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Sami Boulos

Construction Management

Carl J. & Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular

Center at Brigham & Women's Hospital

Boston, Massachusetts

Thesis Proposal

Through the three Technical Reports, the project systems and construction methods gave way for the author to discover areas of the project that led to problems or construction issues that could potentially lead to construction issues. The following proposal is the opportunity to analyze three such problem identification areas, research the facets of each, and come up with innovative solutions that could improve the quality of the project.

Each year at the PACE (Partnership for Achieving Construction Excellence) Roundtable, students are introduced to critical construction issues in a discussion format with industry members. These critical issues can help students gain an interest and comprehension for the complexities inherent in construction practices, and also to recognize how those same issues can be applied to their own thesis projects. The issues from this year were BIM, prefabrication, and workforce relations, and the key contacts that this student could call upon are identified as well. From this, the most interesting for me was the Building Information Modeling and its growing use in the industry today.

More of a central theme, BIM will be part of the two technical analysis areas encompassing the reminder of my thesis proposal: Aexploration of the acoustical complications with having a generator above the VIP patient rooms on the 10th floor of the new building and examining the Curtain Wall system architectural design change and the ramifications of that change on the mechanical systems and overall aesthetic appearance of the building.For a more in-depth description of the breadth studies in these technical analyses, refer to Appendix A.

The overall goal of this thesis proposal is to generate innovative solutions that incorporate the topics of the construction management classes (Schedule Reduction, Cost Savings, Value Engineering) with the breadth studies associated with Structural or Mechanical options in Architectural Engineering. These solutions will require research and development, as well as designing and modeling in 3-D and 4-D representations, and the weight matrix provided in the final section of the proposal indicates specific percentages of time allotted to these topics.

Thesis Proposal (pdf)

Executive Summary & Breadth Studies (pdf)

Proposal Revision

Breadth Studies Summary:

Through the course of researching each technical analysis topic, each incorporates components of other disciplines of Architectural Engineering. These breadth studies are taken from Structural, Mechanical, or Lighting/Electrical options studies, and are interwoven into the analysis subjects listed in this proposal. This section was specially prepared to better explain the breadth study component for the analyses, and also to prepare the breadth studies segments of the Executive Summary and also for the CPEP website
component.

Analysis 1 Breadth: This analysis focuses on mechanical systems and acoustics as breadth topics. For the mechanical side of the breadth analysis, the HVAC systems and generators put out so much vibration and sound, and this will be analyzed. Acoustically, the vibrations and sound dampening must be determined and analyzed to find the appropriate materials to meet the requirements. These will then be used to compare with the design choices made for the project.

Analysis 2 Breadth: The curtainwall system for the project consists of several components, i.e. the 4th floor is entirely louvered to allow for natural ventilation of the building, while the first 3 floors consist of full height glass storefront fascade. A design change to incorporate more varying patterns into the curtainwall itself. This change specified several more types of glass and aluminium panel types to be installed into the system, which could have an effect on the solar gain of the space if the amount of glass in the curtainwall is increased, which can spawn more cooling loads in the summer months. This analysis also will consider if the aesthetic desired was in fact achieved.

Note: While great efforts have been taken to provide accurate and complete information on the pages of CPEP, please be aware that the information contained herewith is considered a work‐in‐progress for this thesis project. Modifications and changes related to the original building designs and construction methodologies for this senior thesis project are solely the interpretation of Sami Boulos. Changes and discrepancies in no way imply that the original design contained errors or was flawed. Differing assumptions, code references, requirements, and methodologies have been incorporated into this thesis project; therefore, investigation results may vary from the original design.

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