Sustainable Design

Project Overview:

This module, Sustainable Design covers the architectural design concepts used in building analysis of sustainable buildings/facilities. The design process and practice emphasize on an integrated design process to eliminate negative environmental impact. This includes application of passive design techniques, landscape design concepts and selection of sustainable building materials. The project required us to design an eco student centre in our school where students and staff are able to use it for work and play, as well as to promote sustainability. It started off with the objectives that were:

The project began by doing a site analysis of the site my group and I had chosen. By going to the site in school, we had to do a SWOT analysis and come up with a FILA chart to understand the area better. We also had done simulations such as shadow analysis, solar analysis, ETTV, and Computational Fluid Dynamics in order to assess the suitability of the site and how we could harness passive design for the building. After much research on the types of sustainable features, we then had to begin designing our own building individually and consider the factors which were already taken note of beforehand.

For my building, it has a large opening, utilising the natural ventilation and has an abundant of greenery. Sunlight is also largely present within the area so there are skylights on the roof to allow natural daylighting into the building. This gives off a warm vibe in the interior and helps to reduce the use of artificial lighting. As having too much sunlight can affect the building's ETTV, I have implemented shading devices such horizontal shading devices and brise soleil, which helps to block unnecessary glare for the occupants and reduce overheating. Another implementation besides shading devices are using green walls on the east and west facades.

Its main feature is the slanted rooftop where it is accessible to occupants for recreational use. I was quite inspired by the NTU School of Art, Design and Media where their own students had a space to enjoy themselves and I decided to implement a miniature version for my building.

Features such as shading devices, low-e glass windows, green walls and green roof, large openings for natural ventilation, skylight on the roof for natural daylighting.

Simulations which were done for the building:

CFD Simulations:

CFD simulations to analyse the different wind speeds and wind flow which passes through the building.