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Theses and Dissertations

Theses and Dissertations

 

Recent Submissions

  • Jabbour, Marie Noel (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2022-12)
    As cities are growing today, various problems are appearing and created by this growth; and Beirut is no exception. The main outcome of this is investments in land for construction, which leads to lack of open spaces and especially green spaces. Beirut is suffering from the over crowdedness of people and buildings and most importantly the lack of green spaces. On the other hand, rooftops are usually large empty spaces that resemble mostly to the empty lots before the construction of their respective buildings, so they are an urban layer that can make up for the lack of open spaces in the city, ...
  • Maatouk, Samar (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)
    This thesis examines visual comfort of existing buildings in densely populated residential neighborhoods of Mar Mikhael, in specific those built between 1951 and 1964 (which constitute the largest number). Visual comfort is one of the most overlooked aspects while designing residential buildings, even though it promotes a user’s circadian rhythm (a 24-hour cycle that optimizes a body’s processes) and health. Thus, there is a lot of room for improvement in the design of facades because opening positioning, window to wall ratio, shape, and shading, have a major role to play in occupant ...
  • Saliba, Anastasia (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)
    This paper examines the impact of daylight performance on classroom orientation in Beirut district and its suburbs. Daylight conditions in educational buildings have been of interest since the discovery of artificial light in the nineteenth century. Classroom orientation is crucial in optimizing daylight performance, which can positively impact student health, learning achievements, and psychology. In Lebanon, Government Decree No. 90911 recommends classrooms to have a southern orientation, with the longest part of the southern facade facing south. However, the decree does not provide any further ...
  • Moussa, Christelle (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2023-05)
    Construction industries may play a critical role in dominant energy usage as pressure mounts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Energy efficiency investments can be a profitable way to reduce carbon emissions. Solar buildings with Net-Zero Energy are emerging as a promising way for reducing buildings' environmental impact. In Lebanon, there is a transition from vernacular to modern architecture in the early twentieth century. It is tightly related to the implementation of concrete in construction and the formation of the national cement industry, which paved the way for the creation of ...
  • Simonian, Jessica (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2020)
    The emergence of respiratory diseases and pandemics through history such as the severe acute respiratory disease (SARS), the Spanish flu, and the current Covid-19 epidemic highlight the importance of ventilation in the transmission of airborne diseases. This research examines the buildings in Lebanon converted for hosting the cases of the Covid-19, focusing on the three pillars of sustainability which are the economic-social and environmental. This pandemic is affecting all the countries in the world, and concerns have risen about future epidemics that can cause the death of the population. In ...
  • Fatayri, Bassel (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2022)
    Vernacular architecture (VA) can be a model for sustainable architecture (Mirahmadi and Altan, 2017), while maintaining harmony with the context, environment, climatic conditions, and uses local available materials. Vernacular practices vary by the use of techniques, materials, and methods of construction in order to minimize the negative impact on the environment (Al Tawayha et al., 2019). It bears a cultural identity that is often lost in some rural areas and has developed strategies that are considered as climatic responsive, minimize the energy consumption, and assure the indoor thermal ...
  • Dakdouk, Raweya (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2021-08)
    Design excellence seeks architectural solutions that respect historic buildings and sites. Marj Besri dam project is one of the many proposed projects addressing the ongoing water availability problem, in Lebanon. On the one hand, finite resources and high cost restrict the potential of the no-dam alternative for water management such as rainwater harvesting, waste water reuse and groundwater storage (Council for Development and Reconstruction, 2014). On the other hand, several studies focus on the impact of the dam project on the excessive greenhouse gas emissions in the early stages of the ...
  • Kobersi, Lydia (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2021)
    The 2020 COVID-19 pandemic caused by highly contagious respiratory diseases brought about unprecedented crises across the world, and a housing crisis among others. Lebanon in particular, which is the context of this study, was heavily impacted by the pandemic, exacerbated by a pre-existing refugee crisis and by the Beirut Port explosion. This study aims to research the characteristics of an emergency shelter that mitigates the spread of contagious respiratory diseases in Lebanese urban areas as the latter are hubs of infectious diseases. In this context, the study researches the characteristics ...
  • Habib, Clara (2021)
    With the increase in the urban world population, the need for sustainable cities has become crucial, and comfortable and livable open spaces are an important aspect for this purpose. However, since open spaces are affected by the urban design of an area, their quality depends on the priorities of the stakeholders and decision makers, and thus might be compromised to the advantage of other needs, such as prioritizing profit over the public good. The thesis addresses comfort in open spaces, specifically within waterfront developments because many growing cities are coastal and thus, have witnessed ...
  • Lahoud, Jessica (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2021-01)
    For the past 30 years, Lebanon has been struggling with housing. Specifically, Beirut’s housing sector faces social, economic, and environmental challenges with the unavailability of adequate housing, unaffordability of prices and lack of energy security. Being one of the oldest in Lebanon, Beirut’s residential stock requires maintenance at the envelope level to bring it up to current energy standards. This thesis focuses on the roofs of the existing stock as they are vulnerable fifth facades, subjected to a Mediterranean climate with 300 sunny days per year, precipitation, and hot and humid ...
  • Reaidy, Farid (2020)
    Lebanon is undergoing a critical economic crisis due to many internal and external factors. This crisis that started in 2015 is showcased clearly in the housing construction sector amplified by the decision of the Central Bank to suspend all subsidized housing loans in 2018. This resulted in an aggravated situation for young couples and low-income households who were heavily relying on these banking facilities. As part of the global strategy to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission, affordable sustainable housing is highlighted as a major aspect for providing the low-income ...
  • Saad Eddine, Nour (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2020)
    Solar Chimney (SC) is a passive design used to enhance natural ventilation and space conditioning in a building, limiting the energy requirement of the building to low operational costs. In Lebanon, high energy consumption of residential buildings is recorded mainly for heating and cooling, marking the highest consumption in the Western Mid Mountain (WMM) climatic zone. Thus, proposing the SC application for limiting this high thermal demand in residential buildings of the WMM zone for both heating and cooling would limit the total energy consumption. SC design has various types (Stand-alone SC ...
  • Geagea, Tony L. (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2020-08)
    In the high mountains of Lebanon, internal comfort heavily relies on fuel consumption for indoor space heating. Being a country that lacks natural resources such as fuel and gas, the energy sector in Lebanon had been unable to meet the market demand for a long time. The simple solution that was adopted to compensate for the electricity shortage over the past years was to rely on private generators for power supply. This solution urged additional energy costs for heating and cooling demands through the inefficient use of air cooling and heating, and since cooling and heating depend primarily on ...
  • Awad, Razan H. (Notre Dame University-Louaize, 2020-05)
    This research project aims to study the effect of glazed balconies on energy consumed on cooling, balcony typologies, and adjacent spaces. The research focuses on the case of seafronts and specifically Saida’s coastal zone: “Corniche El Baher” area. Glazed balconies are a spontaneous chaotic trend that allows users to benefit from and occupy balcony spaces in all seasons. This trend has many impacts on the indoor thermal comfort and energy consumed in the glazed spaces. Drawing upon previous energy consumption research, particularly in the summer months in residential buildings in Lebanon and ...