The building site that I have picked is the Stanford Dish. It is already a heavily populated area since there is a walking trail nearby. The site will promote human wellness as visitors can go for a walk before or after visiting the Sustainable Built Environment Learning and Exhibition Center. More specifically, the building will be placed near the top of the hill of the Stanford Dish. This will enable pleasing views and prevent the building from damage from hill sediment and runoff.
Since the building will be placed in a location with minimal shading from nearby trees and other buildings, I explored using overlapping masses to see if that would decrease the EUI. I created three different model types (standard building with a courtyard in the center, stacked blocks integrated into hillside, and stacked L shape masses).
The following shows results for a solar analysis:
Since the different models have different sizes, I unitized PV energy production as kWh/yr of /m2 of PV. This gives:
- Courtyard Model: 306.2 kWh/Yr/m2 of PV
- Stacked Model: 288.9 kWh/Yr/m2 of PV
- Stacked Ls Model: 237.1 kWh/Yr/m2 of PV
I think the first two models would benefit from the use of PVs but the roof of the last model may serve better as a green roof.
An Energy Model was created for all 3 different model types. Using the following parameters, the EUI and Energy Cost Range. This gave:
- Parameters
- Courtyard Model:
- Stacked Model:
- Stacked Ls Model:
While all results were under ASHRAE 90.1, it seems like the last models are the least energy-intensive and costly options. Ultimately due to constructibility, and a great opportunity for both PV solar panels and green roofs, the “Stacked Model” was chosen as the most promising solution. Lastly, it was found that rotating the building 90 degrees would give a better EUI.
