?A culture center should be visually welcoming as well as attract a diverse range of visitors with different backgrounds.? This was the client?s request for a new cultural center in Nairobi. The location is in the heart of Nairobi?s industrial area, near several existing buildings that are already in use by the culture organization known as Go Down. I have chosen to keep most of the existing buildings and to use my new building as a complement for the desired program.

The demand for environmental assessments on buildings and energy consumption is increasing as well as the energy performance requirements for buildings. At the same time it is increasingly common with self-producers of heat and electricity generation.The main purpose with this master thesis is to investigate how time resolution affects the environmental assessment of energy consumption in office buildings connected to district heating (DH). Environmental assessments were done with both attributional LCA and consequential LCA with system expansion.Fortum´s DH system in Stockholm was analyzed and district heating production was simulated in a Matlab-model. Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for the production were calculated. The heat demand of the office Gångaren 16 in Stockholm was simulated in IDA ICE.

sustainable development by reducing the energy use by EU:s directive of energy efficiency and the UN Convention. The second purpose is to present the technical solutions regarding ventilation and heating system that is being used in passive houses. This was done using 8 passive houses, 4 germany and 4 swedish passive houses. Even the international and Swedish system requirements for passive houses have been addressed in this project. The goal was also to explain how and why the mechanical system in passive houses has developed to the technology used today.

In a city sometimes conflicts arise between either to save the species-rich vacant lots where many species thrive, or to build new buildings. Green roofs can then serve as a refuge for plants and animals that have had their natural habitat destroyed or diminished. Today we know too little about green roofs contribution to the biodiversity in the cities. We also know very little about how various types of vegetation on roof can increase biodiversity and its ability to attract different species.The aim with this study was to examine how different types of vegetation on the roofs affect the biodiversity of the invertebrate and how species-composition and number of individuals differ between the roof- and groundlevel.This study has been carried out on Augustenborg Botanical Roof Gardens in Malmo, and in an area about 1.5 kilometers away from Augustenborg. Three different types of vegetation on the roof and ground floor were selected: sedum- ruderal and grass.

On commission of the County administrative board in Värmland County a method was developed for analysis of the occurrence of artificial land use at lakes and watercourses. With artificial land use is meant land significantly affected by man. Two bases have been used to carry out the analysis. In one of the analysis the vegetation database and in the other GSD¹-Marktäckedata (land cover data) was used (this method has been used by County administrative board in Jönköping County).The analysis comprises all watercourses within Alsterälven river basin. The digital water bodies are created by the Swedish Meteorological and Hydrological Institute on the basis of GSD-Översiktskartan (general map).

An energy study has been performed on two blocks in an area called Gävle Strand. The buildings are owned by a tenant-owner?s association called brf Carolina and were built by the company Skanska 2008. The builder as well as brf Carolina are pussled by the fact that electricity use is higher than expected while heating is less. Skanska is also very interested in finding out how much heat recovery from stale exhaust air through a geo-thermal heat pump is contributing to the general heating requirement and energy balance in four out of the ten buildings located on the properties.To find possible answers to the higher electricity use a literature survey on user behaviour was conducted.

This essay shows how natural areas in Älta, a part of Nacka municipality southeast from Stockholm, been changed quantitatively and qualitative as a result of the increased housing construction in the area. Three issues are discussed. Namely: how has Ältas green areas been changed in sizes and quality in line with the settlement's expansion, what is the reason or the reasons to building of different types of accommodations, what has been and is the operators in connection with building of the different types of accommodations?The essay shows that the green areas has been decreased with over 2 km from 1901 to 2000 and in addition to these areas of approximately 1,1km been converted to a planned green structure. Älta has during the years gone through four eras of building types an era of small family houses ? an era of building one million houses on a national scale ? an era of terrace houses ? an era of sporadic building of different housing types (one family houses, pair houses, terrace houses and small blocks of flats).

Moisture damage in buildings is a serious issue that leads to problematic consequences and high economic costs. Despite the knowledge and awareness existing about moisture problems, extensive damager still occurs today. Studies of moisture in the exterior wall constructions shows that the issue if often caused by rain and water intrusion. These kinds of problem result in major costs usually because the companies have to replace the material and structural components and also in some cases tear down large parts of the buildings.The work includes moisture theory and descriptions of four different exterior wall constructions, wood stud wall with plastered facade, exterior wall with wood facade, exterior wall with concrete, and exterior wall with brick facade. Our thesis work describes how the constructions are affected and moisture damage due to water intrusion.

Ground work like blasting, piling and excavation has always had a great influence during the planning phase of a construction project since it can cause damages on adjacent buildings and have severe economic consequences. This thesis deals with how vibrations caused by ground work influence near-by buildings and what methods geotechnicians and construction entrepreneurs use to handle these risks.The purpose of this thesis is to explain risk management in relation to ground work. In order to achieve this I have used a qualitative method by interviewing a geotechnician and a ground work contractor who possess knowledge and experience useful to this thesis. The result shows that vibrations from ground work spread through the ground as seismic waves that cause displacements and packing in the ground visible in adjacent buildings as cracks and subsidence damages. Geotechnicians study ground work vibrations by means of ground investigations and experience from previous projects in order to produce a risk analysis that entrepreneurs can use to reduce damages.

This thesis handles the problems regarding different value aspects which are applied during restoration and renovation of churches. The curator?s aspects along with the interests regarding change that exists today, is often integrated and is therefore affecting the final results. The thesis aims to discuss the different perspectives and to look at the different values the room possesses. Furthermore, the historical aspects are discussed along with possible strategies to increase a positive outcome of restorations and how to integrate churches to the modern standards in terms of use and allowing them to be a part of a living cultural heritage.Church buildings have historically speaking always had a significant meaning to people, independent of religious belief.

The climate changes that are occuring in the world have resulted in that the EU callingfor a 20 % reduction in energy consumption to the year 2020, to reach that goal theEU want the public sector to go forth as a good example. Västfastigheter owns andmanage the hospital buildings in the Västra Götaland region. To be able to reducetheir energy usage Västfastigheter has hired several consulting firms to chart out theenergy consumption on each hospital building. The biggest energy savings potentialhave been calculated and what the cost will be to perform each action. The energyaudit have been completed and stand as the decision basis for Västfastigheter?s choiceon which action packages that should be implemented.

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In this report listed buildings, according to the Swedish Heritage Conservation Act, have been studied with a focus on cases where economical compensation has been given to the owner of the building and cases where the listing of the building has been appealed by the owner. In order for a building to become listed it needs to be particularly valuable from a cultural and historical standpoint. The listed buildings are protected through a list of regulations that determines which parts of the building can or cannot be changed, what methods and materials should be used for changes and repairs, and how the building should be maintained. These regulations should as far as possible be formulated in agreement with the owner, but a building can become listed against the owners will. To decrease the damage this causes the owner he can in some cases have the right to economical compensation. There is also a possibility for the owner to appeal the listing of the building.

By using industrialized building, pre-installed modules can be delivered to the construction site where they are easily mounted. This method has many advantages compared to on-site manufacturing, for example, the precision during the production process should be much higher than building each wall and floor on site. Furthermore, the quick erection procedure when using prefabricated elements and the possibility to use weather protection has the advantage of not being dependent on weather conditions, and many other factors.Masonite Beams AB is a Swedish company (a member of the Norwegian company, Byggma ASA) with a relatively new technology using light weight beams as bearing elements in the walls and a certain stiff board lamella slap which is mounted on the top of the floor structure creating an integrated stiff beam / board floor structure. The elements are flat which make it much easier to transport the elements from the factory to the building site where the building parts are easily mounted with special mounting stud.One of the main drawbacks of lightweight structure is the sound transmission. The main topic is low frequency annoyance, however the complex structural elements and their mutual sensitive connections other acoustical problems might appear.

The passive house concept has been known for many years, but it is not yet verywell known in Sweden. The increased energy requirements places greaterdemands on our buildings and to meet these requirements, passive houses is agood option.Svenska Bostäder have built passive houses with good results and intend tocontinue design some of their new buildings as passive houses. This study ismeant to support Svenska Bostäder in their planning of new buildings byanalyze and compare the different frameworks and building shells of passivehouses.In the first chapters (1,2 and 3) we presents the conditions for passive housesand the differing objects we have examined more generally for the reader tobecome familiar with the concept and the objects.The subsequent chapter presents an analysis of each object partial based on thespecifications from FEBY and finally, in Chapter 5, you will find a table ofvalues where the objects are put into relation to each other and valued there by,together with a brief explanation for the table.This chapter also contains texts on the environment, design and futuredevelopment which all includes our own thoughts and reflections.Finally, the gist of the whole work and our conclusion is presented anddiscussed.On the whole, the work has been very enlightening for us and we hope that theconcept of passive houses have a wider impact in the future..