Innovative Design &
Construction Management Lab
On-going Projects
Developing a CPS-based smart building space configuration management system
Duration of the project: 2017 - 2020
National Research Foundation, Korea (KRW 90,000,000)
Development and validation of space preference models of building users
Duration of the project: 2018 - 2019
Incheon National University (KRW 10,000,000)
Developing a framework for automated recognition of complex group human activities towards smart building
Duration of the project: 2018 - 2019
Incheon National University (KRW 15,000,000)
Completed Projects
User preference-based probability generation for activity-space mapping in occupancy simulation
Duration of the project: 2017 - 2018
Incheon National University (KRW 15,000,000)
Artificial intelligence-based architectural design expert system development
Duration of the project: 2017 - 2018
Small Business Administration, Korea (KRW 25,000,000)
Empirical study of situation awareness errors in construction accidents for behavior-based safety
Duration of the project: 2017 - 2018
Incheon National University (KRW 10,000,000)
Validation study of smart planning program for social housing in Vietnam
Duration of the project: 2017 - 2018
Spacewalk, Co. (KRW 16,500,000)
Modeling occupants' spatial choice behavior in space-use analysis
Duration of the project: 2015 - 2016
Strategic Research Grant, City University of Hong Kong, 2015-16 (HK$99,942)
One promising way to achieve economic and environmental sustainability in building projects is to reduce the floor area of them. However, current methods for utilization prediction exhibit accuracy and granularity limitations because they do not adequately address the impact of occupants’ space preferences on their spatial choice behavior. This research aims to develop spatial choice models that explain the relationship between spaces, the space preferences of occupants, and their space-use probabilities based on choice modeling theory, for more accurate utilization prediction in building projects. The research scope is restricted to students’ work activities in university buildings in Hong Kong although our approach can be extended to other types of activities and users in other types of buildings. Deployment of this study and increased accuracy in predicting space utilization in buildings, as its result, will help architects reduce the floor area of buildings without harming functionality, thereby contributing to sustainable development.
Investigating time-space use pattern of CityU students for sustainable campus development and maintenance
Duration of the project: 2015 – 2016
Campus Sustainability Fund, City University of Hong Kong, 2015-16 (HK$199,000)
University building space is economically and environmentally very costly as building costs, energy use, CO2 emission, and use of building material are closely related to the floor area of the building. Therefore, in an attempt to achieve sustainability goals and improve functionality, CityU specifies “rational space utilization” in its Strategic Plan 2010-15. This project aims to support this initiative by offering empirical data that reveal the relationship between CityU students’ activities, their spatial choices, and their satisfaction from space-use. One hundred CityU students will record their five ordinary school days as time-use survey. If the students are dissatisfied with a space, they will provide detailed reasons as post-occupancy evaluation. Findings will be disseminated through the project website and poster presentations. This project will not only provide valuable data for sustainable campus development and maintenance but also educate students to understand their indoor space and its relationship to sustainability.
Assessing the effectiveness of using interactive and real-time classroom engagement technology in higher education in Hong Kong
Duration of the project: 2013 - 2015
Teaching Start-Up Grant for New Faculty, City University of Hong Kong, 2013-15 (HK$95,788)
It is often observed in higher education that students are so shy that they are not willing to actively engage in classroom activities. In this situation, a conventional way of gauging students’ comprehension and inviting students in knowledge-discovery often fails to provide timely feedback that would allow teachers to adjust their teaching, either contents or delivery styles, to support students’ active classroom engagement effectively. Therefore, this project aims to measure the effectiveness of using an interactive and real-time classroom engagement tool, which uses smartphones to synchronize teaching and learning activities in a classroom, in higher education in Hong Kong. Specifically, this project conducts the following research tasks: (1) developing metrics for determining the effectiveness of classroom engagement technology, (2) conducting statistical analyses to determine whether or not this technology is effective in higher education in Hong Kong, and (3) interviewing students to supplement the feasibility study.
Developing an adaptive framework in support of continuous improvement in space-use analysis
Duration of the project: 2013 - 2015
Start-Up Grant for New Faculty, City University of Hong Kong, 2013-15 (HK$200,000)
Current formalization of space-use analysis (SUA) has been built on many assumptions and limitations. To increase the accuracy of SUA and deploy it in practice, these assumptions and limitations should be reduced continuously by exploring and formalizing more knowledge about space-use. This project aims to provide a framework that allows SUA researchers to add their findings into up-to-date body of knowledge and to test the impact of their findings effectively. The framework would include (1) a concept editor for adapting SUA to new findings about representations of concepts, such as spaces and building users, (2) a rule editor for adapting SUA to new findings about reasoning mechanisms, and (3) a metrics definer for adapting SUA to new findings about space-use performance from user, user activities, or space perspectives. A computer system will then be developed based on this framework to support sustained success in SUA research.
Integrating choice modeling and agent-based modeling for simulating space-use of buildings
Duration of the project: 2014 - 2015
Strategic Research Grant, City University of Hong Kong, 2014-15 (HK$99,874)
Architects must be able to predict space-use based on their building design and user profiles and modify the design according to the prediction during project development. However, existing theories exhibit speed, granularity, and accuracy limitations in prediction. Therefore, this project aims to develop a space-use simulation method, with a focus on educational buildings, which allows virtual users (i.e., agents) to autonomously choose a space for their activities in a building information model over time. To do so, this project will identify space attributes and contextual factors that affect users’ space-use significantly. It will then develop spatial choice models for different type of user activities. Finally, in light of the choice models, it will formalize a process for simulating virtual users in a building design. The deployment of this method would contribute to building sustainability and functionality by enabling architects to test multiple design options quickly and accurately.