Rogers Announces 2015 CADC Seed Grants

Karen Rogers, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, and the CADC Research Council* are pleased to announce the 2015 Seed Grant awards, totaling $40,000. CADC’s Seed Grant program is a competitive program whose purpose is to support faculty in the college through the advancement of research, scholarship, innovative pedagogy, and creative work.

The CADC’s Dean’s Office funded proposals for a total of $25,000. The McWhorter School of Building Science funded proposals for collaborative research for a total of $15,000. The collaborative research grant proposals required participation of a least one Building Science Faculty member and one faculty member from another school or college.

“You can see the scope of skill, talent, and knowledge of the people in the CADC from the quality of these grants,” says Rogers.

Congratulations to the 2015 Seed Grant Award Winners:

Project Investigators: Salman Azhar, McWhorter School of Building Science, and Rafay Ishfaq, Department of Aviation and Supply Chance Management, Raymond J. Harbert College of Business

Project Title: Low Cost 3D Digital Scanning and Immersive Visualization Technologies for Built Environment

Project Description: The aim of this research is to investigate low cost 3D digital scanning and immersive visualization technologies for design, construction, and facility management. The thrust of this research is to develop a solution that is cheaper than the existing 3D laser scanners and more accurate than the photogrammetry. The results of this research will be used to determine the value and best applications of these emerging technologies in education and practice.

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Project Investigator: Matthew Hall, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Project Title: The Faces of Lewerentz

Project Description: This research presents many faces of Sigurd Lewerentz, well known 20th Century Swedish architect who left no writing or lectures about his sixty-four year career. What is known about Lewerentz and his small but radical body of work is formed by historians, architects, and his surviving relatives and collaborators that will be more clearly examined, contrasted, and critiqued. The culmination of the project will be the design of an exhibition, website, and publication for the summer 2016 on the occasion of the fifty-year anniversary of Lewerentz’s most famous work, the Church of Saint Peter in Klippan, Sweden.

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Project Investigators: Charlene LeBleu, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture, and Keith Rahn, McWhorter School of Building Science

Project Title: Mitigating Heat Transfer from Impervious Surfaces to Stormwater Discharge Using Alternative Design Methods and Pavement Types

Project Description:  This project hypothesizes that pervious pavements are a good alternative method to reduce thermal heat transfer to stormwater in the public collection system. The project will establish: the benefits of pervious pavements in mitigating thermal heat removal; a baseline measurement of heat removal effectiveness of pervious material when used as a solitary stormwater control measure; and pervious material’s role in mitigating thermal heat removal when used in combination with other stormwater control measures. The valuable and informative data gathered will help establish pervious pavement's role in effectively mitigating thermal pollution to Alabama receiving waters.

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Project Investigators: Charlene LeBleu and Valerie Friedmann, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Project Title: Marginal Utility: Roadside Ecology in the Mobile Bay Drainage Area

Project Description: The purpose of this study is to document and define the ecological performance and design potential of plant species and other biotic and abiotic factors commonly found in road rights-of-way in the Mobile Bay Drainage Area (MBDA). Quantitative (spatial data, policy reviews) and qualitative (video, photography) rights-of-way documentation will be crafted into diagrammatic representative and information-rich imagery to capture and communicate existing opportunities found along the route. Video and still imagery will be incorporated into a short film. This information will be crafted into an exhibit that can be displayed with the CADC in addition to other regional venues, conferences, and organizations. The materials also will be hosted online on a dedicated website that will feature a map of geotagged plant species locations.

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Principal Investigators: Junshan Liu, McWhorter School of Building Science, and Danielle Willkens, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Project Title: Capture + Cloud Project: 3D LiDAR Scan and Photogrammetry at Rural Studio

Project Description: In order to add to the documentary record and potential of Rural Studio works, this project outlines a plan to collect 3D digital data of select Rural Studio projects and then make the data available to the public through modern mobile technology. The methodology of the project includes using a Leica C10 Scanner and supporting software programs to capture 3D point cloud and panoramic photographs of select buildings and site mapping of Rural Studio and using photogrammetry technology to generate 3D point model of select buildings. The data captured from scans and photogrammetry will be processed into a basic app and online interface, giving the public the opportunity to explore the projects through self-guided virtual tours. 

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Principal Investigator: Rebecca O’Neal Dagg, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture

Project Title: Samuel Mockbee Book Research

Project Description: This project’s research focus is on Samuel Mockbee’s drawings, paintings, and sketches in context of his life and career as a painter, architect, and educator. There is not yet a book devoted entirely to the work of the AIA Gold Medal recipient and MacArthur Fellow. This definitive book will codify Samuel Mockbee’s legacy by showing the rich visual landscape of paintings, sketches, and drawings, which he occupied in his life as an artist and thinker. The project will produce two book production grants (for the high cost of producing a detailed and graphically visual record of Mockbee’s vivid and compelling work) and a book prospectus and sample chapter targeted towards high-end graphic architecture publishers.

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Principal Investigators: Lauren Redden and Wesley Collins, McWhorter School of Building Science

Project Title: Developing a computer-based tutorial and interactive assessment student tool for Cost Estimating, Value Engineering, and Life Cycle Costing to prepare individuals for the Architecture Registration Examination

Project Description: Seed grant funds will be used toward the development of a computer-based tutorial and interactive assessment study tool for a portion of the Architectural Record Examination (ARE). The initial tool will be developed to specifically cover Cost Estimating, Value Engineering, and Life Cycle Costing, which is categorized under the Project & Practice Management content area in the Construction Documents & Service division exam. The success of this pilot project will lead to the future development of additional web-based tools for all of the ARE content areas that could be sold as a set.

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*Members of the CADC Research Council include:

Chair:    Associate Dean for Graduate Studies                                                Karen Rogers

              Associate Dean for Academic Affairs (ex-officio)                             Bret Smith

              CADC Grant writer/research specialist (ex-officio)                          Kandy Malocsay

              Director CCIC                                                                                          Paul Holley

              Associate Director Rural Studio                                                           Rusty Smith

              APLA                                                                                                         John Pittari

              APLA                                                                                                         Charlene LeBleu

              BSCI                                                                                                           Salman Azhar

              SIGD                                                                                                          Chris Arnold

              SIGD                                                                                                          Robert Finkel    

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Infographic by  Valerie Friedmann. The Mobile Bay Drainage Area, shown in pink, faces many challenges and opportunities as population centers, shown in shades of blue, expand along transportation corridors.