Simulation and Analysis
Sustainable design of academic Building
​The objective of the study is to understand and analyse the energy performance of the proposed building and suggest strategies and interventions to create a more energy efficient design for the building.
Site
As a part of the future masterplan for the university, the parking area In front of the arts tower is proposed to be converted into a plaza with a new 3 storey building housing café and teaching spaces for the students.
Project Brief -
•The building should not have more 3 floors (to prevent it from adversely affecting the listed Arts tower building.
•Minimum footprint on the site as to have a large area for Plaza and outdoor seating
•High level of visible access to plaza from the building
•The building should be energy efficient and should achieve the desired level of comfort for the users.
Summer
Winter
The site is analysed during various times of the day in different seasons to understand the amount of sunlight received at various locations on the site. This data is used to locate best location for building. Two options were developed and analysed
Solar Analysis
Option 1
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This location of cafe reduce the amount of solar gain on north east part of the site. But it doesn’t affect the major part of the plaza. It’s Roof receives high annual solar radiation (506 kWh/m2).
Option 2
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This location of cafe does not affect the radiation on the site. The amount of radiation received on the roof and facades is also around half (Around 200 kWh/m2) the radiation received for option 1
Both the building options have very less impact on the sites and the surrounding building facades, annual solar radiation gain. The first building is placed in location with relatively higher solar gain, which reduces the amount of available area on ground which can provide a comfortable environment for outdoor seating during winter. The option 2 is relatively cooler part of the site leaving majority of the area on the site with good solar access.
Energy Analysis
Optimizing the type of the materials had the most impact on the energy use. Improving wall construction and roof construction resulted in the largest EUI reduction of around 100 kWh/m2/year each. While the window glass material had the least impact on EUI.
The HVAC type did not have a major impact on the energy use, as compared to the observations from the massing model in Part 04 of the assignment.
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Design Recommendations -
-Reducing Window to wall ratio, by either decreasing the number of windows or reducing their dimensions can result in reduced energy used in the building.
-Adding trees on south and west can also be an alternative solution. It results in reduced heat gain through walls and glazing.
-While increasing shading did not affect the EUI, a better shading device with more width can be integrated in the facade to control the heat gain through the windows.
Shading Devices
Dynamic Thermal Performance Analysis
The final design proposal implemented various strategies like reduced WWR, changing set point temperature, improving materials of glazing and walls, and improving shading. It achieved a significant reduction in energy use for heating and cooling, of upto 60% each.
But, the overall annual energy use was reduced by just 4%, to reach a value of 75.97 kWh/m2. This was largely due to the reason that the energy use for lighting and room were still considerably high.
The CIBSE Benchmark of 113 kWh/m2 (for Lecture room Science was achieved in the final proposal.