Environmental performance of Abuja’s low-income housing : understanding the current state to inform future refinement

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 was 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. KEYWORDS: Housing, Comfort, Methodology, Nigeri

Daylight for sustainable development of historic sites

Consideration of daylight is one of the contextual ingredients for maintaining a sustainable identity when intervening in a heritage site. Appropriate consideration of daylighting ensures not only visual and thermal comfort in the urban setting, but also contributes to the preservation of the place visual identity. The historic district of el Darb al-Asfar is undergoing a rehabilitation project that raises questions about the new &lsquo;sparking&rsquo; look of the place. The ongoing cultural debate in old Cairo on the extent of success of the rehabilitation efforts in preserving the place identity identified a gap in literature regarding the ingredients that constitute identity in heritage settings. The paper argues that the project using new finishing materials of facades has led to changes in daylight levels in the space and hence the visual perception of the place itself. This paper aims to assess the impact of such intervention on the visual perception and the space identity. A digital model is built utilising a combination of photogrammetric and 3D digital technique. The TOWNSCOPE simulation package is used to trace the performance of direct, diffused, and reflected components of daylight within the original and recently resorted scenes. The output of the simulation exercise has been validated by empirical data. The paper concludes by suggesting a set of measures for achieving an appropriate daylight performance in heritage sites Eastern Mediterranean climatic conditions.<br /

Remodelling façade design for improving daylighting and the thermal environment in Abuja’s low-income housing

The housing typologies that were developed as part of Abuja’s master plan over 30 years ago are still in use today as prototypes for low-income housing developments. The value of the local climate received only cursory consideration in the early developments; as the process was mainly focused on the delivery of units needed to accommodate those involved in the construction of the city. More detailed records of the climate have become available since the mid-1990s. Yet, despite the availability of such data and the global interest in eco-friendly architecture, energy use per household has increased in Abuja over the last two decades. Nigeria is already struggling to meet its current energy demands; therefore, it is important to examine whether improvements made to future housing design can assist in reducing their energy use. This paper evaluates the performance of four of Abuja’s common housing types and examines the impact of changing their fenestration design on occupants’ comfort, using validated simulation. Assessing the performance of the buildings in their existing state revealed clear overheating problems and excessive natural lighting. However, the investigation indicated a 4-6% reduction in the frequency of thermal discomfort and a 4-29% reduction in visual discomfort by adjusting the orientation of the facades. Integrating external shading components can also reduce thermal and visual discomfort by up to 4% and 29%, respectively

Developing an integrated approach to the evaluation of outdoor play settings : rethinking the position of play value

This paper reports on the development of an evaluation tool supporting the review and development of play parks. The Play Park Evaluation Tool (PPET) considers key areas contributing to the accessibility and usability of play parks including non-play aspects such as surface finish and seating alongside installed play equipment. The paper describes PPET’s creation, the revision process undertaken, and its subsequent use across three stages of a play park’s development. Key to achieving facilities with high play value, the evaluation of play types offered is integrated within the tool. This appraisal is supported by the creation of an infographic illustrating this data and providing a method by which data can be presented in an accessible form. This visual representation contributing to the decision-making process undertaken by those responsible for the provision of play parks

A survey of environmental performance enhancement strategies and building data capturing techniques in the Nigerian context

Abstract: The need to improve the performance of Nigeria’s office buildings is due to, energy challenges, increasing population, changing user needs, and climate change. With the expansion of several Nigerian cities, existing buildings constitute a significant portion of the building stock, and improving their environmental performance could be more cost-effective than reconstruction. The use of simulation packages to assess alternative retrofitting enhancement scenarios is a straightforward approach. However, in Nigeria it is often challenging to get appropriate information to facilitate this type of evaluation; many buildings were not built to their original specifications, and when available, the records are often in a poor state due to deterioration. Studies that aimed at enhancing a building’s performance hardly stated the acquisition of the required building information. This paper investigates current practices and future possibilities of improvement measures and data capturing of existing buildings using a questionnaire survey of 133 building professionals in Benin City. The inter-relationship between energy efficiency, the environment, and building design with a high potential for meaningful retrofit to mitigate energy inefficiencies is known but not fully utilized. The collected thought on current practices signifies the need for developing a more economical and reliable methodology for data capturing and evaluation

A survey of environmental performance enhancement strategies and building data capturing techniques in the Nigerian context

The need to improve the performance of Nigeria’s office buildings is due to, energy challenges, increasing population, changing user needs, and climate change. With the expansion of several Nigerian cities, existing buildings constitute a significant portion of the building stock, and improving their environmental performance could be more cost-effective than reconstruction. The use of simulation packages to assess alternative retrofitting enhancement scenarios is a straightforward approach. However, in Nigeria it is often challenging to get appropriate information to facilitate this type of evaluation; many buildings were not built to their original specifications, and when available, the records are often in a poor state due to deterioration. Studies that aimed at enhancing a building’s performance hardly stated the acquisition of the required building information. This paper investigates current practices and future possibilities of improvement measures and data capturing of existing buildings using a questionnaire survey of 133 building professionals in Benin City. The inter-relationship between energy efficiency, the environment, and building design with a high potential for meaningful retrofit to mitigate energy inefficiencies is known but not fully utilized. The collected thought on current practices signifies the need for developing a more economical and reliable methodology for data capturing and evaluation

Evaluating indoor environmental performance of laboratories in a Northern Nigerian university

Poor environmental comfort in learning spaces can have an impact on the learning capacities of students. It is not unusual to find learning spaces in Nigerian higher institutions in which the indoor environmental qualities do not meet the occupants’ requirements. Despite being in the tropics, where solar radiation is in abundance, Nigerian building industry professionals pay little attention to passive energy utilization. Knowing how buildings perform in the country may appeal to their consciousness in reconsidering this situation. This paper is part of an ongoing study on comfort in higher education facilities involving lecture theatres and laboratories in Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria. Objective and subjective assessments were undertaken during the wet-warm season of August 2016. It reports the assessment conducted on two laboratories, with a view to finding how they perform environmentally in comparison to occupants’ preferences and international comfort standards. Although some of the measured and calculated physical parameters, have not met the thresholds specified by ASHRAE-55 and EN 15251, the respondents expressed their acceptance of the laboratories’ situations subjectively. This is not surprising as these standards are often based on experiments implemented in developed countries, where the severity of the climatic conditions and the culture are dissimilar to sub Saharan Africa.</p

Turkish D-light : accentuating heritage values with daylight

Historic buildings have their own cultural identity, which is often related to their aesthetic qualities such as period characteristics (geometry, size, colour, form and shape), materials and construction. Daylight is one of the primary elements contributing to the distinctiveness of the visual environment of many historic buildings, but is rarely considered as one of the components that shape the character of a building when adaptive preservation schemes of historical buildings are planned. Many historic buildings were originally designed to accommodate activities different to their new use and preserving the quality of daylight that originally contributed to their visual identity is a challenging task. Maintaining the ‘day-lit appearance’ of a building can be particularly problematic if the building is to be used as a museum or a gallery owing to the artefacts’ conservation requirements. This work investigated the opportunities of maintaining the original ambient conditions of renovated historical buildings while meeting the required daylight levels of the proposed new use. The study utilised an annual daylight simulation method and hourly weather data to preserve daylight conditions in renovated historic buildings. The model was piloted in a Turkish bathhouse situated in Bursa, Turkey, that is currently under renovation. The simulation model produces 4483 hourly values of daylight illuminance for a period of a whole year using the computer program Radiance. It is concluded that daylight characteristics should be taken into account when developing a renovation scheme. With increasing pressure on valuing historic buildings in many parts of the world, the work reported here should be beneficial to those concerned with the conservation and adaptive reuse of historic buildings. The study findings could also be useful to those interested in predicting potential energy savings by combining daylighting and electric lighting in historic buildings

Bacterial migration through punctured surgical gloves under real surgical conditions

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to confirm recent results from a previous study focussing on the development of a method to measure the bacterial translocation through puncture holes in surgical gloves under real surgical conditions.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An established method was applied to detect bacterial migration from the operating site through the punctured glove. Biogel™ double-gloving surgical gloves were used during visceral surgeries over a 6-month period. A modified Gaschen-bag method was used to retrieve organisms from the inner glove, and thus-obtained bacteria were compared with micro-organisms detected by an intra-operative swab.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In 20 consecutive procedures, 194 gloves (98 outer gloves, 96 inner gloves) were examined. The rate of micro-perforations of the outer surgical glove was 10% with a median wearing time of 100 minutes (range: 20-175 minutes). Perforations occurred in 81% on the non-dominant hand, with the index finger most frequently (25%) punctured. In six cases, bacterial migration could be demonstrated microbiologically. In 5% (5/98) of outer gloves and in 1% (1/96) of the inner gloves, bacterial migration through micro-perforations was observed. For gloves with detected micro-perforations (n = 10 outer layers), the calculated migration was 50% (n = 5). The minimum wearing time was 62 minutes, with a calculated median wearing time of 71 minutes.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study confirms previous results that bacterial migration through unnoticed micro-perforations in surgical gloves does occur under real practical surgical conditions. Undetected perforation of surgical gloves occurs frequently. Bacterial migration from the patient through micro-perforations on the hand of surgeons was confirmed, limiting the protective barrier function of gloves if worn over longer periods.</p