ABSTRACT Corporate social responsibility (CSR) has become a popular concept in the construction industry because of the growing concerns over sustainable development. While architectural design firms (ADFs) hold an essential role in construction projects, there is a lack of studies examining CSR implementation (CSRI) in these organizations. This research aims to identify common CSR activities and to develop a CSRI index that enables practitioners to understand the importance of each CSR group. Through literature review and semi-structured interviews, critical CSR activities were first identified. Through factor analysis, 24 CSR activities were then organized into six groups. The fuzzy synthetic evaluation (FSE) technique was employed to value the importance of each group, which then be normalized to determine the CSRI index. The findings highlight that CSRI in Vietnamese ADFs is at a pretty high level. The clients’ interest CSR group ranks as the most critical position, followed by employees’ interest, community engagement, ethics, shareholders’ and partners’ interest, and environment preservation, respectively. This research is one of the first studies that examine and evaluate CSRI in ADFs. The CSRI index is a robust formulation that provides Vietnamese ADFs with a practical tool to allocate scarce organizational resources to gain competitive business advantages properly.

ABSTRACT In recent decades, the energy retrofit design of buildings has been one of the most effective methods to achieve high-performance buildings. The government office buildings in Iran account for 15% of the non-residential building sector; hence, energy retrofitting of existing office buildings could effectively reduce total energy consumption and Carbon dioxide emissions. This study aims to evaluate the effect of various facade systems with cool materials on the thermal behavior and energy performance of a typical existing office building in a hot climate. The proposed hybrid retrofit method combines design and energy retrofit strategies while evaluating the effects of different workspace layouts and facade systems on external surface temperatures and total energy consumption. Applying such a method, the most optimal design and energy retrofit strategies were selected using a combination of optimization and scenario-based approaches. The results showed that using double-skin facades could reduce annual energy consumption and Carbon dioxide emissions by 63%. Moreover, the results indicated the most efficient types of cool coatings materials for reducing cooling loads.

ABSTRACT Experiences of past earthquakes show that the infill wall is one of the non-structural elements which has the highest collapse potential of the structure. Although architects are responsible for designing the form and arrangement of walls, little research has been done in this regard with the aim of architectural design. In this research, a method was developed to control the infill walls in the basic architectural design. In this method, architectural design features are preserved, and only by applying minor modifications to the specifications of walls, undesirable effects such as short column, soft story, and torsion are prevented and without using more materials, additional potential for seismic resistance of the building is provided. For this method, two accurate and approximate models were developed. In the accurate model which includes five algorithms, a structural model is required, so close collaboration between architect and structural engineer is necessary. In the approximate method which includes four algorithms, only geometric specifications of architectural design are required and architects can control the effects of infill walls on the structure. The results of the practical test of the approximate model indicated that this model can be used by various groups of architects. This model will not prevent the creativity of architects and the designer has a great degree of freedom in applying solutions.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to identify impact of the design team characteristics and project characteristics on the sustainable building construction cost (SBCC) using the structural equation model (SEM). The cost data was drawn from 72 built LEED certified buildings in the United States. The design team characteristics are latent variables used to measure a design team’s performance in the early design stages, which are reflected in six observed variables: skill, experience, communication, collaboration, innovation, and procurement. The project characteristics are also latent variables and are measured in five observed variables: level of sustainability, building type, construction type, technical complexity, and project location. The SEM analysis illustrated that the design team characteristics negatively affected the unit cost (coefficient = −3.119) and cost overrun (coefficient = −0.939). The SEM also showed that project characteristics positively affected the unit cost (coefficient = 1.00). The conclusion indicates that the higher the design team’s skill, the more experienced the design team was, and the fewer communication channels there were, the better the team could mitigate potential risks and uncertainty during the construction phase, hence reducing the risk of cost overrun.

ABSTRACT The study discussed how building renovation activities jeopardised Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) and caused several symptoms of Sick Building Syndrome (SBS). This postulation was investigated on a case study-renovated university building with different types of functional spaces. The research method comprised: (1) site inspection for renovation best practices, (2) Gas Chromatography lab tests to examine the types of pollutants (volatile organic compounds) caused by different types of finishing and comparing them to the international standards provided by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), and finally (3) occupants’ survey (labourers, staff and students) with variations in the magnitude and duration of their exposure to pollutants. The result of the lab tests exceeded the maximum threshold set by the LEED system which indicated a health risk. This was confirmed by the survey results showing associated symptoms of SBS during and after the renovation process noting that the symptoms escalated in confined places with poor ventilation. The conclusion indicated that material selection and renovation best practices were responsible for several health risks. Associated symptoms of SBS increased due to early occupancy and continued for three months after renovation completion. Eventually, the study recommended proper planning for IAQ during building renovation noting the interplay of causes and consequences of SBS: (1) during building renovation, (2) after completion, (3) before occupancy and (4) after at least one year of building operation. Further, it presented a set of recommendations for each phase across different project phases for the benefit of academic and industry outreach.

ABSTRACT Off-site manufacturing may play a significant role in improving both process and output productivity in the construction industry and achieving UN Sustainability Development Goals 11 and 13. However, uniform mass production can lead to a monotonous built environment that may be alienating to people. Past examples show that such buildings and neighbourhoods can rapidly become obsolete, which makes them unsustainable. In this study, two online surveys were conducted with over 100 participants focusing on prejudices towards mass manufactured residential buildings and diversity requirements for homes among Hungarian young adults. In contrast to previous studies, respondents evaluated example scenarios with standardised buildings not as observers but by imagining how they would feel or act in situations involving these buildings. The first survey examined the bias of respondents towards mass manufactured buildings with Likert, Thurstone, and semantic differential scales. The second examined how respondents would feel if they visited a home similar to their own by varying visiting frequency and degree of similarity. T-tests showed that prejudices were positive, except concerning mass manufactured buildings’ diversity, and respondents were only negative about having to see identical dwellings to theirs on a regular basis. The results suggest that in Hungary, non-uniform but standardised residential buildings can serve as a suitable tool to provide affordable housing to young adults affected by the housing crisis.

ABSTRACT This paper aims to discuss the relations between the built environment and the patient’s health, considering the context of the pandemic experienced since 2020. We assessed the results of a systematic literature review to create a theoretical framework. Based on that, we evaluated the performance of five diagnostic facilities sited in São Paulo, Brazil, during the occupation phase. These buildings share a similar design programme in a way that enables a systematic qualitative assessment. We organised the design requisites in a Table of Diagnostics and Recommendations. Based on the gathered evidence, we proposed reviewing the existing guidelines to promote healthier indoor environments. Among the leading design guidelines updates are issues regarding the management of contamination risk, such as the strategic planning of circulation routes, increasing outdoor air rates, and the specification of disinfection systems. We also present measures to promote healthiness and well-being for both patients and the medical team, including improving solar access to indoor environments and physical and visual access to the outdoors.

ABSTRACT Digital technologies and users of these technologies interact with each other in different ways. This study explores the influence of this interaction on users’ behavior in construction practice: where and how do digital technologies in construction interact with their users, and what is their effect? The theory of technical mediation is applied to understand these influences. This theory deepens the analysis of human-technology interactions by adding that humans and technologies co-shape each other. Based on a literature review and studies of construction projects, technologies such as Building Information Modelling, Radio Frequency Identification, and Augmented/Virtual Reality are studied. Mediating effects of these technologies are analyzed from two perspectives: from which side does technology grasp the human body, what are the force and visibility of these impacts? It is shown that digital technologies in construction practice play different ‘actant’ roles by influencing or directing users in certain directions: digital technologies become natural extensions of the body (physical influence), function as ‘quasi-others’ (cognitive influence) or determine possible human–technology interactions through a ‘decisive’ design (contextual influence). Different preconditions for successful implementing and using these technologies can be related to these actant roles.

ABSTRACT Early architectural decisions have an enormous impact on the long-term performance of buildings. Evaluating architectural designs remains a subjective and biased process that varies from one person to another. Based on three questionnaires with 37 expert architects, seven Architectural Design Variables (ADVs) were identified, with a total of 40 design options that suit residential buildings. The experts defined the degree by which each ADV decision positively or negatively affect multiple life-cycle performance criteria: space functionality; construction time and cost; operational performance; and aesthetics. Based on that, this paper presents a novel Architectural Design Decision Support System (AD-DSS) to automatically evaluate and rank any combination of early design, using the Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) Simple Additive Weighting (SAW) method. The AD-DSS can automatically evaluate any combination of architectural design in terms of overall performance or a specific aspect without subjective inputs. Besides, a simple-user program developed to facilitate multiple system functions. A case study of a residential building with five different design alternatives demonstrated the powerful ability of the AD-DSS to provide early decision advice in a systematic and informed way to project stakeholders.

ABSTRACT With the development of economy and society, people have growing demand for healthy living environments. However, there are more than 170,000 old residential communities in China, where aging buildings, old facilities and environmental degradation are common problems that need to be urgently improved. Determining subsidy funding and benefit evaluation is often the blind spot, posing difficulties in government decision-making. In this study, the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) was first adopted to propose a set of standards for outdoor environment renovation of old residential communities in China based on the WELL Community Standard (WCS). On the basis of the I-S model and zero-one integer programming (ZOIP), an optimal decision-making model (ODM) was developed and applied in practical projects. The result showed that ODM can not only help government managers to determine the budget rationally, but also provide a way to promote multiple participations to achieve optimal improvement strategies. It is recommended that ODM should be further expanded on more projects to review and modify the application of ODM in different regions of China.