DESIGN CONSIDERATIONS
IMPLICATIONS OF CLIMATE ON BUILDING
DESIGN
The characteristics of each climate differ and accordingly
the comfort requirements vary from one climatic zone to
another.
Before proceeding further, it would be useful to define
comfort and the conditions that affect it.
According to ASHRAE [10], thermal comfort is, “that
condition of mind which expresses satisfaction with the
thermal environment”.
It is also, “the range of climatic conditions within which a
majority of the people would not feel discomfort either of
heat or cold”.
Such a zone in still air corresponds to a range of 20 – 30 ºC
dry bulb temperature with 30– 60 % relative humidity
Comfort requirements and physical
manifestation
HOT AND DRY
Warm and Humid
Moderate
Cold and cloudy
Composite
What is Building Form?
Form and its opposite, space, constitute the primary elements of
architecture. Form can be thought as the external three-dimensional
outline, appearance or configuration of some thing.
Building form defines the space that shelters our interior human
activity and the negative space, the void between building forms,
shapes our exterior human activities in the built environment.
In designing a building form the architect must simultaneously
consider site, aesthetic, programmatic, contextual, and functional
issues, and then enclose the building in the most satisfactory way
possible.
In the world of planning regulations and commercial building,
maximizing yield from the zoning envelope too often drives the
design of the building form. Such building form is often determined
by setting property lot lines, setbacks, density limitations, floor area
ratios, and open space allowances.
What is Building Form?
The architect designs the resultant building form by
manipulating standard aesthetic design devices such as
shape, massing, scale, proportion, materials, rhythm,
surface articulation, texture and color, and light.
Variables, such as building orientation to solar access,
wind exposure, amount of surface area, and complexity
of building form can profoundly influence the energy
consumption characteristics of a building throughout its
life time, thereby impacting carbon reduction.
What is Building Form?
A building massing that optimizes day lighting and ventilation would be
elongated along the east/west axis with more surface area so that
more of the building floor area is closer to the perimeter.
Although this may appear to compromise the thermal performance of
the building, the electrical load and cooling load savings achieved by a
well-designed day lighting system can more than compensate for the
increased surface area skin losses.
This example is not given to suggest that designs should be restricted to
the simplest buildings or those with minimal surface areas, but to
demonstrate that building form does influence building energy use, and
that building form can be employed, along with other means to reduce
overall building energy use.
How do I design a Building Form?
From an integrated building perspective the
architect must balance and reconcile the functional,
programmatic, contextual, and economic drivers of
the building form; and at the same time investigate
passive solar, day lighting, sun shading,
landscaping, and natural ventilation strategies to
optimize use of the natural features of the site to
maximize energy efficiency of the building form.
How do I design a Building Form?
Carefully site the building to take advantage of
natural site features such as topography, sunlight,
shade, and breezes to develop the most energy-
efficient and cost-effective building design.
Design buildings that are responsive to regional
climate and site microclimates.
Understand design elements that have endured and
served well from regional historic vernacular
architecture.
How do I design a Building Form?
Orient the building on an east/west axis to allow
for the highest winter solar gains and the lowest
summer solar gains and to maximize beneficial day
lighting to occupied spaces.
Design buildings that wrap around courtyards,
atria, or light wells to provide day lighting in
interior zones and control exposure to winds.
Minimize exterior surface complexity to reduce
chance of leaks and energy loss.
How do I design a Building Form?
Use roof overhangs to shelter facades and exterior
walkways from harsh sun and weather.
Consider use of porches and pergolas to shelter
exterior spaces and activities.
Use the building form to deflect harsh winter winds.
Use landscaping features to channel and direct
natural breezes and deflect harsh winds.
What is Building Orientation?
Orientation strongly relates a building to the natural
environment—the sun, wind, weather patterns,
topography, landscape, and views.
Decisions made in site planning and building orientation
will have impacts on the energy performance of the
building over its entire life cycle.
Energy conservation strategies relating to building
orientation are:
Maximizing north and south façade exposure for
daylight harvesting to reduce lighting electrical loads
Using southern exposure for solar heat gain to reduce
heating loads in the heating season
What is Building Orientation?
Using shading strategies to reduce cooling loads caused by
solar gain on south façades
Turning long façades toward the direction of prevailing
breezes to enhance the cooling effect of natural ventilation
Turning long façades in the direction parallel to slopes to
take advantage of cool updrafts to enhance natural
ventilation
Shielding windows and openings from the direction of harsh
winter winds and storms to reduce heating loads
Orienting the most populated building spaces toward north
and south exposures to maximize daylighting and natural
ventilation benefit
Factors affecting orientation
The orientation of a building is influenced by numerous
environmental and built factors, among them
– Sensory
Thermal—solar exposure, wind direction, temperature
Visual—varying daylight qualities in different locations and at
different times of day
Acoustical—direction of objectionable noises
Environmental—smoke, dust, odors
– Psychological
Views
Privacy
Street activity
Factors affecting orientation
– Local development patterns
Street direction
Spatial organization, land use, urban design
Zoning
Accessibility requirements—main/secondary entrances, parking
– Other considerations
Aesthetic
Direction of storms
Site conditions—topography, geotechnical, wetlands
Site vegetation—mature trees
View corridors, scenic easements
How do I design for Building Orientation?
The designer must consider and prioritize all factors
and site conditions affecting building orientation. For
example, a building might have to take heed of
multiple orientation factors depending on functional
requirements: designing for cooling load or heating
load.
To take advantage of north–south day lighting, the
building may be oriented along an east–west axis. But
this may be counter to street lines and other site
considerations. Orientation of the building entrance
may have to respect street access, activity zones, and
local urban design guidelines.
How do I design for Building Orientation?
For most regions, optimum façade orientation is typically
[Link]-facing glass is relatively easy to shade with an
overhang during the summer to minimize solar heat gain.
Light shelves also can work well with the higher sun in the
southern exposure.
North-facing glass receives good daylight but relatively
little direct insolation, so heat gain is less of a concern.
East and west window orientations and horizontal
orientation (skylights) all result in more undesired heat gain
in the summer than winter.
East and west sun glare is also more difficult to control for
occupant comfort because of low sun angles in early
morning and late afternoon.
How do I design for Building Orientation?
Wind will affect tall buildings more than low structures.
Design for wind direction—admitting favorable breezes
and shielding from storms and cold weather winds. Wind
information is often available from airports, libraries,
and/or county agricultural extension offices.
In cold climates, locate pedestrian paths and parking lots on
south and east sides of buildings to enable snow melting, but
in southern climates locate these on the less sunny east or
north sides of the building.
In temperate and northern climates, locate deciduous trees
for south-side shading in the cooling season; in the heating
season, the dropped leaves will permit desired solar gain.
In urban settings, orientation may be strongly determined by local
regulation, view easements, and urban design regulations. Be aware of
unique local and site-specific conditions, such as lake or coastal exposures,
effect of mountainous conditions, and special scenic easements.
To minimize heat losses and gains through the surface of a building, a
compact shape is desirable. This characteristic is mathematically described
as the “surface-to-volume” ratio of the building. The most compact
orthogonal building would be a cube.
This configuration, however, may place a large portion of the floor area far
from perimeter day lighting. Contrary to the cube, a building massing that
optimizes day lighting and ventilation would be elongated along its east–
west axis so that more of the building area is closer to the perimeter.
Although this may appear to compromise the thermal performance of the
building, the electrical load and cooling load savings achieved by a well-
designed day lighting system will more than compensate for the increased
surface losses.
References
1. Bansal N.K. and Minke G., Climatic zones and rural housing in India,
Kernforschungsanlage, Juelich,Germany, 1988.
2. Mani A., Handbook of solar radiation data for India, Allied Publishers,
New Delhi, 1981.
3. Seshadri T.N., Rao K.R., Sharma M.R., Sarma G.N. and Ali S.,
Climatological and solar data forIndia, CBRI, Sarita Prakashan, Meerut,
1968.
4. Krishan A., Agnihotri M.R., Jain K., Tewari P. and Rajagopalan M.
(compiled) Climatically responsive energy efficient architecture - a design
handbook (Vol. II), School of Planning and Architecture, NewDelhi, 1995.
5. Chand I. and Bhargava P.K., The climatic data handbook, Tata McGraw-
Hill, New Delhi, 1999.
6. WeDCo Database version 1.2, Indian Society of Heating, Refrigerating
and Air-conditioningEngineers, 2000.
Thank you