Francisco Arumí-Noe collection

This collection represents Arumí-Noe's work as a faculty member of the University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture from 1970 until 2006. Most of the papers date to the period between 1973 and 1984. Materials relating to Arumí-Noe's professional work include presentations, energy design conference materials, research notes covering a broad range of scientific and architectural topics, consulting reports for organizations outside The University of Texas, and both published and unpublished works authored by Arumí-Noe.

Faculty papers consist of materials associated with Arumí-Noe's tenure at The University of Texas School of Architecture. Materials in this series comprise of course descriptions, school directories, syllabi lecture notes, overhead projector transparencies, Fortran cards, and teaching tools. Papers submitted by students, including theses, exams, and homework assignments, are also present.

Also included are materials that document Arumí-Noe's main research interests: passive solar energy, heating and cooling efficiency, dynamic heat conduction, and thermal inertia. During the years of energy crisis that followed the oil embargo of 1973, Arumí-Noe was at the vanguard of research and development on computer aided design (CAD) and passive solar design strategies. His meticulous and longstanding work on DEROB (Dynamic Energy Response of Building) is well documented in this collection. Arumí-Noe developed the DEROB system of programs over several years beginning in 1972, first as a teaching and research aid for the understanding of the thermal response of buildings, then eventually as an analytical tool designed more for professional applications by architects and engineers. With the assistance of colleagues at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Arumí-Noe conducted validation studies to measure the accuracy of the DEROB heat transfer algorithm against empirical data collected from ten different structures. The ramifications of his work meant that architects could effectively use the DEROB system, or others like it, to predict operating costs and simulate the energy performance of buildings. This collection records the evolution of the DEROB system and its component programs through subroutines, notes, and data pertaining to tests done on the energy efficiency of various building materials, expressed in plots, drawings, and diagrams. Documentation and manuals for the related computer simulation programs ALKAZAM, DYNWALB, and MUSES are also contained within the collection.

Although most of the collection is paper-based, some photographs, slides, audio cassette tapes, and transparencies are present. Correspondence is found throughout the collection, and note has been made of where it had been inserted into notebooks and binders. Correspondents include Jeff Christian of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, S. R. Hastings, Roger C. Ruggli and G.-R. Perrin of EMPA (Eidgenössische Materialprüfungs und Versuchsanstalt, or Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research), Mildred Geshwiler of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc. (ASHRAE), R. D. McFarland of the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, and several administrators and professors in the School of Architecture as well as of the wider university.

Many of the materials contained within this collection are printed subroutines, manuscript calculations, or data charts, and therefore offer little context as to their creation. A glossary of terms and titles was created for referencing descriptions of the software, program, and subroutine names found in this finding aid.

Click to view and download the Glossary of Terms and Titles [pdf format].

This record group came to the archive in two separate acquisitions over a four year period from 2007 to 2011. After Arumí-Noe's death, the School of Architecture removed and stored the papers from his vacated office. This collection was arranged in two parts in Spring 2012 and 2013 but were combined in Fall 2014.