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Home - a brief description of who we are, what we do,
the types of clients we serve, and links to our most popular pages
The
Firm & its Principal - an overview of our civil engineering practice
and a summary of Mr. Bouwmeester's credentials
Media Articles Featuring Our
Firm:
Barrie Advance - Helping
opportunity knock, by Donna Douglas
Dallas Fort Worth Star Telegram - Shedding
light on sun glare, by Gordon Dickson
Des Moines Register - Drivers,
beware of sun's glare, by Tom Alex
Des Moines Register - Sun
blamed in 1 death, 2 collisions, by Tom
Alex
Des Moines Register - Equinox
driving, by Jeff Bash
Des Moines Register - Seasonal Danger
- sun glare graphic
East Valley Tribune - Equinox
means more problems for commuters,
by Mike Branom
Times
Herald-Record - A
sure sign of autumn: sun glare when driving, by Judy
Rife
National Post - Lurking
in the shadows, by Guy Babineau
Omaha World-Herald - Sun
is a glaring change, by Nancy Gaarder
Toronto Star - Working in
sun and shadow, by Robert Burg
Toronto Star - Our
Places in the Sun - The Shadow Factor,
by Stephen Weir
Scope of Services - an overview of the types of
projects we are involved with, the types of tables, drawings and
reports we prepare, and the types of presentations (including expert
witness testimony) we provide
Presentations:
Virtual
Modeling of Tall Buildings - Sun & Shadows
- presented by
R. Bouwmeester at the Higher Learning Symposium held in Toronto,
Ontario, on October 19, 2006. The event was co-sponsored by
the City of Toronto,
the Canadian
Urban Institute and the Toronto
Society of Architects.
For
a PDF version of the presentation (slides only, no notes) click the following:
Part
1, Part
2, Part
3, Part
4
Sun and Shadow Modeling in Accident Reconstruction, presented by R. Bouwmeester
to the Canadian Association of Technical Accident Investigators and
Reconstructionists (CATAIR), Ontario Region, on February 18, 1997.
Free Data Available:
Historical
Sun Position Data for accident investigation and legal
professionals
Sunrise/Sunset Tables for the
current month available on-line:
Canada
Barrie
Halifax
Ottawa
Slave
Lake
Toronto
Vancouver
Winnipeg
USA
San
Diego
Chicago
Denver
Houston
Miami
New
York City
San
Francisco
For those of you interested in
this month's sunrise/sunset data for the Middle East:
Baghdad,
Kabul
and Kuwait
City.
Olympics Vancouver 2010 Free sunrise/sunset tables are
available for those of you who visited Vancouver or Whistler BC during
the Olympics and Paralympics in February and March 2010.
February - Vancouver; Whistler March - Vancouver; Whistler
London 2012 Free sunrise/sunset tables are
available for those of you who plan to visit the London
2012 Olympics and Paralympics. Cities include London, Manchester, Glascow and Cardiff. Halloween 2011 Halloween sunset times added
for select Canadian and US cities. World Disaster Areas Sunrise/Sunset Tables for Port-au-Prince,
Haiti and Sendai,
Japan have been added in support of those involved in rescue
and relief work. The tables provide rise and set times and
the total number of hours of available daylight for each day of the
current month.
To assist wildfire victims and
firefighters in Slave
Lake, Alberta, we have posted a table of daily sunrise/sunset
times and hours of daylight.
Sunrise/Sunset Tables:
Sunrise/Sunset
Tables are available for any dates and locations. The current month
for your location is free upon request.
They are available in three
formats as follows:
1. Rise/Set
Times, Time of Solar Noon, Number of Daylight Hours
(This is our standard format.)
2. Rise/Set
Times, Azimuths of Rise/Set (great tool for photographers)
3. Rise/Set
Times in Monthly Calendar Format.
See samples of each by clicking on the links above.
Modeling
Applications
- an overview of our three main types of projects:
Shadow Impact Assessments - related to proposed
development and building projects - we have represented proponents as
well as objectors. Project types range from proposed house
additions to 75-storey condo developments.
Solar Access Studies - related to passive solar
energy, architectural daylighting, and pedestrian comfort
Accident & Crime Scene
Reconstruction - related to the investigation and reconstruction
of accidents and collisions of all kinds (e.g. involving pedestrians,
cars, trucks, buses, trains, aircraft and watercraft) where sun glare
or blinding is suspected to have been a contributing factor, and crime
scene reconstruction where there are issues related to visibility /
ambient lighting / suspect identification. We also provide
forensic shadow analyses of photos and videos to determine and/or
confirm the date and time they were taken. Our analyses
assist in establishing timelines and proving/disproving witness
statements in both criminal and accident investigations.
Representative Projects - a summary listing of our
projects
Samples of Our Work:
Shadow Impact Assessments
House addition
Monster home addition
Second
storey addition
Proposed downtown highrise
Proposed highrise condo
Virtual Modeling of Tall
Buildings - Sun & Shadows - presentation
made on October 19, 2006, at the Higher Learning Symposium, Toronto,
Ontario. The event was co-sponsored by the City of Toronto, the Canadian
Urban Institute and the Toronto
Society of Architects. (For a
PDF version of the presentation (slides only, no notes) click
the following: Part
1, Part
2, Part
3, Part
4)
Solar Access Studies
Proposed
Skylights - shadow animation (AVI file)
Proposed
pool and residence
Daily
sun position graph and table
Sun
exposure charts for various building faces
Accident & Crime Scene
Reconstruction
Sample photos of sun glare
while driving
Accident scene photos with superimposed sun position
Sun
and Shadow Modeling in Accident Reconstruction,
presented by R. Bouwmeester to the Canadian Association of Technical
Accident Investigators and Reconstructionists (CATAIR), Ontario Region,
on February 18, 1997
Miscellaneous Projects
Frito-Lay SunChips
Solar Billboard - See this YouTube
page for a time-lapse video of the SunChips 'solar'
billboard installed in Oakland California on Earth Day 2008 to
celebrate the opening of Frito-Lay's solar-powered SunChips plant in
nearby Modesto. The shadow casting components of the
billboard were designed by R. Bouwmeester &
Associates. Ad agency Juniper Park of Toronto took home the
2009 Cassies Grand Prix on January 28, 2010, for the ad campaign that
included our billboard. See story.
Air
India Flight 182 Memorial Sundial - R.
Bouwmeester & Associates was commissioned by the City of
Toronto to design the sundial feature which is central to the Air India
Flight 182 Memorial unveiled on the Toronto Ontario waterfront by Prime
Minister Stephen Harper on June 23, 2007.
Interesting Articles about the
Dangers of Driving & Sun Glare:
Glaring Danger - Bright Sun, Deadly Collisions, San
Francisco Examiner, October 12, 1998
Sight Unseen,
Transcript of ABC News 20/20 program, aired March 22, 1999
Driving and Sun Glare Can
Be a Deadly Mixture, PRNewswire, December 30, 2002
Shedding
light on sun glare,
Dallas Fort Worth Star Telegram, September 15, 2003
Drivers,
beware of sun's glare,
Des Moines Register,
September 16, 2004
Sun
blamed in 1 death, 2 collisions,
Des Moines Register,
September 18, 2004
Equinox
driving,
Des Moines Register, March 21, 2005
Equinox
means more problems for commuters,
East Valley Tribune, September 29, 2005
Sun
is a glaring change, Omaha World-Herald, April 1,
2010
Sun
glare dangers during spring and fall commutes
Judy Rife: A sure sign of
autumn: sun glare when driving, Times
Herald-Record, October 11, 2011
Overview of our
Solar Model
Links
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