Editor’s Note

At the time of preparing these notes and this issue for publication, I had just returned from a visit to New Orleans where I had the opportunity to review the state of repair and reconstruction of the city and surrounding areas. There were many positive signs of rebirth; however, there is no question that the timeline for storm-related rebuilding will be measured in years, if not tens of years. Architectural engineering researchers and practitioners of all types will be involved in the immediate rebuilding process. At the same time, the rebuilding of the entire gulf area presents an opportunity to take advantage of new and evolving technology to improve the many types of buildings and residential structures that will be constructed.

This issue of the $JAE$ contains a number of papers that describe new and evolving technology that we are likely to see in the gulf rebuilding and for that matter in other parts of the country sometime in the not-too-distant future. The paper in this issue by Budek, Zain, Qiao, and Phelan looks at the design of residential safe room shelters using finite-element analysis (FEA) as an alternative technique to the prescriptive designs presented in Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Publication 320. This issue also contains a paper by Derome and Desmarais that presents the results of their research and testing of wall sheathing that was subjected to gradual wetting and moisture migration over time. As part of this work, they examine the impact of the air leakage path and the role of added insulation.

Many government officials as well as those in the building field have called for a program of sustainable design to address the reconstruction in the gulf, as well as to provide a way to reduce U.S. consumption of foreign oil used for energy purposes. A new wave of sustainable design efforts is inevitable in this country. The paper by Pulaski, Horman, and Riley discusses specific constructability techniques that can help manage sustainable building knowledge throughout the design process, based on research and practices developed during the recent Pentagon renovation.

During hurricanes Rita and Katrina, many roofs and building envelopes were destroyed by wind forces. More subtle was the performance action of many of these membrane elements (roofing membranes and housewraps) under the impact of wind and rain loadings. Shi, Liang, and Burnett present a discussion of the engineering mechanics involved in the analysis of flexible membranes ballooning in two dimensions under an air pressure differential, supplemented by a series of physical tests.

Finally, we all know that our future is in the hands of the students of today. Mokhtar’s paper investigates the use of custom-made software for helping architecture students become aware of the impact of their conceptual design decisions on the expected energy performance of a building, with reference to solar intensity on exterior surfaces.

All of the information presented in this issue is just a fraction of the research and technology that we see developing in our industry every day. The Editorial Board of the $JAE$ invites continued submission of research and application papers related to the design, construction, and operation of buildings. I am available to discuss manuscript ideas with any readers or potential contributors to the $JAE$ .