OU - Dissertations

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Browsing OU - Dissertations by College/Department "Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture"

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    Constructors' Decision-Support Framework for NZEB Projects
    (2022-05-13) Rahman, Muzibur; McCuen, Tamera; Miranda, Shaila; Warnken, Charles; Bhattacharjee, Suchismita; Bozorgi, Khosrow
    Efficient construction project management is crucial to project success. As the construction industry changes, constructors find themselves confronted by new issues and must undertake roles that have not traditionally been part of their responsibility. This change in roles requires their traditional responsibilities to be supplemented with non-engineering knowledge and skills to meet today's professional demands. While many studies have examined competency for effective project management, few have done so in the context of NetZero Energy Building (NZEB) construction. Achieving NZEB is a complex process. The decisions made in the early stages of a project impacts its outcomes most in meeting NetZero energy (NZE) goals, which requires knowledge sharing of NZEB constructors in a collaborative work environment. So, the decision-making process and the delivery of the completed project should be integrated, and crucial for NZEBs in achieving the NZE goals. Another important aspect for NZEB projects is the successful integration of Building Information Modeling (BIM) and Building Performance Simulation (BPS) tools, which aid the constructors in selecting optimal solutions from a set of available alternatives. Therefore, this study primarily aimed to determine the critical knowledge areas and skills that are necessary to respond to NZEB construction challenges. Through a survey and follow up interviews with NZEB constructors, this study identified the knowledge and skills base for constructors to be competitive and to effectively execute NZEB projects. Results from this study revealed that the most important challenges were workers’ unawareness of the correct methods and procedures, reluctance to change from traditional practices, and lack of the technical skill regarding Green/NZEB technologies. The most important knowledge areas were communication management, schedule management and planning, and cost management. The most important skills required to mitigate the challenges were teamwork, leadership, and problem-solving skills. In addition, this study summarized attitudes of the participants regarding the relative importance of the various mechanisms for professional development. The contribution of on the job site experience was rated higher than that of formal industry training provided by employers. The contribution of academic education to the competency of NZEB constructors was rated lower than that of industry training. For BIM implementation, industry’s resistance to change from traditional working practices, inadequate in-depth expertise and know-how to operate sustainability related analysis software program, and high initial investment in staff training costs were the top challenges. Accuracy, intelligence, and usability were the important features for BPS tools. This study is expected to be beneficial for the constructors’ decision making in NZEB project context. Construction educators are also expected to benefit from this study in developing their academic curriculum with a goal to meet the industry need.
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    The environmental design factors associated with functional independence of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities
    (2021-05) Yi, Ye Ji; Ellis, Natalie; Ge, Xun; Warnken, Charles; Kile, Mia; Boeck, Dave
    Background: The increasing number of students are receiving special education services, and the majority of the students have identified as having cognitive challenges. Prior studies have explored the associations between the environment and students’ behavior in the form of Evidence-based design (EBD) and evidence-based practice (EBP). A systematic review on EBD and EBP has identified 26 design strategies, which have the potentials to have positive impacts on students’ behaviors. However, these environmental features’ effectiveness has not been adequately addressed due to limited study design and small sample sizes. Efforts to creating inclusive environments for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) have heavily relied on experts’ opinions or limited evidence. Purpose: The primary goal of the presented study is to analyze the relationship between the identified 26 environmental factors and students’ adaptive and problem behaviors. Through empirical investigation, this study aims to prescribe these environmental attributes as evidence-based design guidelines for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (DG-IDD). Method: Data were collected through an online survey between February 17 and March 24, 2021. The survey consisted of the Environmental Evaluation (EE), Performance Measure (PM), and the Brief Problem Monitor (BPM), which measured environmental attributes, adaptive behavior, and problem behavior, respectively. The collected 168 survey responses were used for factor analyses, multiple imputations, and regression analyses. Results: Factor analyses categorized the DG-IDD items into four components: affordance, restoration, control, and coherence. Results of multiple regression analyses supported that a set of the DG-IDD positively predict students’ adaptive behaviors when their disability levels were controlled (the Environ-Adaptive Behavior model; F (2, 90.13) = 25.363, R2 = 0.278, p = .000). Specifically, restorative features were associated with conceptual/practical skills (F (2, 383.04) = 31.77, R2 = 0.301, p = .000), and the controllable characteristics were relevant to social skills (F (2, 37.77) = 12.068, R2 = 0.181, p = .000). The regression analyses did not support that DG-IDD inversely predicted problem behaviors (the Environ-Problem Behavior model; F (1, 43.42) = 3.244, R2 = 0.034, p = .079). The collected data did not support any associations between the design features and internalizing or externalizing problem behaviors. However, correlation analysis displayed the negative relationship between the DG-IDD and the problem behaviors (R = -0.191, p = 0.029). Furthermore, controllable features were associated with reduced attentional problem behaviors controlling students’ ages and disability levels (F (3, 68.15) = 5.195, R2 = 0.110, p = .003). Conclusion: The preliminary analysis indicated that educational settings that have the DG-IDD items are associated with more frequent occurrence of adaptive behaviors while fewer problem behaviors of students with IDD.
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    Identifying Preferred Neighborhood Attributes Among Individuals 50 Years and Older, and Analyzing Their Access to the Physical Environment: A Case Study on Age Friendliness of Norman, Oklahoma
    (2023-12-15) Fast, Sara; Lowery, Bryce; Pilat, Stephanie; Warnken, Charles; Purcell, Darren; Boeck, David
    The number of people aged 65-and-older has been growing worldwide and in the United States. The needs of these aging individuals will affect the communities in which they live. Faced with this drastic shift in the older adults population, the idea of aging in place was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO) to focus on making the older adults’ homes and communities safe by tailoring them to their well-being and needs. By aging in place, older individuals can remain in communities for as long as possible while keeping their autonomy and social connections. The concept of aging-in-place has been studied thoroughly in different fields like gerontology, social policy, and public health. By integrating a planning perspective on this interdisciplinary research topic, this dissertation focuses on the neighborhood preferences of individuals aged 50 or older in Norman, Oklahoma as well as their access to age friendly amenities through conducting a survey and spatial analysis. Successful aging in communities is not possible without access to reliable transportation, health services, recreational opportunities, physical and social support systems, and a wide variety of amenities. However, this study’s findings demonstrate that currently there is a gap between what individuals 50 years and above need to age in their neighborhoods and the current built environment attributes. Understanding this gap and the challenges these individuals face to age in their communities could help planners and designers develop policy and design recommendations to improve age friendliness of neighborhoods. Keywords: Age friendliness, Aging in Place, Residential Location Choice, Built Environment Attributes, Spatial Analysis, Older Adults, Middle Aged Adults
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    Identifying the impact of preconstruction elements on project budget and time using BIM-generated data: developing a decision-making guideline for project owners
    (2021) Salary, Sogol; Reyes, Matthew; Ghosh, Somik; Perrenoud, Anthony; Lowery, Bryce C.; Karr, Liz
    Preconstruction is the preliminary part of a project’s lifecycle during which the plan for construction is established. There are many critical decisions made during this phase that may lead to variances in preconstruction budget and time. Controlling budget variances is a key objective during the preconstruction phase. Projects with low budget stability may have poor outcomes such as low project quality, inaccurate information for financial planning by owners, instabilities in project timeline, and other challenges to project success. To control for this, project owners should be familiar with critical decisions related to variances in their project budget and time during the preconstruction phase. Project owners should prioritize these decisions while holding off on decisions that are not likely to impact their budget significantly. The aim of this study was to aid project owners with identifying critical preconstruction decisions that may cause major variances in a project budget during the preconstruction phase. To develop a decision-making guideline rooted in objective data rather than subjective information, advanced preconstruction platforms (such as BIM) and other technologies were employed to measure objective data on preconstruction elements. Data were collected from 61 projects nationwide. Three statistical methods (ANOVA, T-test, and correlation) were used to identify critical preconstruction elements that impact variances in the preconstruction budget. During the data analysis, additional results related to the impact of preconstruction elements on the time needed to complete preconstruction were also obtained. Therefore, the data obtained using advanced preconstruction platforms were used to deliver information about project budget and time, two key attributes of a successful project, and to empower project owners on having a productive decision-making process during the preconstruction phase. The findings indicate that critical decisions causing significant variances in the preconstruction budget and time are identifiable and should be prioritized over decisions that are not critical. Additionally, the findings provide the novel opportunity to inform project owners’ decisions using a decision-making guideline rooted in objective data as opposed to other existing tools that utilize subjective information. Project owners will be able to use this guideline to prioritize critical decisions and reduce the risk of having budget variances during the preconstruction phase.
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    A mixed-methods study: investigating the role of environment-behavior (E-B) attributes upon faculty
    (2022) Faisal, Ammara; Warkern, Charles; Ellis, Natalie; Ge, Xun; Pober, Elizabeth; Kile, Mia
    Abstract With the increasing costs in higher education and concerns regarding student retention and graduation rates, there has been an increased focus on innovative instructional methodologies and new templates for learning space designs. Schools are educational facilities that play an essential role in community building and education, and immediate attention is needed to improve classroom spaces. Unfortunately, schools have not facilitated changing educational standards and still follow old philosophies (Altinbasak, 2016; Baker, 2012). Even though there has been a worldwide transformation in the teaching and learning process, the US still follows the traditional classroom setting, no matter the instructors’ instructional approach (Altinbasak, 2016). Research has become integral to the overall design process to provide better design solutions. Credible design research is a crucial part of the profession, uplifting and strengthening designers’ credibility (Friedow, 2012) while providing improved client and consumer satisfaction. The primary purpose of the current study is to better aid interior designers in educational environment designs, such as higher education classroom settings, and to add to empirical knowledge about design and behavior, with the applied aspect influencing future learning spaces’ design. Therefore, the intent was to evaluate the existing higher education learning spaces from the perspective of one of the primary users of the space, such as instructors, because teaching is perhaps the most essential variable for the “improvement in the quality of education (Manville, 2004, p. 2).” There are numerous studies on classroom design from students’ perspectives, but more from instructors’ point of view still needs to be known. Since the learning space’s physical design influences instructors’ instructional methodologies, special attention has been given to furniture arrangement, furnishing, and equipment of the classrooms for the overall academic performance and related behaviors (Steg & Reser, 2011). There is a hypothesized association between the classroom design and the instructors’ instructional methodology. Through the explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, the current research strived to examine the role of physical design attributes of traditional and active learning classroom designs on instructors’ instructional methodologies. This mixed-methods research used two data collection methods: a survey and follow-up interviews to examine design-instructional methods in a triangulated fashion. Data analysis revealed an association between classroom design and instructors’ instructional approach. Contrary to previous literature, the quantitative data did not reveal a statistically significant difference between the traditional and active learning classroom designs regarding instructors’ perceptions and values. However, findings from the qualitative data analysis revealed that there is a significant difference. The emphasis of this academic environment’s post-occupancy evaluations was to assess user needs, experience, and values concerning these environments’ physical attributes. Results indicate that the instructors perceive active learning classroom designs as supportive of their instructional methodologies compared to traditional classrooms. Thus, the information collected from the POE of educational settings informed planning, design, and pedagogical practices throughout the whole evaluation process. Keywords: Classroom design, active learning classroom design, faculty perception, built-environment and human behavior.
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    On the problem of resolving monopoly holdouts without requiring eminent domain
    (2023-05) Ridley, William Lindley; Warnken, Charles G; Franklin, Aimee; Harris, John; Lowery, Bryce
    The purpose of this study is to explore practical alternatives for resolving monopoly holdouts, i.e., without requiring eminent domain. Berman v Parker (1954) first set formal precedent by allowing eminent domain to be used for taking strictly non-blighted property. Kelo v City of New London (2005) simply reaffirmed Berman, authorizing the use of eminent domain to overcome seven monopoly holdouts, including that of Ms. Susette Kelo, for a new Pfizer Corporation headquarters, on grounds that creating new jobs and tax revenues constituted “Public Benefits” under the Takings Clause. Heller (1998) argued that using direct government intervention in this manner simply transfers monopoly ownership rights between private individuals, i.e., while leaving scarce public resources persistently underutilized as “anticommons” property… a classic market failure. Following Coase’s landmark research on free riders, this study conducted formal IRB interviews with members of AUREO [Association of University Real Estate Officials] who willingly discussed their direct participation, i.e., during ongoing campus expansion projects at four respective public universities across the US. Chapters 3 and 4 fully document the firsthand narrative accounts provided by these real-world practitioners, who described the host of innovative bargaining mechanisms they routinely employed, i.e., enabling them to successfully resolve monopoly holdouts without requiring eminent domain. As a practical alternative to longstanding policy orthodoxy, this study finds that by systematically negotiating reciprocal, mutually beneficial [Coasean] bargaining agreements with recalcitrant landowners, it is possible to successfully resolve monopoly holdouts without requiring eminent domain. While these results may seem pedestrian to the layperson, their practical implications for the practice of Regional/City Planning are profound. By employing these same innovative bargaining mechanisms, it enables urban planners/designers/administrators to continually seek out local innovators (of all stripes), partner them with youthful entrepreneurs, and create new economic, social, and political synergies, i.e., enabling any local municipality to achieve the same urban growth/redevelopment/revitalization renaissance pioneered in so-called “College Towns”. Keywords: Coase Theorem; Market Externalities: Holdout Problem; Anticommons; Pigouvian Taxation; Takings Clause: Eminent Domain Alternatives; Market Failure Theory; Samuelson Condition; Nash Equilibrium; Sustainability; Land Assembly: