MINA RAHIMIAN
CONTENT
Empowering Home Energy Independence
A Participatory Approach for Constructing Energy Resiliency Assessing Microgrid Development in Storm Damaged Areas in the State of New York Swarm Urbanism
MINA RAHIMIAN MASTER OF CITY PLANNING ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND PLANNING TEL: 8144418306 EMAIL: MXR446@PSU.EDU ADDRESS: 1400 MARTIN ST, #3066 STATE COLLEGE, PA, 16803
Slow Maps Anatomy of a Crime Contradiction Fa[Brick]ation
Empowering Home Energy Independence NELC Home Energy Auditing, Spring 2014 Team Members: M.Rahimian, S. Fadaei, M. Hatami, R. Smeal
This is an example of one of the home energy auditings we conducted as part of the NELC (National Energy Leadership Corps). The main purpose of the home energy auditing at NELC is to suggest the home owner DIY solutions to lower the annual energy costs. We visited the house with a critical point of view in terms of energy efficiency, interviewed the homeowner and took notes about what kind of improvements she is willing take action on to save more energy. This report aims to help the homeowner move forward on a path to energy independency. The measures presented in this report helps the homeowner to make tangible progress towards more comfort, safety, and energy cost savings at home.
Smith Residence The house that we visited to conduct a home energy auditing is located near State College, PA. It was built in 1986 and has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. The house belongs to a middle aged lady and she’s the only occupant of this 2200 squarefeet house. Estimated Annual Electricity Cost: $1350 Estimated Annual Propane Cost: $770
Homeowner’s Confidence and Commitments Homeowner’s confidence in making home improvements based on interview
Changing Habits
DIY Projects
Investing & In Upgrades
Energy Yardstick Score: 3.5/10 Energy Independence Status based on Homeowner’s Assessment
Time to Spend on Home
Less Confident
More Confident
Homeowner’s Priorities and Goals Reasons that motivate the interviewed homeowner to save energy
1 Reduce Energy Costs
Increase Control
Responsible Energy Use
Increase Home Value
Support Local Communtiy
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Need to Start
3
4
Some Progress
Homeowner’s Stage
5
6
Good Progress
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8
Great Progress
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Excellent Progress
Identified Issues Detected loose spots and hles in the propane fuel pipes. This can cause leakage of carbon monoxide in the basement which it is located. Recommendation: ask a professional to repair it
One of the smoke detectors was out of battery. Also according to the US NFPA code, every habitable level and within the vicinity of all bedrooms there’s a need for smoke detectors. Recommendation: Increase the number of smoke detectors and locate them in critical spots as in bedrooms and the basement, and making sure they are fully charged
The staircase in the basement has a very loose railing/brace which is considered as a safety issue. Recommendation: repair it ASAP
Loose insulation in the attic area is one of the most important reasons for heat loss in this house.
Water heat pipes with no insulation causes unnecessary heating of the basement and energy loss
Top Five Value Based Recommendations
The house has a programmable thermostat which the homeowner doesn’t use its programming feature. We highly recommend programming it since it’s pretty easy and helps saving energy by reducing heating and cooling the home when the homeowner is not at home. In the interview the homeowner showed interest in changing the old fridge. The current fridge uses a lot of energy and we highly recommend to change it with an energy start fridge. This change will have a high impact on your energy bills. Replacing the incandescent lights with LEDs will enhance the comfort of your home by reducing the amount of heat transmittance from bulbs. It also increases your control of your energy use by investing in cost effective lighting options which have a quick payback. In addition, LEDs live much longer than incandescent bulbs.
Add Attic Insulation Insulate Basement Ceiling Insulate Water Piping Insulate Duct Work Potential Energy Reduction: 5% - 10% Estimated 5 Year Savings: $160 - $320
Potential Energy Reduction: 10% - 20% Estimated 5 Year Savings: $325 - $650
Potential Energy Reduction: 1% - 3% Estimated 5 Year Savings: $8 - $24
Potential Energy Reduction: 3% - 5% Estimated 5 Year Savings: $318 - $530
Based on the IR camera pictures, some holes have been detected in the insulation of the exterior walls of the house.
The basement ceiling has no insulation. This can result in unwanted heat exchange in the house.
Duct work in the basement is lacking insulation which causes unwanted heat loss.
The IR camera shows a lot of ehat loss in the front door. We highly recommend replacing it with an insulated strom door.
Insulate Exterior Walls P t ti l E Potential Energy R Reduction: d ti 5% - 15% Estimated 5 Year Savings: $530 - $1590
Based on our assessment and some basic assumptions, following the mentioned recommendations, the homeowner could save $270 - $620 or more on annual energy costs
A Participatory Approach for Constructing Energy Resiliency Post Professional Master Thesis in Architecture, Summer 2015
Users are an undeniable part of microgrid’s operational system. Thus they are required to act according to the microgrid’s resiliency and flexibility features. By making all the information of every grid component accessible to the demand side via energy metering systems and feedback loops, microgrids play an important role in filling the gap of energy illiteracy, increasing user’s awareness and understanding about how energy is consumed in their homes and thus helping them to make informed energy consumption decisions. Research on delivering high quality energy-related information on user’s activities and consumption rates signify the effectiveness of such information for inspiring and motivating users to change their behavior towards more energy saving ones but however the issue of making these behavior changes durable and integrated to one’s lifestyle, is still remaining a topic for further investigation. Accordingly this research attempts to encourage new ways of thinking about user’s engagement in the resiliency of their microgrid in terms of a collective process by combining computational means of feedback delivery with a collaboration incentive structure, requiring user’s self-organized participation in a shared-energy community endeavor. Researchers suggest that feedback delivery on consumption pattern is more effective when it is combined with other strategies such as goal setting, incentive programs, economic penalties and etc. while considering the intricacies of human behavior. But adding to this strategy, I’m hypothesizing that if in a microgrid as a community-based shared-energy infrastructure, energy feedback information is combined with a successful incentive program requiring the users’ self-organized collaboration and participation derived from themselves, then they will get engaged in the energy management system of their microgrid and this will result in more efficient, resilient and sustainable life styles making sustainable living acceptable and desirable for users.
A Participatory Model for Energy Management Building upon the reviewed literature, this paper recommends a shift in focus more on the community’s energy use rather than individual energy consumers as the key unit of analysis. Toward this end, a conceptual prototype of an energy exchange system — a collaborative energy sharing network for small-scale community microgrids — with a diversity of intense energy users, structured on a collaborative incentive program with interactive and comprehensive energy feedback information is proposed as a possible solution. The focus is not on directly educating users about their energy consumption, but rather on fostering cooperative and energy-saving dynamics by coupling energy feedback technologies and an incentive program which requires users’ self-organized collaboration and participation in sharing energy within their community’s microgrid.
System Overview
Conceptual Prototype
Prototyp The proposed propose system is a small-scale community microgrid propos Conceptual Prototype: moderate number of interconnected houses with a diverse set of constituted of a modera energy users, introduced as a method to address the assumptions and principles laid out in the previous section. The variegation of users in this system play an important role in driving the system since it intensifies the possibility of exchanges to take place.
Energy Supply
al community energy is supplied by a common source of Energy Supply: For this proposal renewable energy such as solar, wind power or fuel cells. As a small-scale microgrid the intent is to reach a level of independency on fossil fuels, in which the community’s need for energy is mostly provided by renewables. This is because dependence on clean energies is a challenging task since the amount of renewable energy harvested normally doesn’t match the amount of energy consumed in homes. While sharing energy will keep the supply and demand rate balanced in a microgrid community, it also serves as an efficient strategy addressing this challenge.
Operation
Operation: In this i conceptual prototy prototype the operation of the energy exchange mechanism results from a pro-environmental strategy combining energy feedback technologies with an incentive structure promoting user’s participation and collaboration for saving energy in the community. As a computational strategy, the energy exchange system has two layers: One is the layer of computation and algorithms which technically drives the system, handles communication among different households’ energy profiles and is responsible for the energy transactions. The other layer, which is mainly discussed in this paper, is a simplified translation of the computation layer into an interactive user-friendly interface.
The Incentive-Structured Interface The interface system proposed as a way to increase the possibility of a community microgrid to be energy responsive through its users. In this system the visualization of energy use through feedback devices, an aesthetically appealing method for inducing behavior change, is combined with game-like built in incentives to motivate long term behavior modification. The system seeks to foster collaboration and participation among users, advancing a new view on energy consumption as a community endeavor. The “game” can provide targeted incentives for users of a microgrid to alter their consumption patterns and shape the use of shared-energy resources, resulting in new patterns of energy responsive collaboration and participation in the microgrid, linking resiliency to a community’s collective intelligence.
The interface graphically displays three different, but related set of data on the household’s ousehold’s personal energy information for instance the debit and credit-energy accounts nts in the “YOURS” tab, the community’s general energy information such as the community-energy ity-energy account in the “OUR” tab, and recommended energy conservation suggestions ns and tips customized based on the household’s overall consumption pattern in the “TIPS”” tab. The information displayed in these tabs help users perceive their personal and group benefits of making more efficient energy consumption decisions and understand the payoffss of taking conservation actions.intelligence.
The interface used in this strategy is a communicative web-service device serving as a medium between the user, the community and the grid, accessed from anywhere in the house and outside and presented in many manifestations: through tablets, phones, website profiles and home dashboards. The power of the community is supplied by a common source of renewable T energy leading to the resource being shared among community users. In this e energy exchange system there are three set of energy (in form of energy-toe kens) given to users under different At the beginning of each month every k household receives two constant share of debit-energy tokens and credit-enerh gy g tokens which can be accessed and viewed through the “YOURS” tab of the interface at the same time. The household’s monthly energy usage is tracked in using debit-energy tokens at the first place which leads to several scenarios that u might occur in a household: m
If a user couldn’t manage to save energy-tokens from the debit energy share in the following month, an additional option has been considered. In this case the user would actually pay money for the extra energy s/he used noting that the rate is higher than the price of eT in that month.
If a household stays in its limited share of debit energy tokens within a month, they’re being considered as efficient users in this system. As in this case, by the t end of the month efficient users will receive monetary rewards because of e staying in their limits of debit-energy account. s
While explained the conditions which debit and credit-energy tokens are being used, a situation might occur that a household’s consumption goes beyond the limits of the second share of energy (credit-energy token) in a month, leaving the user in need of extra energy-tokens. In this case a shared community-token account can be borrowed against, providing hous hold’s access to additional energy tokens. By using energy-tokens from this shared account, the user owes the community both energy-tokens and actual money due to the end of the following month. In order to prevent users from continuously depending on the credit and community energy accounts for purchasing extra energy, the energy price follows an ascending pattern.
If a household uses energy less than their monthly share of debittokens, at the end of the month they are able to sell the extra energy tokens to the system and e receive actual money in their bank account. re If a household uses all its debit-energy tokens prior to the end of the month, a buffer zone, the credit token account, is provided to allow household’s continual access to necessary energy. By using all the debit-energy tokens, users start using from their shared amount of monthly credit-energy tokens by paying its specific trade off: due to the end of the next month the user should give back the excess energy used from the credit-energy account to the system in form of energy-tokens. For the user to provide the system with energy-tokens, s/he has to save eT from the debit-tokens earned in the following month. A situation similar to the one explained above will happen which by saving energy, at the end of the month the users has extra eT to give back to the community (but this time not to sell it to the community, but to pay for his excess energy use in the previous month).
Assessing Microgrid Development in Storm Damaged Areas in the State of New York GIS Project, Fall 2015
This research project grows out of New York’s continuing commitment to its citizens and the resiliency of the electric grid supporting critical public safety, health, and security infrastructure. Accordingly, this study attempts to develop recommendations regarding the establishment of microgrids in the state of New York. The purpose of this project is to find potential sites to establish microgrids in the state of New York which would sustain critical facility’s operations during and after severe weather events.
Image Source: http://inhabitat.com/how-the-nokero-sunray-pro-power-solar-charger-saved-my-skin-my-sanity-during-hurricane-sandy/new-york-mag-iwan-baan-cover/
This assessment goes through a five stage process: Stage One: Selecting the County Stage Two: Microgrid Site Selection Stage Three: Identify Building Types Stage Four: Renewable Energy Studies Stage Five: Microgrid Proposal
Goals and Criteria The ultimate purpose of this project is to recommend areas within the state of New York which have the potential for a microgrid to be established on. These are the areas which would carry the most significant financial consequences and casualties in the event of power outage. In this study, the selection of buildings and facilities which are suggested to be grouped for the purpose of microgrid operations is constrained based on: - Being located in a county that was most damaged during hurricanes Lee, Irene and Sandy and has the most critical facilities (military, schools and hospitals). - Having at least one anchor user (explained in next
1
e One: On Selecting the County Stage
section) located in the area such as schools and hospitals - Having a selection of complimentary users (explained in next section) as commercial and residential buildings in the area - The complimentary users should be in a sufficient proximity from the anchor users due to sufficiency of the microgrid’s electrical configuration - Having a good potential of harvesting renewable energy resources such as wind, solar, geothermal and biomass
Mutual Affected Counties Affected by Hurricane Sandy Affected by Hurricane Irene Affected by Hurricane Lee New York State Counties
Miles 0
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6
12
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24
Identifying Anchor Energy Users
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Stage ge Two: Two Microgrid Site Selection An ideal eal microgrid sit site has:
Being local requires the microgrid-tied buildings and facilities to be within a defined boundaries for the purposes of its operation. On the other hand, one of the criterion for clustering a microgrid-tied community is to have at least one anchor user in it. Anchor energy users are those users who are likely to be at the location for many years in future. These users may include hospitals, universities, convention centers, industrial parks and etc. which can be very economical for the microgrid in terms of having large and
“...high demand users with consistent and coincident
constant energy demands in addition to leading financial
electric and thermal energy (heating, and cooling) needs, a high
negotiations for the system. For these two reasons, at this stage I
density of energy users, availability of critical infrastructures,
have selected those schools and hospitals that are maximum
superior exposure to solar and wind energy, long-term and stable
within 800 meters from each other .
access to biomass/biofuels; a site that is about to be engaged in another major construction process with the existing high energy prices...�
Energy Consumption by Source
Energy Production by Source
Energy Consumption by Sector
NYS Energy Annual Consumption/ Production Estimates
3
Stage ge Three: ge Three Building Types Identifying Complementary Energy Users Microgrids will be more economical when they target complementary energy users that together present a fairly constant energy demand. When users combine to provide a relatively constant energy demand over a 24-hour period, microgrid generators are used consistently and economically. For instance when a commercial center with peak hours from 8AM to 5PM is located next to a large residential area with peak hours in the mornings and evenings, the cluster of users provide a combined daily demand profile that is steady respectively. The adjacent residential area complements the load profile of the commercial center. This step identifies any building that is in a proximate of 400 meters from the selected hospitals and schools by conducting a buffer operation around the selected facilities and intersecting it with the county’s building footprint shapefile (retrieved from ocgis.orangecountygov.com)
Industrial Commercial Residential
Microgrid Proposals
Stage ge Four: Renewable Energy Studies 1
1 2
2
3 3
4 1 4
2
5 In this step I have analyzed the potential of harvesting four types of renewable energy resources (including solar, wind, geothermal and biomass) in Orange County.
The original data for solar and wind
(retrieved from nrel.gov) shows the annual average photovoltaic
3
resource in United States and the annual average wind power at 50m height in the US. Data on annual geothermal and biomass energy use is shown in the chart.
5
•Three anchor users: One hospital and two schools •Complementary users: commercial and residential users •Type of renewable energy generators: Solar, Wind and Biomass •Three anchor users: One hospital and two schools •Complementary users: commercial and residential users •Type of renewable energy generators: Solar, Biomass •Because of lower exposure to solar energy, this microgrid needs to be backed up with non renewable energy generators •Two anchor users: One hospital and one school •Complementary users: commercial and residential users •Type of renewable energy generators: Solar, Biomass •This site has a great exposure to solar energy, however some non renewable energy generators would operate as a god back up power covering its intermittency •Two anchor users: One hospital and one school •Complementary users: commercial, residential and industrial users •Type of renewable energy generators: Wind, Biomass •This site has a good potential of harvesting wind power, however some non renewable energy generators would operate as a god back up power covering its intermittency •Two anchor users: One hospital and one school •Complementary users: commercial and residential users •Type of renewable energy generators: Wind, Biomass •This site has a good potential of harvesting wind power, however some non renewable energy generators would operate as a god back up power covering its intermittency
Swarm Urbanism
Research Project, Summer 2012 Team Members:M. Rahimian, A. Bidgoli, M. Mahnia, M. Xosravani
Image Source: http://inhabitat.com/how-the-nokero-sunray-pro-power-solar-charger-saved-my-skin-my-sanity-during-hurricane-sandy/new-york-mag-iwan-baan-cover/
This research attempts to find the roots of swarm urbanism in the development of the city of Yazd which is a traditional urban fabric in Iran. This research identifies the elements as “intelligent agents� within the city’s multi-layered swarm system, extracts the laws of their reaction to the environment, and discusses the affection of such a smart system on the formation of the chosen traditional urban fabric. The first steps in clarifying the codes that may have ruled the swarming intelligence include but are not limited to: looking for similarities in behavior, inclination to certain patterns and climatic aspects in a mass scale, finding meaningful responses to elements like roads, adjacent fabric and etc. The illustrations shown in this page are the initial documentations of spatially analyzing of Fahaddan District in Yazd.
Building Morpholigies in Fahaddan District
Right: The connection between the clustered areas and the internal access roots of the fabric. The height of every cluster is in direct relationship with its area. As of this illustration shows the aggreagtion of larger buildings with bigger areas arounf the two main access roots in the neighborhood. Smaller buildings (towards the edge of the illustration) are aggregated around secondary access roots of the neighborhood Further Right: This illustration shows the ratio of the building mass to its open areas (traditional central gardens). The circles indicate the open areas and the surrounding cloud shows the building mass. Bottom Right: The distribution of access roots angle to the north directio. Four similar peaks, in 90 degree intervals are emphasizing on the dominant orientation of the neighborhood. Bottom Left: Demonstrates the ratio of the central courtyards to the outline of the buildings.
Slow Maps Post Professional Master’s Design Studio, Spring 2014 Team Members: A. Bidgoli, S. Kim, M. Rahimian
Enlow Fork, rested on the south west corner of Pennsylvania is among the largest coal quarries in the worls. Technically it’s not a coal mine itself. It is a huge wasteland for the underground mines that lied underneath it. Every day, thousands tons of dust, soil and waste material are accumulated in this site as a part of the mining procedure. The industrial activities left the site with heavy contamination: including but not lot limited to air pollution, water pollution and highly contaminated soil. Every year, some parts of the site is being prepared for depositing extra material while the older ones are being covered with soil in order to let nature take care of the damage.
Site Analysis The size of the size brings many design challenges with it: being surrounded by agricultural lands and oak forests, entailing existing waste deposition areas and defined areas for future use.
Strategies used for manipulating the site consists of a range of methodologies varied from soft to hard touches. Soft touches include decontaminating the site by planting specific species. These plantings may attract a defined set of animal habitats which their consumption and waste would be useful for the site. The next step after decontaminating the site is human’s intervention. These interventions takes place by proposing and designing new functions for the clean site including building the sufficient infrastructure, construction, operation and making use of it.
Diagrams shown in this section represent the geological aspects of the site. Other diagrams assess the possibility of planting in the site including soil type and the stippness of the site.
Phyto Stabilization : Plants can sequester or immobilize contaminants by absorbing them into their roots and releasing a chemical that converts the contaminant to a less toxic state. This mechanism limits the migration of contaminants through water erosion, leaching, wind, and soil dispersion.
Tall fescue
Sand70% Clay 20% Silt10%
Hybro Seeding
Sowing dry Seeding
Seeding Method
Setbacks
V
Swale Construction V
V
Processing Site Floor
V
Jute Matting
Additional Construction
V
V
Ground Cover
V
V
Acid
V
V
V
V
Neutral
V
V
V
V
V
V
Alkali
V
V
V
V
V
V
0-15
V
V
V
V
V
15-35
V
V
V
V
V
V
V
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Slope V
Reed canarygrass Phalaris arundinacea
Common osier
Salix viminalis
Common Ragweed Ambrosia artemisiifolia
Indian mustard
Brassica juncea
Rattlebush Sesbania drummondii
V V
35 <
V
V V V
Alpine Pennygrass
Barley
Hordeum vulgare
Thlaspi caerulescens
Tall fescue
Festuca arundinacea
Alpine Pennygrass
Thlaspi caerulescens
Matsumura
arabis gemmifera
Arsenic
Chick lupine
Wild Cotton
Lupinus microcarpus
Apocynum cannabinum
Common reed
Phragmites australis
SunĂ&#x20AC;ower
Helianthus annuus
Globe yellowgrass
Rorippa globosa
As
Silt 90% Clay 10%
Cd
Zn
Pb Hg
Mercury
Southern cutgrass
Leersia hexandra
Peanut
Arachis hypogaea
Beard grass
Polypogon
Sunn hemp
Crotalaria juncea
Nickel Silt 90% Sand 10%
Abyssinian mustard
Brassica carinata
Brassica carinata
Brassica carinata
Cabbage
Brassica juncea
Castor oil plant
Ricinus communis
V
Zinc
Lead
Clay 70% Sand 30%
V
Acidity
The chart on the right shows the type of plants thaton could beshows used what for the The chart the right kindprocess of plants can be phytoremediation. The illustration used for what areas or zones of our site below for the process is aofsimple visualizationAnd of the phytoremediation. thechart illustration below represents the chart in a graphical manner for a better understanding and clarification for non-experts.
Festuca arundinacea
V V
Cadmium
Clay 90% Silt 10%
Mid & Understory trees
V
Canopy trees
V
Liming
Clay
Vegetation Type
V
Organic Matter
Mulch
V
V
Neutralization
Course-woody debris
V
V
Mixture of Course
Fertilizer
V
Silt
Soil Type
Phyto Volatilization : Plants take up volatile contaminates and release them into the atmosphere through transpiration. The contaminant is transferred or degraded within the plant to create a less toxic substance before and then released into the air Phyto Extraction : Plants take up contaminants mostly metals, metalloids and radionucleids with their roots and accumulate them in large quantities within their stems and leaves. These plants have to be harvested and disposed as special waste.
Sand
INPUT
Topsoil
Phyto Degradation : Plants take up and break down contaminants through the release of enzymes and metabolic processes such as photosynthetic oxidation/reduction. In this process organic pollutants are degraded and incorporated into the plant or broke down in the soil.
Surface Treatment
Studying the geological tectonics Studying the geological techtonics of theof site, the site, we todecided workprocedures on the we descided work on to natural natural which revivedthe the to reviveprocedures the dead land. We devided site dead land. We devided the site into into different zones, with different approach different and the based the in every one.zones Based upon level ofon industrial required level industrial activities activity, level of of contamination, dryness in and different zones different in addition to the hired level to other qualities, methods of contaminations, dryness and other solve the problem. The main approach was qualities, various methods were Phytoremidiation. Which uses specific hired types of to solve the toxic problem. main plants to aggregate materialThe from the earth. utilized in this project The plantsapproach later being harvested and burntisfor Phytoremediation which making energy and the ashesuses will specific be burried types of plants to aggregate toxic in the abandoned tunels of the underground materials from the of and thewill mine. This procedure takessurface a long time, earth. After inharvesting plants to arethe be executed phases, in the accordance being burnt foractivity making and phases of mining and energy site exploitation. the ashes will be burried.
THROUGH PUT
HORIZONTAL DESIGN Horizontal DesignSTRATEGY: Strategies
Fe Ni
Iron
Madwort
Alyssum wulfenianum
Nebraska sedge
Carex nebrascensis
Rubiaceae
Psychotria douarrei
Smi-
Piptatherum milia-
Left: This is an illustration of the different soil types in the site boundaries combined with the level of slope. Below: Illustration of different phases of phytoremediation with different set of plants. Based on the diagram in the left this image clearly shows the sutable plants for different areas
Diagrams shown on zonings declare the different phases of planting and phytoremediation in a timely manner
Slow Maps Post Professional Masterâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Design Studio, Spring 2013 Team Members: A. Bidgoli, S. Kim, M. Rahimian
Enlow Fork, rested on the south west corner of Pennsylvania is among the largest coal quarries in the worls. Technically itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not a coal mine itself. It is a huge wasteland for the underground mines that lied underneath it. Every day, thousands tons of dust, soil and waste material are accumulated in this site as a part of the mining procedure. The industrial activities left the site with heavy contamination: including but not lot limited to air pollution, water pollution and highly contaminated soil. Every year, some parts of the site is being prepared for depositing extra material while the older ones are being covered with soil in order to let nature take care of the damage.
For understanding the site features in terms of temperature, humidity, CO2 level and air quality, we set up an arduino microcontroller with sensors, went to the site, and mapped these qualities in different zones. The planting strategy for phytoremediation is proposed to be done by 4D printing on the site based on swarm algorithms
Vertical Design Strategies Below: Designing and creating a site desirable for people, we suggested a hiking path and recreational area for the phytoremediation period. This includes an exploration spot at the top of the highest hill which is identified by a huge wall, layed on the top of a gigantic deposit of waste material, cutting through the tectonics of the deposit. The wall and the hiking path are presented in the main perspective and the map below.
Anatomy of a Crime Designing an Ideal Theatre for the Macbeth Play, Spring 2012 Team Members: M. Rahimian, R. Abedi, N. Arfaei, Y. Tahouni, S. Fadaei F. Karimi, L. Ghahremanians The competition brief asked participants to design an ideal theatre for a play, collaborating with theatre and architecture students. After choosing “Macbeth” as the play to design for, we started by brainstorming, aiming to understand the play in its different levels in order to design an ideal theatre for it. By analyzing the playwe came up with the conclusion that what makes Macbeth uniquely interesting is its “Multi Layered Structure”. We chose to make the architecture prototype of this poetic trend as the conceptual method in the design process.
Multi-Layered Literature, Multi-Layered Architecture
There Has Been Blood Cruel and horrible, everyone thinks of the butchery done by Macbeth. The play questions this by dissecting the crime. So from distance this corpse of an unknown creature is the reason for all the contradictory feelings humans have towards violence
The Charm of Power Lady Macbeth is the bodily representation of a person’s desire for power. So is the spiral in this design. It’s the only path strong enough to follow and leads the audience to a higher level. Depending on how the play is directed, the spiral contains seats in different levels and directions, or an observatory that lets everyone choose whatever direction they want to see the play
The Distribution of an Illness The concept of cancer is also embedded in two scales in the play: the idea of gaining the throne is like a malfunctioning cell in thought of Macbeth. An idea which gets out of control and reproduces itself so rapidly that the result is an inevitable death. The other scale is Macbeth himself which is like a cancer tumor. The idea is based on the behavior of revolting against one’s body and operating independently. The death is unavoidable for the tumor and will grow until it kills the body. In this way the concept of cancer starts to show itself inside the theatre and extends throughout the buildings
One side standard stage
Double sided standard stage
Triple sided standard stage
Double sided stage with balconies
Flexible stage
Flexible stage
audience
audience
Cast and audience on
Functions: 1- Foyer 2- WC 3- Cafe 4- Lobby 5- Information Desk 6- Gallery 7- Security 8- Emergency Exists 9- Performance Area 10- Men’s Makeup Room 11- Women’s Makeup Room 12- Costume Room 13- Rehearsal Room 14- Control Room 15- Director’s Room 16- Storage 17- Cast’s Multifunctional Hall 18- Backstage 19- Orchestra’s Rehearsal Room 20- Hard Workshop 21- Soft Workshop 22- Utility 23- Orchestra Pit 24- Truck Road
Acoustics
Sorrounding texture works as an absorber
Suspended ceiling reflector
Sound reflectors, Distribution of the orchestra pit
Contradiction Undergraduate Design Studio III Fall 2011
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This project is about designing a highschool specified in arts (graphics and painting) in the northern part of Tehran, Niavaran district. The most challenging feature about this project is its site which is located in the middle of a chain, which embeds a series of national, traditional and cultural buildings and centers such as Niavaran Palace (which belonged to the Shah in the past and has converted to a museum after the Iranian Islamic Revolution), the Niavaran’s Cultural Center which was managed by Farah Diba (Iran’s queen) and was her private office, Tehran’s Urban Research Center and etc. Designing a highschool for teenagers in this context rises many questions and thus many problems need to be solved. Highschool is a period of time in people’s lifetime in which the future path will be paved.
OBEYING OR DISOBEYING? Obeying The districtorofDisobeying? Niavaran in northern part of Tehran embeds a series of nationally important areas which The district of Niavarn in the northern part of are still immaculate from the fast growing city Tehran embeds a series of nationally importtexture. In the neighborhood of our project’s we ant areas which are still immaculate fromsite the can growing witness a city rich texture. combination of neighborhood national heritage fast In the context with a pinch of cultural representations. of our project’s site we can witness a rich combination of this national context with As to illustrate, chainheritage starts with the Nivaran aPalace pinch of iscultural As to (now used as representations. a museum) and stretches illustrate, starts with theand Niavarn to south this with chain a series of research cultural Palace and stretches to south with a series of centers and defuses through the original residential research and cultural centers and defuses area. This unique theme of the area in which through the original residential area. This the site is located. makes the outcome designs unique theme of the area in which the site is quite challenging in terms of responding to this located makes the outcome designs quite national-cultural-traditional background of the area. challenging in terms of responding to this Designs could either follow the spirit or stand out national-cultural-traditional background of by means disobeying theeither context. the area. of Designs could follow the spirit
CONTRADICTION: WHAT A TEENAGER WANTS Contradiction: What a Teenager Desires
NATIONAL HERITAGE Nivaran palace museum Cultural heritage research center Sahebgharaniyye palace
in theproject arts. Thus thedesigned age of the user’s of this facility The to be is a highschool specified are mostly to of eighteen: TEENAGERS. in the arts.from Thusfourteen the age the users range from fourteen toare eighteen: TEENAGERS. Teenagers are all Teenagers all about contradictions. Because about of bold, their age of their contradictions. age they always Because want to be alwaysthey alwaysabout, want be to be always stand outany andtime be the stand thebold. center of attention center of attention any time and any where. Thus and any where. Thus I’m using this as the concept I’m using as the my design in to which show the of my this design. to concept show the of contradiction contradiction in which Iranian teenagers have Iranian teenagers have whether deliberately or not. whether deliberately or not. This contradiction is This contradiction is usually harsh, because of Iranian usually harsh because of the iranian context, thus the community and the society, thus the use of sharp forms use of sharp forms was dominated in my design. The was dominated my design. The ups and downs in my ups and downs in my design, the triangular formation design, theslightly triangular formation and the the slightly sneaking and the sneaking from ground to the sky from the ground to the sky obeying the topography of I’d obeying the topography of the site, all in all is how the site, all in all is how I ‘d conceptualize my deisgn. conceptualize my design.
CULTURAL Niavaran park Children cultural center Tehran Niavaran cultural center PROJECT’S SITE RESIDENTIAL Family apartments Local shops
or stand out by means of disobeying the context.
?
? NATIONAL HERITAGE Nivaran palace museum
CULTURAL Niavaran Culture Center
RESIDENTIAL
RESPECT: Although contradiction is dominant in my design but still respecting its surrounding environment is very much of an importance. Beinding or bowing is how I’ve represented the notion of respect in my design. NATURAL LIGHTING SOLUTION: One of the most important aspects of designing ateliers for painting is about controlling the light in the classrooms. Proposing window-walls and also semi-vertical skylights will allow for the penetration of both direct and difused sunlight. SUSPENSION: As I call it highschool-age, it’s an important period in every person’s life because you decide for your future. It’s a time that you don’t know what’s next and at the very same time you want to take the best decisions: Doubt, Stress, Anxiety
Fa[Brick]ation Assistant Tutor, University of Tehran, Spring 2011 Tutors: A. Bidgoli, M. Mahnia, M. Xosravani, M. Haghbin Fa“brick”ation, or as we called it in Persian “DigitalChini”means Digital installation, was a ten day workshop, held by [Y] research group at University of Tehran dedicated to brick assembly through digital tools. It was chiefly focused on the use of digital tools to create low-tech technics that would lead to complex combination of a great number of modular objects, in this case brick. While the methods and technics for such an approach was not limited by tutors, a variety of means emerged during the workshop, spanning from simple guide robs in combination with a scaled framework up to a complex machine controlled by Arduino board and firefly plug in in grasshopper. All groups initially studied about the ways they can combine single modules with each other, then study the abilities they get from that type of combination, finally using parametric tools to define it, create a vast range of variation, then optimize the results. Completing the process of design, they start to modify it to create a machine to fabricate or install these modules. Six teams with six different approaches produced six machines to generate complexity of digital design to the realm of low tech tools.
A Tribute to the Sophisticated Tradition of Brick Laying in Persian Architecture Inspired by the true craftsmanship of Persian artisans, and the leading-edge experiments of Gramazio and Kohler at ETH, we tried to study the affordances of algorithmic procedures in generating component based geometrical complexity. However, we didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have the luxury of industrial robots in Tehran. So, we decided to fuse a hybrid approach to leverage the computational power of computers to generate design solutions, and the creativity of the students to design low-tech tools and techniques to manually fabricate the forms. In this workshop, every team developed its own bricklaying proposal during the first 3 days. Then they designed the procedure to convert the virtual model into a physical artifact. In a back and forth procedure, they developed their customized machines to facilitate the fabrication process. The proposed techniques were spanning from a simple, yet functional, scaffold for guiding strings to more complex ones with Arduino control board. Finally, they laid bricks to shape their architectural scale installations. Projects use different approaches, including guidance robes, molds and even micro controller and step motors to precisely determine the distance and angle between bricks, the final results spanned from decorative surfaces to reversed arches.
First Below: Use of spacers was another technics which is used to set the relationship among components. While it was initially developed by the use of small scale wooden objects, it was finally resulted in a complex arduino based mechanical system that could move bricks in the desired angle and elevation, but the final installation collapsed due to weak static characteristics of the form. | First Next Page: This project focused on using molds to elevate a planar arch in to a curved surface. Optimizing input curve into simple arcs and generating a foam mold were defined by grasshopper, later a mechanical variable mold was made to make the work easier, the angles and value to calibrate the mold was obtainable by grasshopper definition | Last Next Page: Using robes to define the angle and position of every brick row, in this case parametric tools were used to determine the coordination of ropes start and end points, this technic is used both horizontally and vertically |
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