BUILDING SCIENCE 1
PROJECT 1. CASE STUDY: ANALYZING PASSIVE DESIGN STRATEGIES
In a group of 6 we were to choose a building and analyse the passove design of the building. In this project, we chose Point 92 building also known as Menara Obyu. It is designed by Zlg Designs and it's located at kota Damansara, Malaysia. Point 92 was completed in late 2012, the building simply named after the size of the site itself, it sits on a small site of 0.92 acres and consists of a single 19-storey tower with 200,000 sq feet of office space. Point 92 building is a certified green building by the Green Building Index (GBI) of Malaysia. The key green features are the passive designs for sun shading window and the natural ventilation lobby reducing heat and achieve thermal comfort.
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Passive design does not require mechanical heating or cooling. Buildings that are passively designed take
advantage of natural climate to maintain thermal comfort.
Incorporating the principles of passive design in building:
• Significantly improves comfort
• Reduces or eliminates heating and cooling bills
• Reduces greenhouse gas emissions from heating, cooling, mechanical ventilation and lighting.
Building envelope is a term used to describe the roof, walls, windows, floors and internal walls of a building. In a tropical climate, the envelope should controls heat gain and exclusion of rainwater. Well-designed envelopes maximize cooling through air movement and exclude the solar radiation. The fundamental principles of passive design are relatively simple and can be applied to various climate zones, house types and construction systems.
Objective
1. To identify and define the principles of heat transfer in relation to building and people
2. To understand what is thermal comfort and discuss factors relating to thermal comfort
3. To analyze the effect of thermal comfort factors in a person and in a space
4. To be able to criticize design of the space in terms of thermal comfort by referring to MS1525 , UBBL, GBI and Green Mark standards.
Learning outcomes assessed in this project include:
1. Identify environmental conditions related to site conditions, climate, etc.
2. Explain the effects of the sun on the thermal performance of buildings
3. Explain the effect of insulation, thermal mass and air movement on thermal performance of buildings.
Group work with maximum 6 students is required to:
• Choose a building that best features 2 passive design strategy for tropical climate. Group will select one building in Singapore / Klang Valley.
• Choose a building that best features 2 passive design strategies for tropical climate. Selection will be based on building certified and recognized as Green Mark / Green Building, (http://www.greenbuildingindex.org/organisation-certified-buildings-NRNC.html), certification may other be Platinum, Gold or Silver .
• Have a thorough research on the passive design strategies, the principles and details needed for these passive design strategies to perform best in tropical climate and to achieve thermal comfort in this building/space.
• Identify two (2) passive design strategies used for a building.
• Identify an instrument /equipment or software/interview/survey to aid in proving that the passive design strategy is effective in this building. (eg: shading devices – simulation in Revit software, ventilation – simulation in Vasari)
• Analyze the monitored temperatures, looking at the effects of solar radiation, thermal mass, insulation, and ventilation.
• Explain how the thermal environment of your case study is affected from natural and man-made factors. (relate to micro site and macro site / climate)
• Research poster should contain the following:
a. Building Introduction (images, pictures, diagrams, drawings and description)
b. Thermal Analysis; basically means using a manual calculation or computer program to mathematically model the interplay of thermal processes within a building
c. Wind Analysis (Vasari software); Airflow and air quality is an important aspect of human comfort. Moving air helps people feel cooler, and natural ventilation is a key strategy for passive cooling.
d. Sun Analysis (Revit software); analyzing the impact of the sun on a site, as well as the building’s location, the spatial arrangement, orientation, window placement, daylight access and other design features, the designer can take full advantage of passive solar design features and increase the energy efficiency and comfort of the building.
e. Concept and analysis of building’s passive design strategies. Highlight the 2 passive design features used in each building and elaborate the effect and importance of it.
Througout this project, i learnt about how to apply the authentic problem learning through Action based learning from the process of site visiting until the justification of searching through computer simulation of revit and vasari.
This project has encourage me to learn a lot of new skills such as Revit, Vasari and Photoshop.Learning new skills has been my favourite part in taking Architecture, and these skills gave the buildings i designed more potential practically and aesthetically. I could learn what makes a building a living building that could please the comfort of the visitor. I could create a proper presentation board and critically justify my points through the new computer simulation skills, and easily persuade people through the proofs i've made. And these really gave me the excitement to learn more about it, since it really does gave so much impact.
I learnt about the the relation of functionality and the asthetic of the shading devices and were able to critically think about the outcomes. In order to become a great architecture, we must be able to think from a lot different ways and consider a lot of possibilities to overcome every problems. In here, zlg design has proved that their designs are both aestheticaly pleasing and also fulfills MS1525,UBBL,GBI and Green Mark Standards requirements. And from our searching, we prove their success in designing the building.