The increasing complexity of modern architectural geometries emphasizes the need for more accurate simplified calculations of comfort analysis in architectural design. Such computations often require to solve complicated equations, among which the calculation of Mean Radiant Temperature (MRT) is notable. The goal of this paper is to propose a fast reliable technique, named Numerous Vectors (NV), to calculate MRT even in the presence of complex geometries. Considering the area, orientation, and distance of different radiant geometries, the process suggests an innovative method to find the view factor by projecting the surrounding surfaces on a unit sphere as the human body. Rather than separately computing the values of view factors for individual radiant surfaces, the method determines the proportion of the radiation from all surfaces by a single-step process. The NV method can also be used for the calculation of multiple parameters involved in MRT such as solar and atmospheric radiations. The proposed process is much faster than conventional methods available to calculate the view factors and the results are proved to be in a good agreement with analytical data.
A Novel Methodology to Assess Mean Radiant Temperature in Complex Outdoor Spaces
Is Exterior Glare Problematic? Investigation on Visual Discomfort Caused by Reflected Sunlight on Specular Building Facades
Highly reflective and specular building envelopes have been widely adopted to help maximize energy performance of buildings and to achieve occupant thermal and visual comfort. This strategy has ensured these benefits inside the building envelope while making a significant and sometimes unintended impact outside the building envelope. Reflected sunlight from specular building envelopes can cause discomfort glare to people outside buildings. It is important to investigate exterior glare issues caused by specular material characteristics. This often parallels, but is distinct from, thermal issues resulting from radiant gain. Preliminary exterior glare scene documentations were performed in downtown Los Angeles to understand existing problems. Human subject study was performed in an outdoor research setting. High dynamic range (HDR) imaging was used to capture and evaluate different levels of scenes and to visualize glare sources in the field of view. Collected subjective evaluation data and captured glare scenes were statistically analyzed to prove the existence of exterior glare problems. Perceptible and disturbing glare levels were experienced by the subjects, and strong correlations were found between human visual discomfort and excessive sunlight reflections from specular building envelopes.
Crisis Architecture: Colonising unfinished residential structures
This paper tackles the environmental and social challenges that have emerged in the aftermath of the recent economic crisis. The acute recession that has dramatically struck Europe has had devastating consequences, not only for national economies but also for the population. In the Spanish case, its high dependence on an over stimulated construction sector led the country to a sudden recession. Defaults related to real state became commonplace and credit was halted. Without access to credit, most companies (including but not limited to real state) started to cease their activity. It had a double consequence: On the one hand, the number of evictions increased dramatically as households without regular income could not repay their mortgages. On the other hand, suburbs were filled with ‘ghost towns’ of unfinished buildings and empty states, which were abandoned by bankrupted developers.
The paper reports on a research that aims to provide a feasible housing alternative for crisis-affected families and young people who intend to emancipate in this harsh scenario. It is a short term plan based on the temporal colonization of unfinished buildings. The structures will be retrofitted with low cost and high performance solutions to create environmental quality within the boundaries of the existing frame. These interventions will also reactivate those deserted suburban enclaves where they have been erected thus protecting them from informal occupancy. Architectural solutions will qualify the urban environment while responding to urgent housing needs without compromising the legitimate rights of landowners.
Migrant Centre and Primary School in Lampedusa (IT)
The island of Lampedusa has been the main gateway to Europe for thousands of African and Middle-East migrants seeking asylum. Current national and international policies have aimed to deal with this phenomenon by containing the refugees in detention centres that are separated from the local community. This has led to social tension. The research project presented in this paper was driven by humanitarian considerations and informed by the seasonality of migrant arrivals and the climate of the island. The proposal is for a new migrant centre and primary school offering facilities that can be shared with the local community. The design draws upon onsite fieldwork and is informed by extensive use of computational tools for solar, thermal, daylight and airflow simulation to ensure that comfortable environmental conditions can be achieved indoors and outdoors. The accommodation is organised under an adjustable linear canopy that is open to the sky and runs along the full length of the scheme. Adjustments to the sky view of the canopy allows control of incoming solar radiation over the daily cycle as well as seasonally and offers wind protection when needed. The spaces under the canopy can host a range of outdoor and semi-outdoor activities. The construction of the scheme relies on local materials: the timber recycled from the migrants’ abandoned boats together with local stone and the posidonia collected on the island’s beaches that can be compressed to provide thermal insulation for external walls and roofs. Construction costs are estimated to be reduced by over 60% and the scheme offers opportunities to employ traditional local craftsmanship.
Passive Town Kurobe Model – A sustainable community project in Kurobe
Passive Town Kurobe Model is conceptualised to be a sustainable community project in Kurobe City, Japan with a population of about 42000, and home to several international industries. This housing complex with 36 units will be rented to the employees’ families and other citizens. The construction is scheduled to be completed in March 2016. As a possible model of Sustainable Community for the near future, the project aims social, economic, and environment solutions through the use of high natural potentials of the region, low-energy passive design techniques in the building and landscape towards reducing high energy consumption, symbiotic and responsive living with the social and natural environment milieu to activate the local community. “Advanced Passive Climate Charts” and other design tools are utilized to discuss design strategies with relevant details. Natural comfort is expected to be accounted for by utilizing the local climate potentials, such as: warmness, coolness according to the varied seasons while envisaging new lifestyles open to nature as well as the social environment. Energy consumption in the apartment is expected to be reduce through the use of passive design techniques, renewable bio-energy and solar panels, and active mechanical systems. The project is envisaged to be a possible local solution for global issues to respond to social-lifestyle changes and peoples’ needs, and supplementing economic necessities through reduce energy and water consumption, and a possible alternative solution to the nature-human dichotomy in some modern habitats milieu.
Changes in Culture and Architecture from Vernacular to Modern: M.P., India
India is known for its rich cultural heritage. The culture plays an important role in defining the architecture of a place or people with time. Madhya Pradesh is one of the states of India. The objective of the paper is to study the changes in culture and architecture from vernacular to modern of Madhya Pradesh. Vernacular architecture has been evolved through a process of trial and error for ages. In Methodology the vernacular and urban dwellings are documented and analyzed on various parameters of culture and architecture. The dwelling of potters and bamboo workers are selected from vernacular and urban settlement. The two typical dwelling from BHEL, Bhopal is selected from an urban settlement. The result focuses on influences of urbanization and globalization which brought threat to cultural identity. The urban settlements are designed according to the economic status of the residents without considering their culture. The analysis is to adapt the appropriate technology using locally available material and construction techniques for a sustainable development. It requires an innovative and creative approach to integrate vernacular into the modern architecture. The paper concludes by learning and appreciating the principles of vernacular architecture and integrating them with the contemporary knowledge and technology.
A quiet revolution: Mapping energy use in low carbon communities
Recent Government funding in the UK has enabled 22 low carbon community organisations to work with the private and academic sector to understand and reduce energy consumption in domestic and non-domestic buildings. This has helped communities prepare for policy mechanisms such as the national Green Deal programme which aims to improve existing housing and non-domestic buildings by offering up-front loans to be repaid by energy savings. This paper presents the role and application of a
unique carbon mapping approach, which has enabled five of these low carbon communities to rapidly assess on a house-by-house level, the potential for improving the energy efficiency of their housing stock. DECoRuM, an award-winning GIS-based carbon counting model is used to measure, model, map and manage energy use and CO2 emission reductions from approximately 1,300 houses across five communities, displaying estimates of energy use and carbon emissions before and after community action. Incremental packages of energy saving measures and low carbon technologies are assessed for their impact on CO2 emissions to reveal further potential for large-scale refurbishment in the local area. Eligibility for the Green Deal is tested to show that on average 72 per cent of homes over all communities are suitable for finance. Through community events, results are visualised and fed back to the householders using colour-coded spatial maps along with thermal imaging. Findings from this study are relevant for policy-making and practitioners engaged in area-based carbon reductions.
The Catalyst Role of School Architecture in Enhancing Children’s Environmental Behavior
The interrelationships between school design and children learning are well established. Less evident is the relationship between sustainable school design and the level of environmental behaviour of the children in attendance. Newly erected primary schools in Australia have been broadly graded as either sustainable or conventional. This paper evaluates the impact of both sustainable and conventional school design on children’s environmental behaviour, and examines the correlation between school design and children’s environmental behaviour.
624 children, aged 10-12 years old, completed a survey. This sample, from seven selected primary schools in Victoria (Australia), includes four conventional schools and three sustainable ones. The survey was developed according to GEB (General Ecological Behavior) scale and a few more school specific variables.
The outcome of the survey was analyzed using an independent sample t-test and two-way between groups ANOVA in order to assess environmental behavior differences of children in both sustainable and conventional schools taking into account factors that either explicitly and/or implicitly impact on their behavior such as sustainable school design, teachers’ environmental behavior and parents’ environmental behavior.
The results show statistically significant differences in environmental behavior of children in sustainable schools and those in conventional schools. Comparing the means of children’s environmental behavior indicates that children in sustainable schools posses higher levels of pro-environmental behavior than children in conventional schools.
The paper highlights the strong relationships between school design and children’s environmental behavior, and expands recognition of the role of environmentally sensitive school design not only to improve learning environments but more specifically to engage children ecologically with their immediate built environment.
Design, Development and Construction of an Outdoor Testing Facility for STPV Modules
Building-integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) is one of the most promising technologies enabling buildings to generate on-site part of their electricity needs while performing architectural functionalities. A clear example of BIPV products consists of semi-transparent photovoltaic modules (STPV), designed to replace the conventional glazing solutions in building façades. Accordingly, the active building envelope is required to perform multiple requirements such as provide solar shading to avoid overheating, supply solar gains and thermal insulation to reduce heat loads and improve daylight utilization. To date, various studies into STPV systems have focused on their energy performance based on existing simulation programs, or on the modelling, normally validated by limited experimental data, of the STPV modules thermal behaviour. Taking into account that very limited experimental research has been conducted on the energy performance of STPV elements and that the characterization in real operation conditions is necessary to promote an energetically efficient integration of this technology in the building envelope, an outdoor testing facility has been designed, developed and built at the Solar Energy Institute of the Technical University of Madrid. In this work, the methodology used in the definition of the testing facility, its capability and limitations are presented and discussed.
Ideahaus: A Comfortable Home for the UK’S Future Climate
This paper describes the result of a project to develop climate adaptation design strategies funded by the UK’s Technology Strategy Board. The aim of the project was to look at the threats and opportunities presented by industrialised and lightweight housebuilding techniques in the light of predicted increases in flooding and overheating. This case study presents detailed concept designs for a future systemised housing product which can be Industrialised, Delightful, Efficient and Adaptable; an IDEAhaus.