Ecological reflections in unbounded architecture

For many years, the environmental effort in Scandinavian residential building has taken the form of construction-related improvements and technical renewal. For example, the standard in insulation has been improved and, to an increasing extent, the supply of energy is being covered by alternative energy sources. However, 'green' accounts reveal that the building and its environmental standards are not the most important factors in the residence's consumption of resources. The most crucial factors are the residents and their behaviour.

Resource consumption in the residence is thus entirely dependent on the residents' habits, on their behaviour and life style. In the final analysis, it is our culture that becomes the topic for debate, as a direct consequence of environmental problems. Question marks are being placed alongside the consumption society and concomitantly alongside the entire occidental culture.

The upshot of this is that, sooner or later, environmental problems will eventually come to influence the architectonic design, which reflects the culture and the societal values from which such modelling originates. The environmentally oriented work can, in this way, be discussed in an architectonic context. This is the aim of the present paper: to describe urban ecological endeavours in a wide cultural perspective. This ought to make it possible to look at this work in conjunction with current tendencies in contemporary design. In order to understand the present day, however, it is necessary to start at some distance from it - with the Renaissance.     

Energy-saving occupant behaviours in offices: change strategies

As regulated energy consumption in buildings is reduced, the proportional importance of unregulated energy consumption increases. Reducing unregulated energy use in the commercial office requires an understanding of the factors that influence workplace behaviour. To date these factors have been assumed to be similar to those that influence behaviour in the home. However, the social dynamics of the workplace are different to those in the home. This study examines the degree to which theories of behaviour change generated largely in a domestic building setting could be used as the basis for designing interventions to reduce unregulated energy consumption in the workplace. It studies the unregulated energy consumption of 39 workers engaged in office-type activities in two separate locations. Following a 100-day monitoring period, three behaviour change interventions were developed and their impact measured over a 100-day period. Results from the study found, on average, an 18.8% reduction in energy use was achieved. Furthermore, by comparing pre- and post-intervention responses to an environmental questionnaire, it was evident that savings were realized without significant changes to pro-environmental attitude or perceived social norms, which may have implications for energy-saving interventions in the commercial sector.     

城市商业与文化综合体节能分析

在经济与文化迅速发展的大时代背景下,城市商业与文化综合体顺势而生。这种＂商业搭台,文化唱戏＂的综合体模式不仅为文化艺术消费增添了新的刺激点,也为商业活动增添了更多魅力,具有巨大的优势。一时间,全国各大城市纷纷建设了许多城市地标性商业与文化综合体建筑。由于这种综合体结构复杂,功能区多种多样,其在采光、通风、采暖等方面能耗巨大,在为人们提供舒适的消费场所的同时,也因此消耗了大量能源。随着经济建设的深入,建筑能耗越来越高。因此,＂十二五＂规划以及＂十八大＂报告中都把＂大力发展低碳环保节能建筑＂作为发展低碳经济的重点。从规划设计角度,结合一些典型实例,从采光、通风与采暖等方面对商业与文化综合体的节能设计进行探讨与分析。     

基于本体的建筑节能设计方案合规检查与评价

建筑节能设计一般包括“拟订-检查-调整-评价-决策”5 个流程。发展至今,各环节仍存在不足。如建筑节能设计方案的参数需要人工采集与设定以及建筑节能设计的合规检查与评价仍旧依靠人工操作实现等。为了解决当前建筑节能设计过程中存在的设计效率低下、程序复杂等问题,通过构建本体和推理模型,实现对建筑节能设计方案不合规因素的自动检查以及不同建筑节能设计方案间的自动对比,并在此基础上借助案例证明了所提出方案的合理性与可靠性,为降低建筑领域的能源消耗提供助力。     

Progress report on the UK

A series of special articles is being prepared for the Journal on energy conservation R & D in individual countries represented on CIB working commission W67, ‘Energy conservation in the built environment’. Appropriately, it begins with this article on the UK by Dr. Leach, who is joint co-ordinator of W67 and an Assistant Director of the Building Research Establishment. International studies show that buildings account for 40 per cent of the total primary energy consumption of ten major industrialised nations, and this could be cut by 25–30 per cent without loss of comfort or environmental quality. Against this background, the article discusses the UK energy balance and recent developments in building regulations. Research is reviewed which points to the importance of user behaviour in energy consumption, and to the scope for conservation measures with their economic assessments. A ‘low-energy’ experimental office block design in the UK is also described; its energy consumption could be only half that of similar modern offices.     

Energy and climate simulation in the Upper Lawn Pavilion,an experimental laboratory in the architecture of the Smithsons

This article aims to provide a critical analysis of the work of the Smithsons, with a focus on its interpretation of architecture from the standpoint of environmental commitment, an aspect that is barely touched upon in the extensive literature analysing their work. The main aim is to reveal the strategies of environmental conditioning and the energy behaviour of their major work both from an architectural and environmental standpoint, as well as that of their own home and experimental laboratory: the Upper Lawn Pavilion. These features make it a building of great heritage value, classified as a Grade II listed building according to the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. Energy models reproducing the case study (in its original construction, occupancy and thermal conditions) have been simulated using DesignBuilder software in order to carry out a quantitative assessment of the house’s environmental conditions, perceptively described by Alison Smithson in her diary. Indoor thermal conditions obtained from the energy simulations were studied, identifying the environmental benefits and deficiencies caused by the strategies applied by the Smithsons to their pavilion. It is concluded that its environmental behaviour is far from the current standards of adaptive comfort.     

Study on the influence of maintenance operations on energy consumption and emissions in healthcare centres by fuzzy cognitive maps

The present work is aimed at performing a qualitative analysis of the effect of maintenance intensity on energy consumption, energy costs and emissions in healthcare centres. Most relevant variables involved in the maximization of the building efficiency were determined by means of fuzzy cognitive maps. Twelve variables were observed to show a direct connection to the energy and environmental efficiency as well as to its maintenance condition. The joint effect of these factors was seen to improve the overall performance of the building in terms of efficiency. However, even though maintenance appeared as one of the most highly-rated variables, it did not seem to affect the overall performance by itself, but it was rather due to the synergistic action of the remaining variables. The behaviour of those variables was evidenced to show a significant change for buildings below 1250?m² floor area as compared to those exceeding such threshold value.     

Visualisation of impact of time on the internal lighting of a building

With the increasing realisation of the importance of information and elicitation of knowledge, the need for improved methods of extraction and abstraction of information and knowledge has gained equal attention. To this end, visualisation methods have been viewed an effective way of abstracting information. Over the past three decades, these methods have undergone a rapid revolutionary progress, supported by sophisticated visualisation tools, analytical and simulation methodologies and techniques.During this period, the visualisation of an object, such as a building, 'in time' - viewing it from different perspectives - has gained significant attention and developments have been underpinned by sophisticated software technology. However, visualisation of a building 'through time' - viewing it as it degrades through aging - has received limited attention. Indeed, the ability to visualise the behaviour of a building, through time, has the potential to yield significant advantages: at the design phase, the informed choice of different building materials enables the architect to meet the client's technical, aesthetic and economical objectives. Extending the same capabilities to the maintenance phase can result in the development of just-in-time schedules which can prevent wastages without compromising the service to the users of the building. With advances in the BIM technology and the promised paradigm shift in the manner stakeholders collaborate and interact, the ability to simulate and visualise the time-based behaviour of building elements can assist decisions relating to both design and scheduling.In this paper, the overall model of the visual building design and maintenance is proposed and its practicality is demonstrated through its application to the building lighting system. The overall process is modelled and generalised and the lighting system is introduced as an example where the research work can be applied: the time-related behaviour of different light sources under the impact of intrinsic and environmental factors is modelled and expressed in a mathematical form which facilitates visualisation through the use of Visual User Interface.     

建材企业供配电系统的节能优化设计分析

建材业作为高耗电量的行业,建材企业供配电系统的节能形势十分严峻。随着能源资源消耗量的不断增加及环境问题的不断突出,对建材企业供配电系统的节能优化设计势在必行。文章主要对建材企业供配电系统的节能优化设计进行了深入分析。     

寒冷气候区低能耗公共建筑空间性能驱动设计体系建构

寒冷气候区因气候条件严酷,公共建筑的能耗问题尤为严重。现有寒地低能耗公共建筑设计方法的不足导致了设计决策主观化,多项能耗指标难以兼顾,设计过程与评价机制分离等问题,制约了寒地低能耗公共建筑的发展。为此,本文立足于寒冷气候区地域特征,提出引入性能驱动设计理论,从理论、方法和技术层面建立寒冷气候区低能耗公共建筑空间性能驱动设计体系。文章首先剖析了低能耗公共建筑设计中的瓶颈问题,揭示了引入性能驱动设计理论的必要性,阐释了寒地低能耗公共建筑性能驱动设计体系架构。从数形关联、多性能指标优化和设计评价一体化三方面解析了寒冷气候区低能耗公共建筑空间性能驱动设计体系的技术特征。     

The numerical simulation of the shadowing of buildings for city planning purposes

In addition to the use of new architectural technologies for reducing energy consumption, modern city planning has to take into consideration how new buildings influence their environs with regard to energy and bioclimate. For these purposes a numerical model is developed which provides data for energy judgement already in the design phase of a new building.After a suitable parameterisation of the designed building and its environs, the times and periods of shadowing and insolation and three-dimensional shadowing can be calculated. Comparing “shadowing indices”, the model determines the optimal position of the designed object on the available site with respect to insolation.For accentuating energy relations three different architectonic situations can be simulated: The actual situation without the designed building, the projected future situation, and the conditions at the planned building itself.In the near future short-wave irradiation should complete the model. The program for calculating the direct portion is already complete, but is still to be integrated into the model. The simulation of the short-wave reflection between the buildings is in the development stage.All the results, snapshots or sums of means for any desired times, can be represented in table form. The material is clarified by three-dimensional plots.     

建筑设计中的节能措施探讨

在环保意识日益突出的今天，建筑节能减排设计已经成为了建筑行业未来发展的重要趋势。建筑节能减排符合我国经济建设可持续发展的战略目标，对提高建筑收益率、缩减建筑能耗等方面的作用非常显著。     

The limelight of the House-Machine

Recent scholarly work on the subject of vision and visuality has set the task for architectural historians to re-examine the dialectics of seeing and construction beyond the context of modernism. Equally important is to renew one's understanding of the 'perspective regime' at a time when the visual, as experienced in contemporary culture, is saturated with the technologies of image-making. In this paper Le Corbusier's Dom-ino frame is used as a case study to test the architectonic implications of the linear perspective. Underlining Leon Battista Alberti's distinction between lineaments and building, it is suggested perspectivism initiated a design process that projects a three dimensional object out of a two dimensional plan. It also opens a window, through which architecture is seen from a vanishing point, which frames the frontal façade as a painterly image whose surface is articulated by what Le Corbusier called the 'regulating lines'. Through a reading of the Villa Savoye, it is argued that the Dom-ino frame presented the chance for Le Corbusier not only to rearticulate the classical distinction between 'appearance' and 'construction', but also to suspend the idea of frontality. Looking back from the vantage point of the present architects' interest in spectacular forms, it is suggested that Le Corbusier's early work paved the path for contemporary architects' drift into abstraction thus marginalising the tectonic and tactile aspects of construction.     

邯郸旧建筑屋面节能改造实践

在绿色环保、实现可持续发展的前提下,建筑节能逐渐受到重视,而屋面能耗占建筑总能耗的8%～10%,在建筑节能中不容忽视.针对旧建筑屋面节能面临的问题,提出适合邯郸地区旧建筑屋面节能改造的方式,即屋面加保温层、平改坡和屋面绿化,后者将成为未来邯郸旧建筑屋面节能改造的新方向.     

建筑节能工作存在的问题及对策

论述了我国的能源消耗和建筑能耗的现状,分析了我国开展建筑节能工作以来存在的问题及相应的对策,提出下一步建筑节能工作的重点是公共建筑,建议尽快制定相关的设计、建设、改造、运行标准。     

基于被动式策略的建筑集成设计模式初探

在节能减排和可持续发展的国际背景下,被动式建筑技术得到了巨大的发展。对于我国地区气候差异大,经济发展不平衡现实国情而言,被动式技术是全面促进低能耗绿色建筑发展的适宜手段。在方案设计过程中选取各种被动式策略时,建筑师需要充分考虑多项被动式策略以及它们与建筑设计诸多其他因素之间存在的协调与矛盾关系,运用集成设计的思维方法实现被动式建筑在能耗状况、使用功能、建造技术以及文化艺术多个方面整体性能的优化,创造出节能、舒适、适用、美观的设计作品。     

Architects need environmental feedback

The role of environmental feedback within architects' offices is examined as a fundamental ingredient of sustainability. Three case study buildings are examined using a feedback exercise encompassing the whole building process from early key design decisions to occupation. Results show that sometimes design decisions are taken for aesthetic reasons without certainty on their environmental impact. Improvements are possible especially in energy consumption, glare, the usability of controls, the communication of strategies and comfort conditions. The architects report the feedback lessons relevant for their work. A systematic approach to project feedback is proposed with emphasis in feeding forward to new projects and recording decision-making. To close the information loop, briefs need explicitly to mention performance targets for energy use, management expectations, control requirements and to promote feedback itself.     

Energy use in non-domestic buildings: the UK government's new evidence base

Policy for reducing carbon emissions from non-domestic buildings in the UK relies at present on survey and modelling work carried out in the 1990s. The UK government's Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) is engaged in a programme of new research to update this evidence base. The work has two main components. The first is a database – the National Energy Efficiency Data framework (NEED) – in which floor area and activity data for non-domestic premises are being linked to electricity and gas consumption at the individual property level. The second is a research project of sample surveys designed to elicit information about buildings and energy use, but also opportunities for abatement and the behavioural and organizational factors affecting efficiency improvements. A pilot survey of the food and mixed retail sector has been carried out in advance of further surveys of the entire range of building types. The research programme is described along with some of the methodological problems it raises.     

缓冲空间对拉萨市居住建筑冬季采暖能耗的影响

冬季现场调研与热环境测试表明,拉萨市现有居住建筑的缓冲空间能明显改善室内热环境。但当地非采暖房间冬季热环境仍较差,居住建筑采暖需求明显。当地采暖能耗与环境负荷增长趋势明显。以拉萨市常见的单元式住宅为基础建立了热工计算模型,模拟分析了南北向缓冲空间进深设计对冬季采暖能耗的影响规律。结果表明:南北向缓冲空间均能有效降低模型的采暖能耗,其中,随着南向缓冲进深增大,模型采暖能耗呈递增趋势;随北向缓冲空间进深增大,模型采暖能耗呈先降后增趋势,北向缓冲空间模型之间能耗差很小。缓冲空间优化设计模型与基础模型的能耗对比分析显示,合理设置的南北向缓冲空间能够大幅降低采暖能耗。     

探讨夏热冬冷地区建筑节能环保设计

建筑能耗在我国的总体能耗中占有非常大的比重,因此必须做好建筑节能设计工作。本文以夏热冬冷地区为例,分析了我国节能设计,希望对我国的节能环保事业有一定的帮助。