• Journal of the Korean housing association
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.53-62
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• 2014

This paper investigates whether the use of Rainwater Harvesting Systems (RWHSs) to provide water for washing machines in Hong Kong residential buildings would be financially attractive. In such systems, rainwater is accumulated and reused for doing laundry, garden irrigation, flushing toilets, and even drinking. Thus, the analysis of RWHSs' financial feasibility is essential for construction projects. RainCycle is used to validate financial feasibility, considering particular circumstances and data relevant to the Hong Kong context. A range of different scenarios by adjusting three factors are evaluated: catchment area, water demand, and discount rate. It is suggested that $2,000m^2$ would be a suitable catchment area in a typical Hong Kong residential building and it is demonstrated how water demand and discount rate influence the financial performance of RWHSs. In particular, the financial performance of RWHSs is sensitive to discount rates. The results suggest that the RWH system would be worthwhile for buildings with a lower number of floors, but would barely achieve financial validation in Hong Kong's super high-rise residential buildings.

• Journal of the Korean Association of Geographic Information Studies
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.132-141
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• 2007

The rebuilding or redevelopment of buildings in the Readjustment Project District is generally built high-rise buildings. It sometimes makes our residential area to be uniform in height and disharmony with surrounding houses and infrastructure. Then this research examines the landscape effects of the height of buildings built using landscape simulation on hillside and level ground. We suggested that it was desirable for a land readjustment project district to be managed by District Plan and Development Density Controlled Area. In addition, a consideration for the introduction of Average Floors is needed to mitigate the uniform and disharmony with surroundings.

• Wind and Structures
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.623-642
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• 2015

Several international codes have been developed for evaluating wind loads on structures; however, the wind structure interaction could not be accurately captured by these codes due to the gusty nature of wind and the dynamic behavior of structures. Therefore, the alternative wind tunnel testing was introduced. In this study, an introduction to the available approaches for wind load calculations for tall buildings was presented. Then, a comparative study between different codes: the Egyptian code, ECP 201-08, ASCE 7-05, BS 6399-2, and wind tunnel test results was conducted. An investigation has been carried out on two case studies tall buildings located within the Arabian Gulf region. Numerical models using (ETABS) software were produced to obtain the relation between codes analytical values and wind tunnel experimental test results for wind loads in the along and across wind directions. Results for the main structural responses including stories forces, shears, overturning moments, lateral displacements, and drifts were presented graphically in order to give clear comparison between the studied methods. The conclusions and recommendations for future works obtained from this research are finally presented to help improving Egyptian code provisions and show limitations for different cases.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.2 no.3
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• pp.213-228
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• 2013

Tall buildings have been traditionally designed to be symmetric rectangular, triangular or circular in plan, in order to avoid excessive seismic-induced torsional vibrations due to eccentricity, especially in seismic-prone regions like Japan. However, recent tall building design has been released from the spell of compulsory symmetric shape design, and free-style design is increasing. This is mainly due to architects' and structural designers' challenging demands for novel and unconventional expressions. Another important aspect is that rather complicated sectional shapes are basically good with regard to aerodynamic properties for crosswind excitations, which are a key issue in tall-building wind-resistant design. A series of wind tunnel experiments and numerical simulation have been carried out to determine aerodynamic forces and wind pressures acting on tall building models with various configurations: corner cut, setbacks, helical and so on. Dynamic wind-induced response analyses of these models have also been conducted. The results of these experiments have led to comprehensive understanding of the aerodynamic characteristics of tall buildings with various configurations.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.53-60
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• 2020

"A practical architect might not unnaturally conceive the idea of erecting a vast edifice whose frame should be entirely of iron, and clothing the frame--preserving it--by means of a casing of stone…that shell must be regarded only as an envelope, having no function other than supporting itself..." --Viollet-le-Duc, 1868. Viollet-le-Duc's recipe for an encased iron frame foresaw the separation of structural and enclosing functions into discrete systems. This separation is an essential characteristic of skyscrapers today, but at the time of his writing cast iron's brittle nature meant that iron frames could not, on their own, resist lateral forces in tall structures. Instead, tall buildings had to be braced with masonry shear walls, which often also served as environmental enclosure. The commercial availability of steel after the 1880s allowed for self-braced metal frames while parallel advances in glass and terra cotta allowed exterior walls to achieve vanishingly thin proportions. Two Chicago buildings by D.H. Burnham & Co. were the first to match a frame "entirely of iron" with an "envelope" supporting only itself. The Reliance Building (1895) was the first of these, but the Fisher Building (1896) more fully exploited this new constructive typology, eschewing brick entirely, to become the first "building without walls," a break with millennia of tall construction reliant upon masonry

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.4 no.3
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• pp.191-198
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• 2015

It is important to accurately predict structural responses to external excitations such as typhoons and earthquakes when designing structures for serviceability. One of the key procedures to predict reliable vibration responses is to evaluate accurate structural dynamic properties using finite element (FE) models, which properly represent the realistic behavior of buildings. In the case of historic masonry buildings, structural damage could also be caused by ambient vibrations or impacts. Therefore, the preservation plans of historic buildings for low-level vibrations or impacts should be provided by analyzing structural damages within serviceability levels. For this purpose, it is required to provide FE model construction and response analysis methods verified with field measurement data. In this research, long-term field measurement was performed for a cathedral and its dynamic properties were evaluated using measured data. Then, the model was calibrated based on the measured dynamic properties and an overall construction method for the masonry cathedral was proposed. Using the measured accelerations, the vibrations of the belfry were analyzed using the calibrated FE model and finally, the FE model for the cathedral was verified by comparing the measured accelerations with the modeled results.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.8 no.4
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• pp.303-311
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• 2019

The effectiveness of aerodynamic modification to reduce wind loadings has been widely reported. However, most of previous studies have been investigated dynamic forces and pressure distributions on tall buildings with various unconventional configurations. This study was investigated dynamic characteristics and aerodynamic instability of super-tall buildings with unconventional configurations through extensive aeroelastic model experiments. Seventeen types of supertall building models were considered such as basic and corner modification with corner cut, chamfered, oblique opening, tapered, inversely tapered, bulged, helical with twist angles of $90^{\circ}$, $180^{\circ}$, $270^{\circ}$, $360^{\circ}$ and composite with $360^{\circ}$ helical & corner cut, 4-tapered & $360^{\circ}$ helical & corner cut, setback & corner cut, setback & $45^{\circ}$ rotate. As a result, aerodynamic characteristics of helical models with single modification are superior to those of other models with single modification. However, effect of twist angle for helical model is negligible. Further, the 4-tapered & $360^{\circ}$helical & corner cut model is most effective in reducing the along- and across-wind fluctuating displacement responses in all of experimental models.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.315-320
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• 2022

With the rapid development of urbanization the problems of pedestrian-level wind comfort and natural ventilation of tall buildings are becoming increasingly prominent. The velocity at the pedestrian level ($\overline{MVR}$) and variation of wind pressure coefficients $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ between windward and leeward surfaces of tall buildings were investigated systematically through numerical simulations. The examined parameters included building density ρ, height ratio of building α_H, width ratio of building α_B, and wind direction θ. The linear and quadratic regression analyses of $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ were conducted. The quadratic regression had better performance in predicting $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ than the linear regression. $\overline{MVR}$ and $\overline{{\Delta}C_p}$ were optimized by the NSGA-II algorithm. The LINMAP and TOPSIS decision-making methods demonstrated better capability than the Shannon's entropy approach. The final optimal design parameters of buildings were ρ = 20%, α_H = 4.5, and α_B = 1, and the wind direction was θ = 10°. The proposed method could be used for the optimization of pedestrian-level wind comfort and natural ventilation in a residential area.

• International conference on construction engineering and project management
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• 2020.12a
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• pp.50-59
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• 2020

The 21st century is witnessing a rapid growth of tall buildings in urban centers globally to create more urban space for an anticipated urban population. Tall buildings, however suffer from incessant delays and sometimes total abandonment. Consequently, this study investigated and ranked the causes of delay in tall building projects, while focusing on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Initially, 36 common delay causes investigated globally were categorized into 9 groups, and then further ranked utilizing the Relative Importance Index (RII) through a questionnaire survey. Tall building professionals in the GCC countries (Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar) were contacted. The respondents' categories include Consultants, Contractors, and Clients' Representatives/Facility Managers. The results reveal that the top three causes include "client's cash flow problems/delays in contractor's payment", "contractor's financial difficulties", and "poor site organization and coordination between various parties". The findings from this study could help construction professionals develop guidelines and controls for delay mitigation, as well as support them in risk-based decision making in the planning of tall building projects.

• Korean Institute of Interior Design Journal
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.197-205
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• 2010

This study examines for the processes of making a architectural significant issue of 20 cases form of Beijjng's hotel through analyzing the space composition from early the 1950's to 1992 in China. In the methods of analyzing process, We study the literatures, research reports and architectural drawings including the site survey. We hope to establish the principle in morphological characteristics and space composition of Beijing's high-rise hotels through analyzing the plan of these hotels. Finally, We find out the principles after researching. Firstly, Beijing's hotels in China faced on the being difficulties through the process of national development especially in political and economical conditions of country and peoples. Consequently, size of the Beijing's hotel developed with the fact that is complicated from that is single styles focused on the medium-sized one, modernizing popularity and the high-rise hotel buildings appeared plentifully and the form appeared with tall building putting first. Secondly, there are many immanent and interlocking styles in hotel's architectural block plans, many composition styles in big sized hotels, in opposition immanent styles in small sized ones and there are many trend of concourse style in medium sized hotels. To the layout of hotel's room inside of the linear styles are many in big and medium sized hotels.