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The windcatchers of Yazd
Get PDFWindcatchers are built on the roofs of houses of hot areas
of the Middle East to ameliorate the internal summer
climate. The archaeological and historical record shows them
to have been used since antiquity, and although they are
still widely found in the region today, and regularly
mentioned in the modern works on architecture o-f the region,
no detailed study of their types or operation has been
published. Rather architects refer continually to an
accepted stereotype of their form and performance on which
modern architects have to rely as a design model.
This study makes an original contribution to the
published record. In it the badgirs, or windcatchers of a
single region, Yazd, on the Persian plateau, are described;
and the distribution o-f their types in the villages of the
area, and city of Yazd are reviewed in relation to the
climatic and historical influences on their design and use.
The functions o-F badgirs in the houses of Yazd, as airconditioners
and ventilators, are investigated. General
temperature limits o-F their summer performance in the
context of the life-style of the Yazdi, are established and
reviewed in relation to comfort and the physiology of the
human body and the climatic results used to interpret the
distribution of windcatchers types in the wider area of the
Middle East.
The research provides a unique historical record of the
badgirs of Yazd, illuminates the complexity of the climatic
and historical influences in their distribution, and,
through analysis of their performance, provides a general
climatic guide that may assist contemporary designers
wishing to incorporate windcatchers in modern houses in hot
areas
All you need to know about the indoor environment, its occupants, interactions and effects
No full textResearch has shown that, even though the conditions seem to comply with current standards for indoor environmental quality (IEQ), staying indoors is not good for our health. We are confronted with diseases and disorders related to IEQ such as mental illnesses, obesity and illnesses that take longer to manifest, among which cardiovascular and chronic respiratory diseases and cancer, and very recently, COVID-19, caused by mainly airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 indoors. Except for these health effects, the consequences for indoor environment of climate change, the effects of the retrofitting measures we take to reduce energy consumption on health and comfort indoors, is also an emerging concern. IEQ is still described with quantitative dose-related indicators, expressed in number and/or ranges of numbers for each of the factors (indoor air, lighting, acoustics and thermal aspects). Building and occupant-related indicators are overlooked. Interactions of stressors and effects at and between human and environment level are ignored. Individual differences in needs and preferences of occupants (over time) are not accounted for. Resilient new ways of creating and maintaining healthy and comfortable indoor spaces for different occupants in different situations, require better understanding of the indoor environment, its occupants, interactions, and effects.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Indoor Environmen
Renewed Trombe wall passively reduces energy consumption
No full textIn order to reduce the energy demand of households, a new type of Trombe wall is being designed during a ‘research through design project’ called ‘Double Face 2.0’. A Trombe wall is a passive system that reduces the energy demand of a building. In winter, it captures the heat from the sun during the day and releases this heat into the building at night. In summer, it captures the heat from internal sources during the day and releases that heat at night towards outdoors. First simulations showed that our prototype of a lightweight, translucent, adjustable Trombe wall reduces the energy demand for heating of a typical Dutch household by 25-30%. Instead of stone-like materials, the new type of Trombe wall will consist of translucent materials: phase change material (pcm) and insulating aerogel. The insulation gives the opportunity to direct the thermal mass of the pcm. In this way, the system is adjustable for cooling and heating purposes. A selection of the design concepts is described in this paper, explaining the design choices and method of validation. Depending on the level of detail, different simulation software has been used. This paper describes the comparison and the experiences of using it.Accepted Author ManuscriptBuilding PhysicsDesign Informatic
Indoor environmental quality, energy effciency and thermal comfort in the retroftting of housing: A literature review
No full textBuilding retrofitted to be resilient in the face of future climates may present risks for the health and comfort of the occupants, due to the indoor environmental quality changes involved under current building practices. This chapter is a literature review of recent peer-reviewed papers from a variety of fields identifying such potential hazards. Three topics are investigated: building envelope, HVAC systems and occupants. In terms of the building envelope, resilient buildings currently lead to more airtightness and thermal insulation, which can create humidity problems, accumulation of air pollutants or overheating. HVAC systems, however efficient, can jeopardize the indoor environmental quality, through ducts, filters, noise and maintenance. Respiratory system, eyes and skin conditions can arise with certain retrofitting measures. Moreover, such measures do not necessarily lead to energy savings, partly due to the occupants and their behaviours and partly due to the technologies and their feedback. Human factors should be combined into the development of retrofitting technologies. Thus, interdisciplinarity is needed to develop resilient buildings that will be energy-efficient and also healthy and comfortable for their occupants and the technologies need to be researched as interdependent components to be synthesized in their performance to result in a single enhanced goal.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Indoor Environmen
Solar Cooling Integrated Façades: Towards investigating product applicability
No full textThe application of façade products integrating solar cooling technologies tends to be one of the promising options to be considered for challenges related to the increase in global demand for cooling in the built environment. Accordingly, the technological innovation of such products represent an essential task to be taken into account for meeting the future cooling demand in buildings. However, selecting the right technology and tackling technical and product-related aspects in the context of solar cooling can be challenging, since each technology is different from one another in terms of their working principles. Furthermore, developing such building products can be a complex endeavour, due to the involvement of various components. This paper aims to propose a conceptual approach for designing and developing façade products integrating solar cooling technologies. Proposing this approach required establishing a matrix of key attributes and criteria affecting technological selection through referring to identified key perceived enabling factors by expert interviews in an earlier stage of the study. The outcomes of this study outlined various attributes, such as product performance and efficiency as well as compactness and space usability, that can be used in product development of solar thermally and electrically driven systems, in order to ensure to support the widespread application.Architectural Technolog
How airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 confirmed the need for new ways of proper ventilation
No full textSince the first outbreaks of COVID-19, research has focused on how to minimize SARS-CoV-2 transmission indoors. SARS-CoV-2 has three identified transmission routes: (1) direct transmission of virus-carrying droplets between people in close proximity, by coughing, sneezing or talking; (2) indirect transmission via deposited, or transmitted, infectious droplets via surfaces; (3) airborne transmission through virus-carrying, small, airborne droplets, also called aerosols, emanating from infected individuals. To reduce direct transmission from large infectious droplets, physical distancing of individuals is promoted, and for indirect transmissions, the cleaning of surfaces, washing of hands and sneezing/coughing in the elbow are advocated. For people who need or tend to come close to (possibly) infected persons, personal protective equipment is used, including facemasks and gloves. For airborne transmission, the use of ‘proper’ ventilation measures has been recommended to decrease the risk. In this chapter, the background of airborne transmission research is outlined and measures to reduce transmission are discussed. It is concluded that to provide pathogen safe, and comfortable, buildings in the future, we are in urgent need of both a better understanding of how pathogens spread within buildings, and reliable and resilient new ways of ventilating indoor spaces that are flexible, affordable, efficient and effective.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Indoor Environmen
Buiksloterham Integrated Energy Systems
No full textThe traditional way of supplying energy to the built environment is no longer suitable: New buildings with high energy performance and decentralised renewable energy generation, together with the desire to become fossil-free, involve the need for new, more flexible and more integrated energy systems. The district of Buiksloterham was a test case to develop feasible and potentially desirable energy supply scenarios for the built environment at district level. It is not possible to develop Buiksloterham, and similar areas with high density, into an energy neutral area within the current legal framework (without wind energy it is not possible). About 1/3 of the energy use in buildings (building-related and user-related) can be supplied by renewable energy. In Buiksloterham a low temperature supply of heat is essential for a maximised use of renewable input. A fourth, low temperature, energy concept, consisting of local heat generation from solar and waste, thermal storage, and heat pumps, seems the best integrated energy system. The non-technical lesson learned is that new energy-efficient energy systems require very good, early planning, appointments, and cost and support of existing energy suppliers. Extracting a CO₂ neutral society by 2050 also depends on implementation aspects i.e. not only CO₂ and costs but also circularity parameters such as the use of resources for equipment, water, biodiversity, health, adaptability and resilience must be considered.Building ServicesBuilding Physic
Can thermal perception in a building be predicted by the perceived spatial openness of a building in a hot and humid climate?
No full textThe authors wanted to prove that there is a large correlation between the concepts spatial openness and comfort (visual, wind speed and thermal) perception in people’s minds in a hot and humid climate in summer in order to be able to use spatial configuration parameters such as openness, connectivity and depth as a design tool for a comfortable an energy efficient building in the early design stages. 513 local Chinese college architecture students in 2015 were questioned about the relationship between spatial openness and comfort perception. The main findings for a hot and humid climate are: a. spatial openness of a particular space significantly effects occupants’ visual perception, wind speed perception and thermal perception in a particular space (p < .05). b. There is a strong effect size between spatial openness and visual and wind perception (w = .50 and .54); the effect size of the thermal perception is weaker (w = .14). c. The comfort perception is strongly influenced by the time of day, therefore visual perception, wind perception and thermal perception can influence occupant movement between different spaces as is the advice of the adaptive thermal comfort.Building PhysicsArchitectural Engineering +Technolog
The Societal Impact Methodology - Connecting Citizens, Sustainability, Awareness, Technological Innovations & Co-creative City Visions.
No full textSustainability needs professionals and methodologies that can bring the architecturally qualitativeand scientifically quantitative together to reveal the latent potential of our cities and people. These expertsmust have the necessary communication skills, personalities and backgrounds to firmly place city stakeholdersat the heart of this local and global challenge. This approach, developed during the City-zen Project ‘Roadshow’(a European Union FP7 funded initiative to develop and demonstrate Zero Energy Cities), began life as apowerful but over simplistic idea. It has since developed into a realizable, mobile, intense, creative, amenableand proven approach that supports cities in their efforts toward carbon descent. The methodology continuesto evolve ‘city-by-city‘ by embracing diverse climates, cultures, economies, existing urban morphologies andbuilding typologies. It has been successfully applied in Amsterdam, Belfast, Izmir, Dubrovnik and Menorca.Upcoming destinations will be Sevilla (Spain), Roeselare (Belgium) and Klaipeda (Lithuania). A team ofinternationally recognized experts in sustainable urbanism & architecture, carbon accounting, energy potentialmapping and advanced technologies travel with the City-zen Roadshow to facilitate this approach. This paperwill describe the Societal Impact Methodology with reference to previous outcomes, activities, experiencesand a detailed explanation of two mutually dependent and inspirational parallel workshops
Low cost, energy and impact ceramic cladding cooling system by means of evapotranspiration or ‘botijo-effect’.
Get PDFA new ceramic cladding system was first applied in the house prototype named "SOLARKIT”, representing the University of Seville in the international competition Solar Decathlon Europe 2010, where its effectiveness was registered by thermographs y and the monitoring of the building.
Therefore, as a result of this R+D+I experience derived from the search of a low energy and innovative cooling bioclimatic strategy, a new cladding system has been invented and patented.
Consequently, the patented invention relates to an external cladding system using tiles made from a porous-ceramic material or similar, named as a façade with “botijo-effect”. Thus, the system can be applied directly as a final cladding or used in external sheets of ventilated façades. Compared to traditional claddings, this system provides de possibility of cooling its surface by means of evapotranspiration generated by supplying water through a network of canaliculi inside the tiles.
An estimated superficial cooling power of over 80 W/m² can be considered, plus an 8 to 10ºC cooling effect on the air temperature
Its application is particularly interesting at locations with hot-dry climates where there is a high cooling energy demand or where is intended to mitigate the "heat island" effect in urban environments
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