The School of Architecture contributes significantly as a leader in fundamental research and innovative applications in the use of computers and building technology. Our pioneering tradition continues in new and unique focus areas, including Sustainable Design, Architecture-Engineering Construction Management, and Urban Design. The following are just a few examples of our exciting research.
Intelligent Workplace Energy Supply System IWESS is an integrated set of components that uses solar thermal energy and a renewable liquid fuel to provide power, cooling, heating, and ventilation for Carnegie Mellon’s Intelligent Workplace (IW). The objective of the IWESS is to provide a healthy, productive, and comfortable environment for the occupants of the IW and to reduce the primary energy requirements for its operation by a factor of two.
Solar Decathlon Every two years, the US Department of Energy invites university teams to design, build, and operate the most attractive and energy-efficient solar-powered house. Competing in a prominent international student competition and building an educational resource dedicated to environmental issues is symbolic of everything Carnegie Mellon stands for: fusing art and technology; collaborating on a multi–disciplinary basis; improving energy effectiveness and environmental responsibility; learning in a hands–on fashion; and impacting regional and global issues.
National Environmental Assessment Toolkit The NEAT effort has been established to develop the goals and methods for undertaking field research in parallel with innovative workplace design to definitively demonstrate the role of real estate and facilities in individual and organizational effectiveness. The Center for Building Performance is building evaluation protocols linking environmental, technical and spatial quality to individual and organizational effectiveness.
Computer-Aided Design for Sustainable Building The advent of building information modeling (BIM) has facilitated model change and propagation via parametric object-oriented representation. BIM is an ideal place to integrate a sustainable building rating system to aid in sustainable building design. The project seeks to assist designers with objective assessments of sustainable design.
Micro-Electro-Mechanical Devices for Structural Sensing MEMS devices (micro-electro-mechanical systems) are microchips, fabricated like integrated circuits, to create structures at the microscale, less than 1/10,000th of an inch. This technology can be used to build ultrasonic resonators that serve as sensors for acoustic emissions, to detect the progress of fatigue cracking in structures such as bridges.
Computationally Enhanced Construction Kits and Craft Construction toys for building physical models have played a powerful role in children’s lives. Traditional constructions tend to be aesthetically and behaviorally limited. Through embedded computation, kit pieces may communicate with each other, desktop machines, and users. By integrating construction kits with computation, their power and expressiveness can be increased.
Diabetes Prevention and Treatment Programs for Western PA Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are computer-based applications designed for the storage, retrieval and analysis of geographically referenced data. GIS can generate maps using a wide array of physical, biological, cultural, demographic and economic information. Most health care experts agree that no single factor is responsible for childhood obesity. Rather, the causes are complex, with many attributions. Among these are genetics, socioeconomic issues, excess food consumption and the increasingly sedentary lifestyles of many of today’s children. GIS can be a very powerful tool to uniquely analyze the many causes contributing to this epidemic.
Building Investment Decision Support Tool BIDS™ is a case-based cost-benefit analysis tool to support investments in advanced and innovative building systems that improve environmental quality, health and productivity in buildings. The project continues to identify laboratory and field case studies demonstrating the relationship of high performance components, flexible infrastructures and systems integration to the range ofcost-benefit and productivity indices. The team is also expanding the data base to include productivity, health, and operations costs, with baseline data sets to support lifecycle decisionmaking.