Conference Agenda

The building sector is responsible for significant consumption of natural resources. Sustainable buildings decrease environmental impacts such as energy consumption, soil, water and air pollution. Raw soil could be an alternative for the sustainable development of construction sector. Raw soil is cured without burning, mixed with Portland cement, pressed and stabilized producing soil-cement blocks, what are already regulated by the Brazilian Association Standardization. To increase its acceptance and verify its efficiency as a building material for social housing, it is necessary to investigate its properties and performance. The present study aimed to evaluate the performance of an external vertical sealing system composed of hollow blocks of soil-cement without structural function, following determinations of Brazilian standards, focusing on the requirements of habitability and sustainability. It was analysed tightness against rainwater, water permeability and durability through heat action and thermal shock tests. The system met limits set by standards for tightness against rainwater and heat action and thermal shock, but not for water permeability. The vertical sealing system composed of hollow blocks of soil-cement has potential for application in the construction, but there is still must be improved.

KEYWORDS: Soil-cement, Performance evaluation, Habitability, Sustainability

Generating walkable cities is a major stake for urban areas and the transformation of public open spaces, as streets, is a key process for it. Solar radiation exposure may be an important parameter for comfort of public spaces users. In the case of Quito, radiation levels are so high all years long this parameter is a strong health issue. While street refurbishment based on pedestrians and bikers’ requirements is still not a common practice in Ecuador, the present work proposes an approach of doing so based on simulating with ENVIMET two similar streets of Quito’s centre against thermal comfort and hence indirectly radiation exposure, one being highly vegetated and the other not. Simulations evaluate the energy exchange between street components considering their thermal characteristics, indicating the potential satisfaction level of pedestrians. The influence of street vegetation, especially the presence of large covering trees, is demonstrated as being strong. It allowed to propose an improvement process for the comfort deficient street, thus offering a potential larger solution for Quito’s streets configuration.

This study evaluates the building performance of an office building in London, which had issues reported concerning thermal comfort of occupants. The research aims to assess the occupants’ thermal comfort, and building performance of this building during the winter season. The study undertakes field studies including a questionnaire-based survey, and on-site monitoring as well as building simulation modelling to evaluate the building performance and to validate a simulation model to be used in the second phase of the study concerning energy efficient and cost effective retrofit proposals.

Townhouses in a hot and humid region require an economic solution to improve their indoor thermal condition and energy efficiency. One way is by enhancing ventilation to reduce collective heat and promote cooling effect for the residents. A townhouse unit in Chonburi province, Thailand was selected as a case study to investigate effects of a ventilation system on its indoor thermal performance. Results from the field measurement during summer in 2017 showed that, with closed building condition, the use of ventilation system during 2 hours before the residents return home could not provide sufficient air velocities for comfort but effectively reduce the room temperatures and humidities. This could result in energy saving for nighttime air-conditioning system.

Productivity and Satisfaction of the building occupants is largely influenced by Thermal Comfort. Specifically, in Factory buildings where occupants are constantly exposed to excessive heat produced from machines, it is important to maintain comfortable indoor environment and therefore evaluation of the comfort conditions inside these buildings is necessary. The research aims at assessment of naturally ventilated factory buildings located inside a Factory Premise in Mumbai. Three factory buildings with similar process and architectural features having different orientation and sizes were selected for assessment. The assessment was done based on onsite measurements and thermal comfort survey of the occupants. Key reasons behind discomfort were identified. Based on this assessment and comparison with standards, design guidelines were formulated. There is further scope for validating effect of passive design strategies with the help of Building Simulation

This paper discusses how the existing urban houses in a hot humid climate of Southeast Asia can adapt to the future increase in urban temperature in the near future through building modifications. TRNSYS simulations were employed to investigate the indoor thermal environment under naturally ventilated conditions as well as to assess the effects of passive design techniques on the thermal comfort and cooling load under the current and future weather conditions in a typical row house in Hanoi, Vietnam. The results show that the passive design techniques perform well to lower the operative temperature but they are not able to satisfy the thermal comfort in the future weather condition. Further, the cooling load is predicted to increase by up to 23% in the future.