Building Environmental Design
Project Report
Project Description
The project is to design a community building on Jordanstown Road in Northern Ireland. The building is
to be 500 m2. The spaces are to be split as follows:
Project Objective
The primary objective is to utilize advanced computer modeling tools to assess and optimize the
building’s design with a focus on energy efficiency, thermal performance, and overall sustainability.
Floor-plan
Here is the bird’s eye (floor-plan) view of the four building blocks (windows are outlined GREEN)
Here is the semi Aerial view (Elevated) of the architecture.
Thermal Insulation and U-value
The following is the U-value of wall, floor, roof and windows calculated in IES-VE. Both Ua-Calc and Ul-
Calc achieve acceptable result and they are lower than Ua-Limit.
In order to achieve the acceptable U-value, the building fabrics are carefully chosen with a number of
factors taken into consideration, such as thickness, conductivity, density, specific heat capacity,
resistance, emissivity, solar absorptance etc. They are illustrated per below:
Lighting of the building
Below diagrams show the luminaire placement and the level of luminance.
The following is Suncast simulation in IES-VE
Energy consumption of lighting (shown as RED bars) is pretty constant throughout the year
Thermal Performance
There are several key factors affecting the thermal performance. When I design the community building,
I keep these factors into consideration.
Windows and Glazing – windows placement ensure proper lighting and solar gain.
Building fabrics and materials – materials are chosen with proper insulation and thermal mass that
appropriately absorb and store heat, which in turn regulate indoor temperatures.
Thermal Performance will be reviewed by cooling loads data and heating loads data respectively.
Cooling loads data
- Internal gains - Heat generated by occupants, appliances, and lighting. Here is an example
- Outdoor temperature
- Building envelope - Heat transfer through walls, roofs, and windows. The trees to be planted
can also be considered part of the building envelop, as it provides shade and windbreaks.
- Solar gains - Heat from sunlight entering through windows.
The design in this project shows satisfactory solar gains result out of simulation.
Heating loads data
- Building Orientation - The direction the building faces can influence heat loss.
- Insulation Levels - Quality of insulation in walls, roofs, and floors.
- Outdoor Temperature
- Air Infiltration - Uncontrolled air leaks that can increase heat loss.
The following is schematics and parameters of the heating system
monthly energy consumption and generation.
With all things considered, together with the result of the Compliance Document (see next section), the
thermal performance of this design is not bad at all.
Compliance Document
Below is a screenshot of the Compliance Document (BRUKL Output Document).
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