Residential Building Design and Construction Conference

The Pennsylvania Housing Research Center held the first annual Residential Building Design and Construction Conference in February, 2013.  As a new PHRC program, the annual Residential Building Design and Construction Conference is intended to provide a unique forum for researchers, design professionals, manufacturers, builders, and code officials to keep up-to-date on the latest advancements and discuss their own findings, innovations, and projects related to residential buildings.

The Residential Building Design and Construction Conference has parallel tracks consisting of several technical paper sessions with presentations on recent research and innovations related to residential buildings. The Residential Building Design and Construction Conference is focused on various types of residential buildings including single- and multi-family dwellings, mid-rise and high-rise structures, factory-built housing, dormitories, and hotels/motels. Full papers appear in the conference proceedings available online here:

The 1st annual Residential Building Design and Construction Conference was held on February 20 and 21, 2013 in Bethlehem, PA. Two keynote speakers were invited for this conference, Sam Rashkin, Chief Architect, Building Technology Program, DOE, and Richard Seifert, Professor Emeritus, University of Alaska, Fairbanks. The conference scheduled 36 presentations in 13 sessions over two days. There was also one session devoted to introducing the book: Design and Construction of High-Performance Homes: Building Envelopes, Renewable Energies and Integrated Practice. The authors of the book discussed three major aspects of the book: architectural technologies, system integrated photovoltaic, and energy and integrative design process. Following is the list of papers presented at the conference over the two days.

Day 1:

• Keynote: Money-Housing – Sam Rashkin
• The Need for Building Science Education – Joseph Laquatra
• Whole Building Design Approach to Achieve High Performance Buildings – Monjija Belizaire
• Concrete Building Systems: Disaster Resilient Solutions for Safer Communities – T. Peng, L. Lemay, and B. Cody
• A New Paradigm for Residential Construction in Regions of High Seismicity – M. Sarkisian, E. Long, D. Shook, and A. Diaz
• Critical Look into ISOMAX (Zero Energy use structures) Construction – M.T. Sebright and D. Berg
• A Framework for the Process to Identify Dominant Housing Archetypes in a Cold Climate Region: Matching Energy Retrofit Research to Important Archetypes – T. Mrozowski, S.-K. Kim, and A. Harrell-Seyburn
• Adoption of Innovative Products in the US Housing Industry: Builders’ Practices 2000–2010 – Parisa Nikkhoo, Andrew Sanderford, Andrew McCoy, Theodore Koebbel, Chris Franch, and Hazir Rahmandad
• Deep energy retrofits with retrofit insulated panels – Ted Clifton
• State of the Art Review of Window Retrofit Options for Energy Saving in Single-family Dwellings – Tim Ariosto, and Ali Memari
• Zero Net-Energy Ready – Sam Rashkin
• Prescriptive Details for Wind Resistant Envelope Based on Observations of Newly Built Homes Damaged in 2011 Tornados – Bryan Readling and Edward Keith
• Residential Damage Patterns Following the 2011 Tuscaloosa, AL and Joplin, MO Tornadoes – David B. Roueche and David O Prevatt
• Wind Uplift Capacity of Foam-retrofitted Roof Sheathing Subjected to Water Leaks – David Roueche, Elexenberger, Kenton McBride, D.O. Prevatt, F.J. Masters
• Housing Reconstruction and Community Recovery Following Disasters – No Easy Choices – Dana Bres and Carlos Martin
• Residential Reconstruction in Haiti, Mark Taylor
• Haiti Wood-frame Housing Initiative, Glyn R. Boone and J.D. Kiehl
• Effects of Sheathing and Nail Type on Nail Withdrawal Capacities – Ashlie Kerr and David Prevatt
• Modular Green Roof System in Mid-rise Multifamily Residential Units – Tuan  Vo, David Prevatt and Glenn Acomb
• The Unseating of Naturally Aged Asphalt Shingles:  An In-situ Survey – Craig Dixon, David Prevatt, Forrest Masters and Kurt Gurley
• High Performance Architectural Technologies – Franca Trubiano
• System Integrated Photovoltaic (SIPV) – Jeffrey R.S. Brownson
• Energy and the integrative Design Process – Defining the team of Experts – Lisa D. Iulo

Day 2:

• Keynote: 30 Years in Dogged Pursuit of the Ultimate Super-insulated Passive Solar Home –Richard Seifert
• Information Barriers in Home Energy Retrofit Adoption: Research in Progress – D. Duah and M. Syal
• Prefabricating Charles Moore: Reinterpreted Saddlebags and Aedicules – C.A. Debelius, R.C. Everhart and J.A. Russell
• An Introduction to Steel and Concrete Modular Construction – S. English and B. Brown
• Concrete in Residential Construction – Pragati Singh and Andrew Scanlon
• Reducing Exposure to Thermal Stress in Cuyahoga County, Ohio Through Residential Weatherization – Nicholas Rajkovich and Larissa Larsen
• Overheating in Multifamily Residential Buildings – Jordan Dentz, Kapil Varshney and Hugh Henderson
• Air Distribution Retrofit Strategies for Affordable Housing – Jordan Dentz, Francis Conlin, Parker Holloway, and David Podorson
• Innovation in Residential Construction Systems in Sweden - Gregory La Vardera and Scott Hedges
• Chicago Flat Type Planning:  Sustainability and the 1902 Tenement House Ordinance – Richard Gnat
• Introduction to Insulating Concrete Forms – Dennis Gerdel
• Resisting the Myth of the Monolithic: The influence of Construction Innovation on Single-family House Spatialities in the Work of Gomes and Straub – Francisco Gomes
• Responsive Housing: Potential and Projected Impact – A.J. Mills and K.J Tiss
• Investigation for the Removal of Steel Tie Rods in a Historic Segmental Arch Floor – Jennifer Lan, Michael Lo, David Sharp, and Ramon Gilsanz
• The State of the Art Application of Modular Construction to Multi-story Residential Buildings – Anthony Jellen and Ali Memari
• Identification of Structural Issues in Design and Construction of Multi-story Modular Buildings – Issa Jafar Ramaji and Ali Memari
• Sierra Bonita: Innovative use of Long Span Metal Deck Slabs and Shored Construction – Joseph Mugford, Karl Rubenacker, John Lantry, Ramon Gilsanz
• Lessons Learned from the Process of Retrofitting Existing Housing for Energy Efficiency – Lisa Iulo and  Bruce Quigley

The papers or presentation for the 1st Residential Building Design and Construction Conference can be found in the proceedings of the conference at the following link:
http://www.engr.psu.edu/phrc/Conference/2013RDBCC-PROCEEDINGS.html.