From Materials To Structures Advancement Through Innovation

Protecting the natural environment and promoting sustainability have become important objectives, but achieving such goals presents myriad challenges for even the most committed environmentalist. American Environmentalism: Philosophy, History, and Public Policy examines whether competing interests can be reconciled while developing consistent, coherent, effective public policy to regulate uses and protection of the natural environment without destroying the national economy. It then reviews a range of possible solutions. The book delves into key normative concepts that undergird American perspectives on nature by providing an overview of philosophical concepts found in the western intellectual tradition, the presuppositions inherent in neoclassical economics, and anthropocentric (human-centered) and biocentric (earth-centered) positions on sustainability. It traces the evolution of attitudes about nature from the time of the Ancient Greeks through Europeans in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, the Enlightenment and the American Founders, the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and up to the present. Building on this foundation, the author examines the political landscape as non-governmental organizations (NGOs), industry leaders, and government officials struggle to balance industrial development with environmental concerns. Outrageous claims, silly misrepresentations, bogus arguments, absurd contentions, and overblown prophesies of impending calamities are bandied about by many parties on all sides of the debate—industry spokespeople, elected representatives, unelected regulators, concerned citizens, and environmental NGOs alike. In lieu of descending into this morass, the author circumvents the silliness to explore the crucial issues through a more focused, disciplined approach. Rather than engage in acrimonious debate over minutiae, as so often occurs in the context of "green" claims, he recasts the issue in a way that provides a cohesive look at all sides. This effort may be quixotic, but how else to cut the Gordian knot?

As architectural projects have grown larger and more complex, as materials have become more specialized and advanced, as the world's cities have developed in size and density, the collaborative partnership of architects and structural engineers has gained prominence. Many of the major works of the early twenty-first century would have been difficult to build or even conceive without the contributions of firms like Ove Arup & Partners, Buro Happold, and Mutsuro Sasaki & Partners, to name just a few. Support and Resist is the first book to focus on the revolution in engineering culture in which structure shares the stage with design.In profiles of fourteen American and international engineers and more than thirty case studies, Nina Rappaport details facets of this revolution: collaboration, intuition, structural integration, hybrid structures, structure as decoration, computer workflow, and fabrication technologies.

This book dicusses the role of physical tests in the development of design methods for new structural materials, new construction techniques and new forms of construction. It also demonstrates the practical application of these new methods in the construction of buildings, structures and civil engeering works.

This book gathers the latest advances, innovations and applications in the field of sustainable construction materials and structures, as presented by leading international researchers and engineers at the 14th International scientific conference “Modern Building Materials, Structures and Techniques” (MBMST 2023), held in Vilnius, Lithuania, on 5–6 October 2023. It covers topics such as modern building materials and their production technologies; investigation and design of reinforced concrete, steel, glass, timber and composite structures; innovative calculation techniques for bridges; geotechnics; new building technologies and management; and building information modelling. The contributions, which were selected through a rigorous international peer-reviewed process, share exciting ideas that will spur novel research directions and foster new multidisciplinary collaborations.

This indispensable reference is an in-depth introduction to the fundamentals of the design of surface structures. It looks at some of the most innovative structures and technologies to date, demonstrating their use of materials in creating successful surface architecture.

These peer-reviewed papers reflect the valuable experience of the authors in the fields of innovation in structural systems and disaster prevention in engineering structures, architectural innovation, sustainable development of buildings, energy and the environment and innovation in, and applications of, building materials. Hot topics and cutting-edge views related to sustainable development in civil engineering are presented.

Research into Smart Buildings and Spaces has increased rapidly over the last few years. This volume aims to address the convergence of research in Distributed Systems, Robotics and Human Centred computing within the domain of smart buildings and present a unique opportunity to investigate work that crosses the boundaries of these disciplines. It provides an overview of progress in a fast-moving area, by bringing together researchers, implementors and practitioners and the papers draw together the developments and concerns of those working on the different aspects of smart environments, as well as providing views on the future prospects for work in this area.