Building Envelope Systems

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CJ Price

Linked Student

Journal Entry For

Module 7 - Building Envelope Systems

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Created

Feb 14, 2022 6:40 AM

Last Edited

Feb 14, 2022 11:31 PM

Isometric View from the SE Direction

Isometric View from the NW Direction

Features of the Building Envelope

As shown in the two isometric views above, some of the main features of the building envelope include:

I was able to fit the stairway, elevator, and an extra mechanical room in the small enclosure on the roof, and I am hoping the mechanical room will be large enough to house all the HVAC equipment. This would allow the green roof to cover almost the entire roof (as is currently shown).
I am considering putting solar panels on the west side of the roof as well (inside the west rectangle formed by the pathway). This could be a nice demonstration of sustainable building technology while still allowing plenty of free green space for recreation.
The green roof is contained by a continuous parapet wall all the way around, providing the required 42” of clearance above the vegetation.

Below the green roof is a “Basic Roof - Steel Truss - Insulation on Metal Deck - EPDM”. This roof has an exceptional R-value of 113.

The terrace wraps around most of the south and east faces of the building, meant to provide visitors with a nice outside space to enjoy a view of the lake.

There is a patio on the east side of the building, which is directly outside the cafe dining area. This is meant to serve as outdoor cafe seating.

For the ground level interior floor, I used an 8” concrete slab with 4” of rigid insulation below the slab. This has a total R-value of 17.5.

I tried to alternate the use of solid walls with curtain walls to provide a nice aesthetic effect, while also providing sufficient daylighting to the spaces that needed it.
For the solid walls, I used one wall construction, which was ‘Basic Wall Exterior - Brick on Mtl. Stud”.

With an R-value of 54, this is a high performing wall that I think looks quite nice.

I generally tried to place curtain walls in spaces that need a lot of natural light, like the lobby, dining area, kid zone, open office space, and exhibition centers.
I changed the glazing to a double glazing, 1/4 in thick, low-e/clear, e-0.05 glass.

In the areas that do not have curtain walls, I exclusively used fixed 36” x 72” windows.
I changed the glazing to a double glazing 1/4 in thick, low-e/clear, e-0.05 glass (same as curtain wall).

The second floor terrace provides nice shading for the first floor underneath, but in other areas on the south face, I added horizontal light shelves.
I sized these shelves using the sun path & shadows features in Revit, making sure the windows will be shaded during the hottest times of the year.
For the fixed windows (seen below), I put the light shelves 1 foot below the top of the window, hoping that some light would bounce off the top of the light shelf and reflect up into the room, providing some nice diffuse daylight.

On the east and west sides, I still added horizontal light shelves, but I also included vertical fins to help block more of the sun.

No light shelves were included on the north face because it does not get much direct sunlight.

Building Performance

After adjusting the settings according to the Canvas videos, my baseline scenario already has an EUI value well below the ASHRAE 90.1 standard. Good news!Adjusting the rest to current BIM conditions and adding occupancy and daylighting controls

Adjusting the rest to current BIM conditions and adding daylighting and occupancy controls

The EUI dropped to 35.8, which nearly reaches my minimum reduction target of 40% of the ASHRAE baseline.

I narrowed the ranges of panel efficiency, payback limit, and surface coverage to exclude the lowest value in each of these categories. My new EUI is 10.4, which is 18% of the ASHRAE baseline. Definitely encouraging!

Building Envelope Systems - CJ Price