Climate-responsive design:

In climate-responsive design the building becomes an intermediary in its own energy housekeeping, forming a link between the harvest of climate resources and low energy provision of comfort. Essential here is the employment of climate-responsive building elements, defined as structural and architectural elements in which the energy infrastructure is far-reaching integrated. This thesis presents the results of research conducted on what knowledge is needed in the early stages of the design process and how to transfer and transform that knowledge to the field of the architect in order for them to successfully implement the principles of climate-responsive design. The derived content, form and functional requirements provide the framework for a design decision support tool. These requirements were incorporated into a concept tool that has been presented to architects in the field, in order to gain their feedback. Climate-responsive design makes the complex task of designing even more complex. Architects are helped when sufficient information on the basics of climate-responsive design and its implications are provided as informative support during decision making in the early design stages of analysis and energy concept development. This informative support on climate-responsive design should address to different design styles in order to be useful to any type of architects. What is defined as comfortable has far-reaching implications for the way buildings are designed and how they operate. This in turn gives an indication of the energy used for maintaining a comfortable indoor environment. Comfort is not a strict situation, but subjective. Diversity is appreciated and comfort is improved when users have the ability to exert influence on their environment. Historically, the provision of comfort has led to the adoption of mechanical climate control systems that operate in many cases indifferent from the building space and mass and its environment. Climate-responsive design restores the context of local climate and environment as a design parameter. Many spatial, functional and comfort-related boundary conditions that have an effect on the energy design concept have been distinguished. There are many low-graded energy sources that can be put to use in the built environment, with local climate as the primary component. When exploring the potential of local climate, urban context needs to be taken into account since it heavily affects the actual potential. Since buildings are typically build to last for decades, consideration of changing climate and its expected effect on the energy potential is an important factor in the strategy to follow. The study of the energy potential of local climate resulted in a set of climate-related and context-related boundary conditions. The principles of climate-responsive design - the conceptual relations between energy source, energy treatment and comfort demand - can be translated into various design solutions, the contextual, architectural and technical implementation of these principles into an actual design. The design solutions can be divided into six categories- site planning, building form and layout, skin, structure, finish and (integrated)building service - that cover various dimensions in planning and construction. In this thesis a non-exhaustive list of design principles and solutions is presented using different matrices. In order to design using climate-responsive design principles the architect should be given an overview of the comfort contribution and energy performance of design solutions. Furthermore, the identification of collaborations and conflicts when using multiple design principles together is essential. The generation of a satisfying design is more than just stacking solutions upon each other. It should also be made clear what a possible energy function of a building element is besides its primary function. This is where comfort and energy related design objectives of climate-responsive design meet other objectives (i.e. spatial, functional and structural). Finally, the impact of climatere sponsive building elements on the appearance of design is relevant to concept orientated architects. Together this can be considered as the content requirements of the design-decision support tool. In the early stages of the design process climate-responsive design is about the generation of energy concepts. In this phase accessible guidelines and the option to compare alternatives is more important than to assess absolute performance. The conceptual design phase is dynamic and has many iterations. Informative, context specific knowledge reduces the number of iterations before the architect has generated a satisfying number of design options from which it can continue to the next design phase of assessment. Functional requirements for the framework of the design decision support tool are the inclusion of a knowledge base with expert knowledge and best practice examples, the provision of informative, context-specific knowledge, the provision of accessible guidelines, the provision of an option to compare alternatives, the inclusion of the ability to inform during and assist in decision-making (i.e. intelligence) and the limitation of complexity and the generation of easy to interpret output. The tool is primarily developed for the architect so it needs to blend in the architect’s workflow enabling the architect’s creativity and guiding his intuition. Other form requirements of the design-decision support tool are the presence of customisation options and custom navigation patterns, all presented in a visual style. A concept of the web-based tool has been developed in order to illustrate what a climate-responsive design-decision support tool could look like. The heart of the tool is formed by the knowledge base, constructed from items grouped into one of four categories: principles, solutions, projects and guidelines. Relationships between items are incorporated within the knowledge base as hyperlinks, which makes it easy to navigate from one item to another. The stored information is presented in numerous ways. Info sheets provide the most detailed presentation style containing all available information for an item, while catalogues, matrices and a gallery provide quick overviews and reveal direct relationships with other items. In order to become a true design-decision support tool, the presented tool needs to be further developed. This includes the use of a more context-specific presentation style and the inclusion of more context-specific knowledge, the addition of layers in which the knowledge is presented varying from more general to practical, the development and implementation of performance indicators and a more direct and visual approach to pinpoint synergetic and conflicting effects. By using the tool, architects can access relevant knowledge in different ways that suit their method of working. It enables the presentation of complex relationships in a clear way and by doing so unlocking a much broader part of the content to them. That will help speeding up the process of design iteration before the energy concept can be assessed in the successive phase of the design process

Climate Responsive Design and the Milam Residence

Energy conservation and efficiency is an essential area of focus in contemporary building design. The perception that the designers of buildings during the Modernist period of architecture ignored these principles is a false one. The present study, an examination of Paul Rudolph’s Milam Residence, a masterpiece of American residential architecture, is part of a larger project endeavoring to create a knowledge base of the environmental performance of iconic modernist homes. A critical examination of the Milam House allows insight into specific design characteristics that impact energy efficiency and conservation. Located in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, the Milam Residence was constructed in 1962. It was the last of a series of Florida residences designed by Rudolph, Chairman of the Department of Architecture at Yale University (1958–1965). The structure’s form is strongly related to its location on a subtropical beachfront. This paper presents a detailed analysis of the building’s solar responsiveness. Specifically, we examine design strategies such as orientation and sunscreening and their effect on daylighting, shading, and heat gain. The analysis is based on parametric energy modeling studies using Autodesk’s Ecotect, an environmental analysis tool that allows simulation of building performance. While the initial target of the program was early design, the program allows the input of complex geometries and detailed programming of zones, materials, schedules, etc. The program\u27s excellent analyses of desired parameters are augmented by visualizations that make it especially valuable in communicating results. Our findings suggest that the building, as built and situated on the site, does take advantage of daylighting and solar shading and does so in both expected and unexpected ways

Climate Responsive Design Simulation and Modelling for Industrial Heritage

The control of solar radiation is a basic dimension of modern design in all different types of constructions. Many architects have recently observed that different phases of sustainable design require a set of calculations and simulations that are necessary as a new standard design.'e valuable contributions to the process of sustainable design has a common denominator: solar radiation and comfort. In this way, motivated by all these new strategies and concepts, the large number of papers published suggests that the work has not been finished. 'is work provides an illustration of the Atarazanas regarding its climate responsiveness, focusing specifically on daylighting, shading, heat gain, and cooling loads. 'e objective is to assess the design of the Reales Atarazanas de Sevilla (Seville Royal Dockyards) to quantify how it is impacted by solar insolation and to provide insights about design characteristics that influence efficiency and conservation

Learning from vernacular buildings : climate responsive design strategies in Yangzi River Delta, China

textVernacular buildings are famous for their climate and site responsive design strategies. In this modern world with highly developed scientific knowledge, we already own a clear understanding of building physics and energy efficient design strategies. There are already lots of generalized observations on vernacular buildings' climate responsive design strategies. However, detailed and reliable measurements and researches on one particular vernacular building really lack, especially vernacular buildings in developing countries. Hui Style Building is a specific building type in the Southeastern China with more than 1000 years' history. This paper focuses on analyzing its design strategies and all the parameters which influence its energy performance and tries to answer this question: what kind of design strategies derived from vernacular buildings in southeastern China, can be used in modern buildings, to promote climate responsive design? A typical residential vernacular house in Xinye Village, Zhejiang, China is chosen as the target house. A three-days field study was conducted to measure this building's microclimate by hobo logger. Professor Yuyu Zhang provided detailed drawings of this house for further analysis. With all those information collected, passive design strategies used in this building were simulated and analyzed by ClimateTool and EnergyPlus. The finding of my research is a thorough report of a typical Hui Style Building. Suggestions of how to combine ancient wisdom with modern building techniques to meet modern living standards were given. The purpose of this thesis is to give contemporary architects guidance and some inspirations for climate responsive design with cultural roots in southeastern China.Architectur

An investigation on climate responsive design strategies of vernacular housing in Vietnam

peer reviewedaudience: researcher, professional, studentEnergy conservation issues and environmental problems in recent years have increased interest in traditional architecture which is well known for its energy saving designs. This paper thoroughly investigates vernacular housing designs and evaluates on the aspect of building physics. A new research methodology which is adapted to the natural and social context of Vietnam was proposed and applied. The process was carried out step by step, including: climate zoning, systematic analysis, in-situ survey and building simulations. The results of this study indicate that vernacular housing in Vietnam is creatively adapted to the local natural conditions and uses various climate responsive strategies. Through this study, the most frequently used strategies and their effectiveness were derived. The authors also found that under extreme weather conditions, traditional designs might not be sufficient to maintain indoor thermal comfort

Landscape Architectural Design as Scientific Inquiry?

This presentation discusses ‘landscape architectural design as scientific inquiry’ and exemplifies this with the description of a design process within climate-responsive design leading to new design knowledge. ‘Research and design’ are issues that need increasing attention within landscape architecture academia. Substantial contributions on ‘research’ and ‘design’ exist within architectural theory [1,2,3,4]. However, within landscape architecture, there are only few publications on this topic. In those publications, either the definition of ‘research’ was not clearly stated [5] or from the onset, design was not considered to be research “by definition” [6]. This is in contrast to several assertions within architectural theory where design is considered as scientific research. So the question remains: can landscape architectural design also be scientific research? Here, it is stated that design can be scientific research when the design method is similar to a ‘scientific’ method and the aim of the design process is the generation of new knowledge. This requires that research questions are clearly formulated and a systematic, transparent and reliable method of looking for answers is guaranteed. Since there are various ways of conducting scientific research, consequently some ways of ‘design as scientific research’ can be thought of. For instance, ‘design as scientific inquiry’ can mean that design is done similar to action research- as a communicative process from which new knowledge can be gained [7]. But it can also mean that design processes are conducted similar to the methods in the classical empirical sciences. In this presentation, the focus will be on this latter method. In the empirical sciences, normally the research process consists of formulating hypotheses, testing these hypotheses in experiments and generating new knowledge from that. To guarantee reliability, the results are controlled through peer- review. When design is considered an inquiry similar to empirical sciences, possible design solutions are treated as hypotheses and then tested. Zeisel and other authors [8,9,10] proposed this earlier, but they were not clear about the ways design can be tested. Yet, the reliability of testing design is crucial for ‘design as scientific inquiry’. Actually, nowadays modern computer simulation methods offer new avenues for testing designs. With such simulations, the expected effect of design can be tested for many different issues and they can be used within a ‘design as scientific inquiry’ to generate new knowledge. Design processes to generate new knowledge that use these techniques are also widely found within engineering research and development. In this presentation, a similar ‘design as scientific inquiry’ process will be illustrated by an example- a process of climate responsive design to generate new design guidelines for microclimate responsive design of urban squares. This process consisted of generating various design alternatives- or hypotheses- that were expected to be a potential design guideline. These design alternatives were fit for mid-sized urban squares within a Northwest-European maritime climate context. They were all assumed to improve microclimate in the problematic situations: too windy spring and autumn and very hot summer circumstances. The design alternatives were composed of different configurations of vegetation and other elements like pergolas or wind screens that were expected to bring about microclimate improvement. These alternatives are tested with microclimate simulations and the alternative that shows the best effects can be considered as new design knowledge. This design process which had great similarity with scientific research processes can be considered an example for ‘landscape architectural design as scientific research’. [1] Lang. J. 1987. Creating architectural theory, Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York [2] Cross, N. 2007. Designerly ways of knowing, Springer, London [3] Laurel, Brenda, ed., 2003, Design Research: Methods and Perspectives. Cambridge: MIT Press [4] de Jong, T.M. and Van der Voordt, D.J.M., 2002, Ways to study and research urban, architectural and technical design, Delft University Press, Delft [5] Milburn, L.S. Brown, Mulley, S.J., Hilts, Steward G., 2003, Assessing academic contributions in landscape architecture, Landscape and Urban Planning 64: 119-129 [6] Milburn, L.S. and Brown, R.D. 2003, The relationship between research and design in landscape architecture, Landscape and Urban Planning 64: 47-66 [7] De Jonge, J.M. (2009) Landscape Architecture between Politics and Science. PhD dissertation, Wageningen University. Blauwdruk, Wageningen [8 ] Zeisel, J. 2006, Inquiry by design (revised edition) W.W. Norton & Company, New York [9] Cross, N., Naughton, J., Walker, D. 1981. Design method and scientific method, Design Studies vol 2 no. 4 pp. 195-201 [10] de Jong, T.M and van der Voordt, D.J.M. 2002 Criteria for scientific study and design, in: de Jong, T.M. and Van der Voordt, D.J.M. (eds.), Ways to study and research urban, architectural and technical design, Delft University Press, Delft, p. 19-3

Climate-responsive design for non-domestic buildings in warm climates : optimisation of thermal mass for indoor cooling

The present investigation focuses on the study of the thermal inertia of buildings examining the extent to which the envelope and internal components can moderate their internal climate. Especial emphasis is given to the analysis of thermal mass effects in conditions of overheating in buildings with predominantly day-time occupancy schedules such as offices and mixed use buildings. The thesis comprises three parts. The first part discusses the principles and definitions of thermal inertia identifying a number of aspects which are relevant to the thermal performance of buildings. A review of the physical principles and parameters for quantification of heat storage in building elements is also included. The second part presents the results obtained from a series of field experiments carried out in six buildings in different locations to observe the thermal reaction on their internal spaces according to the particular thermal mass characteristics of each case. The third part is devoted to the analytic work by means of parametric studies and by comparing the field experiments findings with computer simulation results and exploring additional aspects of thermal mass effects. The analytic studies included the application of the diurnal heat capacity method for the calculation of internal temperature swings obtaining results in close agreement with both SERI-RES simulations and field measurements. A calculation worksheet is proposed to facilitate the internal swing calculations. Finally, the conclusions obtained from the results were used to define a series design measures aimed at the improvement of indoor thermal conditions by the optimisation of the effect of thermal mass of buildings in warm environments

Urban Design for Climate Neutral Neighbourhood The case of Brøset

Various gaps between science and practice have to be overcome to adapt the city to climate issues. There are various ways to bridge these ‘utility gaps’. One of them has proven to be specifically promising as a tool: using concrete climate- responsive design and planning proposals that are based on climate science insights. There is a need for specific guidance on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and assessment methods for climate neutral urban development. In this presentation we explore the integrated process with developers / design teams for the case of Brøset, Norway. By explaining the master plans development we show how it allowed citizens participation and raised their awareness on the Climate Neutrality Challenge. The presentation draws some learned lessons and highlights the urgency of building a consensus for project acceptance in the future.The main aim of this presentation is to show the value of designs to raise awareness and to eventually achieve implementation of climate responsive design

Integrating climate adaptation and biodiversity conservation in the global ocean

The impacts of climate change and the socioecological challenges they present are ubiquitous and increasingly severe. Practical efforts to operationalize climate-responsive design and management in the global network of marine protected areas (MPAs) are required to ensure long-term effectiveness for safeguarding marine biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, we review progress in integrating climate change adaptation into MPA design and management and provide eight recommendations to expedite this process. Climate-smart management objectives should become the default for all protected areas, and made into an explicit international policy target. Furthermore, incentives to use more dynamic management tools would increase the climate change responsiveness of the MPA network as a whole. Given ongoing negotiations on international conservation targets, now is the ideal time to proactively reform management of the global seascape for the dynamic climate-biodiversity reality