Building Technology
Javed Jaffery
Feb, 16, 2016
Building Technology
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Making buildings for housing purposes have been done for a long time
and has come a long way. Humans have always tried to find a better way to
create a shelter to protect them from any danger of their environment such
as weather conditions. Through past centuries, housing was not only an
essential element to protect people, but also started to bring comfort and
improve the quality of life. A lot of effort has been put into improving the
quality of these buildings. In different regions, based on the accessibility to
materials, weather conditions, and even peoples taste and culture, these
improvements took different routes with different paces. However, most of
the building technologies and improvements have been introduced in the
past century and now are become unified in most of places in the world. It is
critical to understand how these technologies got influenced and changed.
These items have been studied by many scientist and building experts. A
closer look at these works will illustrate the building technologies and all
aspect impacted them in past centuries. All these developed systems bring
better feeling for people who live in buildings. Engineers every year develop
their knowledge and try to use best design and high quality material in
contracture. Using high quality material and efficient design in building
cause more enjoyment, happiness, and more safety. However, those are not
only achievement for good designing, energy-efficient is one of the most
accomplishment in new building. In building industry, engineers using new
method of design and new material in construction and call it building
technology. Therefore, it is important to learn about history of building
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Background
During history of the United States building materials changed.
Material which were used in buildings were based on technology of that time
and also weather condition were different. The United States from west to
east has different weather condition and it affects building technology.
Therefore, it is important to know about history of building technology in the
USA, and building material.
History of Building Technology in the USA
It is important to understand the technology and material of buildings
from different eras. There has been a lot of studies to categorize this
technologies in buildings. Byers (2006) said, the building technology did not
evolved significantly between 1760s until about 1820s. After the 1820s
there were some improvements in building technology, however the main
methods remained the same. The changes could be mostly seen in the
appearance of the buildings where the Georgian style changed to a simpler
look of Federal style. Building experts use this knowledge to identifythe age
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2007). Steel and concrete are main raw material in structures. Base on
different disasters in the world, engineers try to develop new technologies
for making stronger raw materials.
Tall and Super-Tall Buildings
Tall buildings are elements of new building technology. Engineers
design tall buildings with special purpose. Kayvani (2015) reported, in the
last decades a number of people who are living in cities are raised. Also highrise construction has built quickly specially in developed countries. One of
the most important reasons for tall residential structure is lack of land in
cities. In the past 20 years, there is competition for build high-rise
construction with special spiral shape. During these years, statistics from
the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) shows a number of
high-rise buildings. Based on annual CTBUH information of high-rise
building, in 2014, 97 structures taller than 200m were finished and that is a
record for a year. Sixty percent of those building are located in China. Also
11 super high-rises were built in 2010 (taller than 300m). In 2013 in South
America Torre Costanerawas built. In New York the world trade center is
tallest high-rise (514 m) building which was built in 2014. In brief, in
developed countries high-rise buildings became popular. CTBUH every year
will print a number of high-rise buildings in the world and the world trade
center in New York is the tallest one in the U.S. according to that data.
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on skin.In this technology, just certain amount of new air with oxygen can
come into the building for air distribution and then polluted air will be guided
outside. In this function just half of circulation air needs for cooling.
However, in regular systems 80% of the office air going for cooling and 20%
air going for ventilation. With radiant cooling there is a chance for
decreasing the amount of cooling air since it can cool the heat load directly.
As the result of reduced need for providing air, smaller ducts and fans are
required. Another advantage of this system is that cold water can be
provided at 55F compared to 45F cold water required in regular systems.
Therefore, the chillers will work less hard and consume less energy resulting
in the savings. It is the reason for using less energy. In short, three new
technology for create cold temperature in buildings for summer time might
be pervasive. Using new cooling technologies have some advantages such
as energy efficiency.
Green Building in the US
Using new building technology in the US is significant. Engineers try to
use types of new technologies which have more environmental benefits.
Green, Hibbeler, King, &Randrianasolo, (2008) claimed, green buildings are
constructionswhich use energy, water, and other sources in an efficient
ways. However, in this field all items and operations are struck. This part
includes different items such as, well designing, storage area, site selection,
decreasing waste material, using natural light, setting low-flow water fixture,
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Comparing these factors from, different technologies and product will help to
make the best choice in a building construction. The price can always play a
big role in making this decision as well.
The Energy Crisis
Building technology has been affected by energy costs as well. The
cost of operation of a building is hugely affected but the cost of energy. The
energy is used for heating, cooling, and building systems. Johnson and Taber
(2007) stated in the late 1960s the architects came up with new designs
which did not consider energy usage. Due to the low cost of energy, the
buildings were designed to have high consumption with greater designs.
Some of the most energy-intensive buildings were built in that era. It was
after 1973 when the energy crisis happened due to the Arab oil embargo,
when the attention to energy conservation started. Since the buildings were
huge energy consumers, the conservation efforts were brought to buildings
by lower thermostat settings, reducing ventilation, and reducing lighting
levels. Unfortunately, a lot of building operators associated these changes
with poor indoor environmental conditions. After 1973 the energy crisis
happened and engineers changed their design system. Engineers used
thermostats for inside temperature management efficiency. Also, they
changed some parts related to ventilation and lighting.
Future Prediction
The first step for inventing new technologies is predicting a future.
One of the things humans like to predict is forecast. There are lot of same
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Annotated Bibliography
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%7CA223658656&v=2.1&u=nu_main&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w&asid=ce
3a3ff8d6f1b592db20b21cd4559d06
This book discuss about Rwanda developing in different ways such as
economy and building technology. I cover part of my research paper
which talk about Rwanda and explained how much economic situation
effect on construction market.
Green, M., Hibbeler, A., King, B., &Randrianasolo, A. (2008). Interior
Renovation Company. In L. M. Pearce (Ed.), Business Plans Handbook
(Vol. 14, pp. 59-74). Detroit, MI: Gale. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CCX3078800017&v=2.1&u=nu_main&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=
47cc9f2bcf019c98360cd8962fdaae1a
This article mention about new building designing and tell efficient
design is essential these days. I used this source for Green movement
part. I listed some necessary items for green design from this article.
Johnson, J. A., & Taber, W. S., Jr. (2010). Building Design, Commercial. In J.
Zumerchik (Ed.), Macmillan Encyclopedia of Energy (Vol. 1, pp. 191197). New York: Macmillan Reference. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CCX3407300046&v=2.1&u=nu_main&it=r&p=GVRL&sw=w&asid=
94012575dd9d756759c01404bfcca925
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This article explains energy crisis and explain different items such as
heating, cooling, and lighting in building. I listed energy crisis in last 4
decades and use this article to show new building technology help to
reduce using energy.
Kayvani, K. (2015). Tall buildings - past and present trends. Civil Engineering:
Magazine of the South African Institution of Civil Engineering, 23(6),
42-44,46-49. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.nu.edu/login?
url=http://search.proquest.com/docview/1706970183?
accountid=25320
This article is about tall buildings in past and future. This article
mentions revolution in high-rise buildings. I use this source for part of
new building technology and describe lack of land guides engineers to
build high-rise constructions.
McDermott, C. P. (2009, October). The future of the construction industry and
the implications for construction project management and education.
Ann Arbor, MI: UMI Dissertations Publishing.
This article is about future construction and steps of project
management. I used this article to cover predict future part. I used it
to explain engineers how predict future building technologies.
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