Buildings, Volume 11, Issue 1

Peer review is the driving force of journal development, and reviewers are gatekeepers who ensure that Buildings maintains its standards for the high quality of its published papers [...]

Solar radiation provides the most significant natural energy in buildings for space heating and daylighting. Due to atmospheric interference, solar radiation received at the Earth’s surface consists of direct beam and diffuse radiation, where diffuse...

Creativity is fundamental to design problem-solving. This paper sets out a systematic review of the literature in relation to its role in the architectural design studio in order to identify central issues that impact upon this activity. Challenges a...

Occupant behaviors are one of the most dominant factors that influence building energy use. Understanding the influences from building occupants can promote the development of energy–efficient buildings. This paper quantifies the impact of different...

In recent years, a building’s energy performance is becoming uncertain because of factors such as climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, stochastic occupant behavior and inefficient building control systems. Sufficient measurement data is essen...

Computational creativity in built environment (BE) design has been a subject of research interest in the discipline. This paper presents a critical review of various ways computational creativity has been and can be defined and approached in BE desig...

The external envelope walls of a significant percentage of the residential building stock in Southern European countries is commonly constituted by infill masonry walls. However, thousands of square meters of this masonry wall typology presents sever...

In several areas worldwide, the high cost and shortage of natural resources have encouraged researchers and engineers to explore the serviceability and feasibility of using recycled aggregates in concrete mixtures, substituting a normal aggregate per...

An urban residential building from the second half of the 19th century and the start of the 20th century, the so-called tenement house, is a significant representative of the architecture of the developing urban fabric in Central Europe. The vertical...

Masonry towers are part of a valuable architectural heritage characterizing the landscape of many historical areas. These towers are vulnerable structures that are prone to earthquake damage. Hence, the design of effective seismic upgrading intervent...

It is easy to assume that historic environments consist mainly of traditional pre-modern style buildings; however, contemporary architecture is continuously added to historic environments, and its construction is positively encouraged by internationa...

Wood is a natural, sustainable, and renewable material, which has been used as flooring for centuries, but not enough is known about its durability and performance over time when subjected to different degradation agents. This study proposes a method...

Bauxite residue (BR) is one of the most commonly generated industrial wastes in the world. Thus, novel techniques for its proper utilization must be urgently developed. Herein, seawater-neutralized BR–unsaturated polyester resin (UPR) composite...

This article proposes a methodology to measure the productivity of a construction site through the analysis of tower crane data. These data were obtained from a data logger that records a time series of spatial and load data from the lifting machine...

In order to develop the application of the more cost-effective copper-based shape memory alloys (SMAs), rather than nickel–titanium as earthquake energy dissipaters, the influence of ausforming-induced plastic deformation on phase transformatio...

Over the past decade, urban housing typologies have evolved from being a feature of modern life to an essential postmodern issue, questioning future housing identities. One of the ways in which architecture can become engaged in this ever-changing pr...

There are many concepts for buildings with integrated renewable energy systems that have received increased attention during the last few years. However, these concepts only strive to streamline building-level renewable energy solutions. In order to...

This paper reviews the recent literature on skill and labour shortages in the labour market with special emphasis on the construction sector in the European Union Member States, foreseeing the Construction 4.0 era. The free movement of people is one...

Reinforced concrete (RC) members in critical structures, such as bridge piers, high-rise buildings, and offshore facilities, are vulnerable to impact loads throughout their service life. For example, vehicle collisions, accidental loading, or unpredi...

The paper describes the numerical approach adopted to investigate the effects of vibrations induced on reinforced concrete (R.C.) buildings by the excavation works needed to bury an existing railway line crossing an urban area in the south of Italy....

This paper explores the working hypothesis that fractal patterns that closely match those found in nature are more likely to convey a strong sense of genius loci to humans by comparison with ‘Euclidean’ patterns that do not occur in natur...

The majority of Italian schools (70%) were built in the absence of any legislation related to energy efficiency, and therefore have very low energy performance due to aging or poor quality of construction. An energy retrofit of this building stock is...

Buildings possessing an asymmetrical arrangement of structural elements are torsionally unbalanced and can be vulnerable in a seismic event. Building codes of practices typically recommend the use of three-dimensional dynamic analysis to determine th...

Selecting the appropriate project delivery method (PDM) is a very significant managerial decision that impacts the success of construction projects. This paper provides a critical review of related literature on the evolution of project delivery meth...

Falls account for about one-third of all construction fatalities with most fatalities in the roofing trade. Even though a personal fall arrest system (PFAS) is required for fall protection, proper placement of PFAS anchor points is an issue evidenced...

The increasing demand for multifamily housing in the United States requires alternatives for building more affordable and sustainable housing to improve the quality of life for millions of families. Offsite construction (OSC) strategies may be a viab...

Improving the environmental life cycle performance of buildings by focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions along the building life cycle is considered a crucial step in achieving global climate targets. This paper provides a syste...

Precast concrete (PC) plays an important role in the industrialization processes of buildings, so it is critical to study the seismic performance of such structures. Several experimental and numerical studies have been conducted to investigate the be...

Single-task construction robots (STCRs) have become a popular research topic for decades. However, there is still a gap in the ubiquitous application of STCRs for onsite construction due to various reasons, such as cost concerns. Therefore, cost–bene...

Simplified seismic design procedures mostly recommend the adoption of rigid floor diaphragms when forming a building’s lateral force-resisting structural system. While rigid behavior is compatible with many reinforced concrete or composite stee...

Since 2002, the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) has set up the path to improve the efficiency gains in the EU building sector, including measures that should accelerate the rate of building renovation towards more energy efficient sy...

Collaborative work practices are getting more common in construction projects. Consequently, new project delivery models have emerged and new practices have also entered the world of traditional delivery models. The resultant collaborative constructi...

In this study, a novel porous geopolymer mortar (GP) was produced and tested experimentally. Industrial waste materials/by-products were used as constituents of the GP, along with dune sand. One sample was produced as a control sample for benchmarkin...

The interaction between concrete and steel occurs during concrete mixing and finishing processes, during filling of concrete moulds, formwork, composite columns and during pumping of concrete mixtures. More experimental investigation is required to p...