry unit price based on SNI and Work Study was conducted by the method of analysis SNI and analysis Work Research Study. The object of this study is a simple home construction project in Nurasa Regency Nganjuk. Calculation method using the coefficient existing SNI SNI Work Study while the calculation using the coefficient obtained through the research and the results shown in the method Work Study. After processing, the results obtained in the development. the method used is the analysis of ISO 6897-2008 with the number 6.9 to work 1 m2 couple red brick wall size (5 x 11 x 22) ½ cm thick brick, a mixture of species 1 PC: 4 PP. In the implementation of a method of the materials used are ISO methods but to the number of workers and working time adjusted to the field conditions where there may be differences between SNI and the field. The method of implementation in current research project is not in accordance with the SNI, because at the time of the field research used several different work groups. This certainly affects the cost of the implementation, where the number of different artisan or worker resulted in considerable cost difference anyway. In addition some of the things that makes the price to be much different and are beyond boundary problem should be eliminated in order to get the correct result - really can be compared with the SNI. Some things are omitted or overlooked include job preparation, work benangan, foreman, and the foreman. Budget plan masonry work per square meter according to SNI is USD 86,472.50. Budget plans masonry work costs per square meter with a method Work Study is USD 77,395.50. So the comparison difference masonry work cost per square meter between SNI and methods Work Study is Rp 9,076.50.

Boosting a Low-Cost Smart Home Environment with Usage and Access Control Rules.

Smart Home has gained widespread attention due to its flexible integration into everyday life. Pervasive sensing technologies are used to recognize and track the activities that people perform during the day, and to allow communication and cooperation of physical objects. Usually, the available infrastructures and applications leveraging these smart environments have a critical impact on the overall cost of the Smart Home construction, require to be preferably installed during the home construction and are still not user-centric. In this paper, we propose a low cost, easy to install, user-friendly, dynamic and flexible infrastructure able to perform runtime resources management by decoupling the different levels of control rules. The basic idea relies on the usage of off-the-shelf sensors and technologies to guarantee the regular exchange of critical information, without the necessity from the user to develop accurate models for managing resources or regulating their access/usage. This allows us to simplify the continuous updating and improvement, to reduce the maintenance effort and to improve residents’ living and security. A first validation of the proposed infrastructure on a case study is also presented.