Theories and Principles of Tropical Design

In Partial Fulfilment of Requirements

In Tropical Design 1

To be presented to

Ar./Enp. Geraldson Ray Ruloma Bernadino, uap,piep,mscm

Submited by

Salvador, Jhun Melo D.

Arch 2A

September 28,2021

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page…………………………………………………………………………….………. 1
Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………….……….2
List of Figures………………………………………………………………………….……...2
Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….…...3

Body / Content

Passive Cooling………………………………………………………………………………4
Pros and Cons of Passive Cooling………………………………………………………….5
Active Cooling…………………………………………………………………………………5
Pros and Cons of Actiive Cooling………………………………………………………...…6
Principles of Passive Design……………………………………………………………...…6
Passive Design Consideraions………………………………………………………………6
Air Movement………………………………………………………………………………….6
Principles of Air Flow…………………………………………………………………………7
Inducing Air Movement……………………………………………………………………….7
Thermal Comfort………………………………………………………………………………7
Sea and Land Breeze………………………………………………………………………..8

CONCLUSION & RECOMENDATION…………………………………………………….

REFERENCES……………………………………………………………………………….

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INTRODUCTION

Tropical architecture is a form of green construction that is specialized to

tropical regions and uses design to ideally decrease building energy consumption,
notably the cooling load. Tropical architecture is not a novel idea. Over many
decades, countries in the Asia-Pacific area have evolved vernacular designs to meet
their climatic demands.

Tropical architectural design concepts include regional evaluation, climatic

aspects, site selection, sol-air orientation, solar control on the environment and
building, forms, wind impacts, and air flow patterns, thermal effects of materials, and
heliothermic planning. The adoption of passive design concepts in the tropics results
in a building that is comfortable, energy efficient, and results in significant savings in
cooling and lighting operating expenses. The path of the sun changes gradually
between summer and winter. Tropical architecture is also a type of green building
because it is unique to tropical areas, leveraging design to best reduce building
energy consumption, particularly the cooling load. These architectural solutions allow
windows to remain open during the rainy season, allowing for natural ventilation in a
building. It can help with air circulation.

In reality, tropical architecture is all about ensuring thermal comfort through the
use of passive design components such as sunshades, hollow walls, light shelves,
overhangs, roof and wall insulation, and even sun shading from huge trees.

The goal of this report is to discover and describe tropical design concepts. Its
purpose is to assess the variables that must be considered when developing an
architectural design, specifically in the Philippines.

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BODY / CONTENT

Passive cooling

Passive cooling is a building design technique that focuses on heat gain

management and heat dispersion in a structure to increase interior thermal comfort
while consuming little or no energy. This method works by either preventing heat from
entering the building (heat gain prevention) or removing heat from the building (heat
removal) (natural cooling).
Natural cooling dissipates heat by utilizing on-site energy available from the
natural environment in conjunction with the architectural design of building
components rather than mechanical systems. [4] As a result, natural cooling is
dependent not only on the building's architectural design, but also on how the site's
natural resources are exploited as heat sinks (i.e. everything that absorbs or
dissipates heat). The higher atmosphere, outside air (wind), and earth/soil are
examples of on-site heat sinks.
Passive cooling is an essential technique for building design for climate change
adaptation, since it reduces reliance on energy-intensive air conditioning in warmer
climates.

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Pros and Cons of Passive Cooling

Using passive cooling means decreasing temperature differences between

interior and outdoor temperatures, increasing indoor air quality, and making the
building a better and more comfortable place to live or work. It can also help to
minimize energy consumption and environmental consequences such as greenhouse
gas emissions.The inability to directly regulate the temperature is a significant
drawback of the passive solar system. Because of the external conditions, the system
characteristics will either raise or lower the temperature. To create an efficient system,
you must design these systems based on the location of your building.

Active Cooling
Active cooling is a heat-reduction method used in electronic gadgets and
interior structures to ensure proper heat transmission and circulation from within.
Active cooling, unlike passive cooling, is totally dependent on energy expenditure to
function. To disperse heat, it employs a variety of mechanical mechanisms that use
energy. It is often used in systems that are unable to maintain their temperature
passively. Active cooling systems are often driven by electricity or thermal energy,
although certain systems can also be powered by solar or hydroelectric energy.

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Pros and Cons of Actiive Cooling

The benefits of passive cooling approaches include increased energy efficiency

and lower financial costs, making it an excellent system design choice for thermal
management of both buildings and electronic goods.
Passive cooling produces high levels of natural convection and heat dissipation by
maximizing the radiation and convection heat transfer modes with a heat spreader or
a heat sink. Natural resources, such as wind or soil, are employed in architecture
design as heat sinks to absorb or dissipate heat. Active cooling, on the other hand,
refers to cooling systems that use an external device to boost heat transfer. Active
cooling methods enhance the rate of fluid flow during convection, substantially
increasing the rate of heat removal.

Principles of Passive Design

Building location and orientation on the site; building layout; window design;
insulation (including window insulation); thermal mass; shading; and ventilation are
the essential aspects of passive design. Each of these components works in concert
with the others to create comfortable temperatures and acceptable indoor air quality.

Passive Design Consideraions

Orentation
Ventilation
Landscaping
Thermal Mass
Insulation
Windows
Natural Lighting

Air Movement
Wind is the movement of air caused by temperature or pressure variations. A
pressure gradient exists where there are pressure variations between two locations,
over which air moves: from the high pressure zone to the low pressure region. This air

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flow, however, does not take the shortest straight line path. Indeed, air traveling from
high to low pressure has a spiraling path, outwards from high pressure and inwards
towards low pressure. The rotation of the Earth underneath the flowing air creates an
apparent deflection of the wind to the right in the northern hemisphere and to the left
in the southern hemisphere.

Principles of Air Flow

Air, like water, is a fluid. It will also flow from one region to another due to
pressure differences. As a result, a bigger impeller blade angle results in a greater
pressure difference and, as a result, an increase in air flow.

Inducing Air Movement

Air movement through buildings is caused by a difference in pressure between the

inside and outside of the building, which can be caused by natural forces (wind-
induced pressure difference and stack effect, e.g. pressure difference caused by
temperature gradients between the inside and outside of the building) or mechanical
power (fan). Differences in pressure distribution around and inside the building cause
air flow patterns. Air flows from high pressure areas to low pressure areas.

Thermal Comfort

Thermal comfort is a state of mind that reflects contentment with the thermal
environment and is evaluated subjectively. Standard The human body may be thought
of as a heat engine, with food serving as the input energy. The human body will expel
surplus heat into the environment so that it may continue to function. The heat
transfer coefficient is related to the temperature differential. The body loses more heat
to the environment in cold conditions, and the body does not release enough heat in
hot environments. Both the hot and cold situations are uncomfortable. One of the
primary aims of HVAc design is to maintain this level of thermal comfort for building
occupants or other enclosures.

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Sea and Land Breeze

A sea breeze, also known as an onshore breeze, is any wind that blows from a large
body of water onto or onto a landmass; it forms as a result of variations in air pressure
caused by the different heat capacities of water and dry land. As a result, sea breezes
are more concentrated than prevailing winds. Because land heats up considerably
quicker than water when exposed to sunlight, a sea breeze is frequent along coasts
after daybreak.

A land breeze is a local wind pattern defined by a late-night movement from

land to water. Along beaches near big bodies of water, land winds alternate with sea
breezes. Both are caused by variations in the heating or cooling of the water surface
compared to the surrounding land surface. Because the cooling of the atmosphere
over land is restricted to a shallower layer at night than the heating of the air during
the day, the land breeze is generally shallower than the sea breeze.

CONCLUSION & RECOMENDATION

It is critical to explore further the cooling solution during the afternoon hours,
where the roof design may need to be revised and tested. The interior temperature
with regard to opening size changes revealed a lower indoor temperature with smaller
opening size throughout the day. This may go against the assumption that wider
openings are preferable for tropical areas. The most recent research demonstrates
that natural ventilation efficiency may be enhanced by modifying ventilation by

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lowering the size of an aperture in existing timber homes. As a result, more research
is needed to discover how to modify the fundamental design to increase thermal
performance in buildings in hot and humid tropical regions. Green architecture
research must assess local principles while also aiming for new tropical principles.
Green architectural design must also generate, justify, anticipate, and evaluate design
alternatives using scientific reasoning.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Passive_cooling.

Active Cooling - Wikipedia. (2021, September 1). Active cooling - Wikipedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Active_cooling.

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Sea Breeze - Wikipedia. (2006, October 24). Sea breeze - Wikipedia.

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