Conference Agenda

ABSTRACT: There is an increasingly urgent need to cut global CO2 emissions and thereby avoid the most catastrophic effects of climate change. In the EU construction sector, action has already begun to help minimise carbon emissions and reverse their current negative impact on the environment. These initiatives have so far been based on introducing the mandatory construction of “Nearly–Zero-Energy Buildings” (NZEBs) from 2018 onwards, in compliance with an EU Directive on the Energy Performance of Buildings (2010/31/EU) [1]. The NZEB project not only constitutes a technical challenge but also a challenge for the design process. It must be accompanied by the introduction of new, specialised programmes at Schools of Architecture. This article points out how this quest for design strategies to produce NZEBs has been converted into pedagogical content in the Polytechnic University of Catalonia’s (UPC) MSc in “Architecture & Sustainability: Design Tools & Environmental Control Techniques”. As an example of the work done and the results obtained, we present a project designed for a residential building in Barcelona, Spain. This was developed by a team of students from the MSc course and presented as their final project.

The world’s cities are growing in size and number. At the same time, the global climate change rise global average temperatures as well as increase weather extreme events. Sao Paulo, the 5th urbanized region in the world, has currently more than 21 million inhabitants and recent studies alert for the increased frequency of extreme climate events in the city. Therefore, this work deals with the role of planning, urban and building design for climate change adaptation in the microscale. The aim is to quantify the impacts on urban microclimate, based on present and future climate scenarios, regarding: 1) urban density; 2) building envelope and other urban surfaces; 3) green infrastructure; and 4) thermal performance and comfort in buildings, during occasional heat waves or for the projected IPCC AR-5 scenarios of climate change. For this purpose, a research project was structured at the Architecture and Urbanism school [4] approaching the interdependencies between urban morphology and microclimate in São Paulo, aiming to discuss urban design alternatives to counterbalance urban warming effects in a subtropical changing climate. This paper briefly summarizes what we have learnt with remote sensing, measurements and numerical simulation in the metropolitan, local and building scales and present partial results.

Building energy performance optimization requires an integrated design approach to explore and evaluate alternative strategies for energy saving and to improve construction process management. Energy efficiency education into architecture and engineering curriculum should address economic, social and environmental issues arising from the technology as well, training professionals and technicians who wish to be able to develop core skills in those subject areas according to a multidisciplinary educational approach. This paper presents the experience of a Post-graduated Master Degree Program at University of Florence, Master ABITA, that includes studies on low energy architecture and energy efficiency measures, integration of renewable energies in buildings, Building Information Modelling and Energy Simulation Analysis tools.

This paper discusses with examples, a course that introduces net zero energy carbon and energy modeling in large lecture courses. Several strategies were implemented: integrating design in technical courses, reducing the number of variables to consider in a design problem, increasing understanding of the physics of energy and buildings and increasing expertise in the use of analogue and digital tools. The course is conducted in both lecture and seminar/lab formats and it involves theory, practical applications, calculations, hands-on experiments and a main project in which students integrate energy model in the design process of a zero net energy project. All 49 student projects for the 2016 and 2017 courses are collected in two books, “Going to Zero” and “Going to Zero 2017”.

The aim of the architectural design thesis is to study the potential benefit of implementing passive design in an adaptive reuse project. From studies, several types of adaptive reuse together with its building elements were identified. Next, the potential of each adaptive reuse type was explored to determine the relevance of implementing each type to a unique project. The potential approaches were applied to an unused naturally-ventilated railway depot in Seremban, Malaysia to find out further improvements that can be added. Finally, several suggestions were made to improve the passive design potential through these various types of adaptive reuse for the aforementioned heritage building.

Three low energy luminaire projects, in which architecture and design students participated, utilizing LEDs, local materials and/or 3D printing were evaluated in this study: A) temporary luminaire compositions featuring local material assemblies produced in graduate architecture student charrettes in Thailand, illuminated with LEDs, assembled and photographed as part of a Fulbright workshop; B) 3D printed prototypes of luminaires produced by interior design students exploring light and shadow patterns and exploring a new modeling technology and C) U.S. EPA-funded LED desk lamp project by undergraduate students; exhibited at the National Sustainability Expo. The three projects’ requirements were different. A and C had an emphasis on available material and sustainability, B had a technology emphasis and used biodegradable material. Researchers found students’ luminaire design projects exhibited a great deal of variation across the convenience sample (n= 5, 22 and 18 for A, B and C respectively). Team compositions and disciplines varied. The use of various attributes: 3D printing; sustainable, local, or “found” materials; technology; light sources; and universities’ facilities’ with workshop availability varied across the projects. For B, 73% of participants reported the use of 3-D printing improved their effectiveness as an Interior Designer. Each project presented a unique learning opportunity.