Thermal Tectonics

<p><b>This thesis examines high performance architectural tectonics through theoretical studies, design experiments, and through the design of two case study houses in Christchurch, New Zealand. The thesis focused on formulating a theoretical framework for a practice-focused, environmentally sustainable architecture by studying three key themes, specifically Architectural Tectonics, Contemporary Residential Architecture Detailing, and Energy Efficient Envelope Design.</b></p> <p>The integration of these three fields was undertaken to address the role of architectural design as the construction industry transitions to a net- zero carbon emissions future.</p> <p>Thermal tectonics takes a critical position towards the contemporary approach to residential architectural detailing, which increasingly intensifies the divergence between the tectonic expression of architectural junctions and the performance considerations of energy efficient envelope construction. This divergence results from a number of factors, including the increasing complexity of construction methods, the growing specialisation of building trades, and the increasing specialisation of architectural design.</p> <p>The project aims to tilt the existing aesthetic traditions of New Zealand residential architecture towards a language that performs better thermally. The thermal tectonic approach to architectural design intends to re-integrate the tectonic and performance considerations of the external envelope through a system-based approach to architectural design.</p> <p>Two case-study homes are developed through a tectonic framework that highlights the expressive potential of high performance construction systems. ‘Four Peaks House’ seeks to align a prefabricated SIP system with the vernacular typology of the Bach, developing a detail language that connects the building to place without the need for extensive low-performing glazing. ‘Gallery House’ explores the novel material of Hempcrete, demonstrating how exposing insulative materials can produce rich interior spaces.</p> <p>The design research was conducted through a series of design-led experiments focused on the six key principles of the Thermal Tectonic framework; anatomy, tectonic-stereotomic, space, place, detail and intersection, representation and ornamentation.</p> <p>This approach creates an explicit relationship between building elements and their thermal function, by using thermal simulation software to generate tectonic diagrams that describe how building elements are configured to express the thermal performance of a building. This provides architects with a critical tool for understanding how their design decisions can impact energy efficiency, while also allowing them to make design judgments that prioritise other factors such as aesthetic or material concerns. In addition, the research outcomes provide a direction for sustainable future practice that will ensure architectural ideas are translated into the high-performing language of our future built environment.</p>

Regional geology and tectonic framework of the Southern Indian domain, Trans-Hudson Orogen, Manitoba

The collaborative federal-provincial Southern Indian Lake project in north-central Manitoba covered an area of more than 3500 km2 of the Trans-Hudson orogen. Regional-scale geological mapping, sampling, and lithogeochemical, isotopic and geochronological studies resulted in the identification of distinct assemblages of supracrustal rocks and varied episodes of plutonism. A granodiorite gneiss dated at ca. 2520 Ma is interpreted to represent the basement of the Southern Indian domain and is considered a separate crustal domain, named the Partridge Breast block. The Churchill River assemblage is composed of juvenile pillow basalt with intervening clastic sedimentary rocks, possibly a reflection of plume magmatism related to initial rifting of the Hearne craton margin. The Pukatawakan Bay assemblage consists mainly of massive to pillowed, juvenile metabasaltic rocks and associated basinal metasedimentary rocks. The Partridge Breast Lake assemblage is dominated by continental-arc volcanic and volcaniclastic rocks associated with basinal metasedimentary rocks. The Strawberry Island assemblage, consisting of arenite and polymictic conglomerate, is interpreted to have been deposited in a foreland-basin basin or intra-orogen pull-apart basin environment. The Whyme Bay assemblage is characterized by fluvial-alluvial orogenic sediments and is temporally linked to the Sickle Group rocks in the Lynn Lake greenstone belt. Granitoid rocks, dominantly monzogranite and granodiorite, range in age from ca. 1890 to 1830 Ma and occur throughout the Southern Indian domain, and intermediate and mafic intrusions of similar ages are also present. In this paper we integrate these new data into a tectonic framework for the Southern Indian domain of the Trans-Hudson orogen in Manitoba.

Statistics and Formation Mechanism Analysis on the Basin-Range Patterns of Granite Bodies in Hunan Province, China

This paper presents the results of statistical analysis on the basin-range relations between the granite rock bodies and surrounding rocks in Hunan Province of China. Among the 44 granitoids in Hunan Province, 28 are basins, 14 are ranges, and only 2 cannot be directly classified. The basin-range properties of granite bodies are closely related to the lithology of surrounding rocks. Among the 28 granite basins, 24 are surrounded by slate, 3 by sandstone, and only 1 by glutenite, while 11 of 14 ranges are surrounded by carbonate rocks. From the perspective of endodynamic process, tectonic movements played an important role in the evolution of the terrain in the granite areas. Firstly, tectonism shaped the large-scale tectonic framework which deter-mined the distribution of some granite mountains in Hunan Province. In addition, tectonic compression or extension formed some granite compressional uplifts or horsts, which present as ranges now. From the perspective of differential weathering, the difference of resistance to weathering between granite and their surrounding rocks is an essential factor for the development of granite basin or range. When their surrounding rocks are carbonate rocks, the granite areas mostly present as ranges for the high solubility of carbonate minerals. When their surrounding rocks are slate rocks, the granite areas are mostly basins for their lower resistance to weathering than slate rocks determined by their more unstable minerals to weathering and more conductive soils to rainfall infiltration.

The spatial and temporal evolution of the Portland and Tualatin forearc basins, Oregon, USA

The Portland and Tualatin basins are part of the Salish-Puget-Willamette Lowland, a 900-km-long, forearc depression lying between the volcanic arc and the Coast Ranges of the Cascadia convergent margin. Such inland seaways are characteristic of warm, young slab subduction. We analyzed the basins to better understand their evolution and relation to Coast Range history and to provide an improved tectonic framework for the Portland metropolitan area. We model three key horizons in the basins: (1) the top of the Columbia River Basalt Group (CRBG), (2) the bottom of the CRBG, and (3) the top of Eocene basement. Isochore maps constrain basin depocenters during (1) Pleistocene to mid-Miocene time (0–15 Ma), (2) CRBG (15.5–16.5 Ma), and (3) early Miocene to late Eocene (ca. 17–35 Ma) time. Results show that the Portland and Tualatin basins have distinct mid-Miocene to Quaternary depocenters but were one continuous basin from the Eocene until mid-Miocene time. A NW-striking gravity low coincident with the NW-striking, fault-bounded Portland Hills anticline is interpreted as an older graben coincident with observed thickening of CRBG flows and underlying sedimentary rocks. Neogene transpression in the forearc structurally inverted the Sylvan-Oatfield and Portland Hills normal faults as high-angle dextral-reverse faults, separating the Portland and Tualatin basins. An eastward shift of the forearc basin depocenter and ten-fold decrease in accommodation space provide temporal constraints on the emergence of the Coast Range to the west. Clockwise rotation and northward transport of the forearc is deforming the basins and producing local earthquakes beneath the metropolitan area.

GNSS Networks for Geodynamics in the Caribbean, Northwestern South America, and Central America

For several years, under the framework of national and international projects, the number of GNSS geodetic stations has been increasing in countries located in the area comprised by the Caribbean, northwestern South America and Central America. Data from these geodetic stations have made it possible not only to meet the needs for geospatial information in each of the countries, but also to get a better understanding about the geodynamic interaction of the Caribbean, South American, Nazca and Cocos plates, as well as tectonic blocks wedged in between these plates. This article presents a brief description of the tectonic framework, the existing geodetic networks and the results obtained using data from some stations in the study area.