Asian archi final case study (Billah)
-
Upload
muatasimahbillah -
Category
Environment
-
view
151 -
download
1
Transcript of Asian archi final case study (Billah)
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 1
Asian Architecture [ARC 2213/2234]
CASE STUDY PAPER
The Effectiveness of Passive Design Strategies as Natural Cooling Devices in
Achieving Thermal Comfort at
PJ Trade Centre.
NAME: MUATASIMAH BILLAH BT. SALEH
STUDENT ID: 0316071
LECTURER: MS ALIA AHAMAD
SUBMISSION DATE: 28 JUNE 2016
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 2
Passive Design Strategies As Effective Natural Cooling Devices in Achieving
Thermal Comfort At PJ Trade Centre
Table of Contents Page
1.0 Abstract 2
2.0 Research Framework 3
3.0 Introduction 4-5
4.0 Design Intentions 6
5.0 Passive Design 7
5.1 Features of Passive Design 7
6.0 The Adaptation of Passive Design Strategies as Natural Cooling 8
Devices in PJ Trade Centre
6.1 Shading Device 8-9
6.2 Vegetation 10
6.2.1 The Plaza, Sky Terraces and Landscape 10-12
6.3 Concrete Vent Block 13-14
6.4 Natural Ventilation 15
6.4.1 Stack Effect System 16-17
6.5 Orientation 18
6.6 Materials 19
7.0 Conclusion 20
8.0 References 21-22
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 3
1.0 ABSTRACT
The purpose of this case study paper is to discuss on the passive design strategies used on PJ
Trade Centre and their effectiveness to the surrounding context. With the passive design being
featured to the building, it is concluded that these strategies function to ventilate the building with
high thermal comfort and sufficient air on the ventilated spaces for the wellbeing of the user, while
using little or no energy use for active cooling and ventilation. The main purpose of this paper is
to study the effective passive design strategies as natural cooling in achieving thermal comfort.
Literature reviews and research based on many sources regarding passive design strategies as
natural cooling were conducted to develop the research. This case study covers on the use of
concrete vent block as natural cooling, the ventilation techniques, the orientation of the building,
the material used and the vegetation on site. Thermal comfort is a significance aspect of a space
as it influences user’s comfort. Therefore it is important to design a building where users can fully
enjoy the space to its highest potential. It can be concluded that PJ Trade Centre uses effective
passive design that works efficiently as natural cooling strategy as it utilizes surrounding energy
sources rather than using electricity. Therefore, they are considered as a natural cooling device
that helps to provide thermal comfort. The building is designed in such way that is it surrounded
by greeneries and open space that helps allow ventilation to pass through the spaces and
enhance user’s comfort. It also uses concrete vent block as one the effective shading device that
allows air to flow in thus making the building naturally ventilated. These methods play an
important role in reducing heat gain and increasing thermal comfort of the spaces. In conclusion,
thermal comfort can be achieved by the correct way of integrating the passive design to the
building and successful natural ventilation that helps natural cooling to the building.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 4
2.0 RESEARCH FRAMEWORK
The Effectiveness of Passive Design Strategies as Natural Cooling Devices in
Achieving Thermal Comfort at PJ Trade Centre.
(Concept Mapping)
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 5
3.0 INTRODUCTION
Figure 1: Location of PJ Trade Centre (Google Maps, 2016)
Located in Damansara Perdana, PJ Trade Centre is a 5.4 acre site consisting of 4 office towers
with over a million square feet of office space. The building is located against a hillside setting
and is a fast developing urban locale as the building stands out for its low tech appearance that is
contemporary yet organic and sustainable to its context. The bold design of the building is based
on Malaysian archetype that is rooted in the climate, context and culture. It is one of Malaysia’s
well known sustainable buildings and is famous for its passive design.
Sustainable building refers to a structure and the processes that are environmentally liable and
efficient through a building’s life cycle. It includes from initiating a design, construction process,
maintenance, demolition and renovation. It also means that a sustainable building design involves
in finding a balance between constructing a building and the sustainable environment. It is no
doubt the sustainability considerations were integrated to the design of PJ Trade Centre.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 6
Figure 2: PJ Trade Centre
The building is located on a site surrounded by greeneries and presence of nature in many areas
of the building. The offices have balconies that are about 122 square metres, covered by vent
block screens, for private gardens. Where as the stand alone annex building is design with views
overlooking the garden and courtyards from every room, including the reception.
A lot of research has been done to prove that PJ Trade Centre is one of the well-designed
sustainable building. This research paper will investigate the effectiveness of the passive design
strategies used in PJ Trade Centre as a natural cooling devices in achieving thermal comfort.
Research Questions :
1) How effective is the shading device used in PJ Trade Centre in order to achieve thermal
comfort?
2) How does the concrete vent blocks at PJ Trade Centre help to improve the indoor thermal
comfort and enhance ventilation?
3) How does the orientation of the building contribute to the cooling of the building and enhance
user’s comfort?
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 7
4.0 DESIGN INTENTIONS
The design intention plays an important role in producing an outstanding result in view of the best
approach to plan a building and spaces that can completely worked and have an aesthetic value
at the same time. The objective of PJ Trade Centre is to offer another way for office improvement
that is appropriate and economical. The design of the PJ Trade Centre was designed based on
response to the site and surrounding where the intention is to assimilate the building to the
surrounding and nature. PJ Trade Centre is a well-designed building and a good example of
architecture that shows the idea of integrating the building with its surrounding context that not
only works on the exterior part of the façade, but also on the interior part with the idea of planting
trees around the building and bringing nature closer.
PJ Trade Centre is a building that sits on a 5.4 acre site with 4 towers of 20-21 storeys. Not only
that, the trees planted at the ground of the building becomes a a green forecourt to the towers
that lightens up the surrounding area that makes PJ Trade Centre looks lively and contented. It
also state that with PJ Trade Centre, the idea was to offer a new model for development of an
office. It is from the use of simple local materials and local construction method to create an office
development that suits the climate, context and culture.
The architect, Kevin Low has designed the building to suit its site context with the bold choice of
using raw materials such as over burnt bricks and concrete that juxtaposes to the site and context.
In order words, PJ Trade is a successful sustainable building that succeeds in finding a balance
between constructing a building with sustainable environment with the use of passive design
strategy and design response to its site and context.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 8
5.0 PASSIVE DESIGN
Passive design is design that takes advantage of the climate to maintain a comfortable
temperature range in the home or building. The design maximises the use of ‘natural’ sources of
heating, cooling and ventilation to create comfortable conditions inside buildings. It considers
environmental conditions such as solar radiation, cool night air and air pressure differences to
drive the internal environment. Passive design does not involve mechanical or electrical systems.
Good passive design guarantees that the occupants remain thermally comfortable with minimal
supporting heating or cooling in the climate where they are built. Good passive design is also
critical to achieving a lifetime of thermal comfort, low energy bills and low greenhouse gas
emissions.
5.1 FEATURES OF PASSIVE DESIGNS :
The key elements of passive design are the building location, orientation, openings, shading and
ventilation. Each of these elements works with each other to achieve comfortable temperature
and good indoor air quality. Thermal comfort is also achieved by applying those elements.
Alongside passive design features, designers should also consider other factors such as views,
contracts and local authority restrictions, and personal preferences.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 9
6.0 THE ADAPTATION OF PASSIVE DESIGN STRATEGIES AS NATURAL
COOLING DEVICES IN PJ TRADE CENTRE
The design of PJ Trade Centre is linked to many natural elements and passive design strategies
to achieve natural cooling and thermal comfort. These strategies can be distributed into six
factors which are the shading device, vegetation, concrete vent blocks, natural ventilation,
orientation and material.
Passive design uses ambient energy sources instead of purchased energy like electricity or
natural gas. Therefore, they are considered as a natural cooling device that helps to provide
climate and thermal comfort.
6.1 SHADING DEVICE
PJ Trade Centre is well known for their natural cooling and effective used of shading device in
achieving thermal comfort. The building uses passive design and natural elements as part of the
strategy in the effective shading device to reduce the amount of electrical usage hence allowing
the building to be more sustainable. Passive design uses ambient energy sources instead of
purchased energy like electricity or natural gas. Therefore, they are considered as a natural
cooling device that helps to provide climate and thermal comfort.
The shading device can intensely reduce building heat gain and cooling requirements and
improve the natural lighting quality of a building interior. It also helps to prevent excessive amount
of unwanted sunlight from entering the building and maintain minimum amount of temperature to
the surrounding. In this case, PJ Trade Centre uses natural elements such as trees (vegetation),
natural ventilation and concrete vent block as the effective shading device in achieving thermal
comfort.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 10
Figure 3: The trees covering the entrance Figure 4: The Concrete Vent Blocks
of PJ Trade Centre
PJ Trade uses a lot of trees and concrete vent block around the building to provide shade and
ventilation to the user. The hollow concrete vent blocks allow the cool wind to pass through the
holes and at the same time provide protection against the sun. This helps to increase thermal
comfort as the building is well protected from solar radiation. The tall trees are mostly planted at
the entrance of the building, orientated towards the East. This allows little amount of sun to shine
in and increase user’s comfort.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 11
6.2 VEGETATION
In PJ Trade Centre, the landscape plaza and tall trees are planted to avoid maximum amount of
hot sun to enter and allow user to be closer to nature. It is also to provide shading and help bring
down the temperature of the surrounding.
6.2.1 THE PLAZA, SKY TERRACES AND LANDSCAPE
PJ Trade has a landscape plaza with more than 1400 mature trees planted, 12 Sky Terraces with
tall trees, wall creepers and suspended vines. The trees are planted all around the building and
the wall creepers function as shading device that provide shade for the user. The Plaza & trees
also act as filtration to cool the heated air hence increasing the natural ventilation around the
building to achieve thermal comfort. User will also have the feeling of being close to nature.
Besides providing shading to the building, the trees also help to reduce the air temperature by
storing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere thus making the area cooler. This help to enhance
user’s comfort at PJ Trade Centre.
Trees Garden Plaza
Figure 5: Shows the landscape and vegetation area on the PJ Trade Centre
Ground floor plan
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 12
The landscape around the building acts as a cooling device as it helps to shade the building from
maximum amount of sunlight and helps to control the indoor air quality. The effectiveness of the
passive design strategies as a natural cooling device to this building is efficient as the building is
surrounded with greeneries and open space that helps allow ventilation to go through the spaces
of the building, as well as to increase the thermal comfort. This can be seen in the diagrams
below.
Figure 6: Show the Plaza area from the main lobby Figure 7: Shows the Plaza area from the corridor
views
Figure 8: Show the section diagram of PJ Trade Centre
Section A-A
Section B-B
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 13
Below shows the comparison between PJ Trade Centre and the design of the Malay Traditional
House :
Conclusion :
Just like the Traditional Malay house, PJ Trade Centre is built considering the site context. The
concept of PJ Trade Centre is to merge the building with the surrounding green context. The
trees does not only provide shading but also helps filter the hot air. Therefore, average
temperature and thermal comfort is achieved.
In Traditional Malay Houses, the coconut trees
and other tall trees are use to provide good
shade. It does not also block the flow of wind
passing through the house level.
In PJ Trade Centre, the landscape plaza and tall
trees are planted to avoid maximum amount of hot
sun to enter and allow user to be close to nature. It
is also to provide shading and help reduce the
temperature of the surrounding.
Traditional Malay House
PJ Trade Centre
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 14
6.3 CONCRETE VENT BLOCK
The concrete vent blocks are aeration blocks that are made from concrete which provides
excellent protection from the sun’s heat and at the same time allowing breezy air to flow in. It also
provides practical defence against heavy wind and rain while allowing sufficient amount of light
and air to flow into the spaces. Not only that, it also provides privacy and is aesthetically pleasing.
Figure 9: Shows the vent block façade of PJ Trade Centre
Figure 10: Shows the concrete vent block from the interior of the building
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 15
The west side of PJ Trade Centre receives the most sunlight especially during the day, therefore
the concrete vent blocks are mostly applied to the side of the façade to provide protection against
the sun’s heat. The concrete vent block was applied on the west side of the building to function as
shielding mask against direct heat penetration into the building. It controls the amount of direct
sunlight in context with the office building. When temperature is low, thermal comfort is achieved.
Wind passes through the holes of the concrete vent block, allowing more ventilation. It also act as
a natural air filter which trap dust particles from polluted air, controlling indoor air quality of the
building for user’s comfort.
Figure 11: Aside from shading, the concrete vent blocks also acts as a wall between corridor,
allowing ventilation to pass through hence allowing thermal’s comfort.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 16
6.4 NATURAL VENTILATION
PJ Trade Centre is one of the buildings that use passive design in designing the building to allow
natural cooling device such as natural ventilation to enter throughout the building and enhance
the thermal comfort. The building was designed with a lot of openings and windows to allow as
much as ventilation across the building. The natural ventilation uses outside air movement and
pressure differences to both passively cool and ventilate the building. Successful natural
ventilation is determined by having high thermal comfort and adequate fresh air for the ventilated
space comfort while having little or no energy use for active HVAC cooling and ventilation. The
concrete vent block also allows airflow while providing shade. The open balcony on every floor of
the building allows better ventilation and more wind to flow in. The 3.8 meters ceiling height of
the office allows better ventilation for the user.
Figure 12: The pictures above shows the sky garden in PJ Trade Centre
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 17
6.4.1 STACK EFFECT SYSTEM
PJ Trade Centre uses stack effect as one of the ventilation system as natural cooling. The stack
effect allows for better ventilation as the hot air inside the building is flushed out with the cool air
coming in as wind passes through the sky terraces. The chain link used for the gap between the
floorings does not just allow interaction between the occupants and the surrounding but also
allows air to flow through the gap and ventilate the building.
Figure 13: Shows the sky terraces at PJ Trade
Centre that uses the stack effect system
Figure 14: Shows the section diagram of the air flow
through PJ Trade Centre
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 18
Below shows the comparison between PJ Trade Centre and the design of the Malay Traditional
House :
Conclusion :
Just like the Traditional Malay house, PJ Trade Centre also uses the idea of elevated spaces
which is the stack effect in designing the building to capture more natural ventilation into the
building. It also has a lot of openings and open space in between the building to allow natural
sunlight to enter and enhance ventilation to increase thermal comfort.
The houses in Traditional Malay Houses are
raised on stilts to capture higher wind velocity and
to allow air to circulate in the building.
PJ Trade uses stacking effect to more wind for
effective ventilation. Wind passes in between the
open space of the building.
Traditional Malay House
PJ Trade Centre
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 19
6.5 ORIENTATION
Figure 15: Show the East façade of PJ Trade Centre that is covered by concrete vent blocks as shading device
PJ Trade Centre is designed to which the longer façade is facing East and West. The architect
wants to capture direct sunlight but at the same time provide effective shading device and
ventilation to achieve user’s comfort. The East façade is shaded by garden plaza and the building
next to it, allowing the user to sit comfortably without feeling hot. The West façade is fully shaded
by the concrete vent block. Concrete vent block does not only allow great amount of ventilation
but also shades the building from direct sunlight while still bring in sufficient amount of daylight to
the spaces. It allows high thermal comfort to the spaces.
Concrete vent blocks
Entrance
Figure 16: Shows the orientation of the PJ Trade Centre on the
ground floor plan
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 20
6.6 MATERIALS
A study conducted that materials control how the heat is absorbed, stored, released and
distribute throughout the building. Therefore, it is important to choose the right of material in
designing a building.
PJ Trade Centre uses earth toned locally manufactured materials such as over burnt bricks, raw
concrete, glass and steel as a way of interpreting the tropical image and a unique way of
experiencing the local climate. The building had chosen Brick as the main material for the facade.
Steel, concrete and glass are the supporting material that helps integrate the building to the
surrounding. Dense materials such as bricks and concrete are excellent at absorbing heat.
Figure 17: Shows the material used at PJ Trade Centre. It is clear to see that brick is mostly used
on the building as the main material.
Figure 18: Shows the use of glass and steel at PJ Trade Centre
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 21
7.0 CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the orientation, shading device, vegetation, concrete vent blocks, natural ventilation,
and material act as effective passive design that plays an important role in achieving thermal
comfort. The garden plaza and trees planted around the building acts as filtration to cool the
heated air. The uses of concrete vent blocks on parts of the building improve the space quality
and enhance the ventilation for user’s comfort. The concrete vent block also act as shading
device that allows air to flow in thus making the building naturally ventilated. The natural
ventilation and stack effect system used in PJ Trade Centre also help to enhance the ventilation
system and fasten the time for the air to ventilate through the building. The orientation of the
building helps support the design of the concrete vent block as natural cooling strategy. The brick
material on the building also helps to absorb heat to achieve an average temperate of the
surrounding for thermal comfort. PJ Trade Centre has successfully managed to achieve the aim
of providing thermal comfort by integrating the strategy of passive design that act as natural
cooling devices in the building.
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 22
8.0 REFERENCES
1) Day, J. K., & Gunderson, D. E. (2015). Understanding high performance buildings: The link
between occupant knowledge of passive design systems, corresponding behaviors, occupant
comfort and environmental satisfaction. Building and Environment, 84, 114-124.
2) Sanusi, A. N., Shao, L., & Ibrahim, N. (2013). Passive ground cooling system for low energy
buildings in Malaysia (hot and humid climates). Renewable energy, 49, 193-196.
3) Chua, S. C., & Oh, T. H. (2011). Green progress and prospect in Malaysia. Renewable and
Sustainable Energy Reviews, 15(6), 2850-2861.
4) Architectural Screen Blocks. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2016, from
http://carrollsbuildingmaterials.com/concrete-block/architectural-screen-blocks/
5) Zain-Ahmed, A., Sopian, K., Othman, M. Y. H., Sayigh, A. A. M., & Surendran, P. N. (2002).
Daylighting as a passive solar design strategy in tropical buildings: a case study of Malaysia.
Energy Conversion and Management, 43(13), 1725-1736.
6) http://www.pjtradecentre.com/blueprint.pdf
This book explains on the concept and approach in designing PJ Trade
Centre
7) http://www.pjtradecentre.com/da.pdf
The book explains about the design of PJ Trade Centre
8) http://vancouver.ca/files/cov/passive-home-design.pdf
This book talks about passive design
9) Passive design. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.yourhome.gov.au/passive-
design
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 23
10) Arizona Solar Center - Your Guide to Solar and Other Renewable Energy Sources in Arizona - 3 -
Natural Cooling. (n.d.). Retrieved June 27, 2016, from http://www.azsolarcenter.org/tech-
science/solar-for-consumers/passive-solar-energy/passive-solar-design-manual-
consumer/passive-solar-design-manual-cooling.html
ARC 2213/2234 Asian Architecture 24