Theses

 
A list of the PhD students I have supervised, along a link to download their thesis, can be found below.
Click the triangle next to the title to see their Abstract.
My own PhD Thesis is here.
 
 
Download PDF (0MB)Design Narrative Algorithm by Abdulmajid Karanouh Digital technology continues to play a growing role in several design industries, including Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC). While it assists in communicating quantitative aspects of the design intent (the 'what'), there is a gap in communicating effectively qualitative aspects (the 'why' and 'how'), otherwise identified as the design rationale.
Since 2002, I've worked with global firms renowned for pushing the boundaries of design and construction; my role often involved leading specialist teams to develop solutions using algorithmic design principles, and communicating their underlying parametric rules from concept to realisation. To date, there are no recognised frameworks for systematically capturing and communicating design rationale of digital design models, including Parametric, BIM and Digital Twin models, independently of coding syntax and software - a research gap that this thesis identifies and addresses.
In this thesis, I explore the effectiveness of capturing and communicating the algorithmic design rationale of digital parametric models using instructive annotated visual narratives - a novel technique, intuitively inspired by LEGO manuals, that I first developed in practice in an attempt to bridge this gap.
The research is first informed by literature review, including overviewing design visual communication techniques used in various industries. I then explore a technique that I developed and applied successfully in practice as case study. I further test the technique through workshops and interviews, and use their feedback to inform the development of its universal framework - the Design Narrative Algorithm (DNA) - an algorithm-like visual process that enables communication of design as visual narratives systematically.
The DNA is applied in practice on case studies and further developed to output a digital application that communicates design rationale interactively. The unique ability of the DNA framework output - an instructive interactive annotated visual narrative - to capture and communicate design rationale in general, and the algorithmic design rationale of digital parametric models in particular, is the main contribution to knowledge that this research offers.
 
Download PDF (38MB)The Nature of Place : A nature-focused, place-specific, storytelling methodology for architectural innovation by Mike Tonkin This thesis sets out a nature-focused storytelling methodology to bring about architectural innovation. First published as a short book in 1999, the method called Asking, Looking, Playing, Making uses stories to find archetypes of nature to create unique projects. The approach has evolved empirically over 25 years of Tonkin Liu's practice and teaching and has developed and extended through this research. The outcome is a toolkit that offers an integrated design process for placemaking.
The toolkit has brought nature to the fore as a primary concern and an enduring source of inspiration that leads beyond traditional influences to bring new vitality to architecture. The methodology heightens awareness by reprioritising society's relationship to the natural world through setting, framing, symbols and learning from the natural world to bring people closer to nature. These strategies expand the practice of biomimicry.
Storytelling is put forward as an autonomous design vehicle that serves as a collective medium of communication for the collaborative team. Storytelling techniques of riddle, quest, archetype, and script provide critical direction to creative design stages. Mythical stories generate distinct design alternatives in the search for the appropriate manifestation of form. Experimentation informs the development of a construction system as a family of parts to become a tailor-made technical incarnation of the story.
The design methodology is informed by a diverse field of literary references that contextualise nature and storytelling within the working processes. The approach dismantles the subject matters of our age by exploring poetic and pragmatic design considerations. The toolkit is illustrated in diagrams to offer a systematic architectural approach as art practice is fused into the science of methodology. The procedures within the toolkit are set out in the Asking, Looking, Playing, and Making chapters. Invention within the methodology brings about innovation in the project outcomes as each story challenges conventions. Focusing on the natural world within particular circumstances leads to highly specialised placemaking. In a time of significant environmental challenge, the hope is that this research will provide a responsive, holistic toolkit for architectural innovation.
 
Download PDF (17MB)Integration of Advanced Techniques for the Optimisation of Energy Consumption and the Mitigation of Urban Heat Island by Yasser Ibrahim Current global urbanisation rates highlight the need to reconsider our design practices to minimise the negative impacts of our built environments on natural resources and the health and well-being of urban residents. The debate on the sustainability of urban form started decades ago, underpinned by a set of environmental criteria, delineating the path for policy development to find the optimum balance between urban density and the thermal and energy performance. In developing countries, despite their anticipated share of global urban population, this balance is far from being realised. In Egypt, where massive construction projects are being carried out, the vulnerability of urban residents is mostly recognised by the gap between a drastic urban growth and its reflection on the local construction policies, which pay very little attention to the environmental implications of building new conurbations.
This thesis fills this gap by presenting quantitative scientific evidence on the relationship between urban form and both thermal comfort and energy performance in buildings, in Cairo, Egypt. In doing so, the thesis introduces a simulation workflow within the parametric design interface, Grasshopper for Rhino3D, to investigate the impact of various urban geometry configurations on different environmental performance criteria, studied within three key milestones. The performance criteria are outdoor thermal comfort, represented by the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI), and the total energy loads in buildings. First, 7716 urban street canyon configurations are studied though varying their design parameters in three consecutive phases, to maximise outdoor thermal comfort. Simulations includes changing 12 heights of canyon's flanks simultaneously and separately, 11 street widths, and 12 different orientations of the street canyon. The results reveal new correlations between the design parameters and thermal comfort, showing the ability to reduce thermal stress beyond the design thresholds of local construction codes, which reaches up to 6°C, thus highlighting the need for climate-sensitive design regulations.
Second, 3430 typological and morphological design configurations are investigated on an urban block scale through varying their design parameters, to find the best typology and its associated density parameters which maximise outdoor thermal comfort and minimise energy loads.
 
Download PDF (18MB)The Role of Computational Tools in Designing Healthy Housing for the Displaced by Noorullah Kuchai Millions of forcibly displaced people around the world are housed, often for decades, in shelters either provided by aid agencies or self-built from designs and/or materials provided by agencies. The environmental conditions within such shelters can be inacceptable, with extreme temperatures and very poor air quality contributing to increased morbidity and mortality, particularly for the vulnerable. In addition, a lack of culturally sensitive design awareness over such issues as privacy, social space and gender, adds additional stress, all for people who have already undergone painful displacement. Anecdotally it would appear that although some of these problems might be driven by the speed at which accommodation is provided and the restricted budget, there are additional issues, such as: (i) many lessons fail to get transferred from one situation to the next; (ii) aid staff often have little building physics knowledge; (iii) those designing shelters outside of the aid-sector are not aware of the psycho-social and financial aspects of shelter provision. This latter point can lead to an attempt to design a-shelter-for-all-situations which is unlikely to be successful, given that the cultural backgrounds of the occupants, the climate and the financial constraints will be different in each emergency. For example, the per-shelter budget can range from 100USD to 2,000USD. This suggests there is the need to support those working on shelter design with a well researched platform that: (i) encourages a uniform design or tendering process that encapsulates previous lessons (such as not allowing males to see into female areas in some cultures; or providing ventilation for wood/kerosene burning stoves); (ii) can be updated as further lessons are learnt; (iii) produces results that are distinct to the emergency, budget and location; (iv) is supported by building physics tools; (v) is pedagogical, in that it upskills the user in issues of shelter provision. A literature review suggested no such platform exists. Shelter specialists in the sector were interviewed, and stated that they were both overwhelmed by the number of seemingly innovative shelter designs available and that they had no tool or robust platforms to help assess their relative merits or assist their design work. A pioneering survey was hence carried out to assess the appetite for computational tools amongst humanitarian aid staff across nineteen countries. The survey presented two new simple computational tools (both aimed at informing early-stage design thinking), one on daylight calculations and one on estimating the carbon emissions associated with shelter provision. The work concluded that: (i) the computer-based building-physics tools, common in normal design practice, are not used for the design of shelters; (ii) lack of the relevant skills, time, information and software costs were the main reasons for this lack of uptake; (iii) 97% of the participants identified a need and a desire for shelter design tools; (iv) the majority felt that the two example tools provided as part of the survey were useful; (v) vast majority were very willing to adopt future computational tools in their work; (vi) any such tools needed to be quick and simple to use. Further evidence of the poor environment in shelters, and the potential impact and the importance of the use of the science of building physics in designing shelters, was then gathered via 1,400 thermal comfort surveys of refugees and the direct monitoring of conditions in 62 shelters in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and of the air quality in shelters across three continents. The results showed that the thermal conditions and air quality were very poor and shelters failed most of the time (42.23% in winter and 84% in summer) to provide a thermally comfortable indoor conditions. The investigation of indoor air quality conducted in refugee shelters for VOCs, Particulate Matter and CO2 levels showed the presence of very high levels of pollutants (often linked to excess mortality) and extremely high levels of CO2 (causing several respiratory diseases) and most importantly, that the indoor conditions could be significantly improved by applying basic building-physics techniques and alteration in the shelter designs.
As a result, two additional tools were developed and tested: (i) a new thermal model of simple buildings, with minimal inputs that presents the conditions in a shelter as a time series of temperatures for a typical summer and winter day; (ii) a wind-load tool for the design of ground anchoring systems. In addition, a study was completed to see if Social Network Analysis might be useful for visualising information and material flows in self-built shelters. Finally, to address the need for a platform to aid both the design process and tendering analysis, and to upskill those providing or designing shelters, the Shelter Assessment Matrix (SAM) was developed and tested. This addresses 34 key issues, highlighted in this and previous research, and allows a shelter to be assessed for any location in the world. SAM also contains 23 documents of educational information on the key issues. SAM pays equal attention to building physics the psycho-emotional and socio-cultural aspects of housing for the displaced. SAM was tested and shown to be a suitable learning/teaching platform for those interested in shelter projects in the humanitarian context. The potential uplift in the knowledge of users following their use of SAM was examined via three exam-style tests administered to 72 aid workers. In addition to positive changes in their perception of particular design aspects of housing for the displaced, an increase (16 percentage point uplift) in their knowledge was demonstrated, which indicates that SAM might be a good alternative teaching/learning platform. Which also suggests that the integration of SAM in the design process of shelters will increase the knowledge of the users regarding critical shelter design aspects and it will lead to the provision of better and healthier housing for the displaced, housing which is cheaper and quicker to build, socially, culturally and politically acceptable, environmentally friendly, adaptable, durable and with thermally comfortable indoor environments. The consistency of the results produced by SAM was assessed by recruiting 11 shelter experts to evaluate the performance of a shelter design using SAM. Examining the results of the mentioned exercise, the 95% bootstrap confidence interval was CI[44.0 , 47.3] with a mean score of 45.7 (out of 100) and the mean standard deviation across the results of nine design criteria was 0.90, which shows that SAM reported with consistency. Moreover, the results of a contextual performance analysis of 187 previously deployed shelters in 40 countries showed that SAM can produce statistically different results for different designs and that the results are logical. This exercise also created the first empirically contextualised repository of information on the performance of existing shelters around the world as an additional contribution to knowledge.
 
Download PDF (73MB) Minimising the Mass of Aluminium in Curtain Wall Facades by Adam Lee Often, large modern buildings such as high-rise office towers are enclosed by lightweight facades made up of prefabricated, aluminium-framed panels. Worldwide, the mass of metal required to build these unitised curtain wall systems is in excess of two million tonnes annually, and is increasing. Much energy is required to release metallic aluminium from its naturally-occurring oxides, and therefore, if these walls can be built with less metal, humanity will benefit not just because urban development will be less costly, but also because it will be environmentally more benign.
This thesis, in which previously unpublished research findings are presented alongside peer-reviewed journal papers, identifies strategies that can be employed - by architects, facade engineers and the authors of structural codes - to minimise the use of aluminium. These guidelines are abstracted from the results of research carried out in various ways.
Well-optimised extrusion shapes are found numerically, for tens of thousands of different facade layouts, using a genetic algorithm linked to a parametrically-controlled geometric model. The technique reveals that better optimisation can reduce, typically by 20% or more, the amount of aluminium in real buildings' bespoke curtain walls. Also, in common facade configurations, adjusting the design criteria and locations of attachment brackets can bring further savings of 40% or more, without affecting the wall's appearance or structural performance.
Existing structural analysis procedures are examined, errors and anomalies in the literature are pointed out, laboratory tests expose substantial shortcomings in the accepted idealisations, and new algebraic descriptions are proposed then validated.
National governments recognise the importance of, and are keen to enhance, the thermal performance of facades. However, this research demonstrates that much greater energy savings could be achieved, in buildings with curtain walls, simply by providing design professionals with knowledge of the methods needed to make efficient use of aluminium.
 
Download PDF (50MB) Optimising Space-frames for Construction by Antiopi Koronaki The challenges associated with the construction of large-scale, doubly-curved space-frame structure are significant. This research centres on the development of a novel framework for the reduction of their construction complexity by reducing the geometrical variability in their joints and enhancing standardisation. Conway operators are applied to generate an extensive design-space of topologically uniform space-frame configurations, that enables the exploration of materially efficient, and innovative, modular layouts. A novel method for the comparison of the geometry of their joints is then developed, that is invariant under any rotation. This serves as the basis for the evaluation of geometrical variability in a structure and the assessment of its construction complexity, when overlaid with the properties of different fabrication processes. The geometry optimisation of complex, large-scale structures is therefore enabled to reduce the variability in their members and facilitate their construction. The parameters of the computational workflow established can be adjusted, depending on the stage of the project in which the optimisation is carried out, to improve its performance. This workflow therefore suggests an overall shift of the complexity from the construction to the design process, where it can be dealt with by the application of the advanced analysis tools developed. It facilitates the construction of complex structures, promoting an informed application of fabrication processes and thus generating better-engineered solutions.
 
Download PDF (7MB) Inventory-Constrained Structural Design by Aurimas Bukauskas The design of structures using only elements available from a finite inventory, or "inventory-constrained structural design" (ICSD), presents a challenging design and optimisation problem which is not well addressed by conventional approaches. Improved ICSD techniques could enable significant life-cycle impact reductions in future construction through increased component reuse of elements from deconstructed structures, and increased use of minimally processed low-impact whole (round) timber elements. Such techniques could also enable more efficient utilisation of overstock structural elements and improved design in rural and developing regions with restricted structural material supply chains.
Conventional structural design methods are ill-suited for ICSD because they do not allow for the consideration of inventory constraints, and do not account for the impacts and costs associated with offcut waste. ICSD methods developed to date for whole-timber construction have been problem-specific and do not allow for simultaneous consideration of structural and inventory constraints. ICSD methods for steel component reuse developed to date may not execute quickly enough for use in early-stage structural design exploration, the project phase when the greatest reductions in life-cycle impact and improvements in performance of new structures are likely to be achieved. This thesis first presents novel analytical methods for simplified characterisation of the design space of a class of ICSD problems in early-stage design. Next a new metric is introduced for comparing the performance of inventory-constrained designs considering offcut waste. Finally, new computational methods for ICSD are presented which allow for rapid generation of efficient assignments of inventory elements to given structural topologies and geometries subject to inventory and structural constraints. These methods are shown to produce assignments approximating theoretical optima for a set of benchmark problems. The methods are also shown to produce solutions within time intervals known to be conducive to high productivity in creative interactive computer-aided tasks.
A design exploration procedure incorporating the above assignment optimisation methods is demonstrated for rapid discovery and refinement of high-performing inventoryconstrained structural topologies and geometries. The methods presented allow designers to identify a range of feasible and high-performing inventory-constrained structural layouts in early-stage design exploration while flexibly accommodating non-structural considerations. The above methods are demonstrated for the design of trusses using whole timber and trusses using reclaimed steel elements. The thesis concludes with a discussion of potential extensions to the above approaches and their integration into structural engineering practice in future.
 
Download PDF (37MB) Cementitious and Polymeric Materials for Aerial Additive Manufacturing by Barrie Dams Rapid urbanisation and population growth is driving unprecedented levels of building construction. Over the next 40 years, approximately 230 billion square meters of new floor area will be constructed globally, a doubling of existing building stock. Already, the production of concrete and steel accounts for a third of worldwide industrial CO2 emissions, representing a major opportunity, and responsibility, for structural engineers to contribute towards a low-carbon future through efficient design. A significant majority of the structural material in a typical building exists within the floors, making these a prime target for material reductions.
This dissertation shows that thin-shell concrete floors are a viable alternative to typical slabs and beams in multi-storey buildings. Switching the dominant structural behaviour from bending to membrane action increases efficiency, enabling significant embodied carbon reductions.
A system is proposed featuring pre-cast textile reinforced concrete shells of uniform thickness and shallow depth, supported at columns, with a network of prestressed steel tension ties. A lightweight foamed concrete fill is cast above the shells to provide a level top surface and transfer floor loads to the shell. The structural behaviour of this system is explored through a series of computational and experimental investigations, leading to refinement of the design, exploration of construction methods and the development of a complete design methodology incorporating novel theoretical work. The shells feature optimised singly-curved groin vault geometry. This provides efficient structural performance whilst simultaneously minimising construction complexity. Thus, a practical and scalable solution is proposed, which is shown to offer considerable embodied carbon savings over typical concrete and steel floor structures.
This work provides a robust platform for future refinement and large-scale implementation of thin-shell concrete floors for sustainable buildings.
 
Download PDF (54MB) Thin-shell Concrete Floors for Sustainable Buildings by Will Hawkins Rapid urbanisation and population growth is driving unprecedented levels of building construction. Over the next 40 years, approximately 230 billion square meters of new floor area will be constructed globally, a doubling of existing building stock. Already, the production of concrete and steel accounts for a third of worldwide industrial CO2 emissions, representing a major opportunity, and responsibility, for structural engineers to contribute towards a low-carbon future through efficient design. A significant majority of the structural material in a typical building exists within the floors, making these a prime target for material reductions.
This dissertation shows that thin-shell concrete floors are a viable alternative to typical slabs and beams in multi-storey buildings. Switching the dominant structural behaviour from bending to membrane action increases efficiency, enabling significant embodied carbon reductions.
A system is proposed featuring pre-cast textile reinforced concrete shells of uniform thickness and shallow depth, supported at columns, with a network of prestressed steel tension ties. A lightweight foamed concrete fill is cast above the shells to provide a level top surface and transfer floor loads to the shell. The structural behaviour of this system is explored through a series of computational and experimental investigations, leading to refinement of the design, exploration of construction methods and the development of a complete design methodology incorporating novel theoretical work. The shells feature optimised singly-curved groin vault geometry. This provides efficient structural performance whilst simultaneously minimising construction complexity. Thus, a practical and scalable solution is proposed, which is shown to offer considerable embodied carbon savings over typical concrete and steel floor structures.
This work provides a robust platform for future refinement and large-scale implementation of thin-shell concrete floors for sustainable buildings.
 
Download PDF (75MB) Theoretical and Numerical Investigation of the Equilibrium Shape of Curved Strips and Tapered Rods by Dragos Naicu The bending of elastic strips and rods is a field of research that continues to offer new possibilities for exploration. This dissertation focuses on two distinct problems within this context. These are the search for the equilibrium shape of thin inextensible elastic strips, such as a Mobius strip made out of paper, and the optimal shape of tapered columns that are stable against buckling. A theoretical approach based on the principle of virtual work is used to investigate both problems. This produces novel governing non-linear differential equations that describe both equilibrium and form.
In order to discover the equilibrium shapes, numerical algorithms are developed that are based on Dynamic Relaxation. There are two ways in which they are used, one as an explicit form-finding tool, and the other as a way of solving differential equations.
Results are provided that extend current theoretical models. The numerical schemes produce three-dimensional shapes for strips, going beyond the canonical Mobius strip, and solution shapes for tapered columns made from non-linear elastic materials.
With the aid of analytical and numerical tools, finding the form of the Mobius strip and the tallest possible column are interesting challenges in the search for new shapes that are driven by physical and material rules. These have applicability in structural engineering, architecture, nano-technology and even artistic endeavour.
 
Download PDF (6MB) Current Perspectives and Future Directions of BIM Assessment Methods by Ammar Azzouz The past century has witnessed significant developments in the field of Performance Measurement Systems (PMSs) in a wide range of disciplines, such as business management, engineering and computer science. Since 2007, PMSs have emerged in the Building Information Modelling (BIM) domain, with at least sixteen BIM Assessment Methods (BIMAMs) developed to date, in both academia and industry. The need for BIM-AMs has been widely recognised, since they help businesses to track their progress of BIM Implementation and compare their capabilities against other companies. But despite these recent developments, BIM-AMs still face some fundamental challenges, in particular the way most assessments still rely on qualitative and subjective judgements, raising questions over accuracy, practicality and validation.
This research presents a new approach to BIM-AMs and combines theory with practice. On the theoretical side, the thesis starts with a comparative overview of current Assessment Methods (AMs) to explore their various characteristic including what they evaluate (projects, organisations, teams or individuals), their range of measures and the way in which they communicate results. On the practical side, three AMs are applied to real case study projects in association with multiple Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) companies. This combination of theory and practice expands and challenges what is currently known about BIM-AMs. It offers a solid foundation to build more in-depth research on BIM measurement.
In order to optimise the current AMs, an automated plug-in is developed to measure the Level of Detail of model elements. The automation of BIM assessment is shown to have the potential to deliver less qualitative, more objective and practical approaches of assessment. It has the potential to turn subjective and qualitative measures into quantifiable and objective data and provides fast and user-friendly assessment for the AEC businesses.
The positive impact of BIM-AMs has been recognised by academics, professionals and policymakers. Existing AMs have contributed enormously to the field of BIM assessment, but they will only lead to sharper and more efficient businesses if coupled with automation in evaluation and innovation in choosing appropriate measures.
 
Download PDF (53MB)Lightweight Structures for Remote Areas by Jessica Bak The Antarctic built environment is characterised for its particular occupational regimen and includes whole-year stations, small-scale seasonal station and refuges,and temporary field camps. In recent years,Antarctic construction has begun to be considered of interest for the architectural and engineering communities, and interesting efforts have been made to provide solutions for spanning building, energy efficiency and improvements in indoor habitability.
A fascinating array of lightweight constructions can be identified, whose contribution has not, until now, been fully documented and acknowledged. They represent remarkable examples of smart use of structural efficiency and minimal impact strategies enduring one of the harshest environments.
This research is design-led and is motivated by the extension of the use of lightweight structures in remote fragile areas. The research validates the concept of polar lightweight design through a sound narrative describing the history and potential of this type of construction. For this, this research looks at the case of the Antarctic built environment.
Furthermore, this research proposes that extension in the use lightweight construction could offer a sustainable solution for the predicted increase in the number of settlements being established in Antarctica. Knowledge and solutions achieved in this context can also be applied in other less demanding and fragile scenarios.
In this regard, advanced computational design tools have been extensively validated for the realisation of structural surfaces of high geometrical complexity. Parametric design tools, are of particular interest to this research, as they allow the optimisation of a structure, either as a whole, or via its physical components. This research proposes that such tools can be employed for the development of Polar lightweight systems of larger scale and more complex configurations than currently seen.
The first part is dedicated to the documentation and systematic characterisation of the vernacular Subantarctic and Antarctic lightweight constructions as structural systems. In the second part, the integration of polar constraints in the design of a generic lightweight structural system using parametric design tools is developed, in order to demonstrate the potential of this field for the creation of novel design methods and solutions. The particular case of a new medium-scale seasonal station is used as a case-study.
 
Download PDF (16MB)Strategies for Parametric Design in Architecture: An Application of Practice Led Research by Roly Hudson A new specialist design role is emerging in the construction industry. The primary task related to this role is focused on the control, development and sharing of geometric information with members of the design team in order to develop a design solution. Individuals engaged in this role can be described as a parametric designers. Parametric design involves the exploration of multiple solutions to architectural design problems using parametric models. In the past these models have been defined by computer programs, now commercially available parametric software provides a simpler means of creating these models. It is anticipated that the emergence of parametric designers will spread and a deeper understanding of the role is required.
This thesis is aimed at establishing a detailed understanding of the tasks related to this new specialism and to develop a set of considerations that should be made when undertaking these tasks. The position of the parametric designer in architectural practice presents new opportunities in the design process this thesis also aims to capture these. Developments in this field of design are driven by practice. It is proposed that a generalised understanding of applied parametric design is primarily developed through the study of practical experience. Two bodies of work inform this study. First, a detailed analytical review of published work that focuses on the application of parametric technology and originates from practice. This material concentrates on the documentation of case studies from a limited number of practices. Second, a series of case studies involving the author as participant and observer in the context of contemporary practice. This primary research of applied use of parametric tools is documented in detail and generalised findings are extracted.
Analysis of the literature from practice and generalisations based on case studies is contrasted with a review of relevant design theory. Based on this, a series of strategies for the parametric designer are identified and discussed.