This document discusses the need for sustainable and climate-adaptive residential design through biophilic principles. Global warming and environmental issues require buildings to be more energy efficient and use passive strategies. Traditional Philippine architecture effectively achieved comfort and low energy use. The proposed design incorporates passive techniques like natural ventilation, evaporative cooling, and solar heating to adapt to the local climate and minimize energy consumption. Simulations were performed to analyze the building's energy performance.
This document discusses the need for sustainable and climate-adaptive residential design through biophilic principles. Global warming and environmental issues require buildings to be more energy efficient and use passive strategies. Traditional Philippine architecture effectively achieved comfort and low energy use. The proposed design incorporates passive techniques like natural ventilation, evaporative cooling, and solar heating to adapt to the local climate and minimize energy consumption. Simulations were performed to analyze the building's energy performance.
This document discusses the need for sustainable and climate-adaptive residential design through biophilic principles. Global warming and environmental issues require buildings to be more energy efficient and use passive strategies. Traditional Philippine architecture effectively achieved comfort and low energy use. The proposed design incorporates passive techniques like natural ventilation, evaporative cooling, and solar heating to adapt to the local climate and minimize energy consumption. Simulations were performed to analyze the building's energy performance.
SUSTAINABLE BUILT ENVIRONMENT-BIOPHILIC RESIDENTIAL
DESIGN: EMBODYING CLIMATE-ADAPTIVE ARCHITECTURE
Caryll Bern Buenaluz 2116116, Eugene Ryan Badere 2110759, Mary Claire Therese Mendoza 2116156, Oriel Baloran 2116362 Undergraduates, B.S Architecture 5, School of Engineering and Architecture, Saint Louis University, Baguio City, Benguet, Philippines
Keywords: green building, energy efficiency, biophilic, passive and active strategies, climate- adaptive architecture, renewable resources, sense-of-place
RATIONALE
Global warming has been the most critical issue of today's generation, sea-level rise, excessive energy consumption, popular dependency on fossil fuels and devastation of our natural resources have been a challenge and accounted as the major problems around the world. Researches shows significant environmental and financial benefits on sustainable building designs: several studies concluded 15 to 20 % return of investment based on energy efficiency, up to 50% sickness reduction, reduced greenhouse emissions, 10% productivity can be brought by green buildings. Thus, mitigating the adverse effect of modernization and global change would bring impacts on energy consumption, human satisfaction and environmental awareness towards socio-economic development.
How are we going to address the current situation of today's society? What are we supposed to do as designers? Sustainability has been overrated for decades, adaptation from other countries' design (faulty development models developed in the west) do not apply in some situations. But, what we really need is to look back on what we once had when everything is just simple. Tracing the history, our ancestors had their own way on how to plan and design their habitats; it's very basic and traditional but so far has been proven to be effective and sustainable. Once upon a time there were no air conditioners, no other developments that affected the energy dependency of buildings, no sick buildings and the buildings doesn't emit excessive carbons. Problem is-some designers of today keeps on repeating the mistakes that may lead us to the current scenario. Reflection shows that we have marginalized what was once ours, energy efficiency, passive techniques, effective use of our natural resources and climate-adaptive design strategies. According to Alexander Tzonis, "One of the fundamental principles is to design buildings 'low- tech', where passive strategies are employed before active ones. Traditional buildings are great source as they frequently achieve "more with less", high comfort for building occupants, good indoor quality combined with low energy requirements.
The primary goal to an environmentally sensitive design is to reconnect with nature in such a way that we are upgrading our culture without compromising with the natural world. Sustainability features would basically approach environmental concerns such as flood, climate change, drastic energy consumption, fossil fuel dependency, solar radiation, urban heat island effect, vermin, greenhouse effect and high carbon footprints. It is always the building that would adapt to the environment and not the environment that would ever adapt to the man-made change. The possibility of developing zero-energy buildings in today's world brought significant change in the chronicles of architecture and engineering. On-house generation of renewable energy through solar and wind energy generators or biomass reduced environmental impact on buildings.
A. Low Tech Passive Design B. Building Envelope C. Energy Efficient Strategies D. Climate-Adaptability E. Renewable Building Materials F. Healthy Home
Organizational Analysis
The northeastern profile shows the building faade as well as the right side which is adjacent to the main road. This part features the wind wall which directs the filtered prevailing wind into the interior. The inclined building component is a set of windows where the air would enter. The pool on the ground serves 2 purposes: one is for evaporative cooling and the other one is for indirect lighting. The house is in stilts to minimize the ground excavations and the construction. This is also for flooding, vermin infestations and earthquake impacts. The stilts features lead rubber base isolation for seismic loads. The floor may be raised in case of high flood level and has the capacity to float. It is made composed of distinct building components based on organic floating device behaviours (banana stem, bamboo, light wood) when exposed to water. The southwestern profile of the building features evaporative cooling boasted by the pool area, the aljibe for solar water heating and rain water collector, the double wall system of the west walls, the vertical garden, ivy wall which serves as radiant barrier against the solar sun, the light shelf which reflects light towards the interior (kitchen and dining) through the service porch.
CLIMATIC DATA
The following images are taken from simulation software named Climate Consultant 5.5 powered by Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy of US Department of Energy. They have developed software that would be a powerful tool for energy analysis and thermal load simulation program. Based on a user's description of a building from the perspective of the building's physical make-up and associated mechanical and other systems, EnergyPlus calculates heating and cooling loads necessary to maintain thermal control setpoints, conditions throughout a secondary HVAC system and coil loads, and the energy consumption of primary plant equipment. Simultaneous integration of theseand many otherdetails verify that the EnergyPlus simulation performs as would the real building.