IBPSA2005

Institutional facilities embody the physical infrastructure of the communities they house. Aging institutional buildings, especially those within extensive central campuses, cannot easily be disposed of or abandoned in favour of new facilities. Demolition followed by reconstruction is one alternative, however, this is highly disruptive and often these buildings are historically designated or their replacement value cannot be afforded. 

Improving thermal performance of building envelopes reduces energy consumption of residential buildings. This reduction is better fostered if the thermal analysis is included in the overall performance analysis of the building envelope or the building system. An integrated approach with IT and international standards, such as IFC, can ensure that the building envelope satisfies energy requirements as well as other requirements such as hygrothermal, acoustic, aesthetic, or economic criteria.

Daylight design for “extremely” obstructed urban environment is a relatively uncharted area of scholarship. The reason might be that the problem has not been critically important. No city in the world has an urban density as high as Hong Kong. Deisgning and providing adequate daylight into buildings is a difficult challenge. A key question designers often ask is: If there is a need to build a high density city, what should it look like? What one should or should not do? There are many design variables. This study examined one of them: building heights.

The impact of building regulations on the final form of a design can be quite significant. At the same time, increasingly stringent and more performance-based regulations are leading to a greater reliance on simulation and analysis as a fundamental part of the design process. As a result, the traditional design validate- redesign approach is becoming less viable. This paper argues that an alternate approach based on the generative potential of building regulations is more effective.

Building energy analysis are very sensitive to external convection heat transfer coefficients so that some researchers have made sensitivity calculations and proved that depending on the choice of convective heat transfer coefficient values, energy demands estimation values can vary from 20 to 40%. In this context, a Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) program has been used to predict external convective heat transfer coefficients at external building surfaces.

APOLUX 1.0 is a computer code specifically developed for assisting the architect regarding daylighting considerations; it runs in a threedimensional graphic environment, accepts files from graphic editors and uses models physically consistent for data treatment. It was developed aiming its integration to the architect's design praxis.

Dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) have been proposed to treat the outdoor air before it enters the building and thus reduce the load on the zone equipment. This paper presents a study of different DOAS configurations and their energy and power consumptions for multiple climates of the United States. Based on the simulation results, the DOAS showed promise in reducing energy consumption relative to the baseline system in the office building in all climates studied.

The Haima is a non air-conditioned 16,000 m2  tent designed to house fifteen exhibitions about conditions for peace, viewed as solutions to economic, cultural and environmental conflict, during the Barcelona Forum 2004. The Haima is composed of several tents connected to each other’s and to the exterior environment through large openings. The whole structure is placed on the middle of a large square, next to the Mediterranean Sea. 

In early 1980s, Tsinghua University has started to develop a new building simulation tool with the aims to benefit for teaching, research and practical use of HVAC related applications in China. With the concept of “base temperature” of a space, it provides a handy link between thermal behaviour of buildings and dynamic performance of HVAC systems. It emphases on finding the predicted ideal performance of a system and compare with the user selected design conditions of a space, ie the degree of satisfaction, rather than go straight to find the size and capacity of the system.

Radiant cooling systems for thermal comfort in commercial buildings are new to North America. The University of Calgary’s ICT Building has a hybrid radiant slab-mixed air system that offers an opportunity to evaluate operating performance. Through integrated field measurements and building simulation with EnergyPlus, it was found that the building energy performance could be improved by reducing conflicts between systems, especially simultaneous heating and cooling.