Images of Your 3 Design Proposals
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Side-By-Side Comparisons of Your Analysis Results
Paste at least 2 screenshots showing the side-by-side comparisons of the analysis results for your 3 proposed building forms here…
Your Recommendation for the “Best” Design Option
I initially started off with Proposal 01- the staggered, straight rectangular blocks. I wanted the structure to cantilever over the site and create an urban space by the street. I staggered the slabs in the direction I expected to get the greatest amount of sun; because Sao Paulo is situated in the Southern hemisphere, the most optimal kind of sun it will want to recieve is from the North. Building on a site with tall buildings that provide northern shade during the “winter” (June 21) presents an interesting design challenge. I found that it had the highest relative annual solar energy output of 494,664 kwh among my proposals (however I believe this number includes the solar potential of surrounding buildings), but the relatively highest EUI of 101 kwh/m2/year. All of my proposals had a square footage of approximately 25,000. I think the height of the first proposal had a big impact on how much sun hours / solar potential the building will have due to the shade from surrounding buildings.
For Proposal 02, I wanted to take advantage of the acute corner lot and the lack of shading from the surrounding buildings, hence the acute, jagged shape. I still wanted the space to include a terrace, so I maintained that feature throughout my proposals. It also still had part of the building cantilevered over the site. Proposal 02 had the lowest EUI and middle annual solar energy potential but as seen by the June 21 comparisons, suffered from the lack of sun hours during the time of year the building and its users would want the most sun. The direction of the terracing also made it so that the building cast shadows on itself.
For proposal 03, I wanted the terraces to be oriented toward the north to maximize sun hours and solar potential. It came at a very similar EUI of 100 kwh/m2/year to proposal 01, but had the lowest annual solar energy production at 472,739 kwh. It however showed me that the highest level of terrace will maximize the amount of sun hours, so I decided to go back to proposal 01, and orient it so that the terracing maximized the surface area exposed to the sun, especially on June 21.
(The model with a courtyard was a test to see how much light I could get into the space with the restrictions at hand)
I found that the proposal 01 rotated proved to be the optimum form and orientation. It lowered EUI to 99 kwh/m2/year, increased annual solar production to 499,966 kwh, and maximized the sun hours on June 21 and provided good shading to the area under the cantilever ( will probably put columns/ structural support here). This is the form I am going to go with.
