Journal of Iranian Architecture & Urbanism(JIAU)

Extended AbstractBackground and Objectives: Nowadays, one of the main concerns of architects and urban designers is environmental crises and high energy consumption in buildings, especially ... Read More Extended AbstractBackground and Objectives: Nowadays, one of the main concerns of architects and urban designers is environmental crises and high energy consumption in buildings, especially in metropolitan areas (specifically in Tehran city). According to other research conducted on all land uses, residential buildings have higher energy consumption than other building types, which indicates the importance of efficiency and management of energy consumption in residential buildings and shows the significance of providing solutions for this concern. Therefore, academic education in sustainable architecture strategies and principles requires a revision for implementation of these strategies by architects and designers. Since environmental crises are still a marginal field in academic architecture courses, the issue of sustainability has been included in the curriculum as a single course. Regarding the abovementioned issues, this study aims to investigate the position of university education in sustainable architecture in universities and higher education institutions, as well as the effectiveness of residential buildings designed in Tehran city based on sustainability principles.Methods: This research is a kind of applied research. In terms of methodology, it combines descriptive-analytical research and survey research methods. In this research, the researcher describes the real and regular objective characteristics of the study. This research is comprised of two main parts: qualitative and quantitative parts. In the first part, the qualitative part, the theoretical foundations of the research are studied. In order to obtain the desired results in this research, the information is collected through bibliographic studies. Questionnaires were given to twenty students and professors of architecture. In the questionnaire, the position and role of sustainable architecture education in universities were investigated based on three main components (quality of indoor environment, innovation in design, and community). Smartpls2 software was used to determine the validity of the questionnaire, and the Friedman test in Spss software was used to prioritize the data. Cronbach’s alpha coefficient was also used to determine the normality or abnormality of the data.Findings: The priority of the variable components regarding the position of academic education in sustainable architecture was reported in order of importance using the Friedman test. Based on the findings, the order of importance for the component variables is “community”, “design innovation”, and the “indoor quality” components, respectively. Regarding the “community” component, the items of “increasing awareness for young architects and graduates to implement sustainable architectural solutions” and “providing incentive policies by officials and superiors (providing financial facilities)” were the most and least important items. Then, amongst the items of “design innovation” components, “using heating and cooling systems with the least energy consumption” was ranked as the most important item. Finally, regarding the “indoor quality” component, “thermal, visual, psychological, and health comfort” items received the highest scores.Conclusion: Based on the research results, it can be acknowledged that academic education in the field of sustainable architecture has been effective to some extent for the students. The sustainable architecture course introduces the environmental crises and explains the need to use sustainable architecture solutions in buildings. Therefore, effective measures have been taken to use materials compatible with the climate and heating and cooling systems with low energy consumption in the building. However, residential building design and implementing active solutions to reduce energy consumption remain the primary concern. Relying on active solutions for reducing energy consumption in sustainable architecture, such as using revolving windows, photovoltaic panels, etc., must be accentuated. Finally, the quality of the interior environment in the design of residential buildings, which is one of the important criteria of sustainable architecture, was the least considered item in designing sustainable residential buildings. In order to improve the effectiveness of this criterion in residential building design, higher authorities can provide incentive policies and special financial facilities to architects and urban planners to improve the quality of the building environment based on sustainable architectural approaches.

Developing Residential Building Typologies with Thermal Efficiency Approach for Residential Buildings in Babolsar City

Maria Kordjamshidi

Volume 11, Issue 1 , August 2020, , Pages 95-114

https://doi.org/10.30475/isau.2020.131915.0

Abstract

Extended Abstract Regarding the substantial increase of energy consumption in the building sector, it is necessary to consider construction characteristics in the policymaking processes ... Read More Extended Abstract Regarding the substantial increase of energy consumption in the building sector, it is necessary to consider construction characteristics in the policymaking processes in order to improve the building energy efficiency. Basically, it is infeasible to improve the energy efficiency of the building industry based on the energy characteristics of individual buildings. Political strategies are developed based on the study of building typologies following the climatic conditions of each region. There are limited studies on the types of residential buildings, most of which emphasize on architectural concepts and building formation. Lack of research in the field of housing typology in Iran highlights the necessity to develop an approach toward energy-efficient residential buildings. This study aims to recognize the typologies of residential buildings, focusing on the parameters affecting energy consumption, in Babolsar City, which is selected as a city representative of the humid and mild climate in North of Iran. This paper also tries to evaluate and improve the thermal performances of the recognized typologies based on the Iranian National Building Code (Part 19: Energy Efficiency). The methodology is completed into four main sections: 1) Reviewing the literature in order to identify and select the criteria for developing residential building typologies 2) Conducting a survey on a number of residential samples based on the statistics and distribution of residential buildings in Babolsar city 3) Classifying buildings and presenting plan typologies based on statistical and pictorial analyses 4) Investigating the heat transfer coefficient of the recognized typologies and introducing the optimal patterns according to the Iranian National Building Code (Part 19: Energy Efficiency). Using a descriptive-analytical strategy, this research is based on statistical methods of quantitative analysis and simplifies residential building plan concepts. The data are collected on the field by investigating 384 residential buildings constructed in a period between 1963 and 2016 in Babolsr City. Each sample is scrutinized by completing a questionnaire. The questionnaires are created in two parts: 1- the building general information including, the architectural type (apartment or villa), the age of the building, the number of families, the neighborhood type, the building gross area, the number of bedrooms and building type (flat/apartment, attached/ semi-attached); and 2. the construction details including, the physical parameters of the building such as materials, windows/glazing type, overhang size, thermal insulation, indoor space height, area of external surfaces / controlled / uncontrolled spaces, heating and cooling system, and building envelope details. In other words, all required information and parameters affecting the building energy consumption are included. The residential building samples are classified into ten categories based on the number of families, building type, and neighborhood unit. Typologies are divided into two groups of “villa” and “apartment” housing. Each group has four subsets numbered as A, B, C, and D which differs in terms of total plan area and the position of conditioned/ unconditioned zones. In order to determine a typical plan for each category, all possible plan concepts for each group were designed and codified. Then, the plans of all 384 samples were simplified and codified and categorized in their relevant groups. Finally, a group of higher frequency was chosen as the group representing the typical plan. The eight recognized typologies of this research can be used as reference in any research on housing for evaluating and predicting thermal performance, cost, and energy analysis. The analysis of the thermal performance of the building typologies demonstrated that none of the typologies comply with the Iranian National Building Code (Part 19), in terms of conformity with heat transfer coefficient. Adding a 5-cm thermal insulation, with a heat transfer coefficient of λ = 0.041, to the external wall, and also replacing windows with double-glazed ones are necessary to improve their energy efficiency and achieve the minimum requirement of the building code. The results of this study can be used as a basis for further investigations on energy-efficient building design, in order to improve the thermal performance of buildings rather than developing a regional energy efficiency building code for building construction in the mild climate in north of Iran. The presented typologies can be used as a reference for energy auditing, retrofit actions, and refurbishment measurements, and for quantifying the energy-saving potentials of existing buildings. They can be applied to the existing buildings stock to increase energy performance by considering the optimal tradeoff between policymaking and cost. The results are also important for developing and modifying regulations. Further studies are required to make the result of this study applicable to other climatic regions in Iran.

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Keywords = Energy Efficiency

Assessing the impacts of academic education on sustainable architecture (Case study: Residential buildings in Tehran)

Abstract

Developing Residential Building Typologies with Thermal Efficiency Approach for Residential Buildings in Babolsar City

Abstract