Conference Agenda

The 5-year cycle of residential planning in Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC) has underestimated population growth since 1991. This has resulted in the disruptive and uncontrolled expansion of settlement across the city. The outcome is a complicated mix of new spontaneous dwelling areas in the city featuring a number of distinct urban morphologies. Some previous studies have shown impacts of such urban morphologies on the comfort levels in outdoor environments. The paper examines the correlation of microclimatic conditions and constituents that create the urban spatial form of residential neighbourhoods in HCMC. A total of seven dwelling urban patterns were studied. Field measurements of physical variables were conducted in summer 2017 whilst the meteorological data were recorded. Furthermore, in studies of two urban types, the microclimatic characteristics were found to vary under different urban contexts. During warm months, the outdoor thermal conditions for pedestrians were found to have average air temperatures between 32-34°C; a range of wind flow at the occupied level from 0.1-0.9m/s, and average humidity level of 57-60% over all types surveyed. The occupants’ delight in outdoor comfort was found in formally planned dwelling blocks; meanwhile, the compact neighbourhoods were characterised by cooler temperatures but poor airflows and daylighting.

The study investigated potentials of rice husk ash (RHA) as a replacement for Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC) in the production of Compressed Earth Block (CEB) with a view to reducing building construction cost in Nigeria. Graded levels (i.e. 10, 20, 30 and 40%) of RHA replaced cement in the mix for CEB moulding. The results of X-ray diffraction showed that RHA contained 80% SiO2. Also, the results of the compressive strength, water absorption capacity, and bulk density testing indicated that low compressive strength, high water absorption capacity, and low bulk density exhibited by RHA-CEB make doubtful the suitability of RHA as a replacement for Ordinary Portland cement in the building construction in

This study presents an analysis of the outdoor conditions Indian cities to determine the potential for deploying natural ventilation and several low-energy cooling strategies in residential buildings to lead the country on the path of becoming an energy efficient economy. The analysis showed that the potential for natural ventilation increased substantially when the temperature limits were based on the IMAC model for mixed-mode buildings. Locations in the composite climate showed the potential for a mix of operation modes/strategies while those in warm and humid indicated dehumidification as a prominent strategy.

As the demand for urban living space has expanded dramatically in China, high-rise/high-density residential quarters gradually evolved into an inevitable urban living pattern. Because gated residential quarters have given rise to a series of urban social and economical problems, a recent trend in residential development is the so-called open residential neighbourhoods (ORN) or open urban block. Due to smaller plot size, mixed functions and more open geometry, the microclimatic effect of building form, layout and greenery can be different with that of typical gated housing quarters in Shanghai under the hot-summer cold-winter building climate zone. By selecting a typical block as object, this paper conducted parameterized numerical simulation to verify and quantify the impact of different building layout and greenery type on outdoor microclimate of ORN, and to provide reference for optimizing the layout of high density residential quarters, as well as design strategies for the actual planning and evaluation process.

This case study applies life-cycle assessment methods to the preliminary design of an office building in order to quantify the benefits achieved when reusing its load-bearing components. Results show that the production of the load-bearing system would account for 40% of the global warming potential indicator. The slabs are responsible for 65% of the environmental impacts among all structural elements and should be considered for reuse first. Compared to traditional constructions built from first-use material, a fictitious reuse of undamaged load-bearing components over three consecutive use cycles would reduce the global warming potential indicator by 25%. The global warming potential of reuse is eventually computed according to three repartition methods, highlighting the need to separate the life-cycle footprints related to production, use, and end-of-life more systematically.

The built environment is facing environmental regulations more ambitious than ever before. In Europe, a law will lead all new buildings to the Nearly Zero-Energy performance level. However, even if a building does not have any energy consumption for its operation phase, it still has embodied impacts. To that end, Life-Cycle Assessment (LCA) methods have been developed and improved since the 1960s. However, LCAs are still not used as a standard practice among the architecture, engineering and construction industry. This study aims to discover the reasons for the low use of life-cycle performance approaches thanks to a web survey targeting practitioners, and to formulate key recommendations to improve their usability. This research reveals the low penetration rate of LCA software among building designers due to their limited efficiency within the design context. The main reasons for this situation are the cost of use, too heavy for the early design stage constraints, and the functionality, which is limited to the environmental assessment. Indeed, practitioners expect much more design support functionalities (multi-criteria approach, exploration mode, etc.). The survey findings aim to support the usability improvement of new LCA-based methods and the research and development of new tools at early design stages.

There is a growing consensus on the influences of heat waves and increased temperature as among the most threatening climate change phenomena to human mortality. In addition, the effect of heat waves is exacerbated significantly in cities as a result of urban heat islands effect. Such intensification of heat waves combined by potentially prolonged periods of extreme temperature will pose huge risks on human mortality in the built environment. Over the past decade, a number of metrics in literature have been developed to assess human thermal risks and their response to extreme climate conditions. However, most of these metrics take into account socioeconomic factors, housing characteristics and climatic risks without looking at the spatial characteristics across the city. Yet, the combination of these factors on an urban resolution haven’t been largely explored yet, specifically for vulnerable population with low access to adaptation resources and minimum potentials for ventilation. The paper presents the framework of an urban vulnerability index based on identifying parameters that correlate with thermal discomfort on urban block level and building level. The study analyzes a historical residential neighborhood in Cairo, Egypt to examine the applicability of the proposed index in understanding levels of vulnerability under extreme temperatures.

Buildings consume 33% of total energy (24% domestic and 9% commercial) in India and this is growing at 8% per annum hence, there is a need for energy efficiency in the building sector. The revised version of Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC) was published in June 2017 after ten years. The new version of ECBC goes beyond minimum compliance and has two additional levels of ECBC ‘plus’ and ‘super’ which include prescriptive requirements and alternative performance goals based on energy use intensity. This paper assesses the energy savings and payback period for the prescriptive of ECBC-2017, minimum compliance, plus and super levels for an office building in Vishakhapatnam. It also demonstrates alternative cost optimized solutions for these three levels of ECBC. The office building is a real building in design stage according to the current construction trends that do not comply with previous ECBC version 2007 for all building systems. The availability & cost of equipment and material to reach the ECBC 2017 levels is are assessed with a market survey. Since ECBC 2017 is a new code that has yet to be adopted by local building departments, this study shows the energy benefits for ECBC minimum compliance, ECBC plus and ECBC super levels. Further, this paper also demonstrates how simulations can be used to find more cost-effective approaches to reach ECBC 2017 performance levels using the whole building compliance approach.

Today, most of the people spend 80-90% of the time indoors either in the office or at home. Indoor air is contaminated by human activities and building materials which emit volatile organic compounds. Exposure to these compounds has a short and long-term impact on health. It is therefore important to provide a healthy and productive indoor environment. Acceptable indoor air quality can be maintained by operating a building in natural ventilation, and this can also reduce energy consumption. The water table is an inexpensive, easily accessible apparatus that helps to analyze natural ventilation in buildings due to wind effect and provides instantaneous two-dimensional results of airflow patterns in and around the building. This paper provides and tests a methodology to objectively quantify the images from the water table simulations and calculate results for ventilation metrics like percentage of dead spots, absolute ventilation efficiency, air changes per hour, dose and room mean age of air that quantifies air movement within a physical building model simulated in the apparatus. The quantitative method will help for comparative analysis between design options and make design decisions in terms of opening sizes, orientation, and appropriate positioning of openings optimized for wind-driven naturally ventilated buildings.

There is a possibility that the sick building syndrome has already spread widely among the newly constructed apartments in major cities of Indonesia. This study investigates the current conditions of indoor air quality, focusing especially on formaldehyde and TVOC, and their effects on health among occupants in the urban houses located in the city of Surabaya. A total of 471 respondents were interviewed and 82 rooms were measured from September 2017 to January 2018. The results indicated that around 50% of the respondents in the apartments showed some degrees of chemical sensitivity risk. More than 60% of the measured formaldehyde levels in the apartments exceeded the WHO standard, 0.08 ppm. The respondents living in rooms with higher mean formaldehyde values tended to have higher multiple chemical sensitivity risk scores.

A semi-empirical multilayer urban canopy model is developed to estimate vertical dispersion of traffic emissions in high density urban areas. It is motivated by the heterogeneity of urban morphology in real urban cities and the need of quick urban design and planning. The urban canopy is divided into multiple layers, to include the impact of building height variance on pollutant dispersion. The model is derived by mass conservation within each layer through adopting a box model. The validation study indicates that the new multilayer model performs well to model the vertical pollutant transport, and modelling results can mostly follow the trend of the CFD simulations. A case study was conducted to illustrate how to implement this multilayer urban canopy model in the planning practice.

The need to achieve thermal comfort in residences and strong dependence of air conditioning systems has led to huge energy consumption. In order to reduce the energy consumption of residences and properly size the air conditioners, air leakage needs to be reduced by tighten the building envelope. One such approach to quantify the air leakage is the use of blower door, which uses a powerful calibrated fan to depressurize or pressurize the house at an induced pressure to measure air flow (air leakage) from the house. In this study, 23 residences of Ahmedabad, 12 bungalows and 11 apartments were measured for air leakage. The study is also a first step towards developing methodology to conduct an air tightness test in residential buildings. For comparison, mean normalized leakage (metric for air leakage) of the 23-measured residence was 2.1. Due to old age construction, bungalows have more leakages than apartments. High air flow rates can be observed in buildings with intentional openings, inferior quality windows and cracks on walls. Retrofitting those windows, sealing the intentional openings in an air-conditioned space can lead to huge energy savings for air-conditioned spaces.

Data from an experimental investigation, carried out during the summertime (from the end of July to mid-September, 2016), have been statistically analysed, with the purpose of proposing a post-instalment-evaluation technique by assessing the effects that some architectural features have on the indoor environmental conditions in a prototype of Plus Energy House in Southern-east France. The proposed correlation analysis is tested first, to evaluate its reliability for distinguishing strong from weak correlations. Since the proposed analysis appears to be acceptable, it was used then for studying the relationship between outdoor and indoor environments. Results from the correlation analysis strongly suggest that the impact of direct solar radiation on the indoor environment is well attenuated by the double-glazed windows with blinds implemented in the house.

Observed global warming trends undermine the conventional practice of using historic weather files, such as Typical Meteorological Year (TMY), to predict building performance during the design process. In order to limit adverse impacts such as improperly sized mechanical equipment or thermal discomfort, it is important to consider how the building will perform in the future. Like all passive design strategies, natural ventilation, relies on local climate to be effective in improving building performance. This paper uses future weather files with whole building energy simulations to assess the sensitivity and feasibility of natural ventilation in providing thermal comfort in three locations, representing different climate types. The results show how building performance, as measured by thermal comfort metrics, changes over time. Natural ventilation can provide a buffer against warming climate, but only to a certain extent. Future weather files are useful for identifying where and when there is a risk that an entirely passive design is no longer feasible.

This paper investigates the potential of Local Climate Zones (LCZ) maps to identify vegetation loss in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region. LCZ maps from 2002 and 2017 were produced according to the World Urban and Database Portal Tool methodology for acquiring Level 0 data. A change detection analysis was performed to compare the two maps. The identification of vegetation loss through changes in LCZ types showed promising results as a free tool to monitor vegetation dynamics due to urban development, with great suitability for local government use.

This study demonstrates how the design of bimetallic facade screens can provide passive climate control for high thermal mass walls in hot climates with large diurnal temperature swings. Three tests were performed using measurements for air temperature, heat flux, and thermal imaging that show solar shading potential of a bimetallic screen in front of a generic wall surface. Results revealed significant thermal reduction to the wall surface and helped identify key environmental, material, geometric, and performance parameters that can influence design. Local temperature differences, bimetallic coefficients of expansion, length, thickness, screen depth and porosity had a considerable influence on performance parameters such as deflection, solar shading, and heat flux reduction.

Due to their high resolutions, microclimate models have high computational demand causing rather long simulation times and limiting the size of model areas. As such limited model areas only cover a small part of the atmosphere, the boundary conditions driving the microclimate simulation play a crucial role in determining the quality of the simulation. In order to incorporate larger scale processes and to ensure the boundary conditions represent the actual conditions at a model’s border, a nesting module was implemented into ENVI-met. Using the new module, coupled simulations can be run where a (smaller) model area is nested into a larger model domain that provides horizontally and vertically dynamic boundary conditions. Since the surrounding larger model domain is typically simulated at a coarser spatial resolution, downscaling methods need to be applied. In the present study the nesting algorithms that manage the extraction of model outputs and the downscaling onto the nested model area’s resolution are presented. Furthermore, a nested model run using a large WUDAPT obtained host model domain is compared against a standard model run using simple forcing boundary conditions. The results showed that nesting provides a reliable way to provide boundary conditions to high resolution, microscale climate simulations.

This paper presents a methodology intended to integrate building performance modelling and urban microclimate studies and explore their interaction at different heights. In this study, Urban Weather Generator (UWG) is used to evaluate urban microclimates across a 3-dimensional landscape. UWG can calculate the effect of Urban Heat Islands (UHI) on temperature across a 2-dimensional landscape but does not consider wind effects. A new methodology is presented in this paper to model urban microclimates more accurately. Using London as a case study, high-rise office building performance at different heights is examined. The variation of urban microclimate with height and relative to the rural weather data is reported through evaluation of its impact on building performance.

In order to reveal the distributed rule of solar radiation for building heating in the Western China, south oriented surface solar radiation, optimal inclination angle solar radiation of solar PV panels and heating degree days were used as districted indicators to study the solar radiation zoning in western China. Method of mode calculation was used to obtain the missing data of south oriented surface solar radiation. 4 cities are selected as verification points to obtain the critical direct solar radiation needed for calculation. Through the comparison of the 3 models, the direct solar radiation calculation model suitable for the western region is found. According to the ten-year average of the above three indicators, the clustering analysis method was used to get the solar radiation zones for building thermal utilization in the Western China. The rule of solar radiation intensity of each zone was summarized from the perspective of building heating.

Energy demand calculations are very common nowadays due to various regulations and assessment methods around the world. Depending on local regulations they are usually carried out with either simplified steady-state energy balances or with dynamic simulations. Hereby, most stead-state calculations are based on the same temperature difference between inside and outside over a whole heating period or on monthly mean values compared to hourly data for transient calculations. In a case study on a sandwich-lightweight structure it became evident that dynamic calculations with transient weather data show results where the energy demand is approximately up to 50 % lower than steady-state calculations according to a German standard. Therefore, steady-state calculations cannot be recommended without restriction e.g. for sustainability assessment.

The YKK 80 building located in central Tokyo aims to realise better energy saving and thermal comfort compared to a conventional radiant cooling system by utilising a slight airflow to improve comfort criteria and relaxation. This paper presents the actual performance of an advanced radiant cooling system based on a mock-up experimental study and on-site investigations into the occupied building. As a result of investigations, the actual performance of the system is verified.

The YKK 80 building was awarded first place in the ASHRAE Technology Award 2017 and was certificated as LEED CS Platinum in 2016.

The ideology of Passivhaus is clear. It is a building standard associated with a really well insulated and airtight building that saves energy – in both hot and cold climates. There is evidence from that shows how important this approach to building is in achieving carbon reduction targets. Passivhaus is a credible way for large scale energy reduction in the built environment and has gained in popularity with policy makers tasked with meeting the internationally agreed climate change targets. The reality of living in a Passivhaus is not so clear. There is evidence of some Passivhaus projects using much more energy than the design models anticipate. There is also emerging evidence of the difficulties some people face in living in a Passivhaus. Issues of air quality, systems control problems, inadequate technical knowledge and skills. While the overall picture is positive there are clearly issues to be overcome in the delivery of a promising carbon reduction strategy for the built environment. This research explores the limitation of the PHPP software in addressing the lived experience of Passivhaus. The emerging issues with some PH projects suggest a better understanding of the interactions between people and the building is required.

Despite the recent pursuit towards Zero Energy Buildings (ZEB), their global adaptation is far from complete, mostly in cooling dominated climates which are still poorly prepared for their integration. This paper reports on a research project aiming to build a road map for the local adaptation of the ZEB concept in Israel. The methodology of this research was based on a statistical top-down feasibility analysis which explored the possibility of 10 different urban typologies to achieve zero energy balance using the Load Match Index as the performance metric. Results demonstrated large potential variations between residential and office uses as well as between different typologies to deliver zero energy balance in the Israeli context. Findings helped generate detailed criteria and four different models for Zero Energy Buildings in Israel towards new policy.

With the upgrading of education mode and the architecture discipline development in the informatization context, modern architecture education has gradually shifted from top-down elitism education to bottom-up humanism education, the contradiction between the traditional enclosed space and the growing demand of the Architecture Department Building's environment is the key to the development of architecture education. For cities in cold region, the quality of the architecture education space is threatened by severe cold climate. In the informatization context, optimizing spatial environments is facing severe challenges. Based on the theory of interaction demand and bioclimatology, this paper takes the School of Architecture of Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) as an example, proposes regeneration strategies and conducts CFD simulation to verify the effectiveness of the design which provides reference to the traditional Architecture Department Building's redevelopment in the cold region.

A lot has been written about sustainability and sustainable development in the recent times, but a clear meaning of the term still remains elusive. Socio-economic-cultural factors such as the prevalent world-view in a society greatly influence environmental behaviour of people. Materialistic consumer culture and the urge to consume resources without restraint to gratify personal desire have a negative correlation with pro-environmental behaviour. It is therefore, important to understand how socio-economic-cultural factors influence the need to consume resources. This study aims to assess the intensity of perception of needs in people in the context of their socio-economic-cultural conditions. Primary data was collected through a survey conducted in several cities, towns and villages in India across different socio-economic-cultural scenarios. The respondents were asked to rate the intensity of needs in various categories (adopted from Maslow’s need hierarchy) on a five-point scale ranging from very strong need to not essential. Scores for intensity of perceived need were calculated for each respondent for each need type. An analysis of variance (ANOVA) was done to see if the different settlement types and economic classes showed statistically significant variance in the intensity of needs. Significant variance was observed between different settlement types and economic classes.

Pedestrian environment is the key to walking in the neighbourhood. Complex settings in Hong Kong creates both opportunities and challenges to walkability in urban areas. Urban planning and neighbourhood design are important elements to support walking as a means of active transportation. It therefore requires better understanding of the relationship between walking behaviour and the built environment in order to improve the walkability in Hong Kong. The present study examined the effect of built environment on walking behaviour at both neighbourhood and district levels. Initial findings showed that the number of walk trips is associated with road density, land use mix and the level of PM2.5. At district level, walking behaviour, in terms of walking time and percentage of long walking trips, is associated with road density and land use mix respectively. It suggests that neighbourhood characteristics are influential to walking behaviour and the design of neighbourhood environment can potentially promote active transportation. Further studies will focus on including more factors related to walking environment and behaviour. Studies with finer spatial scales will also be important for the design of the street environment which promotes walking and healthier lifestyle in high-density cities.

Healthy environments are essential to prevent disease while promoting health and well-being. Healthy people and communities substantially contribute to sustainability. The design of the built environment in an education context is of high priority, providing architecture students with a healthy and comfortable education environment could contribute to a better cognitive experience, less absenteeism, greater students and lecturers’ productivity and better social relationships. The methodology proposed here is called Nurturing Environments Assessment Method (NEAM), and focuses on the health and well-being of building users´. It is based on a POE methodology; however, the NEAM applied here includes: A Space Occupancy Survey, a Users’ Survey (mood and perception of the building) and physical measurements of the interior environment. 99 students and 19 staff members participated in the surveys. The NEAM proved to be a useful tool to assess the quality of a building. The case study building needs to be fully equipped with furniture for students to relax and work. Solutions must consider improving ventilation, acoustics and lighting levels inside lecture rooms. In addition, strategies to make this building safer during evacuation in case of fires or earthquakes are essential for the wellbeing of occupants.

In the winter of 2014-15 an estimated 43,900 excess winter deaths occurred, 85% of which were in older people. There is a clear link between cold homes and poor health, especially in older people, as sub-optimally heated homes increase the risk of health problems that are particularly prevalent in this demographic. By 2050 a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65 and over, with the greatest population increases being seen in the octogenarian and older categories. Investigating thermal comfort in the over 65 demographic is key to ensuring that older people are able to stay healthy and comfortable in their homes. To date, thermal comfort models are based on working age populations habiting office buildings throughout a working day. This paper seeks to validate how suitable current thermal comfort models are in predicting comfort levels of older people in their homes. In this study indoor temperature data from 30 homes occupied by people aged 65 and over, together with thermal comfort data was collected during the measurement period November 2016 to March 2017. This data enabled the theoretical outputs from Fanger’s model to be correlated with the measured temperatures to validate the model.

Evaporative cooling has been proved as one of the most efficiency strategies to cool down air temperature. In this paper, the performance of a device that combine the sun protection with fresh ventilation using evaporative cooling is presented. This strategy has been used as heat exchanger in vertical set up, but this configuration precludes the solar protection. The experimental trial was taken in Colima, Mexico, where the climate is classified as hot sub-humid Aw0, according to Köppen. In the experimental stage, two equal devices were compared. One of the remained as control and the other one using water to apply the indirect evaporative cooling as a case. The maximum difference of temperature between the entrance air and the exit was of 8 K° in the experimental cell versus 5.5 K° of the reference cell. Indirect evaporative cooling strategy improves the reduction of heat exchange around the device. This allows to used louvers to block solar radiation and to pre-cold the air before introducing it to the space.

Currently, the approach to social housing development in Chile has proved incapable of ensuring appropriate living standards. Demolishing housing blocks to replace them with new buildings is economically inefficient, environmentally damaging and socially unacceptable. This research focuses on the CORVI 1010-1020 housing block type that was massively built between 1968 and 1978. Today it is possible to find more than 2,000 of these buildings—with no significant design variations—throughout Chile, hence between latitudes 18°S and 53°S of extremely diverse climates.

This paper analyses the impact of different energy retrofitting strategies in the thermal performance of these buildings. Building energy simulation is used to evaluate three scenarios, i.e., the original design, a retrofitting proposal that meets the current code, and an expansion proposal that increases both thermal performance and life quality conditions. Simulations focused on three cities with contrasting climates: hot-arid (Arica, 18°27'S), mediterranean (Santiago, 33°27′S) and tundra (Punta Arenas, 53°08′S). Operational energy demand, accumulated hours of thermal discomfort, and payback time periods are considered for comparative analysis.

Results evidence that proposals´ cost-effectiveness increases in colder climatic conditions; overall, this study demonstrates that retrofitting these buildings can help achieving significant heating and cooling energy savings and improving indoor thermal comfort conditions.

The successful deployment of distributed photovoltaic (PV) systems requires assessment of the potential of possible installations for electricity generation. Exposure to solar radiation in dense urban locations must account for shading by adjacent structures, at high spatial and temporal resolution. 3D modelling of the shadows cast by buildings is carried out with a new R package that can simulate the shadows cast on vertical surfaces (typically walls) or horizontal ones (typically roofs), given a database of obstacles representing buildings in the form of extruded polygons, and the sun’s position at any desired time interval. The methodology is demonstrated for a case-study neighbourhood in Rishon-LeZion, Israel, with diverse building typologies, but is suitable for any location, using the open-source code developed. The simulation shows which building typologies offer the greatest solar potential, calculated per dwelling, building plot area or for the entire neighbourhood. Although roofs are preferable to vertical surfaces, some facades can still make a substantial contribution to the overall solar potential of urban buildings.

This study focuses on developing a BIPV pre-design computational platform combining visual impact assessment, building simulation and energy system optimization. The outdoor exposed surface of a pavilion court building block is evaluated through a physiologically reliable indicator of visibility that determines three scenarios of PV coverage ratio. Solar PV generation and demand for heating and electricity are simulated on hourly basis. Hourly PV energy that does not match electricity needs is used to fit a multi energy hub featuring PV panels, a battery bank and an internal combustion generator. A Pareto optimization is conducted considering levelized cost of energy and grid integration level, without showing a dominant solution: this outcome encourages the development of a Multi Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) tool.

It is common practice to use hourly dynamic thermal modelling for building design, yet climate responsive urban design, is often based on predominant wind directions analysed for particular ëtypicalí days or times. Such a snapshot view does not reflect how often these conditions occur and whether design changes based on single instances are warranted. This paper explores the efficacy of using an annual dynamic approach, by extending and comparing results from a previous study of district massing on local microclimate. These dynamic annual analyses were undertaken using a new cloud-based microclimate analysis tool that employs open source software for Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) and post-processing of results. This tool allows for complex hourly analyses of solar radiation, wind and comfort distribution to be conducted within a commonly used 3-D modelling software environment. Following the previous study, this paper compares the resulting urban form across three major issues: pedestrian comfort, air quality and building cross-ventilation potential. Pedestrian comfort assessment includes thermal comfort, using the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) and wind comfort, using the Dutch standard NEN 8100. Air quality is approximated by air age distribution. Building ventilation potential is assessed by mapping pressure differentials at points on opposing building faces.

This research aims to provide some knowledge for architects and urban designers on urban public space form optimization in terms of wind environment during initial design stage. In this paper, different vertical opening layouts were investigated on the influence of different region’s spatial ventilation by CFD numerical modelling. Spatial mean velocity magnitude at pedestrian-level and air flow rate at space vertical opening and top boundaries were calculated to evaluate spatial ventilation. Simulation results show that appropriate vertical opening layouts could improve velocity magnitude of space’s recirculation area. When the inlet opening is not directly opposite the outlet opening, spatial mean velocity of some recirculation regions could be increased by 2 times. When the outlet opening is located at the boundaries of recirculation regions, the influence of opening layouts on airflow patterns are limited, with variation range below 30%

The use of solar chimneys for natural ventilation could contribute to a reduction of the energy consumption of buildings. For the planning process of solar chimneys, it is necessary to be able to predict the ventilation effectiveness precisely. In this paper, different analytical equations are compared to results from computational fluid dynamic simulations and experimental measurements. It was found that the investigated analytical methods neglect the occurrence of backflows which leads to an overestimation of the air flow for chimneys with a large depth. For an accurate result, detailed calculations with an adapted discharge coefficient are required to account for this effect.

The conservation of archive buildings is particularly important due to the generally sensitive material that they are intended to preserve. A detailed understanding of the heat, air, and moisture transport within these buildings is important to ensure that informed decisions may be taken in their design. A case study of the Notarial Archives in Malta is presented here; a historic building composed of thick walls and high ceilings with no damproofing; augmenting the problems of rising damp and indoor air quality. Therefore, the study provides a number of challenges to the conservation of such archives. A Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model was used to simulate such conditions, with the key focus on the validation of the model. Validation included the comparison of simulated data to data obtained during a monitoring cycle. The results highlight the effects of the boundary conditions on the space as well as other unsteady phenomena. The CFD model provided a more complete picture of the microclimate within such spaces that can aid a holistic conservation approach of such archives and their preservation for future generations.

This paper presents a workflow that informs urban design decisions using measured data clustering to calibrate Urban Building Energy Models (UBEMs). The method’s goal is to support urban design in terms of form, building systems configurations, as well as influencing user behaviour aspects in the built environment through a systemic analysis of measured data to develop reliable future-case design scenario energy models. Detailed data on appliance-level electricity use were employed via data clustering to calibrate a UBEM for the Mueller community in Austin, TX, USA. The data were collected by the Pecan Street Institute for a year in 2014 from consumers in Austin and other cities. Firstly, collected energy data was restructured and cleaned from corrupt and missing information. Secondly, in order to identify common energy use patterns, a model-based clustering algorithm for functional data was applied. Behavioural/usage profiles were determined through clustering and translated into usage schedules and behaviours. As a result, a UBEM built in the urban modelling interface (umi) was calibrated, with fully calibrated and semi calibrated buildings, within a maximum error margin of 14%. Finally, an illustration of calibrated-UBEM design case scenarios is presented, and implications on community energy potential effects are discussed.

It is becoming more and more important to create a comfortable thermal environment in cities. In order to increase consideration of the thermal environment in the planning and design process, this study proposed a method to combine rule-based rapid modelling with thermal environment simulation. This method can realize the flexible and visualized presentation of landscape and the thermal environment effect. Meanwhile economic cost of design elements was also taken into consideration. The proposed method can support the designers to evaluate the trade-offs among landscape, thermal environment and cost and then choose a better scheme. A historic district in China was taken as a case study object in this paper. Three optimization plans were made by changing building height, greening space and area of water-permeable pavements. Through visual analysis of 3D landscape models and thermal simulations, it was found that the green space and water-permeable pavements had an obvious effect on the improvement of the thermal environment, but control of building height had negative thermal improving effect. The proposed method also effectively improved public understanding of reconstruction design and thermal environment formation.

The records of the strategic documents for Lodz pay special attention to the need to undertake work in the historical parts of the city. One of the strategic objectives of the Municipal Revitalization Program for the city of Lodz 2026+ has become the "revival of the area of residence" through the transformation of residential objects with the environment related to them functionally, i.e. public and semi-public spaces.

One of the ways to improve the urban tissue standard is to ensure the correct microclimatic conditions prevailing in the areas of public spaces. In the paper, the microclimatic parameters and thermal comfort in the area of one of the oldest public spaces in Lodz - the Old Marketplace were estimated by the usage of the CFD program. Two types of input data have been applied, i. e. from direct field measurements and meteorological station database. It turned out that simulations based on data from direct field measurements were characterized by greater precision of obtained results. Existing thermal conditions were discomfortable, which results in the necessity of redesigning public space.

This study aims to clarify the trend of adapting clothing fitting to the thermal environment in offices located in Thailand by analyzing thermal sensation, thermal comfort, and thermal preference. Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) measuring devices were installed to investigate the thermal environment of two offices in Bangkok, Thailand. Questionnaires following ASHRAE 55 standard were distributed to occupants during their work hours. The results obtained showed that when plotted on a psychrometric chart, the thermal environment was mostly outside the 0.5 clo comfort zone (39% and 64%). The average clothing insulation in case studies was 0.65 clo, which is slightly higher than the normal standard value. The percentage of neutral thermal sensation votes decreased when the value of clothes gradually increased similar trend as to the percentage of neutral comfort votes. PMV calculation deviated from thermal sensation vote about 1 °C when considering thermal neutrality. Probit analysis shows that the neutral temperature of each clothing rate ranged from 24.2°C to 25.6°C. Occupants in less clothing could tolerate a wider range of temperatures than the occupants in more clothing. This study would be applicable to office buildings in the tropical region in terms of both the occupant’s behavioral aspects and temperature setpoint.

The objective of this study is to investigate the urban wind power potential from the proper arrangement of high-rise buildings in a complex and dense urban environment. There is great prospective in the formulation of the building design at early stages to maximize wind power production in dense urban areas. We employed the 3D steady Reynolds-averaged Navier-Stokes computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations to investigate the impact of the arrangement of high-rise buildings on the wind energy potential . Two arrays of high-rise buildings with height = 90 m and aspect ratio (height/width) of 4.5 is studied, which focuses on different distances between the side façades of the upstream buildings, ranging from 3 to 21 m. The findings of the study support the high-rise buildings design with respect to integrated urban wind energy harvesting and the concept of sustainable urban development.

As one part of a three years project, this study was the test of a research procedure that will be applied to older occupants in care homes in the future research. It aims to investigate the feasibility of using Transepidermal Water Loss (TEWL) to measure the effect of dry air on occupant’s skin condition and hygrothermal comfort in a real living environment. 9 young adults participated in the 4-week study. Domestic humidifiers were used in each room to alter room humidity under a sequence of interventions. Data was collected under the circumstance of no interferences to occupants’ daily life. The collected data includes room temperature, relative humidity (RH) and TEWL on front arm. Results show that the measured TEWL was not significantly correlated to room RH due to inappropriate research procedure. Room humidity was effectively altered to 40% RH through the domestic humidifier used.

This study aimed to quantify the embodied energy of economic and socialized housing units in Davao City, Philippines and listed down the construction materials that contributed significantly to the total embodied energy and at the same time correlated these materials to the embodied energy. Embodied energy coefficients of construction materials were sourced out from existing literatures since there were no available standards and studies conducted or published in the context of the Philippines. A bill of materials/quantities was prepared for each housing unit in order to compute the embodied energy. The research findings showed that an average of 9,477.74 MJ/m2 of embodied energy was computed among the housing units. The results also showed that building materials such as cement, reinforcing bars (steel), gravel, and sand, have significant positive correlation with the embodied energy alongside the house unit floor area. The result further showed that the embodied energy measured per square meter (MJ/m2) was higher compared to the existing and published studies conducted. Implications to housing delivery were also pointed out for policy-making which could be adopted by the housing authority.

This paper aims to reveal the detailed household energy consumption patterns in four major cities of Indonesia and Malaysia. A total of 1,437 households of landed houses and apartments were surveyed during 2010-2014. The detailed household appliances and gas consumption were investigated through face-to-face interviews and measurement. The results showed that overall, annual average energy consumption in landed houses (15-28 GJ) is about 1.3-2.3 times larger than those in apartments (12-14 GJ). The energy consumption for cooking accounts for the largest proportion in all the case studies, ranging from 29% to 66% of the total. The energy consumption for cooling include those for AC and fans and they account for 21% to 22% on average in Jakarta and Johor Bahru respectively. The profiles of CO2 emissions were similar with those of energy. The factors affecting household energy consumption for cooling energy are also discussed.

The favela is a pressing reality in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, concentrating around 10% of its population. Despite the public investments and its higher consolidation status, the favela still lacks some urban infrastructures and services. In addition to that, housing is a key topic both due to the social dynamics embedded and to the poor environmental conditions found indoors, mainly caused by overexposure, under performative building fabric and inefficient openings. From this context, how would it be possible to develop practical and replicable design strategies for the self-built houses’ facades, environmentally informed in favelas in Subtropical Climates? The method articulates fieldwork, analytical simulations and prospective exercises that culminate on the construction of a 1:1 prototype entitled “Everyday House”, in the second largest favela in the city of Sao Paulo, “Favela de Paraisópolis”, with the aim of evaluating the strategies’ impact and promoting its replication within and outside of the local community.

This study challenges the misperception that natural ventilation cannot be used as a passive cooling means in Mexico City due to the air pollution and demonstrates that free running conditions can indeed be achieved by passive design strategies. These were tested in a refurbishment project of a brutalist office building in the city, where the high thermal mass of the building was exposed, while natural and night ventilation as well as exterior solar control were implemented as the most relevant passive strategies. As thermal comfort and ventilation was achieved by passive means, electric energy used for this purpose was reduced up to 98% dispensing the need for an HVAC system; in addition, after enhancing daylight, installing LED lighting, and substituting inefficient appliances the total electric energy consumption dropped up to 46%, from 114KWh/m2 to 61KWh/m2. Finally, the relationship between indoor air quality, human comfort, and passive strategies was investigated, correlating the outdoor air quality with the climate. The study revealed that it’s possible to integrate natural ventilation strategies without compromising the interior air quality if the diurnal Ozone trend is followed and enabled between 8pm and 11am when the air quality tends to be classified as “Good”.

Under this study, office buildings spread across Mumbai were chosen for Post Occupancy Evaluation of indoor environment quality. Parameters evaluated were - Temperature, Humidity, PM2.5, VOC, CO2 and illumination. While rest of the parameters were found to be compliant to ISHRAE 10001:2016.- the two most important office indoor environment quality problems in Mumbai were PM2.5 and CO2 levels -Both these parameters were found to be in excess of the benchmarks specified in standards. Indoor CO2 concentration often exceeded 1000 ppm during working hours, indicating inadequate supply of fresh air. PM 2.5 levels were 2-3 times of the benchmark value of 0.1-25 μg/m³.

Cluster Redevelopment is a new concept in the city of Mumbai. Its regulations were laid down by the government in 2009. The concept of cluster redevelopment encompasses a group of buildings defined by a boundary as specified by the municipal authority (in this case, Mumbai), which may be dilapidated or approved for redevelopment. The study analyses the effect of cluster redevelopment in the form of renewal of old group of buildings as compared to refurbishment or restoration - on energy consumption. The methodology includes methods of assessment to determine increase or decrease in energy consumption in cluster redevelopment based on different criteria such as carpet area of the units, building envelope and its architectural elements. Results show that as the area and number of units increase the Energy consumption increases and the EPI (energy performance index) decreases as compared to the base case. The energy consumption per unit area declines by 29% in the proposed cluster redevelopment as compared to the original settlement. It is recommended that although new development is spacious and provides more light and ventilation, aspects such as glass type, traditional architectural features and consumer behaviour are critical in the reduction of energy consumption

To explore a comprehension of daylight knowledge and its impact on visual perception, two surveys have been carried out in 2016-2018 among architecture students (so far 500 responders involved). This paper presents findings from the second survey which was conducted in six European countries. Based on the earlier outcomes obtained from the first questionnaire, the revised survey’s goal was to analyse in more detail a link between a perception of daylit spaces perceived by the students and by the experts. The ultimate goal was to verify daylight knowledge’s impact upon the visual perception.

As a result of such large investigation, three clear trend lines can be distinguished: i) the mood seems to be related to the perceived comfort rather than the sun/sky condition; ii) the judgments expressed by the experts and the non-experts are congruent (confirming the outcome of the earlier study); iii) the lack of knowledge about daylight metrics and regulations was noticeable as well as the difficulties with an implementation of daylight analysis outcomes into the design process. The outcomes highlight a necessity of introducing a comprehensive daylight education into the architectural programmes.

The building sector amounts to about 40% of the world’s total energy consumption. In tropical countries like India naturally ventilated or mixed mode ventilated buildings would contribute in the reduction of energy consumption used for cooling the buildings. It is necessary for the architecture schools to educate the students on understanding the principles of natural ventilation and applications of various strategies in the design decisions. This paper summarizes the development of a water table apparatus for testing architectural design for natural ventilation, validation of its results, and its utilization in the classroom as a design evaluation tool for architecture students. The water table was constructed, and its performance was validated and simple metrics for evaluating natural ventilation performance were developed at CEPT University. A refined water table was constructed later to be used for classroom instruction at the C.A.R.E School of Architecture. The workshop there provided hands-on experience to test various design parameters, qualitative and quantitative analysis in design projects. The paper demonstrates the ease with which students are able to visualize and understand the effectiveness of natural ventilation and make the necessary design modifications.

There are pressures to showcase adoption of green buildings in universities for several reasons, including, demonstrating leadership, aligning with sustainability vision of the university and “walking the talk”. New generation learning and teaching spaces are moving away from the model of didactic teaching and learning towards two-way

teaching and learning models. While university buildings are incorporating such new teaching and learning models into their buildings, there is little or no evidence that green teaching spaces are actually supporting student learning outcomes. In comparison, the literature is rich with post occupancy and thermal comfort studies undertaken in green

office spaces. This paper presents a case study of a green building in a Victorian university in Australia. The building was considered to be an example of Australian excellence and has received a number of awards. Using one classroom in the building, the researchers monitored the temperature, relative humidity, and CO2 levels in this classroom during

a two week peak period of a summer intensive program. The findings suggest that this particular classroom did not always provide comfortable conditions for teaching and learning. More research is required to draw definitive conclusions.

It has been argued that buildings have evolved and adapted well in their response to social and economic context but have increasingly become indifferent towards local climate, completely relying on energy-consuming add-on systems to provide for occupant comfort. It doesn’t help either that contemporary energy standards encourage a similar idea of first thermally isolating the occupied spaces from the environment and, only then, employing efficient active systems for space conditioning. This paper illustrates a course structure where students and faculty collectively explored and discovered the potential of an integrated configuration of envelope and energy systems that positively interacts with exterior environment and enhances indoor comfort conditions with minimal energy use. The focus of this paper is to present how a critical approach of understanding climatic design principles can be developed through reverse synthesis of exemplary built examples. With a focus on occupant comfort and energy use, the students explored the potential for environmental response to different climates using a deconstructed version of a known existing building as inspiration to reference new designs.

In this article, the WUDAPT methodology was applied to Metropolitan Regions (RM) in the state of São Paulo/Brazil. The objective was to identify the influence of the typologies of urban versus rural occupation for a region with predominantly agricultural characteristics. The state of São Paulo/Brazil has six Metropolitan Regions and the choice of these regions was due to their socioeconomic and technological importance and because there is a concentration of agroindustrial and urban areas. The scarcity of data on urban form/occupation and on the function of cities makes it difficult to understand the climatic conditions of occupied space. Analyses were carried out, based on mappings developed by supervised classification and by treatment of MODIS satellite images. These resulted in the LCZ - Local Climate Zone classification; the mapping of the annual average Land Surface Temperature and the Surface Heat Island, all for the year 2016. Significant differences in surface temperature were found in the RM of São Paulo and Ribeirão Preto, mainly due to the type of LCZ class, soil type, solar incidence and topographic differences. Thermal images can serve as indicators of anomalies present in the analyzed areas and, associated with the LCZ classification, can support the formulation of spatial planning guidelines.

Construction activities can lead to detrimental environmental effects and the industry is recognised as a high polluter. Adopting more sustainable construction practices should be the mission of all stakeholders. One way of decreasing negative environmental impacts is to enhance the lifecycle of building materials. The construction sector can considerably enhance its sustainability quotient by fostering more sustainable practices around the use of building materials. From another point of view, construction is responsible for a large amount of waste, since it utilizes energy and materials. The construction sector is by nature fragmented and diverse, so involves many different stakeholders with different abilities to influence outcomes. As there is much to be gained by a more effective and coordinated construction industry, this paper reports on an investigation into the roles different stakeholders can play in bringing about change. This paper addresses this complexity and tries to clarify roles and responsibilities of stakeholders.

This paper describes the study on method development (regression analysis model and genetic algorithm model) and shows the results of the preliminary tests. The proposed holistic building performance analysis allows analysing the transition of energy demand, and understanding the impact of energy efficiency improvement in the building sector driven by nZEB implementation. By applying Finnish statistic data as open data source, the feasibility and potential of analysis was studied. It is clarified that a room for improvement is remained, but both proposed methods have potentials to provide informative outputs for the future energy analysis.

The present context of climate change and concomitant water related design challenges necessitate architectural innovations to provide sustainable housing for rural low-income communities, particularly in developing countries that are vulnerable due to economic, political and socio-cultural factors. In the wake of the Tsunami in 2004, the Sri Lankan government faced the paradoxical situation of rebuilding communities devastated by the disaster and the potential to build environmentally resilient settlements. The Kirinda Tsunami Resettlement Project is one such example that served a minority community and attracted international awards for its innovative architectural designs. This paper analyses the Kirinda Project, as a part of a larger PhD research project which employs an archival and empirical research methodology to evaluate planning intentions and the reception of the housing projects in the context of economic liberalization in Sri Lanka. Thus, this paper considers the synergy between the existing cultural landscape and the new housing designs, with the aim to provide lessons for sustainable architectural design for smart and healthy housing within the 2-degree limit at the scale of the rural village.

As urban populations are to increase by 2.6 billion by 2050, and the built environment accounts for over half global CO2 emissions, new methods are being investigated to reduce building energy use. Integrating plants into our built environment could help reduce temperatures and improve air quality, and thus reduce the need for ventilation, heating and air conditioning. Hydroponics allow to grow a high density of plants with little maintenance, weight and water use. The aim of this paper is to ascertain the potential advantages and viability of integrating numerous hydroponic modules in an office building. It presents in a first part the implementation of 50 hydroponic modules in an office building in Cambridge. The second part discusses the qualitative and quantitative monitoring of the impact of plants on the office. Finally, a model of interactions between the plants and the building environment is presented, and initial results of running a plant module in building energy simulation software TRNSYS are shown. Creating the model alongside the implementation project allowed to gain further insights into the impacts on environmental conditions, building energy use, and occupants of integrating a large density of plants into a building.

In buildings, coupling photovoltaic (PV) systems with electric storage (ES) enables to increase the building’s energy autonomy. However, if ES does extend the self-consumption of onsite renewable, it also increases the life cycle environmental impact of the stored energy. As a result, there is a threshold where the GHG emission benefits of using an ES starts to compensate its own embedded and operational impact. In this study, a methodology to assess this neutral global warming potential target of an ES is proposed and extended to the primary energy and its non-renewable part. The methodology is tested on a case study consisting of a feasibility project of a building located in Switzerland. When the surplus renewable energy that cannot be used directly neither stored onsite is exportable to the grid, the operational benefits of the ES cannot balance its embedded impact anymore. The neutral targets are greatly affected by the characteristics of the grid mix providing electricity to the building. While the mitigation of GHG emissions in buildings by the use of an ES may be efficient in countries like Germany that has a carbon-intensive mix, it might be technologically impossible with a low-carbon electricity provision, like in France for instance.

The concern about the increasing consumption related to heating, ventilation and air-conditioning applications in the residential sector, and the subsequent increase of the greenhouse gases emissions, has led to the search for solutions that can mitigate these adverse effects. Thermal energy storage with phase change materials is presented as an attractive solution because it allows storing large amounts of energy in small volumes; this solution can be adapted to meet the cooling and heating needs of a building. In this work, we detail the design, manufacture, and experimental tests of a prototype for an air-PCM unit, consisting of a tube bundle geometry. These tests were carried out on a plus energy house located in the South of France, during the summertime of 2017. Thermal performance was evaluated through indicators such as the indoor air temperature and the operating time of the unit. The results suggest that the air-PCM unit limits the indoor temperature rise during the unit operating time, keeping a temperature value around the upper thermal comfort limit.

An office building offers several opportunities to integrate Building integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) elements. Shading blinds form combines perfectly two functions: preventing part of the irradiation from reaching a glazed surface controlling the inner comfort conditions, as well as producing solar electricity. In regions where high irradiation is available and less demanding climates from the point of view of heating loads, this application is particularly advantageous for this kind of building. Nevertheless, at low latitudes locations, due to relative position of sun rays, the increasing effect of self-shading must be carefully analyzed - there is a delicate balance between optimal tilt angle and latitude to achieve a surface suited to integrate BIPV shadowing components. A methodology and practical results have been presented, easily possible to be used to design such devices in office buildings in Brazil, and, to a certain extent, in other countries at similar latitudes. Also, contribute to the further development of knowledge in this so far unexplored producing and saving energy saving strategy.

In the design practice simulation methods are already widely used to support the understanding of energy performance and to help designers in reducing energy demand during the design process. However, energy simulation tools are largely limited to the individual building level, and urban microclimate conditions and variations in local wind, solar radiation, and air temperature patterns in which buildings express their energy performance are largely overlooked. In order to include microclimatic data in the computation of space cooling and heating consumption and enlarge the scale of analysis from single buildings to district scale, a new simulation method has been developed. The proposed coupling procedure links the microclimate software ENVI-met and the City Energy Analyst energy simulation tool and it is employed in the energy assessment of a urban re-development project in the city of Zurich, Switzerland. The results show that, considering microclimatic boundary conditions, the average hourly energy loads vary for daytime and night-time peaks and moreover a variation can be noticed in terms of total space heating and cooling consumption on the hottest and coldest day of a typical year.

This paper focuses on the trends of 24/7 occupied IT offices in the Northern part of India. The rise of the IT Industry in India has resulted in an adaptation of the office spaces to the international trends of constructing glass box with deep plans and high glazing ratios coupled with aluminium composite panels with less considerations to the environmental and occupant needs. Such buildings are invariably dependant on air conditioning which results in huge energy expenditure. Fieldwork and Survey conducted for analysis illustrate the trends of the building typology which can be used as a basis for potential design solutions for IT offices being constructed in Delhi NCR by understanding the factors affecting the high energy demands and the spatial relationships.

This paper presents findings about interactions of occupants’ thermal feelings and adaptive actions within office buildings from a two-week longitudinal survey in Harbin, a north-east city in China with hot summers and severely cold winters. Measurements of the indoor and outdoor environmental changes and occupants’ window opening behaviours were conducted in six mixed-mode office rooms with fans or air conditioning cooling facilities. Thermal feelings and personal characteristics were gained via a panel questionnaire with 67 subjects from these offices to relate the thermal feeling with adaptions and physical conditions. The results showed the common use of the cooling device simultaneously with window opening behaviour, and an extremely high probability of window opening in office rooms with fans during the summer. Common patterns of the predictors for summer period in the severe cold area are identified in the analysis, while only gender for offices with fans and outdoor temperature, indoor and outdoor relative humidity for offices with air-conditioning were important variables in determining the state of the window opening. By comparing of the window opening changes with environmental factors for different thermal feelings, the mechanism of the interaction of occupant and offices building in summer season was further clarified.

This research aims to advance performance of the single stage passive downdraft evaporative cooling tower (PDECT) and expand its applicability beyond the hot dry conditions where it is typically used by developing and testing a design of a multi-stage passive and hybrid downdraft cooling tower (PHDCT). Experimental evaluation on half-scale prototypes of these towers was conducted in Tempe, Arizona, during Summer, 2017. Cooling systems in both towers were operated simultaneously to evaluate performance under identical conditions. Results indicated that the hybrid tower provides significant advantages over the single stage tower as the former outperformed the latter under all ambient conditions.

With the aim of reducing carbon emissions and increasing hygrothermal comfort, buildings across the UK are undergoing energy retrofits. With historic buildings, it is important that retrofit actions have a limited negative impact on the building’s fabric and cultural significance. Work to date in the UK has focused on the retrofit of historic solid masonry construction, with little research into the retrofit of historic timber-framed buildings. Changes to these buildings must be managed through the use of established conservation principles. However, where infill panels are beyond repair or have previously been substituted with inappropriate materials, there exists the potential to retrofit a material with a higher thermal performance. Nonetheless, it must be ensured that this retrofit does not create interstitial hygrothermal conditions that could threaten the survival of surrounding historic fabric. In this paper the authors present the hygrothermal simulation and physical monitoring of three different potential replacement infill panels. Results from Glaser calculations, WUFI® Pro and WUFI® 2D are compared to measured results of physical test panels mounted between two climate-controlled chambers. Whilst all three prediction methods successfully identified interstitial condensation where it was measured to occur, major discrepancies existed both between simulated and measured results, and between different simulation methods.

New methods for designing with phase change materials (PCM) could widen the range of applications of passive systems for indoor cooling in architecture. This paper investigates material and formal strategies for generative architectural design that support the thermal performance of PCM. Dendritic geometry of PCM encapsulation with a large surface area per unit volume is proposed for enhancement of the heat transfer between PCM and surroundings. The prototype of the PCM ceiling component is digitally designed, manufactured in glass and tested in an experimental set-up for thermal cycling. Correlations are made between geometric configurations and cooling performance of dendritic and spherical PCM containments. The presented methodology integrates tools and techniques from digital design and energy technology, with an aim to contribute to novel PCM-based concepts for local thermal regulation in architecture.

The new WUDAPT portal tool 'WUDAPT2ENVI-met' supplies a fast and easy way to generate large urban areas for ENVI-met simulations in a worldwide consistent manner. WUDAPT’s Local Climate Zone Classifications provide spatial information based on satellite imagery, which is translated into large ENVI-met model areas by templates of ENVI-met objects called Standard LCZ tiles. While 17 Local Climate Zone classes seem to be sufficient to describe the inhomogeneity of urban morphologies within one urban area, the inhomogeneity of urban morphologies across different urban areas worldwide might call for more, site-specific morphology classes. Based on this requirement WUDAPT2ENVI-met was enhanced allowing the import of user-generated, site-specific LCZ tiles for the translation. In order to examine whether the Standard LCZ tiles are versatile enough to dissect urban areas worldwide, a classification using the Standard LCZ tiles and specific, user-generated morphologies is compared in a case study of Sao Paulo. Furthermore, the results are compared against a simulation of the same area consisting of the actual building morphology. The comparison showed that the use of site-specific morphologies, materials and plants improved the results, better fitting the results of the actual morphology simulation, which states an important enhancement of the tool.

Facing the challenges of global warming, daylighting design optimisation for energy saving and visual comfort has become increasingly important. Across the centuries, architecture precedents have showcased daylighting as one of the key defining elements of spatial quality. While light does not exist in any physical forms, it possesses the superiority to reveal, create and enhance the atmosphere of a physical space, which in-turn impacts the perception and experience of users. How then do we meaningfully make use of this profound natural source to reach our goal in energy savings and visual comfort? This paper investigates different daylighting design strategies in sacred environments, aiming to understand how daylighting strategies using dynamic brightness balance and contrast were applied in two unique sacred structures for enhanced visual perception and energy saving. The research methodology included qualitative field studies by subjective recording of the lit scenes through photographs and hand drawn sketches to assess the visual and biological appreciation of the spaces; and quantitative surveys of brightness contrast in selected visual fields by luminance and illuminance distribution mapping. The research outcomes reveal how visual perception and comfort in sacred environments can be enhanced by appropriate use of daylight, leading to substantial long-term energy saving.

This paper deals with the effect of intra-climate diversity of composite climatic zone of India on the thermal performance of the naturally ventilated public housing buildings. This study is an attempt to improve the accuracy of the existing prescriptive benchmarks. The study has two objectives (a) to analyse the thermal severity variation within the composite climate of India and develop a tiered stratification of locations (b) analyse the impact of the thermal severity variation on the performance of representative public housing projects. The scope of study is limited to naturally ventilated residential typology. Data for 162 locations were obtained from Indian Meteorological department (IMD) and statistically analysed in order to classify them based on thermal severities. A review of housing designs of low income group housing being implemented by governmental agencies was reviewed and three representative designs are selected. A short-term thermal performance monitoring is conducted in these residences. The data is used to compare the thermal performance variations as well as to face validate the virtual models developed in Energy Plus software tool. The buildings are simulated for their performance at locations with high, moderate and low thermal severities within composite climate zone. A comparative analysis is carried out with that of NBC prescribed thermal performance guidelines. A set of scaling factors are determined after performing local thermal optimizations at representative locations. The factors are validated with location specific simulations performed for other locations.

The comfort and health of building occupants are significantly affected by the indoor thermal environment, which can be improved by building envelopes with a good façade design. This study aims to explore the impact of façade shading on the indoor thermal comfort by adding external shading panels on a typical public rental housing building in Hong Kong. Potential improvements on thermal comfort, in terms of indoor operative temperatures (Top), were evaluated for vertical and horizontal shading panels that were tilted at different angles to the façade. Simulation results on DesignBuilder reveal that horizontal shading panels (with a Top reduction up to 0.91˚C) can achieve a better thermal performance than those oriented vertically (with a maximum Top reduction of 0.57˚C). Moreover, shading panels tilted at 90˚ to 45˚ for horizontal panels and at 75˚ to 0˚ for vertical panels were preferred for better thermal performances. This strategy can be readily implemented to procure more sustainable public housing without causing obstructions to the window view of occupants.

Most studies on indoor environments and productivity have been conducted in controlled, static conditions often not representative of the real world. This paper uses a case study-based, real-world approach to empirically investigate the relationship between the indoor environment and workplace productivity in a mechanically-ventilated office environment in southern England. Evidence gathered during a baseline period is used to implement an intervention (limiting peak temperature) with the aim of improving productivity. Environmental parameters (temperature, relative humidity and CO₂) were monitored continuously. Transverse and longitudinal surveys recorded occupant perceptions of their working environments, thermal comfort and self-reported productivity, while performance tasks objectively measured productivity. Although the building was operating within narrow temperature, RH and CO₂ bands, productivity was perceived to decrease when occupants were thermally uncomfortable and when they perceived the air as stuffy. Correlations with perceived changes in productivity were stronger for the perceived environment than for the measured environmental conditions. In addition, test scores were found to decrease at higher temperatures. Median scores were 16% lower for tests conducted when CO₂ levels were in the 1000-1200ppm range compared to those conducted below 800ppm. Insights from the study can be used to optimise indoor office environments to improve staff productivity.

The US Green Buildings Council (USGBC) has created a market transformation program led by a certification process to promote, build, and renovate buildings into LEED™ rated green facilities. One of the goals of the LEED rating system is to reduce carbon and energy expenditure in buildings while improving occupant’s health and wellbeing. Due to a lack of systemic evaluation of buildings undergoing this certification process, however, the effects of this program on building resource utilization, indoor comfort, and occupant’s well-being remain contested. This paper reports on a cross-sectional survey study that investigates discrepancies between LEED certified buildings credits achieved as well as predicted and actual performance. The survey assessed 14 buildings, matched in pairs of two, of LEED and non-LEED buildings. Resource consumption and indoor environmental quality were assessed between both building pairs and their relationship to the LEED certification credits achieved. Results show that while LEED buildings outperformed their non-LEED comparatives, their resource consumption, however, exceeded their predicted expectations in most categories. In addition, the amount of credits achieved were not directly related to better performance. The paper concludes with a framework to integrate occupant feedback and building performance into the way we design, deliver, and operate buildings.

There is an urgent need for construction systems that enable the recovery of materials at the end of a building’s life. The current widespread use of adhesive-based fixings and single-life materials formed from petrochemical derivatives has led to the unprecedented generation of toxic material waste. Consequently, up to 40% of global waste is estimated to come from the construction sector. This design-led research study examines the potential of new light timber frame designs to facilitate material recovery. The research focuses the geometric and jointing properties of the components within the light timber frame and their potential for reuse. To validate the success of the proposed design ideas, a lifecycle assessment of the product was undertaken. This has been supported by a detailed discussion of the durability performance of the system. The study finds that the geometric and assembly conditions of the frame significantly increase long-term sustainable measures. The proposed design is estimated to represent a 70% reduction in embodied energy over an extended product’s lifetime versus conventional light timber platform framing.

The multiple criterion scale developed by Hopkinson is extensively utilised to analyse the subjective degree of discomfort due to glare. Using a luminance adjustment procedure, the brightness of a glare source is adjusted to reveal four levels of discomfort, typically: just imperceptible, just acceptable, just uncomfortable, and just intolerable. In many experimental studies, observers are requested to attend to each level of discomfort in ascending order, from the lowest to the highest criterion. There are, however, reasons to believe that assessments made using adjustments might be affected by the initial anchor, i.e. the setting of the variable stimulus before an adjustment is made, and by order effects, this influencing the reported thresholds of discomfort. To investigate anchor bias and order effects, two Hopkinson-like multiple criterion adjustment experiments were performed, respectively with three different initial anchors and three order sequences (ascending, descending, and randomised). The results revealed substantive bias due to anchor and order effects, primarily at lower glare criteria. This demonstrates the need for caution when interpreting subjective evaluations of discomfort due to glare and estimating the robustness of glare indices derived from studies that used models fitted to data obtained with Hopkinson’s multiple criterion scale and luminance adjustment procedure.

Occupant exposure to unhealthy Particulate Matter (PM) in naturally ventilated air-tight dwellings is not fully understood. In the UK, past studies have not investigated PM in bedrooms. Yet, PM is considered the most toxic pollutant and affects more people than any other pollutant; and bedrooms are the spaces that people typically occupy for the longest cumulative periods of their lifetime; with little or no control of ventilation during sleep. This paper evaluates monitored PM10 and PM2.5 in the context of occupant health in bedrooms of eleven dwellings across Scotland. It focuses on PM2.5, the size associated with greatest impact on health. PM and window operation were monitored concurrently. Air-tightness, smoke tests, dwelling inspections, occupant surveys, questionnaires, and interviews were also conducted. The results indicate that PM2.5 concentrations were generally above the recommended limits by WHO; and potentially unsafe in all the dwellings in the context of the EU-ESCAPE study. Bedtime mean concentrations were significantly lower than the 24hr mean, but would also have potentially negative health impacts based on the ESCAPE study. This suggests possible health burdens of particulates in bedrooms, with continuing construction of air-tight dwellings. Further work is needed on a larger sample of dwellings across different seasons.

Construction of low-cost housing in Colombia is one of the greatest social challenges of the country. Due to Bogotá's climate conditions at 8500 ft. of altitude and non-adapted materials to local conditions, the temperature of these state-subsidized dwellings is usually below optimum comfort standards. This research analyzes the effect of the use of certain types of materials on temperatures, comparing the effect of some traditional building skin– composed by brick and concrete - with a new wall envelope made of recycled elements. A comparative study was carried out by housing typologies, based on a work of measurement of the temperatures inside 16 individual dwellings.

The simulations in design builder to compare the traditional brick envelope material vs a compacted plastic brick, the results suggests that the construction of dwellings with traditional materials such as brick blocks and prefabricated concrete blocks may not provide the best conditions of thermal comfort. Alternative materials made of recycled plastic can represent a cheaper, ecological and comfortable solution. Findings could be of interest to construction stakeholders for the low-cost housing construction in resilient cities, within the framework of a new plastics economy.

Key words: Social housing, thermal comfort, envelope, architecture, recycled materials, energy efficiency.

In times of global ecological challenges, understanding building performance to improve occupants’ comfort is becoming the norm in various climatic zones and locales. Any performance evaluation should account for occupants’ demands for thermal and visual comfort. However, seeking to analyse the impact of design on the two aspects of comfort simultaneously can be complicated especially when a series of parametric changes with varying impacts on either is necessary. In the Nigerian context, assessing the environmental behaviour of existing residential properties to inform future refinement is becoming far more critical due to the vulnerability of the region to the changing climate, the ongoing issue with the energy supply and the housing shortage. The method adapted in this paper following previous research can be useful for the coinciding evaluation of the thermal environment and visual comfort. The environmental behaviour of two of Abuja’s common housing types, in their current state and with the addition of multiple shading elements assessed using such methodological procedures to examine their suitability for performing a comprehensive analysis. The paper discusses the simplicity of the graphical representation utilised in displaying the changes in the cases’ behaviour following the alteration. It also provides an insight into their current performance.

Looking back to the glory years of Brazilian bioclimatic modernism between 1930 and 1964, the country´s architectural heritage reveals a design approach still highly relevant today. Building design of those days paid heed to solar orientation and the consequent need for solar protection. The COPAN is the tallest residential buildings in South America until today, with 42 floors being 38 residential and 120 thousand square meters of total built space. The long “S” shape form creates variations in the orientation, resulting in one side of the building facing north and northwest whilst the other faces south and southeast. This research work about the thermal performance of the Copan building was developed based on fieldwork including measurements in loco of environmental variables and interviews with occupants. The effect of thermal inertia coupled with external shading, that characterizes buildings built during the times of the Brazilian bioclimatic modernist, resulting in steady thermal conditions during warm and cold days, favorable to the comfort of the occupants, with temperature figures oscillating between 24oC and 26oC.

London’s increasing housing demands and land scarcity impose a creative way of finding spaces for well-connected, sustainable housing development. Airspaces, above low-traffic connector roads, in between blind walls (windowless) of terraced houses were found numerous and identified as exploitable spaces. This paper illustrates a framework design that aims to have a contextually sensitive application that provides quality atmospheres for a modern live-work lifestyle, with flexible spatial layouts and adaptive passive features to help achieve desirable comfort. The project employs a modular construction system, for efficient and affordable delivery, where design strategies are transferable and adaptable on sites with different dimensions and microclimates. The outcome is an optimized prototype that demands 30% less energy per sqm annually compared to the UK Zero Carbon Dwelling standard.

This study aims to explore the comparative effects between Obstacle’s Distance and Obstacle’s Orientation parameters that cause partial shading effect (PSE) and influence the potential solar power generation of a building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) system. An automatic collaboration between Building Information Modelling (BIM) software and a cloud-based building performance analysis tool were used to simulate the annual cumulative insolation obtained from rooftop BIPV surfaces of sixteen different Obstacle’s Orientations and forty-three different distances between the BIPV and building obstacles—Obstacle’s Distance. The case study are two axis-aligned public healthcare buildings; an outpatient department (OPD) building and a ward building that are widely established throughout Thailand. This study also explores the notion that Obstacle’s Orientation and Obstacle’s Distance of a surrounding obstacle are both important parameters that influence the annual cumulative insolation of PV surfaces but in the different contexts. The findings of this study also support decision making for BIPV designers and planners to select which the BIPV and the obstacle placement is highly effective, especially BIPV application on lower-rise buildings in dense urban environments, such as healthcare facilities.

This paper presents 4 rural housing typologies designed by Grupo Austral in 1939 for the countrymen of Argentina. Each dwelling was adapted to a different climatic region of the country, ranging from warm subtropical to cold desert. The designs represent an outstanding start in environmental awareness in Argentina, though ignored by the community of architects and any of the government plans for housing. In this paper the design features of these housing designs are evaluated using contemporary simulation tools and the original specifications are compared to current building practices. Comparison with contemporary housing projects by government agencies shows the Grupo Austral’s design to be superior in all environmental aspects.

Kisekae House is a net zero energy house, which the total energy consumption is covered by natural energy. The students and teachers of Architecture Major in Mukogawa Women’s University proposed the house. The high thermal performance of the house and the high efficient equipment keep the room condition comfortable, as well as reduction of the energy consumption. In addition, ideas based on the Japanese traditional system and devices are adopted. The residents can control the environment by adjusting spaces and device conditions by themselves. According to the results of the measurement of the energy consumption and thermal environment in November 2017, the total zero energy were achieved on the house.

In Medellin, as in most Colombian cities, self-construction and self-management were the main drivers of urban development in the periphery areas, through informal settlements. The generation of cableway systems has improved connectivity with the rest of the city, but in terms of housing, there are still many sectors with poor residential habitat, in terms of habitability, well-being, and eco-efficiency. This research focuses on making a diagnosis of the area near the Metrocable Line H, seeking to establish the necessary factors to improve the livability of people in the sector, having as base the experiences of the two previous cableway in the city, evaluating the processes of consolidation and adaptation that are generated, the way in which these impulse interventions by the State. The results conclude that although there is a positive connection between the neighborhood and the city, reducing marginality, it is necessary to connect it inside, and although there is a first approach to improving the public space, it doesn’t work as expected, resulting in an incentive for informal development.

The driver behind the need for sustainable development is to mitigate the impact that predicted climate change will have on our cities, land uses and infrastructural systems. This paper explores new spatial forms of sustainable housing in Scotland where the demand for new housing in accessible rural areas is predicted to increase due to pressure from nearby urban centres. Historically, rural building forms were largely influenced by immediately available materials, climate and specific use, resulting in regionally identifiable typologies. However, changes in the way we live, proximity to place of work, and the relationship between home, community and land-use have resulted in rural domestic buildings losing specific regional distinctions. The primary house type on offer through the volume house building market is homogenised materially, structurally and spatially, lacking any relationship to place. The aim of this research was to generate new spatial models of autarkic housing and alternative massing arrangements that responded to land-use, density, energy, landscape and Scottish policy frameworks. The main objective in the study was to generate alternative, semi-quantifiable models that integrated the above requirements within holistic conceptual frameworks for rural sustainable living and which could then be used as a primer for further research and development.

Urban air pollution is currently one of the top worst pollution problems in China. It can not only worsen indoor air quality but also substantially reduce daylight availabilities in buildings, both of which are directly linked to occupants’ health and well-being. This article presents results of a winter experiment focusing on testing human performances in a daylit office room with three various glazing systems in Beijing. The impact of external air pollution on occupants’ visual comfort, alertness and mood is the research focus. Some findings can be achieved as 1) Urban air pollution can significantly reduce the indoor daylighting availability; 2) Urban air pollution would significantly affect occupants’ performances. 3) The impact varies with the applications of different window glazing systems. A proper selected glazing system could mitigate the negative impact of urban air pollution on human performances.

Material considerations are essential while trying to achieve low energy and carbon constructions. According to our preliminary findings, decisions regarding materials in new buildings are mostly done by clients or by self-builders often without the aid of an architect or planner. Therefore, community studies are important to understand today’s building dynamics. In this exploratory study - carried out in USA and Mexico - we analysed the public’s preferences for building materials for the exterior of dwellings and the factors that have more influence over their decisions while choosing the materials. We also studied the update in the subjects’ preference after receiving certain information concerning the materials. We wanted to know if the environmental factors play an important role in today's public preference in the building sector and what type of information could greater affect their beliefs. Preliminary results for Mexico and after a follow up analysis for USA show that acknowledging unfamiliar information (e.g. carbon emissions or price) might have a greater influence on the public’s update of preference of materials. This could have implications for the construction market dynamics in the usage promotion of low carbon building materials.

Many offices have been renovated to improve building performance. However, the user’s perception after renovation has not been evaluated. This paper presents user satisfaction with indoor environmental quality in façade renovated offices in the Netherlands. The study explored the correlation between facade renovation strategies and indoor climate on the one hand and on the other hand user satisfaction and user preferences. Data were collected in four renovated offices in the Netherlands, which were adapted using different façade renovation strategies. The case study consisted of conducting online surveys and indoor climate monitoring for 2 weeks with loggers. Statistical results demonstrate that design factors such as desk location, workplace orientation, and layout have a strong correlation with user satisfaction of IEQ, unlike window types. The suggested essential design factors for user satisfaction can guide architects and designers to better understand users’ preferences and to reflect on office design.

The understanding of households’ socio-economic characteristics and their behaviour has been acknowledged as a key factor while assessing the energy demands. There is considerable research in the area of building simulation and energy modelling; However, the representation of occupants and their behaviour needs further work. For instance, every degree rise in internal temperature settings will increase the household energy consumption by 10 %. This research investigates the energy use behaviour of a specific demographic and ethnic group, the British Asian households. A large-scale housing survey is used to gather self-reported information about the British Asian households’ energy use behaviour, for instance, heating patterns, appliances use, ventilation behaviour, as well as other socio-economic characteristics. Data collected will be transformed into energy models, which includes Space heating behaviour models, electrical appliances and lighting use models, and Ventilation behaviour models. The outcome of this research demonstrates how social perception and economic aspirations limit the acceptability of sustainable design and construction strategies. This research involves active community participation and engagement; a major part of the dissemination will aim at communicating the research findings to the British Asian households, which will have a direct impact of energy reduction by informed behaviour choice.

The opening form of building façade has a strong influence on people’s perceptions of interior spatial properties. However, architectural designers usually pay attention to aesthetics aspect of building façade and neglect the influence of changing the opening form on the people’s perceptions of interior space. Furthermore, the isovist is a quantitative method that describes space from a visual observing perspective including 2D and 3D measures. But most isovist studies investigate the visual experience of interior space only in two dimensions. Besides, the opening can also influent the daylighting performance, and the daylighting performance can impact the interior perception as well. In response, this paper presents the results of a study involving 52 participants who assessed 29 perspective views of virtual interiors with different opening forms for feelings of spaciousness. Firstly, these results are compared with isovist measures, including 2D and3D, to examine which isovist measure is more effective. Secondly, these results are compared with daylighting measures to find out which openings can possess both spacious feeling and nice daylighting performance.

Radiant heating and cooling systems have the potential to save energy and are widely used in zero net energy buildings. Their positive and negative impacts on indoor environmental quality and, in particular, thermal comfort compared to all-air systems are still debated in the literature. This paper presents indoor environmental quality survey results from 3,892 respondents in 60 office buildings located in North America. 34 (2,247 respondents) of these buildings utilized all-air systems and 26 (1,645 respondents) utilized radiant systems as primary conditioning system. Our results indicate that radiant and all-air buildings have equal indoor environmental quality, including acoustic performance, with a tendency towards improved temperature satisfaction in radiant buildings.