| CODE | EVD1504 | ||||||||||||
| TITLE | Principles of Architectural Science | ||||||||||||
| UM LEVEL | 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course | ||||||||||||
| MQF LEVEL | 5 | ||||||||||||
| ECTS CREDITS | 4 | ||||||||||||
| DEPARTMENT | Environmental Design | ||||||||||||
| DESCRIPTION | The unit will be organized as follows: 1. Introduction: The way humans perceive and sense their environment and how they respond to it. The measurement of environmental characteristics. 2. The Thermal Environment: A study of the thermal environment including the the climatic elements, climatic classification and human response to the thermal environment. Measurement of the thermal environment: the thermal indices. 3. The Thermo-physical Properties of Building Materials: Methods of measurement of thermal characteristics of building elements in use (U-value and other related units). 4. The Visual Environment: Introduction to the basic lighting concepts and terms. Human response to the visual environment. 5. The Acoustic Environment: Introduction to room acoustics including the concept of reverberation and reflection of sound. Sound insulation properties of building materials and components. Study-unit Aims: The aim of this study-unit is to familiarize students with the basic concepts of architectural science as a response to human needs for a comfortable indoor environment, building on the tenets of building physics studied previously. The focus will be on what constitutes thermal comfort, requirements of ventilation, day-lighting and artificial lighting requirements, and acoustic comfort. Learning Outcomes: 1. Knowledge & Understanding: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Understand the effect of climate on the thermal environment within and outside buildings; - Understand the way humans respond to the thermal environment and consequently the need for specific descriptors of the thermal environment; - Understand the basic requirements for day-lighting and artificial lighting, to create appropriate environments, and the basic descriptors of the visual environment; - Understand the basic requirements for acoustic comfort, and the basic descriptors of the acoustic environment. 2. Skills: By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to: - Identify the thermo-physical properties of building components and use appropriate descriptors to assess the suitability of such components in different situations; Calculate U-values of different enclosure build-up; - Identify the significance of glare, brightness, colour temperature, luminance and lux levels, and the relative requirements for visual comfort; - Identify the materials and detailing required to achieve acoustic and vibration isolation; use appropriate descriptors to describe the acoustic environment. Main Text/s and any supplementary readings: Architecture, Engineering and Environment, Hawkes, D. & Forster, W., Laurence King Publishing Ltd., 2002. Man, Climate and Architecture, B.Givoni, Elsevier, 1969. Solar Architecture, Christian Schittich (ed), Birkhauser, 2003. Climate and Architecture, Torben Dahl (ed), Routledge, 2010. Lighting Design, Ulrike Brandi Licht, Edition Detail, 2006. Acoustics and Sound Insulation, Echard Mommertz, Muller-BBM, Edition Detail, 2008. |
||||||||||||
| RULES/CONDITIONS | Before TAKING THIS UNIT YOU ARE ADVISED TO TAKE EVD1503 | ||||||||||||
| ADDITIONAL NOTES | Pre-requisite Qualification: A-Level Physics | ||||||||||||
| STUDY-UNIT TYPE | Lecture and Independent Study | ||||||||||||
| METHOD OF ASSESSMENT |
|
||||||||||||
| LECTURER/S | Simon Paul Borg Vincent M. Buhagiar Noella Cassar |
||||||||||||
|
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints. Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice. It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years. |
|||||||||||||