Browsing by Subject "Massing"

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Open Access
Impact of building massing on energy efficient school buildings
(Springer, 2020) Afacan, Yasemin; Ranjbar, Ali; Littlewood, J.; Howlett, R. J.; Capozzoli, A.; Jain, L. C.
To produce energy-efficient buildings, optimization process for all design stages is necessary. Optimization starts with the massing of the building. This study investigates the impact of the five school massing typologies on energy efficiency: (i) spine/street; (ii) city/town; (iii) atrium; (iv) strawberry/cluster; and (v) courtyard. The chosen massing typologies respond to the question of what an optimum spatial organization of massing is to (i) maximize the use of renewable resources; (ii) utilize thermal inertia of buildings; and (iii) consider the relationship between inside and outside, both existing and future. For each massing type, Sefaira program was used, and simulations were run for annual energy use, annual energy cost and annual carbon dioxide (CO2)(CO2) emissions. The energy use indices (EUI) of the alternatives are around 86 kWh/m2/yr. In the spine massing, the EUI value is much higher than the other four buildings. The highest annual net CO2CO2 emissions are obtained in atrium type of building, which has more floors compared to other massing type. The courtyard type has the most efficient annual electricity cost per area. These findings showed that the goal of the building massing should be not only limited to achieve the low EUI. Thus, this study suggests that an energy-efficient massing should address the questions beyond well-known ASHRAE standards, and define a new holistic model that considers the ratio of surface area to volume more for reducing energy loads than a typical high-performance schools.
Open Access
Impact of climate zone and orientation angle on the recurring massing school typologies in Turkey
(Springer Singapore, 2022-09-30) Afacan, Yasemin; Littlewood, John R.; Howlett, Robert; Jain, Lakhmi C.
In this study, the impact of different climate zones on same massing typologies of a typical school building with different orientation angles was quantified through building energy simulations of a case building in Turkey. The most schools in Turkey do not comply with the current energy code because they were built prior to the code. Thus, there is a crucial need to investigate their energy efficiency for potential retrofits. The results of the study exemplified how the breakdowns in energy use and carbon emissions would significantly influence design decision-making process of a school. Considering the four climate scenarios, mainly the influence of an orientation angle on energy use intensity (EUI) is higher than its influence on carbon emissions. This study differed from other sustainability researches in terms of defining building massing in schools with an emphasis on environmentally climate responsive school design, which is a holistic approach and comprehensive understanding of high-performance energy efficiency. A climate responsive massing should address the questions beyond well-known standards, and define a new holistic model that uses the optimum orientation, and surface to volume ratio of the building to reduce energy loads and achieve high-performance energy efficiency.