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2

 
Y

Y Y
Y

In the light of the accelerating effects of global warming on our lives, and the continuous progress of
technology developed my idea trying to find a link between them. to utilize technology in a way that
helps ajhasg instead of contributing to global warming.. construcive͙

I thought of a project that would symbolize the harmony and balance between nature and technology.
My project͛s goal is to design an energy sufficient house which is automated in most of the mechanical
parts. Consequently, the house will run consuming the minimum amount of energy, with the maximum
comfort to the owner. Y

This idea developed in the light of the theme of global warming. My inspiration was ͙ through simple
observations of every day routines. Scientists have been warning people of the dangerous effects of
global warming for years, but the negative effects its accelerating now mowith my observation of daily
encounters between people and their environmentThe house is very modern and full of up-to-date
technologies and is extremely green, which will make it almost self-efficient. This will prove my point
that nature and technology does not always need to be contradictory.

YY
YY
Y

What is both interesting and challenging in my project theme is that it combines many different areas of
͙. It demands from me everything I learned in my years of study and my experience in activities I took
part in.

Y Y
 YY
YY
YY
Y

VY ^esearching for information that I will need for my project

VY Collecting my research to make it usable information
VY Create designs for my project
VY dd green systems to my project and make them work together (e.g. double-skin system,
geothermal heat exchange)
VY Make my house automated
VY £inalize my project

YY
 YYY YYYYY  Y

ll of my life I wanted to be an engineer, and this project did nothing but prove to me that my childhood
dream is exactly what I want to be in the future.

To decide what project I wanted to do was not complicated; as I wanted to do something about
designing and I was interested in both automation and green. But the way I did it was no where near
what I expected. The inspiration I got from family and friends was the main reason my product turned
out to be as it is. Without some advice and guiding from my family I would be forced o minimize the
amount of work I did; as from the beginning of the year they told to organize myself and work daily,
even if for a little while, on my personal project. nd now I can say that without that I would have
probably failed to continue my project in time.

The main reason it turned out to be the way it is now is because of my personal opinion, but without all
the influence that I had from some specialists it would have turned entirely different.

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YY
YYYY Y YY
Y

ne of the greatest obstacles that I faced was the automation part of my house, because it was nearly
impossible to find the devices that I was looking for (but I did find a large variety of smart systems but
they were not precise the way I wanted them to be). Thus forcing me to make most of the automation in
the house theoretical - which is saying what I will use in my house and what its function is without
saying exactly how it would work and the manufacturer, due to the fact that I couldn͛t find proper and
clear information of the products and the manufacturer of given devices or circuits.
Y

YYYYY
Y
Y

Many changes happened to my original proposal, when I first made my proposal it was about making an
automated house only. Then I edited my proposal to make my proposal be ͞Self-operating, self-
sufficient house͟. But later on I figured that it was impossible to make my house self efficient so I made
it energy efficient, so it wouldn͛t be completely efficient buy mostly. Then I realized self-operating isn͛t
exactly my goal, because it is not turning the lights on and off that makes the house very hard to handle,
it is mostly the mechanical jobs that should be automated, so I focused my automation part mostly on
the mechanical part.

YYY
YYY
Y
YY
Y

(HELP)

What did you find out about yourself and your learning style?

I tend to work only at the last minute, but I was aware that the subject that I chose is very complicated
and needs at least three months of condensed work. It requires much knowledge in different fields and
it was not enough to search on the internet or in the books. I had to meet specialists and discuss
theories and how I can bring them to practice and combine them all together with my theme. I was
happy to realize that I had good background and an overview of the subject matter and was able to
debate with these professionals. I liked to turn to different sources of information to make sure that I
am on the right track and the data that was recorded was reliable.

How best do you learn?

I work best in a quiet room. It helps me achieve the maximum amount of quality work in less time.
Locking myself in my room isolated me from the sources of distraction that I sometimes cannot resist,
such as TV and MSN. My ability to concentrate is poor; I knew that there would be a high percentage
that I may drift away from studying if I don͛t really put my mind to it. When the pace of the progress is
slow or when I reach dead ends I tend to frustrated and sometimes take long breaks even when I can͛t
afford it. But when it is fast, I can sit for hours without feeling it and can sit in noisy places creating in my
mind the illusion of silence and isolation.

Did you achieve your original goal through learning new skills and acquiring new knowledge?

chieving the goal I put as a boundary would be possible if my skills remained unchanged throughout
the project and my knowledge of the particular issue that I was meant to research did not expand. My
new skills and my expanded knowledge of my project͛s demand affected the quality of my work not the
quantity, for I have done a project that could be considered similar with my school͛s DT curriculum. But
due to the fact that it was in an impossibly short period it was not professional and cannot be compared
with my project. Consequently, my new skills and new knowledge was not what achieved my original
goal they only improved it; my project͛s outcome, however, changed completely by the knew skills
acquired and by my expanded knowledge for I have made a completely different design of my house in
the month I started my project in, but by acquiring the knowledge the I acquired and by the new skills
the outcome turned out to be completely different, as it is more professional and more believable,
where as the base of my design and my ideas remained the same throughout the project

Personal Note: improve by saying bas was same outcome completely different but no one will recognize
it is the same house if seen before and after.

How hard was it for you to learn, and what did you do when you got stuck at a point?

The difficulty that I faced during learning new was not as hard as I thought. lthough there is some
extremely hard software or methods that I faced during learning for my project, such as 3D Max, but in
general the difficulties that I faced during learning new skills and acquiring the knowledge, was not the
hardest difficulties that I have faced. The greatest difficulty I face in learning my new skills was 3D max,
this is taught in a 2nd year university curriculum, and this proves the impossibility for me to learn it;
however I didn͛t stop by some advice from my family and friends, instead I remained constant. s an
outcome I was able to learn 3D Max in a relatively long time, and as a result a much more professional
view of my house was created.

How did your previous skills help?

s for my previous skills, they did not fail me throughout my project; without them the ability to learn
the new skills would be extremely hard, as the old skills are the base of the new one. Consequently,
without my old skills it would be like trying balance an egg without an egg holder. My interest in
engineering made me pay many visits to my dad͛s contracting office in summer vacation. Without these
visits I wouldn͛t have been able to visualize my house nor would I be able to draw the plans or learn
utoCD as quickly as I did.

 

Y
YY
YY 
Y
Y

Y

My initial goal was to design a fully-automated energy-sufficient house. I visualized a place that
represents reflexive architecture (see appendix). £or example, the door would open just as the owner
decides to step in, the light in the corridor would turn on and off as he is walking through to the room in
which relaxing music would start to play as he enters. The windows would open according to the sun
rays and the luminance of the light would decide when the louvers would tilt and with what angle.

I wanted to explain in detail how the circuits would work and how the reflex of different rooms would
work. Therefore, my researched began with digging for devices that would bring this vision to life. I was
able to find most of the sensors and the function that I would use but I couldn͛t find any information on
how I can put them into a complete circuit and how to connect the cables together to create a whole
system of operation. This redirected me into focusing more on the energy efficiency and the utilization
of renewable energy. This required knowledge and application of physics theories in addition to studying
special architectural and structural systems.

fter this research stage, I decided to write down a structure of the things that compose my project, the
different areas and where they intersect. This helped to keep me focused and on track without losing
my main goals through the thorough research. I divided my project into headings and sub-headings and
then attached the research made or conclusions in sketches, diagrams or simple bullet points.
(appendix).

Energy-sufficiency:

1.Y Double-skin system

2.Y Geothermal Power
3.Y Solar-PV panels
4.Y £orced Ventilation

utomation:

1.Y Temperature Sensors

2.Y Light sensors
3.Y Water Sensors
4.Y Motion Sensors

There is more into my house than these bullet points; it includes much more factors than the ones listed
above, and my house as a total would be explained in ppendix__

(IMP^VE)
To help me understand some of the systems and be able to visualize the ideas more, I took a look on
some of the famous houses built in the last decades. These case studies were a step closer in
understanding some applications (the double skin system and louvers).

£YYYY
YY
Y


Y
Y 
YY

To me, the final design of my project is the design of the house of my dreams! I designed this house,
and gave great effort to perfect it as if it will be built in real life, and it turned out to be exactly the way I
imagined it. The design of this house suits all families, but to me, it͛s considered to be perfect. Every
angle is designed exactly the place I wanted it to be.


YY YY  YY Y YY

Global Warming is today͛s theme; it is considered to be the most important issue affecting the world.
Supporters of this issue tend to encourage in the enlargement of buildings that are build using natural
resources that are environmentally friendly. Examples on these resources are mud and dead wood.

n the other hand there is modern building built by people that is interested in technology.  high
percentage of these men do not care, or act in the nature͛s best benefit.

My project began as a push from my childhood dream and from my strong believes of Jordan͛s need for
technology; especially in engineering. My confidence of success came from a project that my class
participated in, that took place in the DT class in 1st Term. It is very similar to my project but was much
more superficial than mine. But the world is in a more important crisis, maintaining the environment.
Some great thinkers, such as___________ believe that technology contradicts nature. Yet I believe that
they complement each other, and the proof is my project.

!
Y
YY Y

YY

x 
 

c
Y Y
YYYYY Y

My project͛s progress at first was really slow, but it kept on accelerating. Through the end my research
was on top speed! I finished most of my project in the winter break. The main reason of that is that I
wasn͛t familiar with the software that I used to design my house, utoCD.

YYY
Y Y
Y

"Y
YYYYY
YY YYYY

The project has fulfilled its initial goal in numerous ways; it has various systems and devices that make
the house both green and smart. Each of these systems enabled me to enhance other system or
connecting them together. By this each system would be backed up with another, if it failed there
would not be any direct replacement; but there will be other replacement that there functions are close
to the system or device that failed. £or example; if the Geothermal System broke down the Solar-PV
panels will be functioning. (IMP^VE)

"YYYYYY YYY
YYY
 Y

YY YY
YY YY Y

Y

†



YYYY
Y Y#YYY 
Y$Y

The strengths in this project were the reason of its success and the weaknesses was the reason some
strong stages existed. My strengths began when I first started the project because I had some valuable
existing knowledge of the project, but at the same time my first weakness is in the first stage where I
had very few knowledge of organizing a project like this. Going to the next stage which is research I had
a great advantage but was wasted almost completely by the disadvantage. I knew quite well what I
wanted in my project but with no organization I got drifted away from my original goal and started to
collect information which I didn͛t need at all!

When I started to design my building, I knew in advance that I͛m about to face some great problems. I
had some former knowledge about Google SketchUp, but no knowledge what so ever about utoCD
which is considered to be very hard to learn. It was easier for me to learn utoCD because of my
knowledge in Google SketchUp. When I wanted to complete the design I knew that I have the
information needed but couldn͛t use the software that I was already using to show it.

Y
Y YY Y Y 
$Y

I believe that my project was successful but the method that I made in my project can be improved
significantly. When I first started my project I started researching, which at the beginning was a
complete failure. I was collecting information which at the end of my project I found that was
completely irrelevant. My research, at the beginning of my project was a failure, but what is worse is
that I worked at the beginning of my project without any guidelines! I was thinking of what I need to do
and do it without planning my project ahead, which I believe is the direct reason that my research
turned out to be a failure. If I was to do this again I will create a guideline before I start my project to
know exactly what I will do in each stage and when will each stage occur.

Y(e.g. The opening and closing of the exterior (second exterior wall) windows automatically depending
on the temperature and air ventilation).Y