Digital Manufacturing is expensive due to the initial capital costs related to the digitally able machines and robots. This entails that the segment of the construction sector that is rapidly adopting these technologies to meet the productivity and ecological goals of the Construction Sector is largely restricted to large businesses – large Architectural, Engineering and […]

What if our buildings, instead of producing 30% of the world’s carbon emissions, could act as a carbon sink? Soft Concrete aims to rethink concrete in the built environment. The goal of this study is to explore sustainable alternatives to concrete, one of the largest sources of carbon in modern construction, but to retain the […]

This design research project explores existing and ongoing perspectives on (post) pandemic conceptions in built environment settings in Alberta, from an architectural design perspective. The results will add to the scholarly research on sustainable design of “public spaces” to support (post) COVID-19 period health concerns and recommendations, thereby contributing to the development of healthier design […]

This design research project explores existing and ongoing perspectives on (post) pandemic conceptions in built environment settings in Alberta, from an architectural design perspective. The results will add to the scholarly research on sustainable design of “public spaces” to support (post) COVID-19 period health concerns and recommendations, thereby contributing to the development of healthier design […]

Integral Abutment Bridges (IABs) are unique structures in the sense that they are rigid compared to typical bridges that have bearing connections. Bridges are designed to withstand forces sourcing from its own weight and ongoing traffic as well as temperature forces. As the temperature varies (cyclic in nature), the bridge experiences contraction and expansion forces […]

When construction equipment digs, this generates a complex set of physical interactions between the machine and the soil. Being able to accurately simulate such interactions in real-time opens the door to improved operator training and even adaptively-tuned digging operation that optimize the energy-efficiency of construction equipment. With recent advanced in artificial intelligence (AI), this is […]

Porous Rubber Pavement (PRP) is a new type of permeable pavement in North America. It consists of stone aggregates, crumb rubber from recycled tires, and polyurethane as a binder. Due to a higher percentage of air voids (27% to 29%) and flexible nature, it offers extensive environmental and safety benefits, including improved stormwater management, reduced […]

As Covid-19 Pandemic shows that we are surrounded by global unforeseen risks. Housing and housing financing are significant parts of people’s life and global crises may always put people’s right to housing in danger. For this very reason, it is a necessity to look for alternative financing models for housing as affordability would decrease the […]

The overarching goal of this partnership is to develop a modular accelerated building construction system that is suitable for implementation into the Canadian marketplace. The use of the post-tensioned, and friction-based, connections for modular system connections is atypical of North American design procedures and the reliance on these connections for resisting sustained gravity loads is […]

Existing HVAC system design may be contributing to the spread of viruses such as COVID-19 with transmission through ventilation systems. Many HVAC systems recirculate up to 85% of the air, can have cross-contamination of the exhaust air stream with the supply air stream and virus transmission is more likely to occur when the relative humidity […]

Naturally, the Precast Concrete and the Canadian Construction Industries are not going to come out of the COVID-19 crisis unscathed. The various players will all be affected in different ways. And of course, demand will fall sooner or later as the crisis continues, which will squeeze profits throughout the entire construction industry and the Canadian […]

3D concrete printing and the digital design processes associated with this technology are developing quickly across the world, both in academia and in practice, moving from the realm of the artisan to the early stages of automated manufacturing. How do architects engage this emerging new field that combines fabrication technologies with material in their design […]