Conceptual Design - Building Context & Passive Design

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Catherine Nguyen
Linked Student
Journal Entry For
Module 4 - Conceptual Design - Building Context & Passive Design
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Created
Jan 22, 2022 5:07 AM
Last Edited
Jan 24, 2022 2:02 AM
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I chose the Stanford Dish site due to the wide, open space and unobstructive land cover. This means I won’t have to worry as much about daylighting, and also gives me more creative freedom concerning the aesthetics of the building.

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Looking at the psychrometric chart generated by Climate Consultant for climate zone 3, viable passive design strategies include sun shading of windows, materials selection (low/vs high thermal mass depending on time of year - but since active heating will definitely be needed as it comprises 29.9% of comfortable hours, maybe place a little more emphasis on low thermal mass materials for cooling during summer).

Since I am still using conceptual masses and haven’t yet specified building materials, I started utilizing solar paths to play with different building geometries and gage the effects on shadowing throughout the year. It makes sense to have a southern glass facade for natural lighting, but with a rooftop overhang to mitigate overheating during summer months. Below are 2 different designs with overhangs, with one having an atrium. I then used Solar Analysis to gage PV potential. Both designs have PV paybacks of 15-16 years (for rooftop surface), which is acceptable considering the building lifetime should be considerably longer. I am currently evaluating shorter buildings with a wider footprint (but still same GFA). My next step will be using Insight to compare EUI between these models.

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