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The lessons learned from the 2004 tsunami phenomenon fueled the government and other local authorities to strengthen the legitimate background to mitigate such devastation in future events. This study aims to propose a standardized tsunami-resilient construction guideline for Sri Lanka by integrating existing local and international standards.

A comprehensive literature survey was carried out to undertake the study, with a wide-ranging content and thematic analysis of existing tsunami-resilient construction aspects in Sri Lanka. Integrating all existing guidelines with international standards, finally, a consolidated guideline with significant tsunami-resilient building aspects was proposed for stakeholders involved with the resilient built environment in tsunami-prone areas, particularly during the building construction in the coastal belt.

The existing tsunami-resilient guidelines in Sri Lanka follow similar aspects but in different dimensions. Compared to the international standards, few significant aspects create a gap in local guidelines. Thus, the findings demonstrated that the existing local guidelines must be modified and strengthened by mainstreaming into international practices.

Existing guidelines are more concerned with structural aspects. Nevertheless, proper integration of local and international guidelines would be more favorable to minimizing existing local guidelines’ gaps. Further, a standardized tsunami-resilient building guideline would be a referring document for all stakeholders in tsunami-resilient constructions.

By aligning local guidelines with international standards, the reliability of the guidelines will be increased and direct the built environment to quality disaster-resilient constructions.

Through a standardized guideline, the community can rely on tsunami-resilient construction in coastal cities.

The consolidated guideline further contains the essentials of city resilience in tsunamis and would be an excellent reference for relevant stakeholders than aligning with several guidelines.

The built environment is taking enormous leaps towards its digitalization. Computer-aided tools such as building information modeling (BIM) are found in the forefront of this evolution, playing a critical role in creating the foundations for the upcoming development of smart low-carbon cities. However, the potential of BIM is still untapped – links will need to be created among the available and forthcoming methodologies under one integral operational system. The purpose of this paper is to present an integrated BIM-based life cycle-oriented framework for achieving sustainable constructions at the pre-construction phase. The developed framework represents an example of the approaches that the construction industry will need to adopt to integrate the different tools under an integrated smart city context.

The methodological approach follows the development of four same-volume different-configuration three-dimensional BIM designs, which are coupled with life cycle assessment (LCA) tools for establishing sustainable building design.

The results of this paper indicated that the choice of building design and shape can play a significant role in reducing the embodied energy and embodied carbon of buildings, achieving a reduction of up to 15% compared to a reference building of same volume and gross floor area.

The originality of this paper is found in its approach application by coupling three-dimensional BIM models with LCA data, the use of reinforcement detailing in an nD BIM study and the employment of country-specific LCA databases.

Places of worship have historically been maintained using traditional building management techniques, including regular monitoring, upkeep and maintenance provided by their religious communities. This paper examines the conservation issues arising after the forced displacement of the traditional custodians, which is a significant concern in conflict-ridden environments.

As a unique example of a long-term conflict, the divided Cyprus provides this research with illustrative cases to derive the data. The research employs content analysis of official documents, physical observations and interviews with conservation professionals.

This research demonstrates the human and environmental factors impacting the conservation of the material fabric and the use-related challenges stemming from the intangible significance of the religious legacy belonging to displaced communities. It highlights the urgency to formulate more effective mechanisms and regulatory frameworks to address vulnerability issues promptly.

Preservation problems on religious heritage buildings arising from the loss of traditional custodians after conflicts are an under-researched area in conservation literature. Drawing on research that was conducted several decades after the displacement of Cypriot communities, this paper reveals new insights into the magnitude of the conservation problems and the use-related complexities that need to be addressed to formulate mutually acceptable solutions for a sustainable future.

This work aims to develop a web platform for inspecting roof structures for technical assistance supported by drones and artificial intelligence. The tools used were HTML, CSS and JavaScript languages; Firebase software for infrastructure; and Custom Vision for image processing.

This study adopted the design science research approach, and the main stages for the development of the web platform include (1) creation and validation of the roof inspection checklist, (2) validation of the use of Custom Vision as an image recognition tool, and (3) development of the web platform.

The results of automatic recognition showed a percentage of 77.08% accuracy in identifying pathologies in roof images obtained by drones for technical assistance.

This study contributed to developing a drone-integrated roof platform for visual data collection and artificial intelligence for automatic recognition of pathologies, enabling greater efficiency and agility in the collection, processing and analysis of results to guarantee the durability of the building.

Heritage buildings are consistently impacted by technical and pathological issues associated with their maintenance and conservation such as diminish of building's authenticity and damaging environmental impact. This paper aims to evaluate the environmental maintenance impact (EMI) of the Singgora roof tiles repair in heritage buildings. The EMI is an evaluation upon embodied carbon expenditure during maintenance phase, thus important in repair efficiency appraisal.

Calculation procedures within selected boundaries of life cycle assessment (LCA) and arbitrary period enabled evaluation of the EMI of Singgora roof tiles repair in heritage buildings during the maintenance phase.

Evaluation of the EMI could be appreciated as a carbon LCA of Singgora roof tiles repair and has been recognised in embodied carbon expenditure reduction in the form of CO₂ emissions mitigation. Importantly, the evaluation underpins decision-making for heritage buildings repair.

EMI evaluation encompasses all building types and forms, thus comprehends the associated applied methodologies. Moreover, the evaluation reflects the emerging environmental challenges of sustaining resilient buildings globally.

EMI evaluation highlights options that may be adopted in repair. Indirectly, this implicates heritage building preservation and place's identity protection. Significantly, the evaluation supports environmentally focused conservation and promotes a sustainable repair approach.

EMI evaluation of this paper may devoted to the holistic understanding of the complex relations between Singgora roof materials and their environmental performance. Meanwhile, the application of a carbon LCA had dictated integration of multidisciplinary of heritage buildings maintenance and conservation.

Recently, the utilization of cold-formed steel (CFS) roof truss systems and different types of other combination structural support systems, such as concrete or hot-rolled steel support, becomes more frequently used. This paper aims to identify the load transfer characteristics of three different design details for cold-formed truss to supporting system connections and to propose simplified modelling approach for practices.

Simplification modelling of connection design could be proposed for practical purpose based on the load transfer characteristics obtained from detailed study using finite element method. A cold-formed roof truss system with connection is modelled using line elements. However, the supporting system is not modelled in this work. Three types of connection involve, which are five pieces of CFS L-angle brackets, one-piece of CFS L-angle brackets and three types of bolts connection are modelled.

The results of analysis show that the connections located on the loaded side experienced higher reactions than those far from loaded side. From the result, it is also found that the option of “Fixed But” support condition in STAAD.Pro with translational degree of freedom being restrained is the most suitable way to represent the CFS L-angle brackets design for Type 1 connection for use in truss modelled using line elements.

Such increase in usage necessitates an appropriate connection detailing depending on the behaviour of the connection.

This paper aims to use convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to provide an objective approach to classify deteriorated building assets according to the type and extent of damage. This research supports automated inspection of buildings and focuses on roofing elements as one of the most critical and externally distressed elements in buildings.

In this paper, 5,000+ images of deteriorated roofs from several buildings were collected to design a CNN system that automatically identifies and sizes roofing defects. Experimenting with different CNN formulations, the best accuracy is achieved using two-stage CNNs. The first-stage CNN classifies images into defect/no defect, while the second stage classifies the defected images according to the damage type. Based on the image classification, optimization is used to prioritize roof repairs by maximizing the return from limited rehabilitation funds.

The developed CNNs reached 95% and 97% accuracy for the first and second phases, respectively, which is higher than achieved in previous literature efforts. Using the proposed model to automate inspection and condition assessment activities proved to be faster than conventional methods. Repair/replace strategy for a case study of 21 campus buildings based on their condition and budgetary constraints was suggested.

Future research includes testing different data acquisition technologies (e.g. infrared imaging), performing severity-based classification and integrating with BIM for defect localization.

This study provides an objective approach to automate asset condition assessment and improve funding decisions using a combination of image analysis and optimization techniques. The proposed approach is applicable toward other asset types and components.

The infill design approach for heritage settings is a challenging task, and it draws the attention of design professionals and residents. The extant literature has advocated for a contextual design approach for new buildings in heritage sites. However, the degree of contextualism for a new building in heritage sites is subjective, and it varies between exact replication and contrast scales. This study aims to evaluate an appropriate design approach for historic precincts of Odisha, an eastern state of India.

Two prime eastern heritage sites (Puri and Ekamra Kshetra) are selected as cases in this study. This research methodology involves identifying key architectural elements from both sites and a questionnaire (prepared by design experts) based on interviewing 400 residents and 36 design professionals on their aesthetic preferences for the different architectural styles and elements. The questionnaire was prepared by the design experts based on the identified architectural styles and elements of both sites. Descriptive statistics and correlation analysis are used to measure the significance of design approaches and elements.

This study's outcome confirms that most of the respondents (design professionals and residents) prefer the replication design approach with traditional architectural elements of Odisha. Also, documentation of the chronological development of architectural styles and elements of heritage sites of Odisha is done in this research.

This study has a few limitations: first, the land use characters (mixed, residential, commercial, etc.) of buildings in the heritage precinct are not considered in this research; second, this research has not included the financial aspect of infill design and last, the impact of respondents' socioeconomic factors on their aesthetic perceptions is not considered in this research.

The development authorities can use the outcomes of this research to implement a design strategy for infill buildings in the historical sites of Odisha.

This research article has documented traditional architectural elements of two prime heritage sites of India.

To date, no quantitative research has been done on infill design approaches in any Indian heritage precincts. This is the first quantitative research on the perception of stakeholders and users on the infill design in historical settings of Eastern India. This research has identified key architectural styles, elements and materials of the heritage sites.

Most residential building owners often report problems associated with the plumbing systems. If identified at the early stages, plumbing-related defects can be easily repaired. However, if unnoticed for a long period of time, they could lead to major damages and incur a significant cost to repair. Despite the problems, studies investigating plumbing anomalies and their root causes in residential buildings are limited. This study aims to explore plumbing defects and their potential causes, diagnosis methods and repair techniques in residential buildings.

This research used data collected through an extensive survey of both academic and grey literature. Through the content analysis, plumbing defects and the associated causes have been identified and presented in tabular format.

The study investigated the anomalies and causes in the residential plumbing system under five key sub-systems: water supply system; sanitary plumbing system; roof drainage system; heating, ventilation, air conditioning and gas system; and swimming pool. Accordingly, some of the identified plumbing defects include leakages, corrosion, water penetration, slow drainage and cracks. Damaged pipes, faulty equipment and installations are some of the common causes of the anomalies. Visual inspection, hydrostatic pressure test, thermography, high-tech pipe cameras, infrared cameras, leak noise correlators and leak loggers are techniques used for diagnosing anomalies. Reactive, preventive, predictive and reliability-centred maintenance strategies are identified to control or prevent anomalies.

The findings of this research can be used as a useful tool or guideline for contractors, plumbers, facilities managers and building surveyors to identify and rectify plumbing system-related defects in residential buildings.

As the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan celebrates its first centenary, this paper presents a critical reading of the development of architecture in the Kingdom reflecting the transformation of national identity.

The paper achieves this aim by performing an analytical diachronic survey of the main architectural styles and trends that emerged in Jordan and links the architectural styles and trends to four main historical periods that characterize the national temporal trajectory, supported by examples of buildings, projects and architects that represent each period.

The results show the impacts of different forms of architectural modernism on local practice and explore attempts to create a national architectural identity that range in their ideological drive from Pan-Arabism to Jordanian localism.

The research adds to the discourse on Arab cities and architecture and shows the development of architectural trends in an Arab Muslim country, focusing on the interaction of architectural modernism with local variables. The research aims to supplement literature on Arab architecture with a critical and nuanced historical account of Jordanian architecture in the English language to serve a global audience.