Ventilative cooling potential based on climatic condition and building thermal characteristics

We introduce a new method for defining ventilative cooling potential (VCP) for office buildings that depends not only on the climatic conditions but also on building thermal characteristics. The energy savings from ventilative cooling differs from building to building; therefore, VCP should be able to represent the actual energy savings—though not perfectly—in order to guide optimization of ventilative cooling parameters during the initial design stage.

Designing for performance: a case study in the applied science of an environmentally responsive high-rise design

This paper explores the developing process and resulting features of an ultra high performance tower designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill through a multidisciplinary approach to building simulation and analysis. The 309 meter tall office tower for a new development in the Pearl River Delta region of Southern China, is an exemplar of the marriage of technical sophistication with a graceful form, featuring integrated renewable energy strategies and an active double skin facade coupled with a low energy building conditioning system.

Natural ventilation and design of buildings

The integration of ventilation strategies into building design is the responsability of the architect that will consult design offices for a right quantification of those strategies. A clear distinction must be made between ventilation for hygienic purpose and ventilation for cooling. The natural ventilation strategy will be different according to the different types of buildings (houses, flats, schools or offices)

Indoor conditions in ultralightweight structures : a case study

Steel truss structures, covered with a PVC thin sheet of matt light colour, were used in recent time for the construction of three new classrooms in the University of Catania (southern Italy). Although the construction was fast and cheap, the classrooms proved to be uncomfortable in relation to thermal and luminous environment. A first analysis revealed that the drawbacks were caused by the ultra-lightweight of the structure as a whole, resulting in thermal discomfort.

Ventilation in a Mosque - an Additional Purpose the Minarets May Serve

A minaret of a mosque, traditionally used as a high platform to deliver adhan (the call forprayer), has greatly lost its functional significance with the invention of loudspeakers. Despiteof being a functionally redundant element, people still like to erect a minaret as a traditionalsymbol, identity and beauty of a mosque.

Automatically generated zonal models for building air flow simulation: principles and applications

Starting from models library, a zonal model of an entire building can be constructed by assembling the appropriate modules. A model-generating tool called GenSPARK makes the process automatic. This paper describes how that tool works and give examples of configurations that can be analyzed.

Nondimensional methods for natural ventilation design

That paper deals with the use of nondimensioanl graphs for designing the envelopes of naturally ventilated buildings. The graphs can be generated from theoretical models or from experimental data via a direct measurment of ventilation rates in a wind tunnel model.
Examples of graphs are given: they cover conventional design conditions and off-design conditions.

Integral building and energy design of an office building - Comparison of initial design ideas with monitored results.

Within the program "Solar Optimized Buildings" which is funded by the German Ministry of Economy (BMWi), a building for the DB Netz AG has been realized and monitored. The design concept of the building is dominated by architectural solutions for ventilation, cooling and lighting of the office rooms. Due to the change of responsibilities during the design and building process, the targeted primary energy consumption of 100 kWh/m 2 y has been exceeded so far. The reasons lie primarily in the inadequate operation of the technical systems for heating, ventilation and artificial lighting.

A synergy-facade in a paslink test cell

This paper describes a modular facade system, which supplies the room behind with the necessary amounts of heat, light and fresh air. Aims of the development of this facade were both to achieve a high degree of comfort for the users and to save energy in comparison to a conventional facade. The experimental investigations to assess and to optimize the facade system were performed in a PASLINK test cell. These test cells allow measurements of the thermal and solar performance of facade elements in original dimensions and under natural climate conditions.

A distant learning training module on energy efficient integrated building design in urban environment

The present paper aims to present a distant learning educational module that concerns the energy efficient integrated building design in the urban environment. The educational material of the module includes a handbook, computerized tools, examples of urban buildings, libraries on energy efficient products and materials and climatic documentation of climatic data measured in various European urban areas.

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