PHD

Sung Jun Kim
Smart Homes for the Elderly: Recent Developments in Korea

In light of the increasing density and ageing population, Korean government and technologists have fostered development of 'silver industry'. A specific manifestation of this development is rise of 'silver towns' and 'silver apartments'- neighborhoods targeted at elderly in the form of highrise towers with integrated 'smart technologies'. This research will investigate attitudes and reception of 'smart technologies' by elderly residents in silver towers. Specifically, it will investigate whether such technologies work and imapcts they may have on spatial layouts and their usage in silver towers.

Jules Moloney (completed: 2009)
Designing Kinetic Architectural Skin.

Supervisors: Bharat Dave
This research investigates the design of kinetic architectural surface under two primary areas of activitity: intelliegent and media skins. The intended outcomes are a critical framwork, by which the primary factors that determine the motion of kinetic building skins can be conceptualized, complemented with a systematic study of kinetic effects using 3D animated representations.

Rowan Wilken (completed: 2007)
Teletechnologies, Place, and Community.

Supervisors: Bharat Dave, S. Khaji-O'Grady
This thesis explores teletechnologies, place, and community. It examines, through critical analysis, how these concepts are represented in the literature on various forms of place-making - from architecture to information and communication technologies (ICTs). The research discovered that community, and especially place, persist, holding continuing importance to who we are and how we engage with and understand teletechnologies. From this, the thesis develops a three-part model to better conceptualise the possible meanings of and relationships between teletechnology, place and community.

Jeni Paay (completed: 2006)
Indexical support for sociality in urban spaces.

Supervisors: Bharat Dave, Steve Howard (Info. Sys.)
This thesis aims to establish and evaluate the use of physical and social indexicality in interaction design of context-aware pervasive computing in built environments. This investigation extends current understanding of what constitutes physical and social contexts in hybrid urban spaces. It does so by developing methods for gathering, analyzing and modeling the user's understanding of inhabited physical environments and situated social interactions in urban space to define these contexts and uses this to inform and evaluate an indexical interaction design.

Erik Champion (completed: 2006)
Place and presence in digital worlds: evaluating cultural understanding in virtual heritage and tourism environments.

Supervisors: Bharat Dave, Ian Bishop (Geom.)
This thesis outlines a theoretical definition of place culture and presence that may help act as a matrix for virtual environment design. This includes a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of appropriating game-style interaction in order to enhance engagement. The central case study is an evaluation of whether cultural understanding and engagement can be linked to the types of interaction offered. This is tested through a virtual archaeology project set in Palenque Mexico.

Agus Batara (completed: 2005)
Multiple representations in architecture and urban design.

Supervisors: Bharat Dave, Ian Bishop (Geom.)
Various graphical representations are typically used in architecture and urban design tasks. The lack of research and software development accommodating graphic representations and manipulations motivated this research to develop and evaluate a multiple representation prototype, called REX. The research findings suggested that employing multiple representations with automated translation was only beneficial when they accommodated an abstraction level appropriate to the design goals of the task. This research provides some effective strategies for developing future multiple-representation software for architecture and urban design tasks.

Victor Bunster
Tropism-oriented Generative Design

Generative design techniques have been studied in architecture for their capability to respond to a wide number of conditions in dynamic and adaptable contexts. This study aims to explore links between architectural designs and generative rules of plants, specifically the tropisms, as a way to define a bond within the environment under structural and energy efficiency criteria.

Surabhi Chaturvedi (completed: 2009)
Environmental Techonologies and Reshaping of Healthcare Architecture

The research investigates adoption and integration of a range of building environmental systems in healthcare facilities in India. Based on detailed case studies of eight selected healthcare facilities developed at different times in India, this research traces the evolution of hospital designs in a specific geographic context through the lens of adoption of building environmental systems over the internal shell and external skins of healthcare buildings in India. By  documenting and analyzing changes in building designs over time, the  research develops a comparative understanding of trends of adoption of environmental technologies and their impacts on building form and performance.

Bahram Tayyar (completed: 2008)
Typologies of Digital Neighborhoods.

Supervisor: Bharat Dave
Summary: Combination of small electronic devices, ubiquitous networks and the rapidly growing digital information considerably alter our cities, activities and daily lives. But are the consequences of these developments uniform no matter where and in which context they take root? Or do they result in different outcomes in different circumstances and conditions? This research is aimed at studying, documenting and analyzing consequences of ICT on urban fabric through specific case studies of digitally supported neighborhoods.

Min Ming Cheng (completed: 2005)
Towards an Integrative Paradigm of Digitally Procured Architecture: A Case Study of Singapore’s Construction 21 Initiative and its Effects on Architectural Practices.

Supervisor: Bharat Dave
The thesis investigated Singapore’s C21 policy as an example of an integrated paradigm for digitally procuring buildings, together with various implications of this policy, and the architectural practices that currently operate under this policy in Singapore. The thesis documents and illustrates the intricate relationship that digital tools have within the divisive industry that is construction, and the enigmatic profession that is architecture. The most significant issue to emerge from the investigation is that efforts towards an integrated building industry should avoid broad-brush adoption of monolithic and singular paradigms since they have the unintended effect of homogenizing innovation.

OTHER

Gaganjit Singh Ahluwalia

An Investigation of Generative Systems

B.Arch Thesis, CEPT University, Ahmedabad, India

Supervisor: Bharat Dave