Conference Agenda

Users’ well being and satisfaction are a key priority in the current architectural design trends and represent a relevant issue in a human-centred perspective. Concerning this aim, the application of climate adaptive building shells (CABS) offers relevant opportunities for tackling these challenges. This paper reports the outcomes of a study run on CABS to optimise the indoor comfort while calibrating the configuration of a dynamic facade module. Through the physical measurements of the environment and the integration of these values in the parametric process for integrating daylight and thermal performance into the design phase, a performance-based workflow evaluation supported the design of a Passive Adaptive Façade.

The purpose of this work is to provide a replicable method that is the base of a facade system design. The system, made of simple horizontal louvres, has a controlled movement manoeuvred by an actuator that exploits the expansion of a thermo-active resin. The louvres can rotate and close passively with the increase of the external temperature. Results show the uniformity of distribution of daylight across the entire space and the substantial gain of indoor thermal comfort.

In order to quantify the seasonal differences in the comfort temperature and to develop a domestic adaptive model for highly insulated Japanese dwellings, thermal measurements and a thermal comfort survey were conducted for more than one year in the living room of 3 condominiums in Tokyo and Yokohama areas of Japan. We have collected 19,081 thermal comfort votes from 94 residents of 69 flats. The results suggest that the residents are highly satisfied with the thermal environment of their dwellings. People are highly adapted to the thermal condition of the dwellings, and that the comfort temperature has large seasonal variation. An adaptive model for housing was derived from the data to relate the indoor comfort temperature to the prevailing outdoor temperature. Due to the high insulation of the condominiums, the seasonal differences of comfort temperature and the regression coefficient of the adaptive model are smaller than those of detached houses. Adaptive building design and adaptive thermal comfort of people are important for the energy saving building design.

This paper describes the characteristics of Cognitive Temperature Scale (CTS) under the thermal adaptation in summer. Field measurement and survey in summer for about 640 elementary school students in Sapporo and Kumamoto in Japan from 2009 to 2015 were made. Students put a red sticker on their individual “Thermal Diary Card” when they felt strongly thermal discomfort. They also recorded their CTS to the cards without checking the thermometers. It was found that firstly the CTS are strongly connected to the outdoor temperature in Sapporo and Kumamoto. Secondly, the CTS in Sapporo were around 26 to 27°C when 50% of them felt thermal discomfort. On the other hand, the CTS in Kumamoto were over 30°C. This result suggests that there is significant difference in thermal adaptation to the hot and humid environment in Sapporo and Kumamoto.

This paper describes the results of radiant exergy analysis on the process of human adaptive thermal comfort in summer. A subjective experiment controlling not only indoor thermal environment but also their clothes and posture for removing discomfort was made in 2016 summer. We found that subject’s adaptive thermal comfort is related to their cognitive temperature and warm radiant exergy from the interior surface of buildings envelopes. To decrease warm radiant exergy by behavioural controls such as opening the window and the door, and controlling the venetian blind is to decrease their cognitive temperature of the subjects.