Brunei Darussalam is a small country with a population of less than half a million. Despite this fact, Brunei is one of the countries with a high electricity consumption per capita. This large amount of electricity is generated primarily from natural gas, negatively impacting the environment. The country needs to deal with its high electricity consumption immediately. The significant electricity use is divided mainly into three sectors: 1) industrial, 2) residential, and 3) commerce and public service. The residential sector takes almost 40% of the total final electricity consumption. Thus, this paper targets this sector as the population for the study. Since Brunei is a country with high solar energy throughout the year, it has enormous potential to invest in solar PV systems to cover the high electricity consumed by the population. The nation also has residential housing schemes with mostly large rooftop areas, enough to support PV panels. Since rooftop PV systems are popular in many countries but not Brunei, this paper will study the potential electricity the country can generate from investing in rooftop solar PV systems. The study calculated the optimal PV system sizes based on the residential sector's load profiles. The results of this sizing were compared with the available rooftop area of the national housing schemes. Thus, by the end of the study, the paper will present the potential PV systems the nation can invest in based on residential houses. Through this study, future housing planning can consider the valuable potential of investing in residential rooftop PV systems.

The function of a house can be achieved with the fulfillment of residential comfort. One of the factors that affect residential comfort is the natural lighting. Several studies have shown that natural lighting affects the comfort and health of a dwelling. The benefits of natural lighting can provide a visually pleasing and comfortable feeling similar to the natural conditions outside a building. Previous research discussed the typology of subsidized housing development in Kupang Nusa City and Kendal Regency. The result of houses in Kupang City in previous studies was the addition of a kitchen space at the back of the house. In Kendal Regency, it was a terrace area used as a business space or an expansion of the living room. This article discusses the analysis of natural lighting in the original house building and the pattern of subsidized housing development in Kupang City and Kendal Regency. The study was carried out through simulations of the original plan of the subsidized house and the plan after the house was developed, as well as a literature review. The study was analyzed using the Dialux Evo application version 8.0 through the light scene feature adjusted to the location and linked to the lighting level based on SNI. The simulation results show that the level of natural lighting in the space in the subsidized house does not qualify for SNI. This article concludes that the basic subsidized housing in the City of Kupang Nusa and the Regency has not qualified for SNI for 03-6197-2000 regarding energy conservation in lighting systems. The same thing happened to the subsidized housing that had been developed in both locations.

The seismic performance of buildings requires researchers to collect a suite of seismic records that are usually scaled to characterize the seismic hazard of the site. Unfortunately, most of the seismic signals in world earthquake databases originate from low-magnitude seismic events that must be scaled to reach a specific seismic intensity. After scaling the accelerograms, a nonlinear analysis of the buildings allows researchers to evaluate the expected performance and to assess damage limit states based on seismic demands in buildings' structural elements. Scaling seismic records is a frequent task in the nonlinear analysis of structures using different methodologies not always well justified in the studies. The scaling methodologies are based on several intensity measures, such as Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA), Effective Peak Acceleration (EPA), Effective Peak Velocity (EPV), and Spectral Acceleration at the building fundamental period, Sa(T1), among others. This study presents the effect of ten scaling methodologies on the expected behavior of reinforced concrete buildings subjected to a suite of accelerograms recorded in a high-seismic-hazard region. Based on the nonlinear analysis, the seismic demands of the buildings were assessed to determine the expected damage by selecting performance limit states. The results show an important variability in the building demands that can draw different conclusions as a function of the scaling methodology used in the nonlinear analysis.

The issue of waste plastic generation is a pressing global concern with several significant environmental, economic, and health implications. Researchers have used different forms of recycled plastic as construction material, but comprehensive information regarding types of recyclable plastics, applicable recycling processes and application-oriented products of recycling have not been discussed extensively. Thus, the goal of the current literature research is to comprehensively review the literature about recycled plastic application as construction material. This is attained by targeting the highly reputable journal articles published during the last decade. Studies show the convenience of recycling thermoplastics due to their reversible nature. However, their durability and resistance to temperature are still concerns. Recycled plastics are commonly used as replacements for aggregates in the manufacturing of cementitious composites as part of various research investigations. Efforts to tackle the issue of plastic waste include improving recycling infrastructure and encouraging the development of alternative materials.

This research examines the performance of two- and four-story steel building models against progressive collapse in two cases: 1) skewed beam–column connections and 2) straight cleated beam–beam connections. Nonlinear static and dynamic analyses were performed and then a time history analysis was performed under the simultaneous effect of the two horizontal components of three earthquake records and two column removal scenarios. The results showed that the 60-degree skewed connection had a weaker performance than the straight connection and, according to the plastic hinge distribution, it was observed that the mentioned connection did not meet the life safety performance level.

This study focuses on developing a cost-efficient engineered cementitious composite
(ECC) with glass and polypropylene fibers, using local materials for sustainable construction in developing countries. The ECC exhibits unique properties such as strain hardening, enhancing structural resilience and crack mitigation. The composite utilizes a 1–2% volume of 6 mm fibers, with fly ash as a supplementary cementitious material and a superplasticizer. PPGF-ECC surpasses PC in mechanical properties, making it suitable for various applications, including rigid pavements in developing countries. This research recommends 2% PPGF-ECC for various applications in developing countries, including rigid pavements, due to their superior performance.

The Great Mosque of Cordoba in Spain stands as a testament to the rich cultural heritage of Western Andalusia. This research undertakes a mechanical analysis of the natural stone present in the mosque, aiming to comprehensively understand its mechanical properties and facilitate future assessments of its structural behaviour.

To achieve this goal, an experimental series of mechanical tests, including compression, indirect tensile, and bending evaluations, was executed. The mosque's biocalcarenite stone originates from various local quarries. For this study, stone samples were acquired from one of the surviving quarries, presently the primary material source for mosque restoration works. Ashlar blocks, sized 10x30x40 cm, were meticulously divided into over 100 cubic and prismatic specimens. Each individual specimen was meticulously gauged, weighed, and systematically labelled in accordance with its corresponding parent ashlar, dimensional attributes, and cutting orientation.

The diverse testing configurations conducted on these specimens enabled sensitivity analyses, accounting for stone anisotropy and sample dimensions. The results indicated that the outcomes were insensitive to specimen size within the utilized ranges and that loading directions had negligible effects, suggesting material isotropy for the investigated properties.

Further analysis was conducted on the campaign results to establish correlations between the stone's compressive strength (averaging 6 MPa) and its other mechanical attributes. The flexural strength was approximately 30% of the compressive strength, while tensile strength was roughly one-tenth of that. This unveils the possibility of enhancing mechanical characterization through non-destructive in situ methods, which conventionally offer insights into compressive properties but not flexural or tensile properties.

The campaign effectively provided an initial characterization of the stone, offering valuable input for shaping a second phase encompassing in situ testing and more advanced laboratory techniques to refine the outcomes.

A Slim-Floor is a flooring system that combines steel beams and slabs integrated into the structure, resulting in a significant reduction in the overall floor height. It allows for a more efficient design, eliminating the need for mechanical connectors between steel and concrete, making construction easier and saving space. Despite these advantages, the use of mechanical shear connectors (stud bolts, Perforbond, Crestbond, and others) in the steel profile is not feasible, as the concrete layer above the steel is not thick enough for these connectors to work properly. Thus, over the last few years, several studies have been carried out to develop composite mechanisms capable of "activating" the composite behavior between steel and concrete in Slim-Floor systems. In the present study, the bending behavior of Slim-Floor beams was analyzed using finite element models developed in the ABAQUS software. The validity of these models was demonstrated by comparing the numerical results obtained with the results presented by Lawson et al. (1997), Leskelä and Hopia (2000), Paes (2003), and Braun et al. (2014). Through parametric evaluations, considering the influence of geometric parameters, parameters associated with connection mechanisms and mechanical parameters, the following findings were verified: (i) in all analyzed cases, the connection mechanisms adopted (concrete pins, reinforcing steel bars, and adhesion) were able to activate the composite behavior between steel and concrete; (ii) the spacing between the openings, the number of openings, and the diameter of the reinforcing steel bars determine the behavior of the connection; (iii) adherence contributes little to the strength of the connection, and therefore, its contribution can be neglected; (iv) unlike the connection mechanisms studied by Lawson et al. (1997) and Leskelä and Hopia (2000), the connection mechanisms adopted in this study can promote the ductile behavior of the Slim-Floor beams.

The church is a place of worship for Christians that facilitates the smooth and solemn implementation of worship activities. Many factors affect their overall effectiveness; for instance, one of the comforts that must be met in the worship room is audial comfort. Certain churches are situated in noisy surroundings, which may impact the comfort and auditory experience of the worshippers during prayer. This research examines the issue of attaining a comfortable audial experience in a church positioned at the periphery of a cross-town road. The main goal of this research was to determine the comfortable audial quality in the Java Christian Church in Bandung from the noise impact due to high vehicle traffic. The prominent noise that arises from the highway is mostly caused by motorized vehicles. The methodology employed in this study involves a case study approach using quantitative descriptive analysis to evaluate the church noise's quality. This study uses the Decibel X Sound Meter application to collect data through field measurements. The measured data were analyzed using NoiseTools, and IBANA-Calc Software was used to analyze the level of noise around the outer church buildings directly adjacent to the main road. The standards used as research references are based on the Decree of the State Minister for the Environment Number: KEP-48/MENLH/11/1996 concerning environmental noise and the US Department of Housing and Urban Development regarding spatial noise. Based on the observations made in this research, the noise level within the premises of the Java Christian Church in Bandung is fairly good, so all that is needed is for a barrier to be added to reduce environmental noise in the Java Christian Church in Bandung.

The buildings that house Olympic events, which serve as icons of this most famous sporting event, must now be sustainable as well. Stadiums, arenas, gathering places, and athlete communities are all changing from expressions of architectural brilliance to instances of sustainable environments, built to last long after concluding the event and to aid in the redevelopment of the metropolitan areas that host them. The building business is one of the most environmentally destructive in the world since it directly affects how raw materials are used and how they are determined to be used during their entire existence. This sector, however, is still in the early stages of transition from a linear to a circular economy. To minimize total resource use and landfill waste, business models must be updated to incorporate novel concepts and cutting-edge services. According to this approach, "deconstruction" plays a crucial role in the circularity of structures. It serves as a sustainable substitute for traditional demolition, which is generally an arbitrary and destructive process that, despite being quicker and less expensive, typically produces a substantial amount of garbage. In line with this, the goal of this research is to revisit the Olympic Games host cities, mainly London and Paris, and examine the possibility of the demolition of infrastructure built for the Olympics and to provide methods for minimizing its effects on the urban environment. The research paper aims to make it easier to implement circular economy strategies for buildings by outlining the key principles that must be followed throughout the design and planning process regardless of the kind of construction system or material employed and by recommending deconstruction as a sustainable alternative to demolition. Collaborating with the corporate, academic, and research sectors further emphasizes the sharing of information.