In the project, three interns will work intensively with Philip Beesley Architect Inc. on designing and implementing kinetic architectural envelopes. The envelopes will be presented as sculptural installations and as a dynamic shading system for the Canadian North House entry to the 2009 Solar Decathlon. Parametric modeling of components will be used to explore the conceptual possibilities for the project and establish design alternatives. Solar power and wireless communication technologies will be developed, building on the open source Arduino platform.
Starting in April 2009, six storey (mid‐rise) high wood frame buildings will be allowed in certain regions of Canada. This will be a new experience to design engineers in Canada, and research is required to support this new development which will expand the use of wood products beyond the traditional low rise, primarily residential construction market.
The purpose of the internship is to identify the existing status of research and innovation (R&I) processes in the Canadian construction industry. The internship will look at target levels and the extent of research and innovation (R&I) based in part on comparisons elsewhere. The intern will also research the barriers to change and an implementation plan to effect change. Through the research, resources and tools to assist the Canadian construction R&I process will be available, and a change management roadmap and implementation plan will be developed.
This research project with Canadian Wollastonite, a company focused on the commercial development of a high grade wollastonite deposits located north of the St. Lawrence River in the eastern part of the Canadian province of Ontario, investigates the possibility of using the natural mineral to enhance the properties of concrete. The project will look at three main uses of wollastonite in concrete: (1) as reinforcement to enhance the tensile strength of concrete, (2) as mineral filler to obtain self‐flowable concrete; and (3) as filler to improve strength gain of concrete.
This internship is in partnership with ISIS Canada. The Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Standard A23.1 requires air entrainment in concrete subjected to chlorides, not only for freeze-thaw environments but also for non‐freeze-thaw environments. Air entrainment presents some challenges in finishing of power trowelled surfaces, for example parking decks. Depending on the timing and amount of trowelling, air entrained slabs can be susceptible to surface de-lamination. As a result, air entrainment can not only add cost, it can make it more difficult to achieve a durable structure.
Despite being in a natural environment for success, Vancouver’s green technology industry has yet to take‐off. The Vancouver Economic Development commission, as part of its mandate, is seeking ways to help existing businesses and make policy recommendations to the City of Vancouver with regards to the green technology sector. The research project being undertaken focuses on determining the key opportunities for the green technology industry in Vancouver at the municipal level.
The project with Toronto and Region Conservation Authority , an agency that promotes the understanding, enjoyment and care of the natural environment, will entail the development of a robust data acquisition and monitoring system. This will be used for the long term performance evaluation of the various new and emerging green/sustainable/renewable housing technologies. The finished product will provide an impartial, robust hardware and software combination of monitoring and evaluation of the installed and future sustainable housing technologies in the two houses.
Ventilation design can influence the transport of infectious aerosols in buildings as well as the energy consumption of the building. Displacement ventilation (DV) holds the promise of reducing aerosol transmission and energy consumption. Stantec, a provider of professional design and consulting services in planning, engineering, architecture, surveying, and project management, has already investigated DV in hospital rooms, but that work did not consider the transient nature of aerosol sources (coughs and sneezes), or the physics of transportation and transformation of moist aerosols.
Nowhere is Canadafs rich cultural diversity more present than in the techniques of construction brought to our country by the hands of our immigrants. Whether a religious monument or a simple farm house, architecture makes visible the invisible workings of the material imagination. In this sense, the fabrication of buildings, not just their form, is a cultural artifact. Alarmingly, an increasing scarcity of specialized and skilled tradespersons, complex building codes, and industrialized building systems threaten this invaluable cultural resource.
The purpose of this project is to undertake development research to apply methods for analyzing proteins from fungi that grow on damp building materials that are antigenic in humans. This will allow the presence of the fungal antigen to be detected in dust samples by methods similar to those used for pregnancy test kits and those used for measuring house dust mite and animal allergens in houses. In this case, such methods are used to aid in the rapid assessment of houses and buildings with potential mould problems and in epidemiology studies.
