Course syllabus

Course-PM

BOM175 Building technology engineering lp1 HT20 (7.5 hp)

Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering

Contact details

Role	Room1	Phone	e-mail
Examiner, lecturer and course coordinator
Pär Johansson	K481	031-772 1966	par.johansson@chalmers.se
Guest lecturers, supervisors
Melina Forooraghi	K491	031-772 8113	melinaf@chalmer.se
Max Tillberg			max.tillberg@bengtdahlgren.se
Bijan Adl-Zarrabi	K482	031-772 1988	bijan.adl-zarrabi@chalmers.se
Computer lab assistants
Yichi Zhang (Simulink)	K475	031-772 6801	yichi@chalmers.se
Fredrik Domhagen (IDA ICE)	K477	031-772 6832	fredrik.domhagen@chalmers.se
Kaj Pettersson (WUFI)	K477	031-772 8131	kajp@chalmers.se
Clients, co-examiners
Eric Eliasson, Vasakronan			eric.eliasson@vasakronan.se
Anders Ljungberg, NCC			anders.ljungberg@ncc.se
Study administrator
Ingela Gustafson	K484	031-772 2307	ingela.gustafson@chalmers.se
1Building SB I – Architecture and Civil Engineering, Sven Hultins gata 6

Course purpose

This course provides in-depth knowledge of the technical design of building envelopes coupled to demands and considerations performed by professional designers and clients. The course aims at investigating the use and limitations of today’s design criteria and tools for energy efficient and moisture safe buildings using a commercial building as case study. By the end of the course, students will be able to present and make critical assessments of design options for a team of professional engineers. Students will also develop an ability to plan and coordinate both individual and team tasks, as well as to produce a technical report as a basis for the detailed design of building services.

The focus is on commercial buildings with mixed use (bank and supermarket) and up-to-date requirements on fire safety, functionality, indoor environmental quality, durability and energy performance. The overall purpose of the project is to acquaint students with future professional roles as HVAC engineers, building physics specialists, consultants, technical managers and similar.

The main goal of this course is to demonstrate skills and creativity in applying theories and methodologies from former design and analysis subjects. Instruction and practice in oral and written communication with guest lecturers and clients (professionals from industry) help students to understand work assignments and interfaces between engineering disciplines. The course ends in the completion of the building layout and building envelope design.

Schedule

TimeEdit

Detailed schedule

Course literature

Lecture notes are distributed through the course homepage together with a selection of building regulations, product catalogues, articles of interest, programme manuals, etc. Students should collect and use other references of interest for the design.

Course design

Project teams. Preliminary design teams are created at the start of the course and named A, B, C.... Each team has 3-4 members who are pre-selected in Canvas. The team members may be changed up to the end of the study week 2 to balance the expertise in the teams. Both the team members and/or the teacher may suggest the change of the team members.

Supervisors and assistants. Pär Johansson, will be your main supervisor during the project. Other project assistants will co-supervise your projects in their own expert areas.

Lectures provide necessary introductions and practical advice on how to deal with various project tasks. The majority of lectures will be given at the university campus but one (compulsory) will be combined with a study visit. The project teams are expected to apply the methods and knowledge from the lectures in their respective projects. This applies also to the recorded interviews with the clients (more in ‘Clients, co-examiners’).

Computer labs provides demonstrations and hands-on instructions on how to use the computational tools that are needed in the project. Manuals and complementary exercises for self-studies are provided through Canvas. As you will benefit a lot from these tools in your projects, start practicing and using these tools as early as possible.

Study visit to the real estate agency Vasakronan and the shopping centre Nordstan gives insight into real-world working and operation environments. More in ‘Compulsory activities’.

Reference groups. Each project team has a reference group, which is another project team as shown below. The reference group helps the team to prepare for the final project presentation for the clients. It provides a constructive critique to the team’s intermediate achievements.

Clients, co-examiners. Eric Eliasson, energy expert and technical manager at Vasakronan, and Anders Ljungberg, manager and technical specialist at NCC, will take roles of the clients, i.e. potential recipients of the project results. Both Eric and Anders are engineers with several years of experience in designing and maintaining building envelopes.

The clients will assess the teams’ achievements as they would be done in real world projects. This means, besides technical contents and understanding, the clients will take into account the teams’ communication and interpretation skills, ability to listen and consider others’ opinions, to think ahead and adapt to situations. The judgment of the clients is taken into account in the final grade.

You will meet Eric twice, first during the study visit at Vasakronan and at the final (oral) examination. Two interviews with Peter Lindström, energy expert at Vasakronan, and Fredrik Olsson, moisture expert and CEO of RotPartner in Gothenburg, where they talk about the details that the teams should consider in their projects are recorded and posted in Canvas. The teams are expected to adopt the advice from the clients.

Project presentations. Each project team will have opportunity to exercise the project presentation twice, at so-called cross-critiques, before the third and final presentation for the clients. After the test presentations, the team will get a constructive critique from its reference group who takes the role of the clients – recipients of the results. The critique is based solely on what is presented during a 10-min oral presentation (power point; 1 slide takes approx. 1 min). The critique is limited to 15 min. The same times will be applied during the final presentation with the difference that only the clients will assess the project. More under ‘Clients, co- examiners’.

Group work. Although you will be able to work individually quite a lot, it is important that you have a good communication and coordination with your project team members. A number of hours in the time table are scheduled for the project work. Use at least 1 h every week for project meetings with your team.

SB-R267 in SB I is a study room booked for the course activities. The room has 25 seats, max. 12 ppl, and can be used for project meetings during the project work hours. Do not move around the furniture in the room. The room is only accessible during the hours visible in TimeEdit.

Compulsory activities

• Study visit to Vasakronan on September 10, 13.15-17
• Attendance during consultations, cross-critiques with reference groups and with the clients (see below)
• Keeping the project management tool (Excel-based) updated on weekly basis (responsibility of the weekly project manager)
• Cross-critique 1: September 25, 13.15-15
• Cross-critique 2: October 8, 13.15-15
• Final team examination: October 22, 13.15-17
• Individual written examination October 23, 13.15-15

Project management tool

You and your project team are in charge of planning and propelling your project based on the inputs from lectures, study visit, computer tutorials and your own research. You will basically conduct a total project management, which includes e.g.

• making key decisions related to the building design, i.e. closing the problem
• preparing and conducting weekly plans and individual assignments
• submitting team and individual deliverables
• follow-up of the project progress and quality
• follow-up of the team members’ performance

From the very start of the project, design goals have to be regularly discussed, agreed to and embraced by the whole project team. Therefore, it is essential for all team members to get involved in the design process from the beginning. This means moving beyond being silent or responding only to questions asked by other team members. It means making positive contributions by initiating discussions on how the project goals can be achieved and analyzing the various design options with your team members.

Your main project management tool is a weekly work plan that helps you and your team to organize the mandatory project deliverables in time. It is an Excel-based file that can be easily extended by new inputs to accommodate the team’s needs, as shown below.

The teams decide about the content and order of both weekly and individual tasks. To facilitate the work progress, teams shall assign weekly project managers for every study week. Each team member should have a chance to be the project manager. Weekly project managers are responsible for the organization of project meetings, for the follow up of weekly tasks and updating the weekly project management tool. Before the next weekly plan is made, the project manager should mark in the weekly project management tool how well the current tasks are completed, in %.

Other project management tools are:

• Team logbook area (weekly assignments) that your team members and trainers can view and add entries to
• Individual logbook area (Canvas ePortfolio) that only you and your trainers can view and add entries to
• Template for individual team member assessment

Compulsory deliverables

Per team

• One project report, completed by the end of week 9 (the examination week)
• Seven weekly work plans for study weeks 2-8 (responsibility of the weekly project manager)
• Three project presentations

Per team member

• Eight weekly individual log books, study weeks 1-8
• Two individual assessments of team members’ performance, study weeks 4 and 6
• Final written examination
• Individual group work reflection

Time table for the weekly work plans is summarized below. Note that the weekly work plans should be ready one week before the respective week.

Study week	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	(9)
Work plan for the study week … should be uploaded by		4/9	11/9	18/9	25/9	2/10	9/10	16/10
Individual log books	6/9	13/9	20/9	27/9	4/10	11/10	18/10	25/10
Presentations				25/9		8/10		22/10
Individual group assessment				27/9		11/10
Group work reflection								22/10
Individual written examination								23/10
Project report									30/10
Individual group work reflection									30/10

Project report is a document that contains all information, references and analyses that the team has collected and conducted in order to answer on the design tasks. Mandatory design tasks and sections of the report are presented in a separate document ‘Project task’ as well as in the template for weekly work plans. The design and layout of the report are optional. Each team develops one project report. It is recommended to develop the project report sequentially, along the course.

Weekly work plans are project management tools. These Excel based tables help the team to plan, delegate and follow up both the overall and detailed design tasks. Each team should prepare and upload the weekly work plan in the team log book area, responsibility of the weekly project manager. A template of the tool entitled ‘Weekly work plans – template’ is provided in Canvas.

Project presentations. There are three mandatory presentations of the projects: two cross-critiques and the final presentations for the clients. The content of the presentations is specified in the template for weekly work plans. Presentations should be in the power point format and uploaded in the team logbook area (assignment).

Teamwork exercise. The group work start up exercise should handed in with the weekly work plan for week 2.  To help you with the teamwork process this document should be followed up at two occations. Once in the group after the final presentation for the clients, and once individually after the project report is handed in. To further aid in the teamwork process, two individuall team member assessments are done, see below.

Individual log books. Each team member has own log group area (Canvas ePortfolio) where they document own contributions to the project. These can be texts, charts, computer models, analysis and similar inputs, which are produced in accordance with the assigned weekly tasks. It is highly advised to prepare the individual log books in a way so that they can be conveniently used in the project report and presentations.

Individual assessments of team members’ performance. Each team member will assess performances of other team members at two occasions along the project, by using a ready-to-use template. Fill the templates by hand, scan the copy and upload it as a pdf-file in the individual log book area. These individual assessments will be included in the final grade.

Rules of conduct

Individual log books should contain items that reflect the project needs, which are specified in weekly plans. If a team member is unable to deliver inputs on time, they should inform the team about the problem prior to the deadline for the task or as soon as possible, and discuss alternative plans.

If a team does not receive expected inputs from a team member, the weekly project manager should notify both the team and the teacher.

If two or more weekly tasks are not completed, the group member will be replaced in a separate single-person team to continue the work on their own. The same applies if the performance of a team member is found unsatisfactory by another team member.

Single-person teams will not have reference groups and cannot participate in discussions with the clients (but can attend) but they have to finish the project task in order to pass the course.

Covid-19

The course has been adapted to campus-based education, with significant digital elements. We will have a number of physical meetings during the course:

• September 1, 13.15-17.00: Introduction lecture and exercise in room SB-R245 (25 seats, max. 12 ppl)
• September 10, 13.15-16.45: Study visit to The Lipstick and Nordstan
• September 25, 13.15-15.00: Project work critique in room SB-K582 (16-25 seats, max. 8-12 ppl)
• October 15, 13.15-17.00: Project work critique in room SB-K582 (16-25 seats, max. 8-12 ppl)
• October 22, 13.15-17.00: Examination of project work  in room SB-K580 (16 seats, max. 8 ppl)
• October 23, 13.15-15.00: Individual written examination in room SB-L516 (48 seats, max. 24 ppl)

 

• All lectures through Zoom, pdf posted on Canvas.
• Computer exercises in room SB-D023 (25 seats, max. 12 ppl) and Zoom
• Project work consultations through Zoom
• Project work critique sessions possible through Zoom
• Study visit and final presentation possible through Zoom

Changes made since the last occasion

• One new lecture on office layout has been added to the course.
• Study visit on fire safety design has been removed due to Covid-19.

Learning objectives and syllabus

Learning objectives:

• Produce a technical design programme for a commercial building by considering the building's preliminary design, intended use, location, mobility and safety of people and goods, maintainability, and environmental certification goals.
• Formulate and optimize quantitative targets on energy use and indoor environmental quality, as well as on fire and moisture safety of the building in accordance with the technical design program.
• Develop a transient building energy simulation model.
• Get acquainted with commercial simulation programs for calculating daylight, solar shading and moisture distributions.
• By using simulation tools, quantify daylight factor in selected zones of the building, specific energy use and power demand for heating and cooling of the building, indoor air temperature variations and perceived thermal comfort in selected zones of the building, and moisture safe design of selected parts of the building envelope.
• Use the results of simulations to identify and critically evaluate design options for the building envelope.
• Present and argue for own design for clients (professional engineers).
• Demonstrate ability to
  - plan and organize individual and group assignments,
  - work self-standing, i.e. relying on own competence and available design documentation,
  - act responsively and in a professional manner to the client requirements take critique and argue for own design in public

Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.

Study plan

Examination form

Assessments and grading are based on the overall project results and the team and individual performances, in respect to the intended learning outcomes. The teams and individual achievements are graded separately with the marks 3, 4, 5 or not passed. Teams are graded based on the project report, organization - weekly plans, presentations and final critique.

Individual performances are assessed based on the individual log books, individual team member assessments and the written test.

The final individual grade is found as a weighted value of the team and individual grade in relation 1:1. The clients' grades constitute 25 % of your final individual grade. Reports are also weighted by 25 %. Your individual contributions and performance along the course are weighted 30 %. Finally, the individual written test contribute by 20 %.

In the table below you can see how the final individual grade develops based on these four grades.

 

However, the teacher reserves the right to apply other weighting in the final assessment for the sake of fairness. For example, a team member may get grade 5 even though her/his team has got grade 3. The teacher will motivate such decisions to both the student and his/her team members.

Final team examination: October 22, 13.15-17

Individual written examination: October 23, 13.15-15

About the individual test. The test is composed of about 15 theoretical questions. There will be no calculations or a need to remember any design value. The test covers the entire design process starting from setting up design goals, performance criteria used in the design, methods used to assess the design, to specific details that tell how you have dealt with some challenges in your projects. The best way to prepare for the test is to get well acquainted with all design aspect that you have covered in your project. If you have spent more time on certain design aspect, take care to learn what your group members did in the meantime.