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Shotton, Elizabeth
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Shotton, Elizabeth
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Shotton, Elizabeth
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Now showing 1 - 10 of 29
- PublicationDesign for deconstruction and reuse: An Irish suburban semi-detached dwelling(School of Architecture, Planning & Environmental Policy, University College Dublin, 2022-04-01)
; Residential buildings in Ireland have long been constructed of load-bearing masonry with structural timber use limited to intermediate floor joists and roof structures. The growing phenomenon of timber platform framing in Ireland in the last 30 years has increased the share of this construction type to a current 27% of residential new builds primarily using prefabricated wall and floor panels. Despite this surge of interest in timber construction, recovered timber in Ireland is typically downcycling into wood chip-based products or for energy. Given Ireland’s limited structural-grade timber stock, the ever-increasing share of timber use in residential construction will eventually put considerable pressure on timber supplies. The aim of this study was to evaluate a typical Irish semidetached house design, prefabricated by Cygnum Timber Frame, to identify the potential for reuse of primary material components in the current design and improve the recovery rate in a new design modified on the principles of Designing for Adaptability (DfA), to extend the service life of the building, and Designing for Disassembly and Reuse (DfDR) to maximise recapture and reuse potential.58 - PublicationTechnological transformations at Boatstrand Harbour(2016-12-10)The late nineteenth century was a revolutionary period for harbour construction in Ireland, principally due to the efforts of one man, Bindon Blood Stoney [1828-1909] the Chief Engineer to Dublin Port [1862-98]. Although portland cement, the primary ingredient of concrete, had been developed as early as 1820 it was not until Stoney’s audacious use of large scale precast concrete blocks to build the North Wall extension and Alexandra Basin [1871-84]1 at Dublin Port that the material gained sufficient credibility to engineers to wholly supplant the use of stone in maritime engineering works.
73 - PublicationPort Oriel: God's Own Dock or Abomination? The Shifting Value Systems of Civil Engineers(2017-04-09)The history of maritime engineering typically concentrates on the development of significant ports, the evolution of technological advances, or the contribution of a singular individual. Rarely are small harbours, so prevalent on Irish and British coasts, studied seriously beyond the work of local historians, whose focus resides on the communities of these harbours.
262 - PublicationTransitional Moments in Concrete Maritime Structures(2017-01-28)By the mid-nineteenth century concrete was being explored by engineers for use in maritime structures, the most well known being Bindon Blood Stoney’s radical use of precast concrete quay wall elements in the extension of the north quay in Dublin in the 1860s. Though quite unlike what would be understood as concrete today, this experiment nevertheless galvanized the interest of engineers across Ireland and Britain, leading to a seismic shift in the accepted constructive techniques for harbour structures.
60 - PublicationTactile Learning: The Making of an AttitudeThere is an interesting case in the history of dock building along the River Liffey that is illustrative of the relevance of one’s background in shaping one’s perceptual horizon and thus the manner in which the environment is attended to and the design process is undertaken. History documents that the acclaimed Scottish engineer John Rennie (1761 -1821) was author of the three docks built eastward of the Custom House in Dublin. This trio consists of the original dock, or Revenue Dock, completed 1796 (now in-filled), as well as George’ s Dock and the Inner Basin, both built by 1824. Yet the first dock was actually designed and constructed in tandem with the Custom House by James Gandon (1743 - 1823). Though this fact is clearly recorded by Mulvany in his biographical work on Gandon, and tentatively acknowledged much later by McParland, the record of citation evidence has slowly mutated across nearly two centuries to accommodate an altered perception of the increasingly specialized roles of engineer and architect. What is clear, from Rennie’s well kept business records, is that once awarded the contract to build the two additional docks and associated warehouses by the Commissioners of Custom and Excise in 1814, Rennie was in a position to assess the condition of the original Revenue Dock in late October of 1820 in an attempt to estimate the cause for its failure . Based on this assessment , three sides of this original dock in addition to its entrance channel were to be largely rebuilt, following Rennie’s untimely death in 1821, by resident engineer John Aird (1760 - 1832) under the supervision of Thomas Telford (1757 - 1834) by 1822. Presumably the subsequent rebuilding of substantial portions of the Revenue Dock are responsible for the muddied record of authorship. Regardless, there remains substantial documentation that attests to both Gandon’s role in the design of this first dock, as well as the significant differences between Rennie’s and Gandon ’s approach to the design of these structures.
84 - PublicationMinor Harbours of the East Coast of IrelandConsiderable progress in the engineering of maritime structures occurred between the 18th and 20th centuries in Ireland. While major harbours have been well documented, there remain considerable structures that due to their small size have been overlooked. These minor harbours represent a considerable source of information, many having originated through local efforts only to be later modified through government works in the 19th and 20th centuries. The danger posed to these structures from deterioration and rising sea levels is increasing and it is imperative to create accurate records for the appropriate management and conservation of these structures. An initial pilot study of Coliemore Harbour [1] was undertaken in 2014-15, which served to establish a provisional methodology for scanning procedures, using a Leica Geosystems LiDAR scanner, from which precise measurements and configurations of each structure can be catalogued and compared. The pilot study served to identify issues to be addressed to ensure the information captured is both complete and as widely transportable to alternative formats as possible for ease of access to a broader range of users.
356 - PublicationEvolutionary design using grammatical evolution and shape grammars : designing a shelter(Inderscience Enterprises, 2010-04-24)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; A new evolutionary design tool is presented, which uses shape grammars and a grammar-based form of evolutionary computation, grammatical evolution (GE). Shape grammars allow the user to specify possible forms, and GE allows forms to be iteratively selected, recombined and mutated: this is shown to be a powerful combination of techniques. The potential of GE and shape grammars for evolutionary design is examined by attempting to design a single-person shelter to be evaluated by collaborators from the University College Dublin School of Architecture, Landscape, and Engineering. The team was able to successfully generate conceptual shelter designs based on scrutiny from the collaborators. A number of avenues for future work are highlighted arising from the case study.1760