Zhang, Lei; Hong, Jinhyun; Nasri, Arefeh; Shen, Qing. (2012). How Built Environment Affects Travel Behavior: A Comparative Analysis of the Connections between Land Use and Vehicle Miles Traveled in US Cities. Journal of Transport and Land Use, 5(3).
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Abstract
Mixed findings have been reported in previous research regarding the impact of built environment on travel behavior, i.e. statistically and practically significant effects found in a number of empirical studies and insignificant correlations shown in many other studies. It is not clear why the estimated impact is stronger or weaker in certain urban areas, and how effective a proposed land use change/policy will be in changing certain travel behavior. This knowledge gap has made it difficult for decision makers to evaluate land use plans and policies according to their impact on vehicle miles traveled (VMT), and consequently their impact on congestion mitigation, energy conservation, and pollution and green house gas emission reduction. This research has several objectives: (1) Re-examine the effects of built-environment factors on travel behavior, in particular VMT in five U.S. metropolitan areas grouped into four case study areas; (2) Develop consistent models in all case study areas with the same model specification and datasets to enable direct comparisons; (3) Identify factors such as existing land use characteristics and land use policy decision-making processes that may explain the different impacts of built environment on VMT in different urban areas; and (4) Provide a prototype tool for government agencies and decision-makers to estimate the impact of proposed land use changes on VMT. The four case study areas include Seattle, WA; Richmond-Petersburg and Norfolk-Virginia Beach, VA; Baltimore, MD; and Washington DC. Our empirical analysis employs Bayesian multilevel models with various person-level socio-economic and demographic variables and five built-environment factors including residential density, employment density, entropy (measuring level of mixed-use development), average block size (measuring transit/walking friendliness), and distance to city center (measuring decentralization and level of infill development). Our findings show that promoting compact, mixed-use, small-block and infill developments can be effective in reducing VMT per person in all four case study areas. However, the effectiveness of land use plans and policies encouraging these types of land developments is different both across case study areas and within the same case study area. We have identified several factors that potentially influence the connection between built environment shifts and VMT changes including urban area size, existing built environment characteristics, transit service coverage and quality, and land use decision-making processes.
Keywords
Built environment; Land use change; Travel behavior; Vehicle miles traveled (VMT); Multilevel Bayesian model; U.S. urban transportation planning policy
The College of Built Environments launched a funding opportunity for those whose research has been affected by the ongoing pandemic. The Research Restart Fund, with awards up to $5,000, has awarded 4 grants in the second of its two cycles. A grant was awarded to Manish Chalana, faculty member with Urban Design and Planning to help support his efforts to carry out archival research and fieldwork in India for his new book exploring the history and memory of non-dominant groups…
Méndez Echenagucia, T., Moroseos, T., & Meek, C. (2023). On the Tradeoffs between Embodied and Operational Carbon in Building Envelope Design: The Impact of Local Climates and Energy Grids. Energy and Buildings, 238.
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Abstract
Embodied and operational carbon tradeoffs in building envelopes are studied. • Envelope variables include wall assemblies, WWRs, glazing and shading. • Energy decarbonization models are used to determine the 30-year operational carbon. • Results show the importance of a total carbon approach to envelope design. • Over or under insulation can result in waste of 10–150 kgCO 2 e/m2. The building envelope has a substantial influence on a building's life cycle operational and embodied carbon emissions. Window-to-wall ratios, wall assemblies, shading and glazing types, have been shown to have a significant impact on total emissions. This paper provides building designers, owners, and policy makers with actionable guidance and a prioritization framework for establishing co-optimized lifecycle carbon performance of facade assembly components in a broad spectrum of climate contexts and energy carbon intensities. A large parametric study of building envelopes is conducted using building performance simulation and cradle-to-gate embodied carbon calculations in 6 US cities. The authors derive the total carbon emissions optimization for commercial office and residential space types using standard code-reference models and open-source lifecycle data. Comparisons between optimal total carbon solutions and (i) optimal operational carbon and (ii) minimum required assemblies, show the impact of under and over investing in envelope-related efficiency measures for each climate. Results show how the relationship between embodied and operational carbon is highly localized, that optimal design variables can vary significantly. In low carbon intensity energy grids, over investment in envelope embodied carbon can exceed as 10 kgCO 2 e/m2, while under investment in high carbon intensity grids can be higher than 150 kgCO 2 e/m2.
Keywords
Building performance simulation; Embodied carbon; Operational carbon; Parametric modeling
Ochsner, J. K. (1992). H. H. Richardson: The Design of the William Watts Sherman House. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 51(2), 121-145.
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Abstract
Henry Hobson Richardson's design for the William Watts Sherman house, in Newport, Rhode Island, has long been considered an anomaly among his projects. While its living hall plan has always been credited to Richardson, the exterior has often been thought to have been the work of Richardson's assistant, Stanford White, drawing on the published work of Richard Norman Shaw. Study of surviving sketches, drawings, and other records, along with an examination of the house itself, shows that this explanation of the Sherman house is inadequate. Not only did Richardson control both plan and massing, but he must also be credited with the design of critical front gable, which did not derive from Shaw's work. Analysis of Richardson's sketches also offers clues to Richardson's typical architectural design method and compositional approach, as well as to his specific blending of English, Continental, and especially American colonial vernacular influences in the Sherman design. These influences also provide a basis for understanding why the house became such an important source for the development of multiple themes in American domestic architecture in succeeding decades, especially the Shingle Style.
Ochsner, J. K. (1989). Adler and Sullivan’s Seattle Opera House Project. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 48(3), 223-231.
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Abstract
Adler and Sullivan's Seattle Opera House project is known from a perspective drawing and three plans that were first published in Inland Architect in 1891. It has been known that the demise of the project was due to financial difficulties, but otherwise the circumstances surrounding the commission have remained obscure. This article presents new information regarding the client, the commission, and the architects. Seattle newspaper reports, surviving correspondence, and project records provide the basis for a more detailed description of the Opera House project history. In addition, correspondence from Charles H. Bebb, who was sent to Seattle for several months in 1890 as superintending architect for Adler and Sullivan, provides insight into the condition of their office before his permanent move to the city in 1893.
Ochsner, J. K. (1988). Architecture for the Boston & Albany Railroad: 1881-1894. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 47(2), 109-131 .
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Abstract
Between 1881 and 1894 the Boston & Albany Railroad undertook a major program of capital investment and improvements to the physical facilities of the line, including the construction of over 30 new passenger stations. H. H. Richardson's close friends, James A. Rumrill and Charles S. Sargent, as the two members of the B&A Board most interested in construction, were given responsibility for this program. They directed the commissions to Richardson and after his death to his successors, Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge. Richardson's nine B&A station designs were generally variations on a simple theme-small rectangular stone blocks with overhanging roofs providing sheltered waiting space at trackside. The continuation of this approach by Shepley, Rutan and Coolidge in 23 additional station designs resulted in a remarkable consistency of character and quality throughout the B&A system. This consistency was also fostered by the continuing participation of Norcross Brothers of Worcester (Richardson's "Master Builder") as contractor, and by the participation of F. L. Olmsted, whose design of landscaped settings for many of the stations contributed to the establishment of the B&A program of "railroad gardening." While the stations were small commissions, the totality of the B&A program represents an impressive collaboration of designer, contractor, and client which has seldom been equalled.
Ochsner, J. K. (1993). The East Elevation of the Sherman House, Newport, Rhode Island. Journal of Architectural Education, 52(1), 88-90.
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Abstract
A previously unknown photograph of the east side (rear elevation) of Henry Hobson Richardson's Sherman House, in Newport, Rhode Island, provides additional evidence for the influence of Richard Norman Shaw on the initial design of the house. The photograph reinforces the argument that the distinctive west-facing front gable was grafted onto the body of a largely Shaw-inspired house. This further demonstrates that the front gable must have resulted from Richardson's late intervention in the design process.
Ochsner, J. K. (1995). Understanding the Holocaust through the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Journal of Architectural Education, 48(4), 240-249.
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Ochsner, J. K. (1997). A Space of Loss: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Journal of Architectural Education, 50(3), 156–171.
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Abstract
Few published essays have explored the way in which the Vietnam Veterans Memorial actually communicates with visitors. This article explores the memorial as a "linking object," as conceived by psychoanalyst Vamik Volkan, and as a "space of absence," as defined by Richard Etlin, and shows how these two ways of understanding the memorial are interconnected. A particularly innovative aspect of the memorial is the way it engenders awareness of both surface (emphasized by the inscribed names) and space (experienced as "virtual space") resulting from the reflectivity of the granite, which gives it an apparent ("virtual") depth. The reflective surface brings one "into" the "space" of the wall and allows simultaneous perception of the names of the dead, the reflections of other visitors, and the reflection of oneself. The complex interactive process wherein the inexactness and ambiguity of the reflections catch the viewer, engender projective fantasy, and (because of the presence of the names) simultaneously structure it, fosters a proximity to and an identification with the dead, and the simultaneous experience of connection and separation.
Ochsner, J. K. (2000). Behind the Mask: A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Interaction in the Design Studio. Journal of Architectural Education, 53(4), 194–206.
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Abstract
Design studio is routinely referred to as the center of architectural education, yet surprisingly little has been published about the nature of the interaction between instructors and students in the studio environment. This article draws upon ideas such as Donald Schön's description of design as "reflection-in-action" and D. W. Winnicott's discovery of the foundations of creativity in the "transitional phenomena" of early childhood to provide a basis for understanding the emotional power of the design studio experience and the ways in which phenomena identified by psychoanalysis can emerge in the interaction of studio instructors and students.