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ENERGY INNOVATIONS IN BUILDINGS AND URBAN FABRICS
Title
ENERGY INNOVATIONS IN BUILDINGS AND URBAN FABRICS
Creator
Hirematt, Chandrasekharaiah Ashish
Date
2021
Description
In his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky...
Show moreIn his keynote speech on the "Infrastructures of Integration" at the 5th International LafargeHolcim Forum for Sustainable Construction, Ricky Burdett, Professor of Urban Studies at the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE), said “…you can actually invest in better infrastructure to do things better.” However, the population grows at the rate of almost one billion per decade. With about four fifths of it happening in urban areas, the challenge for sustainability is huge and the key for the future.Urban fabrics are expanding both vertically as well as horizontally to accommodate the population growth. With the scale of expansion happening, challenges such deforestation, resource depletion, habitat destruction, energy production and consumption are some of the major challenges that need to be focused on ecologically. It is also important to note that ecological solutions are very highly dependent on social and economic progress of the society. Energy efficient design is one which does zero or minimal damage to the environment while meeting the energy needs of the society. This thesis will discuss the concept of developing energy efficient designs as well as net zero designs in urban settings. With the help of three projects, this thesis aims to discover the challenges along with the obvious advantages of such designs. The first experiment is to look at the reduction of energy consumption in the city of Chicago with multiple neighborhoods set up in an iron grid. It was observed that taller buildings are much more energy efficient due to the reduction of surface area exposed to the external environment. This observation was used to develop a climate specific energy efficient urban fabric design in the city of Shenzhen. The design of the off-shore tower involves tackling larger issues such as the pandemic while having energy production as a bi-product of the same. Thus, the thesis argues that investment in infrastructure to build a better infrastructure should be done to solve social and economic challenges which will, in turn make it easier to produce energy efficient designs.
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THE SPATIAL BLOCK: NATURAL VENTILATION IN HOT AND DRY CLIMATES OF TURKEY
Title
THE SPATIAL BLOCK: NATURAL VENTILATION IN HOT AND DRY CLIMATES OF TURKEY
Creator
BAY, EZGI
Date
2020
Description
The housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI...
Show moreThe housing deficit is a global problem. In Turkey, solutions to remedy scarce, unaffordable, and low-grade housing are being proposed by TOKI, the governmental mass housing administration. Its residential projects based on ‘standard regulations’ and ‘high-rise typologies’ have been widely criticized. The ‘one size fits all’ approach is known for its limited exploration of contemporary needs of this society. Low quality urban and architectural conditions in TOKI projects are believed to marginalize the living standards of the residents. Sprawling rapidly throughout different regions around the country, a permanent complaint of TOKI residents is related to outdoor and indoor thermal conditions. As consequence of this ‘homogenization effect’, overheated and underheated conditions are experienced in these ‘naturally ventilated buildings’ designed with few considerations regarding the surrounding environment. Minimal research has been done on how TOKI towers perform under extreme seasonal conditions and what other building forms could be used in consonance with localized Turkish climates. Most TOKI projects have been developed for ‘hot and dry climates’ that also correspond to areas with larger urban growth from recent migrations. Through post-occupancy evaluations, this dissertation investigates a TOKI built in this climatic context. At the same time, this study brings new ‘typological’ alternatives analyzed through energy simulations and computer fluid dynamics (CFD). These methods are intended to bring clarity about the dynamic of thermal stress inside this project, and how renewable sources, such as prevailing winds, could be used to alleviate thermal related problems in consonance with ‘building forms’ derived from ‘vernacular architecture’ in this region.Inputs from residents illustrate the dynamics of thermal stress and reliance on natural ventilation in summer conditions. It is confirmed through results of the Predicted Percentage Dissatisfied (PPD) and the Air Changes per Hour (ACH) obtained from Simulations in the IES-VE software. The relationship between human thermal comfort and indoor microclimate in TOKI housing can be improved through the reformulation of its residential typologies. The ‘Spatial Block’ approach presented in this dissertation brings the idea of how urban and architectural decisions in addition to improving indoor climatic conditions and thermal satisfaction or residents, brings them improved social integration.
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