Design Journal Entry - Module 7

Building Envelope Features

• Wall, Floor & Roof Surface
• Exterior Wall Material: 3” of Limestone masonry was added to the finish of the exterior wall. The limestone is used to help the building blend into the natural environment and cut from the harsh concrete finish.

• Roof Material: A green roof with 2” of soil and grass material is added on top of the shaded pavilion. The green roof will reduce roof surface temp and help with stormwater run off.


• Floor: For the flooring, Bamboo was chosen as a finishing material because it is sustainable, additionally it gives the building a more natural look. The outdoor terraces is lightweight concrete to withstand the elements.

• Opening/Glazed Surface
• Windows: There are two types of windows used in the building, the main window type is a 65” x 24” 4 pane sliding window. Because these are windows are used mainly throughout the building despite orientation, I chose to have a double glazing. The second window type is for ventilation in the restrooms and it only has a single glazing because the window size is small.


• Curtain Walls: For all the curtain walls, I’ve selected the glazing to be double low E glazing. The lowest glazing was selected because the building has many curtain walls and it is important that UV rays are blocked from the spaces used frequently.


• Doors:
• For the main double exterior door, I’ve chosen a wood frame double glass structure. Instead of a metal frame, the wood frame gives it a higher R value meaning it perform better.

• For all of the office and meeting room doors, they are wood frame single glass structure. I chose a single glass to cut cost and did not think that such high R value needed to be assigned for interior doors.

• For the private use rooms like the restroom and maintenance room, they are single flush door with hollow core and wood storm.

• Shading & Sun Control
• Sunshade: Rectangular airfoil sunshades were added to 6 windows on the Eastern side of building because it receives a large amount of sunlight in the summer morning and afternoons. To mitigate cooling cost, the sunshade should help cool down that side of building.


• Roof Overhand: All three roofs have an overhang of about 1 feet to provide shading to windows and curtain walls.

Energy Model

• Initial: No changes were made to building in Insight.

• Baseline:
• Operating Schedule: BIM - 12/5
• Roof Construction: BIM - R38

• Building Envelope Choices
• Building Envelope Choices w/ Baseline
• Building Orientation: BIM - 0 degrees
• WWR - Southern Walls: BIM (2%) - 0%
• WWR - Northern Walls: BIM (46%) - 0%
• WWR - Western Walls: BIM (30%) - 0%
• WWR - Eastern Walls: BIM (26%) - 0%
• Wall Construction: BIM - R13 + R10 Metal
• Infiltration: BIM - 0.4 ACH

• Power & Lighting Choice
• Power & Lighting Choices w/ Baseline
• Lighting Efficiency: BIM - 0.3 W/sf
• Plug Load Efficiency: BIM - 0.6 W/sf

• Power & Lighting Choice
• Power & Lighting Choices w/ Building Envelope

• Photovoltaic Panels
• PV w/ Baseline
• Payback Limit: 30 years
• Surface Coverage: 75% - 90%

• Photovoltaic Panels
• PV w/ Building Envelop Choices

• Photovoltaic Panels
• PV w/ Lighting and Plug Load Choices

• Photovoltaic Panels
• Building Envelop, Lighting & Plug Load, and PV

Scenario Comparison

Implementing all area of building improvement gave the least amount of EUI (15.4 kBtu/ ft^2/ yr). The most influential factor in the energy usage was adjusting the PV tiles. The building envelop and lighting scenario had a higher EUI than building envelop and PV. There was ~10 kBtu/ ft^2/ yr reduction. The PV panel alone with the baseline model was lower than any of the lighting and building envelop scenario alone or combined.

Daylight Analysis

Revit Lighting Analysis Illuminance Map

Revit Cloud Illuminance Render