Building Better (Asynchronous Session)
Post-occupancy Evaluation of Thermal Comfort and User-satisfaction in a Green Office Building View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Shraddha Jadhav
We are entering a new age in the built environment where we expect our buildings to deliver far more than just a place to work or live. It is widely believed that sustainable building design strategies create improved occupant comfort & satisfaction with respect to thermal comfort and indoor environmental quality. Yet this belief remains a hypothesis with little empirical support. IT buildings cater to more than 3000 users at a time. Nowadays people spend 90% of the time inside offices. The aim of this thesis is to evaluate whether green IT buildings provide the required comfort level as assumed at the design stage. Building occupants are a rich source of information for evaluating their comfort level in the building and to find out the solutions for their discomfort. This can be achieved by carrying out Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) after the building has been occupied for a year or two. A POE technique consists of qualitative and quantitative methods. POE was carried out in a LEED-India (EBOM) Platinum rated IT building in Pune. The core questions access occupant satisfaction with thermal comfort in the work area and measures adopted for making it comfortable were identified. The MRT of the same samples was taken to compare the quantitative and qualitative results. The survey is used to evaluate the occupant thermal comfort in a green office building and identify areas needing improvement. The survey has been refined and modified and reference is taken from ASHRAE standard 55-2010 & ISHRAE 10001:2017 IEQ.
Designing an Adaptable Building Envelope Using Electrochromic Glasses View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Reza Foroughi
The use of transparent envelopes in commercial buildings is growing quickly since these envelopes provide free plans inside the building, easy and fast installation, durability, better building aesthetics, and access to outdoor view. The main challenge associated with this type of building envelope is how to control light rays, whether intercepting them or allowing them to enter. Electrochromic glass (i.e., an electronically tint-able glass) is a proper solution for this problem since its light transmission properties alter when voltage, light, or heat is applied. In this way, electrochromic glass provides occupant comfort and maximizes access to daylight and outdoor views. The glass’ operation can be directly controlled by the building occupants, but the main concern is how to optimize the operation of electrochromic glass to minimize building energy consumption. In other words, the critical challenge is to integrate the operation of electrochromic glass to building energy systems and outdoor conditions. In this study, a simulation-based energy optimization model is developed to identify the optimum tinting area of the electrochromic glass based on the indoor and outdoor conditions of the building. To achieve this, an optimization code will be developed and coupled with the DesignBuilder energy simulation software (i.e., a graphical interface for EnergyPlus software). By applying the proposed model, the operation of electrochromic glass will be optimized, and a significant amount of energy will be saved. The amount of energy saved will be calculated for a small commercial building to prove the validity of the proposed model.
Advanced Modular Housing Design: Solution to a Sustainable Environment and Community View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maryam Kouhirostami, Charles J. Kibert, Mahya Sam
This research will result in the design of a home that is hyper-efficient and energy self-sufficient and that is able to cope with future severe weather events while also providing basic services needed for families during post-disaster recovery. We refer to this research as Advanced Modular Housing Design (AMHD). AMHD research addresses the design of housing that can be rapidly built in factories, that can cope with future major events, and that can become a major community asset. The natural disasters that we will consider in guiding the identification of technologies required for the AMHD include hurricane force winds, flooding, and storm surges. The attributes required for AMHD post-disaster housing include high structural strength, high levels of energy efficiency, energy self-sufficiency, and deconstructability. The study considers novel, high strength materials that are compatible with and enhance rapid modular housing manufacturing. It envisions housing that has built-in renewable energy systems and energy and storage to enhance post-disaster living conditions. This research addresses the enormous challenge of greatly improving community resilience and rapidly rebuilding communities that have been badly damaged and perhaps even destroyed by major storms. In summary, we propose a way addressing the problem of how to rapidly provide large quantities of post-disaster housing is advanced technologies and process improvements that support the design and manufacturing of resilient, sustainable, and affordable post disaster housing to not just save the community, but save the earth.
Impact of Constructed Environment on Greenhouse Gas: Education and Training for Workers
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Toh Felix Alusombom
The increased concentration of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the atmosphere has culminated in the warming of the planet of the globe. The built environment makes a significant contribution to the climate change problem through the emission of GHGs emanating from the materials employed in construction (embodied emissions) and operational emissions resulting from the operation of the constructed building. Outside emission of GHGs, the constructed or built environment is vulnerable to the impact of climate change and consequently, needs to be resilient to the impacts of climate change. However, for the constructed environment to contribute towards a low carbon and climate-resilient pathway, there is need for innovation in the sector. This study assessed the capacity needs of workers in the built environment in the United Arab Emirates. The study employed a regional consultation workshop with construction workers in each of the seven Emirates – summing to a total of seven regional workshops and one national workshop (involving construction workers) to consolidate and validate the findings from the regional workshops. From the national workshop, a total of 10 areas for capacity building emerged and these areas were prioritized using the Analytical Hierarchy Approach (AHP) using inputs from participants of the national workshop. The 10 identified areas for capacity building were employed for the development of a capacity building plan for capacitating workers in the sector to integrate or mainstream climate change into their construction activities.
Contextual Factors in Green Building Rating View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Osama E. Mansour, Omar O. Elrawy
Does context matter for green building rating? To answer the question, this research aims to identify the local environmental and experiential factors that ultimately affect the performance of a green-rated building in a context different from the origin of the rating system. A case study approach was conducted during the design, construction, and certification of a LEED Gold building in a newly urbanized area attached to Cairo, Egypt. Three sets of information were examined with regards to the context; the basis of design parameters, the measured performance recorded by the building management system, and the Post Occupancy Evaluation outcomes. It has been found that LEED green rating enhanced the quality and environmental performance of the new construction, however, this article suggests that LEED and other global green building rating systems should address other contextual factors to enhance the performance of future green-rated buildings. The study shows a novel perspective on the contextual factors that could enhance green building rating with regards to the local social and cultural context.
