The Role of Limestone and Gravel in Buildings Essay

I chose this program as my research because it is related to my major, and I can use this knowledge to further my mastery of environmental engineering. Nowadays, many people have a responsibility to take care of the Mother Earth, and “green” activities must take action from now onwards because actions speak louder than words.

In order for sustainable development to be achieved, humans need to reduce their effect on the environment by consuming less in terms of resources, and living more lightly on the planet. As difficult as this may sound, there are a number of ways in which this is easily achievable. One of the most effective ways to do this is to alter the way in which we function day-to-day, and to begin to change our homes to make them more efficient in terms of resources. In addition, sustainability is not only about ensuring a future in which we can sustain our society without impacting negatively on our environment, but also but ensuring that everyone can have access to this. Therefore we must look at the triple-bottom line approach and align our movement towards sustainable development with this.

Creation of products that reduce energy usage, support sustainable forestry practice, promote cleaner water and less air pollution

Stability and balance is also achieved through the incorporation of the vertical and horizontal planes. In the southwest facade of the building the vertical slits are balanced with the horizontal planes created by the cubes, cornice and the ornamental horizontal band that runs halfway through the walls. These vertical and horizontal planes further dictate a rhythmic continuity throughout the building. Building's scale is rather modest in comparison to its site and the surrounding landscape and the smooth texture of the facade helps its integration to the environment. (Figure 4)

In class, we have discussed that there is a constant battle of protecting the environment, but also wanting

HVAC –The heating and cooling is provided by a rooftop package unit. The HVAC is considered to be adequate for the current use configuration and in good working order but was not inspected. I am not qualified to inspect such systems.

Kingspan TEK building systems wall and roof fabric energy efficiency are rated A+ and can give U values as low as 0.10 W/m2k

The Mayans took advantage of limestone and calcified rocks held together by mortar. Which later advanced into a common item for humans, mortar is used between bricks to hold them in place. The Aztecs created a “foundation system made of wooden pilings to keep their buildings from sinking in the swamp landscape”(History Channel). The Incas cut perfectly cut, geometric rocks to form sturdy buildings without the help of any tools. We still use many of these techniques today when people are building homes, with a foundation and the heavy paste mortar on

The sloping orientation of the landscape maximises public space whilst having a relatively small footprint. Some roofing areas of the building

A large overhanging canopy extends above the main glass structure to further conjure the image and feeling of a pavilion, and provide shade and protection from rain, snow, and ice. The roof is equipped with a louver system, enabling staff to adjust fan blades to allow more or less natural sunlight to penetrate through the ceiling, depending on the preferred temperature and time of year, much like the roof of the Verizon Center. Given the incredible amount of precipitation dumped on the Metro area last winter, engineers were forced to tweak the angle of the roof to make sure accumulated snow and ice loads could slide safely off. Thick, insulated, high performance glass

From the observation tower the horizontal building’s three parallel bands can be seen that extend into the lush landscape. The architects’ concept was to immerse the museum in nature by creating a set of three bracketed pavilions under one roof surrounded by gardens. The roof can be seen as

In my opinion the most useful mineral for human civilization will be Asbestos. It was given the name to a group of minerals that occur in the environment as bundles of fibers. The fiber is resistant to heat, fire, and chemical inert. This is suitable because it is use in fireproof fabrics, paper, gaskets, roofing composition, brake linings, tiles, cement, and chemical filters. Asbestos its use for everything. Research study and proclaims that Asbestos is the number one mineral use among human beings.

As I mentioned before, the world has been using more than it created especially in the US. The only reason why we Americans can live like we do is because we use resources of other countries. If everyone in the world were to live like the average American, then we would need around 5 Earths to provide for everyone. One way to reduce our footprint would be to use less. Of course, everyone hears that we should reduce, recycle, and reuse, but how many people actually do that. One great example of a place where everything used is completely renewable and eco-friendly is the Govardhan Eco-Village in India. This village, while not possible everywhere, sets the tone for sustainable living. For sustainability they utilize various techniques like organic farming, water conservation, soil biotechnology, and waste management. This village has attracted much attention and has won many awards including the International Green World Award and International Zero Waste Award. Using this as a model, I believe that with serious reform, we can improve our cities and homes to leave a smaller footprint and to become more

Unfortunately, due to using such materials, many of their buildings didn’t remain till nowadays .vice versa using limestone, which was commonly used and favored by them as it was easy to be cut. Pentelikon marble which was used especially for fishing surfaces it is also used in well-known structures as the Erechtheum. Buildings were durable and sturdy. Romans used the same material but invented the concrete, with which many of their structures were constructed. It is made by a mixing water, sand and lime

The energy analysis for the Architecture Annex was run with the settings of a 24/7 school or university building. The location was set to Urbana, IL, and the HVAC system was set to the default type. The analysis showed that most energy would be used on fuel,