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Construction Technology Assignment.

Identify, explain and compare constructional and environmental principles employed in the structure and fabric of

the built environment.

First floor Architecture Studio.

C Block

Ellison Building

Northumbria University

Ellison Place

Newcastle Upon Tyne

NE1 8ST

Architecture is based in the Ellison Building, a large

part of Northumbria University and home to the

Engineering and Built Environment department of

Northumbria. It has recently under gone a

refurbishment in 2 parts. The first section

completed in 2015, the second stage was Figure 1

South facing wall of Ellison Building - C block completed for September 2016. These developments included the investment

and installation of new technology, including: Engine Test Cell facility, wind tunnel, scaled tutorial mock-ups of

working automotive systems, 50-tonne test frame and actuator, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and improved

3D printing facilities.

Architecture is split into sections throughout C block of Ellison building. 1st and 5th year students make up the 1st floor

studio with Interior Architecture located at the south of the first floor, while 2nd and 3rd year students are on the

ground floor studio. Its location in the university gives a productive sense to the area surrounding the studio due to

its busy foot flow of students passing by and The Zone, located on the ground floor of D block (a work space with

floor to ceiling glass windows looking out over Northumberland Road). For architecture students sitting on the West

side of the studio, the view through the windows is of the landscaped courtyard just below, made up of concrete and

turf, raised areas of concrete creating a circular perimeter and five statues running down the centre of the

pedestrian path way (as seen in figure 5). Beyond this courtyard is the five-story building that makes up A block of

Ellison building. The windows on both sides of the room are symmetrically placed but on the North-East side of the

room they’re smaller in height. Looking out from the NE side of the room the view is more restricted, and although

you can hear the motorway that’s just 30/35metres away its not visible from this point. As seen in figure 6 rooftops

in the foreground and the upper levels of Camden Court student accommodation make up the view.

The interior of the Architecture studio is made up of 20 rows of desks back to back with partition walls dividing them

into individual work spaces. The space is 9.503m in width and 27.304m in length. Figure 2 and 3 below are taken

standing in front just inside of the Northern doors into the studio, from this point you can see the difference in the

size of the windows on the SW and NE sides of the studio. The large windows let lots of natural light into the space

meaning it rarely feels gloomy, however the large single-paned windows are also the reason that so much heat is

lost.

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Figure 3 Figure 2

Figure 4 Annotated site plan of Architecture studio and surrounding area.

As seen on the annotated site plan above, the architecture studio is located to the west of the A167 (M) and south of

Northumberland Road, it has 3 entrance/exits, 1 facing W, 1 facing NNE and 1 facing SSE. To the north is

Northumberland Road and Sports central, and south is Wynne Jones building.

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Figure 5 Courtyard South-West of the Architecture studio. The Ellison building surrounds this courtyard on three sides.

Figure 6 View from the windows facing North East, and the North-east side of the building.

Figure 7 The entrances/exits of Ellison building.

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Thermal, visual, acoustic and air quality conditions.

The Architecture studio’s purpose is to act as a space where 70-80 students can carry out their practical work. This

means that it should be well lit, at the appropriate temperature and designed so that it is the most efficient it can be,

spatially.

The thermal and visual quality of this room is impacted dramatically by the suns position in the sky and cloud

coverage, due to the large single glazed windows on the westerly side of the building. Thanks to the courtyard on

this side of the building and the studio being on the first floor, it is exposed to sunlight throughout the year, however

the 7 story, A block of Ellison building just beyond the courtyard means that during the winter months there is a

noticable difference in natural light coming into the studio in the afternoons.

Thermal conditions.

After taking a number of air temperature

readings over the course of a month, the

average temperature for the studio was

21.1°C . Gathering this average by taking

temperature readings from three

different locations within the studio,

multiple times throughtout four weeks

across November and December of 2016.

21.1°C tends to be within the generally

accepted temerpatures of a workplace.

(Pelsmakers, 2014) However there was a

couple anomolies, at one point the studio

went down to a temperature of 17.7°C.

Architecture studio

A Block

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Figure 8 No-Sky Line Diagram Figure 9 Heat Loss Diagram - greenspec.co.uk

Having observed the temperature of this space for a number of weeks, it is clear that although there is no drastic

changes in temperature, it can vary even throughout the same day. This is to be expected due to the size of the

room and the large single paned windows, on the SW side that allow the sun to passively heat the space. This also

means the studio can lose heat very fast when the weather outside is cold and/or overcast due to single glazed windows having a typical solar transmission of 83% (Pelsmakers, 2014).

U values measure how effective a fabric is as an insulator, we can use the U values of the materials that make up the

structure of the room to calculate how much heat is lost. The largest wall in the architecture studio is South Westerly

facing, measuring at 3.509m tall and 27.304m in length, this wall also has the largest windows in the studio

measuring 2.605m in height and spanning the length of the studio. Based on these facts, we can assume that most of

the heat lost, is done so through this south/west facing wall.

---------------------------------------------------------27.304m---------------------------------------------------------

3.509 m

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South West wall

Total area of the wall = 27.304 x 3.509 = 95.81 m²

Area of glazing = 27.304 x 2.605 = 71.13 m²

Area of masonry = 95.81 – 71.13 = 24.68 m²

Temp Δ = 21.1 – 8 = 13.1°C

Single glazed window U value = 5.8 W/m²

Wall U value = 0.18 W/m²

Heat loss/sec = U value (W/m²°C) x area (m²) x DT (°C)

Heat loss of glazing = 5.8 x 71.13 x 13.1 = 5,404.457 W/m²

Heat loss of masonry = 0.18 x 24.68 x 13.1 = 58.196 W/m²

Overall heat loss = 5,404.457 + 58.196

= 5,462.653 W/sec

Roof

Total area of roof = 27.304 x 9.503 = 259.47m²

Temp Δ = 21.1 – 8 = 13.1°C

Estimated U value of roof = 0.13 W/m²

Overall heat loss = 259.47 x 13.1 x 0.13

= 441.877 W/sec

North East wall

Total area of the wall = 27.304 x 3.509 = 95.81m²

Area of glazing = 27.304 x 0.685 = 18.703m²

Area of masonry = 95.81 – 18.703 = 77.107m²

Temp Δ = 21.1 – 8 = 13.1°C

Single glazed window U value = 5.8 W/m²

Wall U value = 0.18 W/m²

Heat loss/sec = U value (W/m2°C) x area (m²) x DT (°C)

Heat loss of glazing = 5.8 x 18.703 x 13.1 = 1,421.054 W/m²

Heat loss of masonry = 0.18x77.107x13.1 = 181.818 W/m²

Overall heat loss = 1,421.054 + 181.818 W/sec

= 1,602.872 W/sec

South East wall

Total area of wall = 9.503 x 3.509 = 33.346m²

Temp Δ = 21.1 – 8 = 13.1°C

Wall U value = 0.18 W/m²

Overall heat loss = 33.346 x 13.1 x 0.18

= 78.63 W/sec

As the studio is on the first floor and is connected to the rest of Ellison building on the North West side, we can

assume that although a small amount of heat will be conducted through these surfaces it wouldn’t have a significant

impact on the amount of heat lost. Therefore the total loss of heat from the architecture studio can be calculated as

seen below.

Estimated overall heat loss = SW wall + E wall + Roof + SE wall

= 5,462.653 + 1,602.872 + 441.877 + 78.63

= 7,586.032 W/sec

Visual Conditions

Due to the nature of the studio’s function, lighting is an important consideration. The studio benefits from the

afternoon sun coming in through the SW windows as the main source of natural light, as seen in the sun path

diagrams below that show the suns position in the sky on the shortest and longest days of the year.

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Figure 10 Sun-Path diagram 21/12/16

Figure 11 Sun-Path diagram 21/12/16

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Harnessing and taking advantage of natural light has many benefits for the people using the space, such as improving

productivity and mood, but also financially and enviromentally. The more natural light used means less need for

artificial light. A number of countries has guidelines and requirements put in place for new builds, were by each

room must have enough daylight coming in to the space based on the windows being a % of the floor space. The EU

workplace regulations (1992) states that “Every workplace shall have suitable and sufficient lighting” and that this lighting “shall, as far as is reasonably practicable, be by natural light”.

In the studio the artificial lighting is over head, fluorescent tubes that are connected to motion sensors. Fluorescent

lighting is more efficient that incandescent lighting but also more expensive as the current through the lamp requires

regulation. However this initial cost is offset by the efficiency of the bulbs. CIBSE (1999) states that the

recommended level of light for a space of this nature, where technical drawing takes place is 500-750 lux, in

comparison to 100 lux reccomended for corridors. Hence, the lighting along the north easterly passageway of the

studio uses different bulbs that emmit a dimmer light.

Figure 13 Studio lights Figure 12 Passageway lights

Having taken readings of light in the space using a lux meter, the average illumination of the space was 454.9 lux, so

this is slighty below the recommended levels of lighting for this area. However, there are a few factors to consider.

Firstly, this reading has been generated by recording the lux levels at 3 points spread out over the studio, at different

points in the day, so may only provide a rough estimation. In order to calculate an accurate figure, average lumens,

maintenance and utilisation of the light should be included in the approriate equation. Secondly, the lux levels will

vary depending on how much daylight is entering the room. Finally, although this reading suggests that the lux levels are 45.1 lux lower than the reccomended, this isnt enough to be significantly noticeable.

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Acoustics

The large volume of space that is considered the architecture studio, and the use of concrete and vinyl means that

sound waves are very likely to reverberate and cause an echo. Installing specifically egineered wooden panels on the

ceiling (visible in figure 13, above) is a popular method for managing the acoustics of a room. The mobile partition

walls also have a similar effect due properties of the material they’re made from. As a result of these efforts, the

studio possesses good acoustics for a space with its function. However laying down carpet or installing additional

acoustic panels to the walls could help further.

When taking measurements of the sounds in the studio, I used a sound level meter and took the reading in

Aweighted decibels (dba). This means that when recording the sound levels, the signals are being filtered to mimick

what is picked up by human ears, helping to collect relevent data. Measurements were taken every 30 seconds over

3 minutes in 3 different areas in the studio, this was repeated multiple times over the course of a month, in an

attempt to collect a representative figure. This gave me an average reading of 51.82 dba. Using points of reference

from The Center for Hearing and Communication’s website, we can draw the conclusion that this is the typical volume for a space of its nature.

30 dba = soft whisper

40 dba = quiet office/library

50 dba = rainfall/large office

60 dba = normal conversation

Ventilation & Heating

As the Architecture studio is on the first floor, away from any external doors and doesn’t have any air conditioning

installed, there is very little ventilation. There is a passive flow of air through the windows and some through the

doors, however as there is no direct exits out of the studio it is not fresh air passing through said door ways. As the

window frames are old and have been re-painted multiple times, a number of them don’t completely shut. This

means that there is often a draught coming through. There is a significant difference in comfort based on location in

the room, if located next to the large windows the difference is even noticable by which body part is closest to the

outside of the room. This suggests the importance of central heating through out the studio, which is (in this case)

controlled by a thermostat and convected through 15 radiators, 10 along the SW wall underneath the windows and

5 along the wall parallel, visible in figure 14.

Having made a few observations whilst studying this room, the general feedback from its users is that heating and

ventilation is the main down fall of this space, draughts and cold spots directly effect the people using this space, as

being able to concentrate is necessary when completing assignments, models and drawings. Despite the average

temperature reading being 21.1°C, there is often comments of being cold from the occupants.

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Figure 14 Studio Plan

Passageway lighting

Radiators

Acoustic panels

Desks

Fluorescent tube lighting

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References

Publications:

Pelsmakers.S. (2014) The Environmental Pocket Book. London, United Kingdom: RIBA Enterprises. CIBSE

(1999) Guide A Environmental Design

Websites:

Northumbria University official website (7th July 2016) State-of-the-art facilities coming soon for STEM students.

Retrieved from https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/news-events/news/2016/07/state-of-the-art-

facilitiescoming-soon-for-stem-students/

Hilakari.L (June 2016) Offices: Temperature and humidity - what are the 'rules'? Retrieved from

http://www.ohsrep.org.au/faqs/workplace-and-amenities/offices-temperature-and-humidity-what-are-the-rules

The Center for Hearing and Communication – Common environmental noise levels. Retrieved from

http://chchearing.org/noise/common-environmental-noise-levels/

Green Spec – Windows: Heat loss & heat gain. Retrieved from

http://www.greenspec.co.uk/buildingdesign/windows/

Digimaps- http://digimap.edina.ac.uk/

Illuminance – Recommended Light levels. Retrieved from http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/light-level-

roomsd_708.html

U values. Retrieved from https://www.designingbuildings.co.uk/wiki/U-values#Typical_values

Van Den Wymelenberg.K (March 2014) Benefits of natural light. Retrieved from

http://www.archlighting.com/technology/the-benefits-of-natural-light_o

CIBSE recommended lighting levels. Retrieved from https://www.mountlighting.co.uk/cibse-recomended-

lightinglevels/

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/388373/EFA_Daylight_design_gui

de.pdf https://www.saving-light-bulbs.co.uk/blog/how-to-calculate-the-lux-level-in-a-room/

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/468870/ADE_LOCKED.pdf

A weighted decibels definition. http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-dba-spl.htm

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Section 2

2b. Calculate the ‘U’ value for the wall shown below. Show your workings.

A U value is calculated using the thermal conductivity, thermal resistance and thermal transmittance of a given material. Based on these three factors a material’s thermal qualities can be defined using the term ‘U value’. The lower the materials U value, the better insulator of heat it will be, for example a cavity wall

has a U-value of 1.6 W/m². This value can then be used to calculate how much heat will be lost from a wall, floor, ceiling etc. Using the equation: Heat loss/sec = U value (W/m²°C) x area (m²) x Temperature Difference (°C)

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2b. Calculate the ‘U’ value for the wall shown below. Show your workings.

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2c.

Imposed load & Dead load Uniformly distributed load

Imposed load Dead load

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Point load Axial Load

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2d. Calculate the support reactions for the condition described below.

V A

kN 100

m 5.0 5.0 m

100 kN

A

B

V B

H A

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