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ENERGY ANALYSIS EARLIER
One sixth of the electricity consumed in the United States goes to cool buildings, at an annual cost of $40 billion... In the 1970s the yearly high temperature in Los Angeles exceeded the former high temperatures caused by the eruption of Krakatau in 1883... — Published 2004.0616
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DAYLIGHTING PREDICTION TOOL ONLINE
Because daylighting is such an important feature of virtually all sustainable buildings and because its quality and quantity are difficult to predict and evaluate through simple rules of thumb, there is a need for daylighting software with a high rate of acceptance and adoption by design professionals. — Published 2004.0519
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DESIGNING A DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
For many generations, the design portfolio has been an essential tool for students seeking scholarships, graduates applying for jobs, and professionals competing for commissions. The need for good design and clarity remains constant while fashion trends and presentation technologies change over time. As portfolios migrate from paper to the Internet, it's important to know how and when to apply venerable design principles to digital media. — Editor — Published 2004.0407
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MODELING LIBESKIND'S WTC
Like other contemporary architects, Daniel Libeskind — designer of the new World Trade Center — and his firm use computer-aided modeling tools extensively during schematic design. But the firm also relies on physical models. As the new World Trade Center design develops in the public limelight, a look back at its schematic beginnings reveals a process in which physical and computer models evolved in parallel. — Published 2004.0303
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RENDERING PLANS IN DATACAD
The floor plan is arguably the single most useful method of architectural documentation. It gives an overview of the project and hints at how the project was conceived and organized. Yet some drafting conventions can be mysterious to nonprofessionals. So it is little wonder that a favorite presentation tool is the rendered plan. — Published 2004.0204
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DISCOURSE ON DIGITAL
Every October, about 100 academics from around the world get together to share ideas and research results in the field of architectural design computing. Members of ACADIA — Association for Computer-Aided Design in Architecture — present discoveries about how to use CAD technologies to improve design and design education. They also speculate on future developments and how they might contribute. — Published 2003.1119
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ARCHIVING PROJECT DOCUMENTS
How do you permanently store project documents after a building has been completed? It was much simpler 20 years ago when it was a matter of finding a safe place to shelve paper drawings or perhaps microfilm. In those days, storing was simple, but data retrieval was difficult. Today, we are inundated with so much data in so many formats, that, even though retrieval is theoretically easier, it can still be difficult to develop a truly useful project archive. — Published 2003.1022
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MICROCLIMATE SIMULATION FOR PRESERVATION
In an ancient Roman structure, valuable frescoes are being threatened by variations in temperature and humidity. In the recent past, preservationists might have used potentially damaging physical probes to study the problem and determine solutions. Today, noninvasive computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis software is coming to the rescue. — Published 2003.0924
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STUDENTS LEARN WITH INTEGRATED BUILDING MODELING
Architectural education tends to do better at teaching students the conceptual aspects of design than at preparing them for the realities of design development and construction. About four years ago I began offering a design studio at Tulane University's School of Architecture that asked students to broaden their approach and add issues such as development economics and cost estimating to their architectural design considerations. — Published 2003.0827
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TOOLS FOR FIELD SURVEYING
When architects begin a renovation or addition to a building for which no plans are available, they are often faced with the tedious chore of measuring existing conditions and creating plans from scratch. Not too long ago, the most efficient process involved a three-person team — one with a clipboard and two with a measuring tape, calling out distances. But in recent years, several aids have been developed that make it easier, even for one person alone, to make measurements fast and accurately. — Published 2003.0730
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