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.