Designing thermally comfortable buildings

February 26, 2021 maz_atta

Madeleine Lunde, EIT, and Marc Trudeau, P.Eng., Architect AIBC, BEMP, CPHD, LEED AP

Buildings are designed for the people who live and work within them. Yet, more than 40 per cent of occupants of office facilities have reported dissatisfaction with their thermal environment (For more information, read Percentage of commercial buildings showing at least 80% occupant satisfied with their thermal comfort by Caroline Karmann, Stefano Schiavon, and Edward Arens (2018), proceedings of 10^th Windsor Conference: …

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New suspended ceiling technologies can help limit COVID-19 transmission: A healthy return to the office also requires a focus on air quality

Managing noise in health-care facilities through flooring specification

February 11, 2021 sadia_badhon

When evaluating flooring options for health-care centres, it is important to consider the need to reduce noise levels while maintaining high standards of cleanliness to provide safety and comfort to patients and providers.

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Snow guard design considerations

February 5, 2021 sadia_badhon

A snow guard increases friction between roof and snow, retaining a snowpack on a roof, so that it evacuates in a predictable and controlled fashion (evaporation and thaw) rather than by a sudden and dangerous rooftop avalanche.

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Net-zero buildings made simple with ICF construction

February 4, 2021 sadia_badhon

While insulation is not the sole contributor to a net-zero building, insulated concrete form (ICF) technology, in combination with other energy-saving practices, can improve a building’s energy efficiency while easing the construction process.

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Wind design for modular vegetated roofing systems

January 28, 2021 sadia_badhon

Vegetated roofs offer multiple benefits to urban areas, such as managing stormwater and reducing energy demand. Wind flow around buildings creates positive and negative pressure fluctuations, affecting both the roofing and the vegetation on it. As part of the building envelope, it is important a vegetated roof is secured against these forces.

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Repair and maintenance solutions for parking garages

January 25, 2021 sadia_badhon

Parking garages and other concrete structures are often exposed to severe corrosive environments leading to deterioration that necessitate the need for evaluations, repairs, and rehabilitation.

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A comprehensive scrutiny of building enclosure design and construction

January 21, 2021 sadia_badhon

The building enclosure is the ‘skin’ of a structure and protects occupants from the exterior environment. The driving factors of enclosure design have evolved through the decades.

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Sprung instant structures and the fight against COVID-19

January 14, 2021 sadia_badhon

The planning, design, and construction of hospital facilities normally take years. However, the pandemic presented a unique challenge where solutions had to be conceived and implemented within months. This is the story of one response to this unique challenge.

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Wood in civic buildings

January 14, 2021 sadia_badhon

For public projects, as for other types of buildings, new engineered mass timber products, supported by recent legislation, make wood an economic and functional choice in both rural and urban areas. Two recent B.C. projects illustrate this point.

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