Client expectations in the purview of architecture

Purpose of the study: From the conceptualisation to the construction stage, clients have a wide range of expectations from architects, and sometimes not addressing or meeting these expectations can land both of them in conflicts of interest, which might affect the architect’s career. This study attempts to unfold the dynamics of the client-architect relationships, emphasizing clients’ expectations from architects. Methodology: This research has been conceptualised to cover various aspects of the client-architecture relationships through an in-depth literature review, followed by undertaking a survey. The literature review has touched upon different factors that shape the client-architect relationships, various architects’ theories, and how clients feel. The survey was conducted online amongst 29 architects and 12 clients to get their perspectives on the issue, giving more detailed insights into the topic. Main Findings: The findings have revealed that clients who’ll be personally occupying and using the space have the maximum expectations from the architects who’re designing that space, with these expectations spanning the entire process starting right from their initial interactions to post-occupancy. Most of these expectations and their consequent circumstances become complex where the budgets are strict and tight, as it is difficult for the clients and the architects to compensate for the losses. Novelty/Originality of this study: Architectural practice is an ever-evolving profession, where relationships between architects and clients are not static, but dynamic as per the changing working styles. This study represents a fresh angle of current practicing architects and their views, which may prove beneficial for architects stepping out from colleges to working industry.

Investigation of Energy Risk in Pre-Construction Stage: A Qualitative Approach

The energy demand growth every year for existing building due to the natural lifecycle of the building performance. Systematic strategy in retrofitting is proven to revamp the energy building performance. However, the retrofitting process is facing several of unknown risk as early in pre-construction stage to achieve optimum energy efficiency design strategy. The risk requires strategic assessment to minimize the impact towards the efficiency level in retrofitting. This study aims to examine the risks and the potential impact towards design strategies by conducting a semi-structured interview from six internal stakeholders in the retrofit project. The result derived from the interview revealed that there are 13 of major risks involve in retrofit project and divided into planning stage and design stage. All the risks are proven to provide a potential impact towards energy efficiency design strategies.

Exploration a New Model for Assessment the Environmental Risk of Dams in Construction Stage (Case Study: Balarood Dam, Khuzestan)

Dam projects have serious influences on environmental parameters; therefore, environment risk assessment of dam is one of the most significant aspects of environmental risk management in these projects. The present study was conducted with the aim of presenting a new model for assessing the environmental risk of dams in construction stage. After identifying environmental risks and using the EFMEA method, the risk priority number for each of the environmental aspects was calculated and classified. Then, to assess and prioritize the identified environmental risks, the VIKOR method was used. The results showed that in The EFMEA method and by comparing calculated risk numbers, the risk of water pollution of Balarood River with the risk priority number of 125 is in the first priority. In the VIKOR method, the risks of water pollution in terms of agreement (high, average, low) with weights (1,300, 1,000 and 0,700) were identified as the most important risks. In the present article, using EFMEA and VIKOR methods in the environmental risk assessment of the dam, the most important risks were determined. The most important proposed corrective measure to reduce the environmental risks is the construction and completion of wastewater treatment for industrial units.

Construction Stage Seismic Vulnerability Evaluation of a Continuous Girder Bridge with the Cast-in-Place Cantilever Construction Method

To evaluate the vulnerability of bridges at various construction stages under the action of strong earthquakes, the incremental dynamic analysis (IDA) method is applied, and the vulnerabilities of a continuous girder case study bridge with the cast-in-place cantilever construction method, which owns five main construction stages, are evaluated and compared. The results show the following: With the increase in the peak ground acceleration (PGA), the vulnerabilities of bridges at different construction stages all increase. The fragility and vulnerability are mainly determined by the structural mechanical system condition and the mode shapes but not the modal frequency. For the working condition of seismic PGA of 0.4 g, (1) the bridge at the substructure construction stage may only experience slight or moderate damage with the exceedance probability of 8% to 5% and the mean loss ratio being only about 5%; (2) the vulnerabilities of bridges at the middle cantilever construction stage and the long cantilever construction stage are similar, the collapse damage exceedance probability is about 80%, and the mean loss ratio is about 65%; and (3) the vulnerabilities of bridges at the middle span closure construction stage and the bridge completion construction stage are nearly the same, the collapse damage exceedance probability is about 98%, and the mean loss ratio can reach 80%. The research results explore a new method for evaluating the vulnerability of bridges at different construction stages, which can provide suggestions for seismic damage defense and seismic insurance risk evaluation.