Bioclimatism in Architecture : an evolutionary perspective

peer reviewedFundamentals of vernacular architecture have been used in bioclimatic architecture which has gradually become the inspiration of various movements in contemporary architecture. The study points out that the development of bioclimatism in architecture has followed the pattern of a natural evolutionary process in which “natural selection” is likely motivated by several factors, including resources and environment problems, and driven by different mechanisms including novel building design concepts and methods, new standards and codes, discoveries in building science and construction costs. This study is an effort aimed to clarify the evolution process of the bioclimatic approach in architecture over time and its influences on contemporary movements in architecture. The paper shows also that the evolutionary theory generated new scientific tools able to improve building design thanks to simulation-based optimization methods applied to building performances. Finally, this study investigates new motivations in the era of climate change whose effects are expected to introduce more challenges as well as more trends towards a sustainable built environment through the new concept of Eco-adaptive architecture

Retrofitting the suburbs: Insulation, density, urban form and location

The effects of urban sprawl have been well documented, particularly regarding energy consumption. Suburban neighbourhoods are known to be energy inefficient and urban sprawl is considered as a major issue for sustainable development. To improve the energy efficiency of existing suburban urban fabrics is a major challenge that must be addressed to favour a sustainability transition of our built environment. In this context, this paper aims at investigating several scenarios that could be developed to improve the sustainability of existing suburban neighbourhoods: three main types of scenarios (building insulation, density, and urban form) and twelve sub-scenarios, which are focused on the possible evolution of the existing suburban building stocks, are proposed. Quantitative methods developed in previous research are used to assess and compare building and transportation energy consumption of a representative suburban case study. This application aims at investigating two main research questions: (1) "how to intervene in suburban neighbourhoods?" and (2) «where to intervene?" The main results of this application, which are focused on energy efficiency, are then studied in a larger framework to highlight their opportunities and constraints. The main findings of the paper are that, beyond the traditional polarisation of the debates on the energy efficiency of our built environment between the “compact” and the “sprawled” city, a new pragmatic paradigm, which is focused on the smooth densification of existing suburban neighbourhoods, can make them evolve towards greater sustainability.Solutions for Low Energy Neighbourhood

Thermal comfort and comparison of some parameters coming from hospitals and shopping centers under natural ventilation : The case of Madagascar Island

Nowadays, in several countries in the tropical islands of the Indian Ocean, including Madagascar island, Comores island, Seychelles island and Mayotte, no adopted and regulated building standards exist. Human health essentially depends on the quality of indoor air, and so several actions should be taken to solve this problem. The purpose of this study is to develop a database of thermal comfort in naturally ventilated buildings inordertoimproveindoorairquality,mainlyinhospitals andshoppingcentersinthelargestislandoftheIndian Ocean.Toachievethisobjective,andduetoalackofdataregardingcomfortinbuiltenvironmentsinthisregion, experimental and subjective studies were carried out in 5 big hospitals and 50 small and large shopping centers, distributed in 25 districts of urban areas in Northern Madagascar. The adaptive approach was used for this purpose. A specific questionnaire based on the ISO7730 and 10551 was designed to collect these data. A total of 400 people participated in this study, and the survey was conducted during rainy and dry seasons. This study discusses the influence of gender, clothing, activities, voters’ mind state and occupants’ control strategies on adaptive comfort assessment. In addition, various comfort parameters were calculated for these buildings. Results show that, in both studied places, the lower and upper acceptable temperatures for 80% of the voters were 23.2 °C and 26.8 °C, while 90% of the customers and patients reported a comfortable temperature range of 24.5–26.2°C. This will help to define proper guidelines to build more comfortable buildings in Madagascar and other countries of the Indian Ocean

Net Zero Energy Buildings and Low Carbon Emission, a Case of Study of Madagascar Island

The buildings respecting the concept “Net Zero energy” are becoming more and more flowering in the world these last years. The main goal of this research is to evaluate the different possibilities of implementation of buildings with Net zero energy and low environmental impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa. The proposed building is 80% made of local materials with low carbon emissions and especially at lower cost. The optimization and modeling of the building is carried out by the Design Builder software, which is a world-renowned software in the field of optimization of comfort, cost, carbon reduction, etc. By fixing the insulation thickness up to 11 cm, cooling and heating energy are found equal to zero during the different operating seasons in this residential building. The results show that the optimal solution to consider a net zero energy building in Antananarivo city requires an additional expense estimated at 40% of the cost of buildings more conventional encountered in the island. This will save $475 each year starting in 2030, with 99% reduction in the CO2 release. The choice of local materials with low conductivity, low emissions, and low cost, has a significant impact on the implementation of a sustainable building, and more adapted to climate change concept

Entwicklung eines Bildersets zur Forschung an Szenen-Konsistenzeffekten

Für Studien mit natürlichen, realitätsnahen Bildern wird ein möglichst standardisiertes und umfangreiches Set an Stimulusmaterial benötigt. Ein solches zu konstruieren und zu untersuchen, war das Ziel dieser Diplomarbeit. Dazu wurde ein Set mit Bildern erstellt, in denen sowohl passende, konsistente Objekte, als auch unpassende, inkonsistente Objekte abgebildet waren. Es wurde darauf geachtet, dass die Objekte direkt im Bild positioniert und nicht nachträglich eingearbeitet wurden. Auf die Abbildung von menschlichen Handlungen und Gesichtern wurde verzichtet. Die Bilder wurden in einem Experiment von Versuchspersonen ausführlich in Bezug auf Erregung, Valenz und emotionale Gesichtspunkte bewertet. Die Objekte und Szenen wurden außerdem benannt und hinsichtlich ihrer Stimmigkeit beurteilt. Unabhängig von der Bewertung der Versuchspersonen wurden auch die strukturellen Eigenschaften der Bilder analysiert. Es wurden Salienzkarten der Bilder angefertigt und untersucht, ob es Unterschiede zwischen den Bildern mit den konsistenten Objekten und den Bildern mit den inkonsistenten Objekten gibt. Die genauen Daten befinden sich im Anhang B der Druckversion als Excel Datei auf CD gebrannt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen signifikante Unterschiede zwischen konsistenten und inkonsistenten Bildern bei allen Variablen, außer bei Valenz. Die Versuchspersonen empfanden also inkonsistente Bilder nicht positiver oder negativer als konsistente Bilder. Die Bewertungen der Versuchspersonen bestätigten auch die gute Zusammensetzung der Objekte und Szenen. Bilder mit inkonsistenten Objekten wurden von ihnen als wenig passend empfunden, Bilder mit konsistenten Objekten als passend. Durch die freie Benennung der Szenen und Objekte und die Zusammenfassung der Wörter zu Kategorien wurde ein Koeffizient berechnet, der als Maß für die Reliabilität der Labels zu verstehen ist. Mit der Untersuchung der physikalischen Eigenschaften der Bilder konnte ausgeschlossen werden, dass sich die konsistenten Bilder in Bezug auf Größe, Salienz und Lage der Objekte von den inkonsistenten Bildern unterscheiden