open house 4 vol.37 no.4.pdf · dr. mahmud mohd jusan, faculty of built environment, universiti...
TRANSCRIPT
Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Turkey and at Development Planning Unit, University College London, 34, Tavistock Square, London WC1H 9EZ, Great Britain
openhouseinternational
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A d a p t a t i o n
C l i m a t e C h a n g e
E n e r g y C o n s u m p t i o n
F u t u r e T r e n d s
G r e e n B u i l d i n g
H e a t W a v e s
S o c i a l H o u s i n g
T h e r m a l C o m f o r t
A D A P T I N G B U I L D I N G ST O C L I M A T E C H A N G E
T H E M E I S S U E :
Guest Editors:
Dr Monjur Mourshed, Building Energy Research Group,Loughborough University, UK. Prof Fuad H. Mallick, Department of Architecture,BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
In this issue:Abdul-Rashid Abdul Aziz, Adebamowo, Bennetts, Ilesanmi, Mallick, Marsh, Mourshed, Ofori, Pullen, Price, Rasmussen, Roders, Shikder, Straub, Visscher, Zillante.
open house internationalVol 37 No.4 2012 ISSN 0168-2601
a C I B e n c o u r a g e d j o u r n a l
T h o m s o n I S I A r t s & H u m a n i t i e s
E B S C O p u b l i s h i n g
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m E l s e v i e r S c o p u s
Director & Editor-in-Chief
Nicholas Wilkinson, RIBA, Eastern
Mediterranean University, Northern Cyprus.
DPU Associate, University College London,
BOARD OF EDITORS
Collaborating Editor
Dr. Ashraf M. Salama,
Department of Architecture & Urban
Planning, Qatar University, Qatar.
The journal of an association of institutes concerned with the quality of built environment.The publishing framework is shaped around the forces which act on built environment,which maintain, change and transform it. The content consists of articles which deal withthese issues and in particular with responsive, self-sustaining and re-usable environ-ments which have the capacity to respond to change, provide user choice and value formoney.
w w w . o p e n h o u s e - i n t . c o m openhouse
openhouse
Dr.Iftekhar Ahmed, RMIT University,Australia.
Dr. Zainab F. Ali, BRAC University, Dhaka,Bangladesh.
Dr. Robert Brown, University ofWestminster, London, Great Britain.
Prof.Marta Calzolaretti, Housing Lab,Sapienza Universita di Roma, Italy.
Dr. German T. Cruz, Ball State UniversityMuncie, USA.
Carla Corbin, Department of LandscapeArchitecture, Ball State University, USA.
Ype Cuperus, Delft University of TechnologyDelft, The Netherlands.
Dr. Ayona Datta, London School ofEconomics, UK.
Dr.Md Nasir Daud, University of Malaya,Malaysia.
Forbes Davidson, Institute of Housing &Urban Development Studies, Rotterdam, TheNetherlands.
Diane Diacon, Building and Social HousingFoundation, Coalville, Great Britain.
Prof. Yurdanur Dulgeroglu-Yuksel,Istanbul Technical University, Istanbul,Turkey.
Dr. Bruce Frankel, Ball State UniversityMuncie, USA.
Prof. Avi Friedman, McGill University,Montreal, Canada.
Catalina Gandelsonas, University ofWestmister London, Great Britain.
Dr. Ahmed Abu Al Haija, PhiladelphiaUniversity, Engineering & ArchitectureDepartment, Jordan.
Prof. Keith Hilton, Mansle, France.
Dr. Karim Hadjri, Queens University,Belfast, UK.
Prof. Nabeel Hamdi, Professor Emeritus,Oxford Brookes University, UK.
Dr. Sebnem Önal Hoskara, EasternMediterranean University, Northern Cyprus.
Prof Anthony D C Hyland,Consultant in Architectural Conservationand Heritage Management,Durham, UK
Dr. Mahmud Mohd Jusan, Faculty of Built Environment, UniversitiTeknologi Malaysia (UTM).
Ripin Kalra, University of Westminster, and .(WSPimc), London.
Dr. Stephen Kendall, Ball StateUniversity Muncie, Indiana, USA.
Prof. Bob Koester, Ball State UniversityMuncie, USA.
Prof. Roderick J. Lawrence, University ofGeneva, Geneva, Switzerland.
Dr. Fuad Mallick, BRAC University,Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Prof. Andrea Martin-Chavez, UniversidadAutonoma Metropolitana, Mexico.
Dr. Magda Mostafa, Associate Professor,The American University in Cairo, Egypt
Babar Mumtaz, DPU, University CollegeLondon, London, UK.
Geoffery Payne, GPA Associates London,Great Britain.
Dr. Sule Tasli Pektas, Bilkent University,Turkey.
Prof. Gulsun Saglamer, Istanbul TechnicalUniversity, Istanbul, Turkey.
Dr. Mark Napier, Urban LandMark, Pretoria,South Africa.
Dr. Masa Noguchi, MEARU, Mackintosh
School of Architecture, UK.
Prof. Ibrahim Numan, Fatih Sultan Mehmet
University, Turkey.
Dr. Yara Salifi, Arch. Jerusalem, Palestine.
Prof. Paola Somma, University of Venice,
Italy.
Prof. Jia Beisi, University of Hong Kong.
Dr. Peter Kellett, University of Newcastle
upon Tyne, Great Britain.
Dr. Omar Khattab, University of Kuwait.
Dr. Levente Mályusz, Budapest University
of Technology and Economics (BME),
Hungary.
Prof. Amos Rapoport, University of
Wisconsin at Milwaukee, USA.
Prof. Seiji Sawada, Meiji University, Tokyo,
Japan.
Dr. Florian Steinberg, Asian Development
Bank, The Philippines.
Dr. Inga-Britt Werner, The Royal Institute of
Technology Stockholm, Sweden.
Prof. H. J Visscher, OTB, Delft Univertsity of
Technology, Delft, The Netherlands.
Patrick Wakely, Professor Emeritus,
University College London, UK.
Dr. Christine Wamsler, University of
Manchester, UK and University of Lund,
Sweden.
: Yonca Hurol, Eastern Mediterranean University, Mersin 10, Turkey.: Esra Can, Emre Akbil, Eastern Mediterranean University Mersin 10 - Turkey. [email protected]: C. Punton, P.O Box 74, Gateshead,Tyne & Wear, NE9 5UZ, Great Britain. [email protected]: The Urban International Press, P.O Box 74, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear NE9 5UZ, Great Britain.: Printed by Eastern Mediterranean University Print House, Gazimagusa, Mersin 10, Turkey: By courtesy of Rob Marsh inThe Paradox of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation in Da-nish Housing,
Figure2 Page 20.: Emmanuel Tibung Chenyi, Eastern Mediteranian University, Mersin 10, Turkey. [email protected]
Technical EditingCover DesignSubscriptionsPublished byPrintingCover Image
Web Manager &DTP Work
Aims
Open House International
The Open House International Association (OHIA) aims
to communicate, disseminate and exchange housing and
planning information. The focus of this exchange is on
tools, methods and processes which enable the various
professional disciplines to understand the dynamics of
housing and so contribute more effectively to it.
To achieve its aims, the OHIA organizes and co-ordi-
nates a number of activities which include the publication
of a quarterly journal, and, in the near future, an interna-
tional seminar and an annual competition. The
Association has the more general aim of seeking to
improve the quality of built environment through encour-
aging a greater sharing of decision-making by ordinary
people and to help develop the necessary institutional
frameworks which will support the local initiatives of peo-
ple in the building process.
The journal of an association of institutes and individuals
concerned with housing, design and development in the
built environment. Theories, tools and practice with spe-
cial emphasis on the local scale.
Delft University of TechnologyDepartment of Housing Quality and Process Innovation OTB
Research Institute of Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies
Jaffalaan 9, 2628 BX Delft, The Netherlands
(Henk Visscher)[email protected]
www.otb.tudelft.nl
The Royal Institute of Technology (KTH)Division of Urban and Regional Studies, School of Architecture
& the Built Environment, SE-10044 Stockholm, Sweden.
(Inga-Britt Werner) [email protected]
www.infra.kth.se/BBA
McGill UniversitySchool of Architecture
Macdonald Harrington Building
Centre for Minimum Cost Housing Studies,
815, Sherbrook Street West.
Montreal, PQ. Canada H3A 2K6.
(Avi Friedman)[email protected]
www.homes.mcgill.ca
Ball State UniversityCollege of Architecture & Planning, Muncie, Indiana, 47306,
USA. (Stephen Kendall)[email protected]
www.bsu.edu/cap
The Development Planning UnitUniversity College London.
34, Tavistock Square
London WC1H 9EZ.
(Caren Levy)[email protected]
www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu
HousingLabDipartimento di Architettura
Ateneo Federato delle Scienze Umane delle Arti e
dell'Ambiente, SAPIENZA Università di Roma, Roma, Italy.
(Marta Calzolaretti)[email protected]
http:w3.uniroma1.it/housinglab
The Glasgow School of ArtMackintosh School of Archirecture
MEARU, 176 Renfrew Street
Glasgow G3 6RQ. Great Britain
(Masa Noguchi) [email protected]
www.gsa.ac.uk
Budapest University of Technology & Econ. (BME)Faculty of Architecture Budapest, Muegyetem rkp. 3.
1111 Hungary
(Levente Malyusz) [email protected]
www.bme.hu
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)Resource Development Division
Perpustakaan Sultanah Zanariah
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
81310 Skudai Johor, Malaysia
(Anuar Talib) [email protected]
http://portal.psz.utm.my/psz/
Philadelphia University,Engineering & Architecture Department,
Faculty of Engineering, P.O Box 1, Jordan.
(Ahmed Abu Al-Haija) [email protected]
www.philadelphia.edu.jo/content/view/448/590/
University of Malaya,Faculty of Built Environment,
50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
(Md Nasir Daud) [email protected]
http://www.fbe.um.edu.my
Ajman University of Science & TechnologyAjman, P. O. Box 346 United Arab Emirates
(Jihad Awad) [email protected]
http://www.ajman.ac.ae/austweb/index87ec.html?catid=46&lan
gid=2
Qatar UniversityQatar University Library, Aquisitons Department,
P.O Box 2713, Doha, Qatar
(Amrita Mckinney) [email protected]
www.qu.edu.qa
BRAC University,Department of Architecture, Dhaka, Bangladesh,
(Fuad H Mallick) [email protected]
www.bracu.ac.bd
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Contents
INTERVIEW
EDITORIAL: Fuad H. Mallick, Monjur Mourshed
THE PARADOX OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION IN DANISH HOUSING
Rob Marsh
DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR HOUSES SUBJECT TO HEATWAVESHelen Bennetts, Stephen Pullen, George Zillante
GENESIS OF MALAYSIA’S POLICY RELATING TO SUSTAINABILITY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz, George Ofori
SUMMERTIME IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ONMULTI-OCCUPANCY BRITISH DWELLINGS.
Shariful Shikder, Monjur Mourshed, Andrew Price
AWARENESS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATIONS AMONG DUTCH HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS
Martin Roders, Ad Straub, Henk Visscher
STUDY OF BUILDING ADAPTATION IN WARM HUMID CLIMATE IN NIGERIA
Mike Adebamowo (Ph.D), Adetokunbo O. Ilesanmi (Ph.D)
A STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR EXISTING BUILDINGSTO WITHSTAND CLIMATE CHANGE
T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen
BOOK REVIEW
Open House International has been selected for coverage by EBSCO Publishing, the ELSEVIER Bibliographic Database Scopus and all prod-ucts of THOMSON ISI index bases, SSCI, A&HCI,CC/S&BS and CC/A&H The journal is also listed on the following Architectural index lists:RIBA, ARCLIB, AVERY and EKISTICS. Open House International is online for subscribers and gives limited access for non-subscribers atwww.openhouse-int.com
NEXT ISSUE: Vol 38.No .1 2013: BUILT ENVIRONMENTS FOR SPECIAL POPULATIONS.Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Magda Mostafa, Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering, The American University inCairo, Egypt. Subjects include: Disabled Person, New Digital Tools, Mass Customisation, Campus Environments, Natural Disaster Free,Tactile Surface, User Participation, Autism, The Elderly. Email: [email protected]
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open house in te rnat iona l december 2012 vo l .37 no.4 Theme Issue: ‘Adapting Buildings to Climate Change’ Subjects include: Heat Waves, House Design, Green Building, Climate Change. Adaptation,thermal comfort, Energy consumption.Guest Editors: Prof. Fuad H. Mallick, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh. Email: [email protected] andDr Monjur Mourshed, Building Energy Research Group, Loughborough University, UK. Email: [email protected]
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Previous Issues
Editorial: Rethinking UrbanDiversity. Ashraf M. Salama and Alain ThiersteinDiversity as a Unique Constellation of Superimposing Network logics Alain Thierstein and Anne WiesePublic Space Networks as a Support for Urban Diversity Ana Júlia Pinto andAntoni RemesarA Perceptual Approach for Investigating Urban Space Diversity in the City ofDoha. Ashraf M. Salama and Remah Y. GharibCultural and Economic Influences on Multicultural Cities: The Case ofDoha, Qatar. Yasser Mahgoub and Reham A. QawasmehDiversity In The Public Space Of A Traditional City - Zaria, Nigeria. Shaibu B. GarbaUrban Space Diversity In South Africa: Medium Density MixedDevelopments. Karina LandmanDiversity In Conviviality:Beirut’s Temporary Public Spaces. Christine MadyA Tale Of Two Souqs: The Paradox Of Gulf Urban Diversity. Ali A. AlraoufThe (Im)-Possible Mosque; Spatial Mutation And Identity Needs In NorthernIreland. Fodil FadliThe Impact Of Digitalization On Social Interaction And Public Space. Susan j. Drucker and Gary Gumpert
Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.DPU Associate, University College London, [email protected]
Guest Editor: : Prof. Dr. Ashraf Salama, Departmentof Architecture and Urban Planning, College ofEngineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar. e-mail: [email protected]
Editorial: Nicholas WilkinsonDesign Principles of Narrow Townhouse; For Affordability and Adaptability.Avi Friedman and Robyn WhitwhamFlexible Building and Construction Systems in Traditional Korean Architecture.Kim Sung-Hwa and JIA BeisiUrban Squatting in Latin America: Relevance of ‘Guided Occupancy’. Belén Gesto, Guillermo Gómez, Julián SalasThe Challenge of Complexity and Creativity Factor in Architectural Design. Saim NalkayaFlexibility in Hong Kong Private Housing. T. H. Khan and T. K. DharConnecting up Capacities: Integrated Design for Energy-Efficient Housing in Chile. Rodrigo G. Alvarado, Underlea M. Bruscato, Maureen T. Kelly, FlavioC. D'Amico, Olavo E. OyolaAbandoned Housing Project: Assessment on Resident Satisfaction toward Building Quality. Zamharira Sulaiman, Azlan Shah Ali, Faizah AhmadThe Impact of Passive Design On Building Thermal Performance. Emad S. Mushtaha, Taro Mori, Enai Masamichi
Vol. 37 No. 3 2012
open house international
OPEN ISSUE:
Vol. 37 No. 2 2012
open house international
Theme Issue:URBAN SPACE DIVERSITY, Paradoxes and
Realities.
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Previous Issues
Vol. 37 No. 1 2012open house international
OPEN ISSUE:
EditorialNicholas Wilkinson
Future Direction Of Sustainable Buildings In Japan- Tetsuya Saigo, Seiji Sawada & Yositika Utida
Flexibility Of Traditional Buildings And Craftsmanship In China- Jia Beisi & Jiang Yingying
Applying Eco-Features Of Traditional Vietnamese Houses To ContemporaryHigh-Rise Housing- Le Thi Hong Na & Jin-Ho Park
Virtual Prototyping For Open Building Design- Şule Taşlı Pektaş & Bülent Özgüç
Similarities And Differences Between Contemporary Turkish Houses And ThoseWorldwide- Şengül Öymen Gür & Şengül Yalçınkaya Erol
New Trends In The Dutch Housing Market- Peter Boelhouwer & Joris Hoekstra
The Bedouin Tent In Comparison With UAE Housing Provision-Ali Al Amaireh
Child -Friendly Urban Environment And Playgrounds In Warsaw- Anna Pawlikowska-Piechotka
Environmental And Social Issues In Jordanian Low-Income Housing Design-Ahmed Abu Al Haija
Book Review- Jia Beisi.
Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
DPU Associate, University College London, [email protected]
Edited by Nicholas Wilkinson RIBA, Eastern Mediterranean University, North Cyprus.
DPU Associate, University College London, [email protected]
EditorialNicholas Wilkinson
The validity of previ, lima, peru, forty years on Julián Salas (CSIC-IETCC),Patricia Lucas (CSIC-IETCC)
Examining the potential for mass customization of housing in Malaysia Md. Nasir Daud, Hasniyati Hamzah and Yasmin Mohd Adnan
Comparison of post-disaster housing procurement methods in rural areas ofTurkey Neşe Dikmen, Soofia Tahira Elias Ozkan, Colin Davidson
Remodeling of the vernacular in Bukchon Hanoks Jieheerah Yun
A ‘fareej-in-the-sky’: Towards a community-oriented design for high rise resi-dential buildings in the UAE Khaled Galal Ahmed
Environments of change: An open building approach towards a design solutionfor an informal settlement in Mamelodi, South Africa Donovan Gottsmann,
Amira OsmanAlienation of traditional habitats & shelters in Jordanian villages
Ahmed Abu Al HaijaA reading in critical regionalism: analysis of two houses by Han Tumertekin
Hilal Aycı & Esin Boyacıoğlu
Vol. 36 No. 4 2011
open house international
OPEN ISSUE:
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Next Issue Vol.38 No.1 2013
BUILT ENVIRONMENTS FOR SPECIAL POPULATIONS
Guest Editor:
Prof. Dr. Magda Mostafa, Department of Construction and Architectural Engineering, The American University in
Cairo, Egypt. E Mail: [email protected]
ABSTRACTArchitecture, at its very essence, is the process of providing physical space and place for human activity. Primarily
concerned with responding to the specific needs of users and their societies, the built environment plays a tremendo-
us role in shaping and facilitating the everyday world we live in. Although being inextricably concerned with this man-
environment dynamic, architecture however seems to limit its mainstream practices, education and standards to the
conventional spectrum of “normal”. This leaves numerous user groups and victims of social circumstances largely
excluded from the luxury of an architecture that deems itself specifically to serve them.
Such exclusion from the mainstream spectrum may be due to unique spatial needs and requirements of spe-
cific groups, or social phenomena which arise from particular transient or non-transient socio-political circumstances.
Such marginalized groups include, but are not necessarily limited to, individuals with special needs and disabilities-
particularly developmental disabilities with non-physical manifestations; displaced persons due to natural or socio-
political circumstances such as refugees and the homeless; minority groups; the elderly; the poverty stricken; victims
of natural disaster etc.
By encouraging research in this area we may create a much needed body of information and a number of
methodologies and policies required to address the architectural and urban needs of such special populations. In this
issue of Open House International authors are encouraged to submit research that helps bridge this informational
gap through evidence based design research, case studies, policy evaluation and other forms of scientific research
that address the relationship between special populations and their existing, and required, built environments.
CONTENTS
Editorial.
Confronting Architect’s View with the Experience of Disabled Persons.Ann Heylighen, K.U.Leuven, Kasteelpark, Arenburg, Belgium
A Computer Based System for Mass Customization of Prefabricated Housing,Bassem Eid, McGill University, School of Architecture, Montreal, Canada.
Towards Inclusive Campus Environments: Evidence-Based Research of a University Campus in Turkey. Evrim Demir
Effectiveness of Tactile Surface, Indicators in “Design for All” Contexts.Halime Demirkan
Exploring Physical & Psychological Needs of the Turkish Elderly for Inclusive Urban Environments.Yasemin Afacan
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I personally met architect N. John Habraken inBoston when I attended the “Architecture in thefourth Dimension Congress”, 2011. I do not knowif I was more impressed with his generosity talkingto everyone who came to him or with his wisdomexpressing ideas and criticisms on contemporaryarchitecture. Those days in Boston were productivebut also exciting especially when researchers fromthe Open Building movement deservedly honoredHabraken for his unquestionable contributions inthe field of architecture - an unforgettable eventorganized by Prof. Stephen Kendall from Ball StateUniversity, USA.
N. John Habraken, a Dutch citizen, wasborn in Bandung, Indonesia in 1928. He is one ofthe most controversial architects of his generationessentially concerned to the redefinition of the roleof the architect. His book, entitled 'Supports, anAlternative to Mass Housing', was first published in1962, (English edition 1972), in which he propos-es the separation of 'support' from 'infill' in residen-tial construction and design: the support to bedesigned by the architect and the infill to be deter-mined by the individual occupant.
Since 2008, John Habraken and I havebeen exchanging ideas, and thoughts about hisSupport’s theory and how the Brazilian architectscould approach it if they are interested to be anactive agent in the design processes of a city, butaligned with dwellers and all the other agents. Thisis the universe to be shared here.
Suppor t s ’ theo ry
Q.1) Your Supports’ theory has been seen as abreakthrough in architectural practice, beginningfrom a critique of the mass production and of theexclusion of the user in the decision-makingprocesses about housing. Although the debate hasbeen provoked in the 1960s, we still have somecountries, such as Brazil, implementing social hous-ing programs strongly associated with the construc-tion sector, where a typologically rigid, generic andrepetitive unit house is presented as a product to bepurchased, not as a process to be built and trans-formed along time. Also, far away from havingshared productive processes between thoseinvolved. What are the real possibilities of trans-forming this scenario considering that the architects,inserted into the knowledge field of architecture,appear to be prisoners of the force mechanismsimposed by the building industry and the publicpower?
Ans. I do not think the situation in Brazil isbasically different from that in other countries. This
Interview
N. J. Habraken Photographer: Martin Hogeboom Source:N. J. Habraken
Denise Morado Nascimento
Abstract
Interview with Dutch architect N. John Habraken; his Supports’ theory is made explicit aligned with the approach of theOpen Building movement. It aims to understand it in order to make it possible into the context of Brazilian contempo-rary architecture.
N. J. HABRAKEN ExPLAINS THE POTENTIAL Of THEOPEN BUILDING APPROACH IN ARCHITECTURALPRACTICE
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question is so general and also so basic that agood answer is only possible at the end of this inter-view, when various concepts and mechanisms havebeen discussed in some depth. But I can indicate afew principal issues that may point to more detaileddiscussion later.
The supports proposal is to re-introducethe inhabitant to the professional and political deci-sion making process wherever he/she is excluded.This is important not only for the inhabitant but alsofor the quality of the built environment as a livingand autonomous entity.
This is, in itself, not a technical or architec-tural question, but one of a shift in control amongthe players. To introduce the inhabitant in thegame, all players must change their ways. Peopleare always reluctant to give away control.Moreover, adopting a new way of working is alwaysdifficult at best. People do not know how to workin the new situation, which makes them feel inse-cure.
There are, of course, many instances wherethe user is already recognized as a decision makingagent. for instance large commercial office build-ings offer empty floor space to be fitted out byoccupant companies who hire their own architect.Shopping malls offer empty space to retailers totake care of their own interior design. In suburbiathe free standing house owned by the occupant canchange. Owners of apartment buildings willchange their dwelling over time one way or anoth-er. In the informal sector people build their own.
But even in those examples, professionalsstill do not see the potential of this approach fornew technology and a different architecture.Neither see those who pursue a more sustainableenvironment that a bottom up process in whichoccupants can take initiative is the major conditionfor their success.
It is true that architects do not have powerbut must serve their clients. But if they would see thepotential of this basic idea, they could explain totheir clients and other professionals the commercialand ecological advantages of it.
Q.2) In order to initiate a deeper discussion aboutthe mechanisms and concepts presented by theSupports’ theory, you could start explaining how youpropose the resident reintroduction in the decision-making processes related to housing and urbanspace.
Ans. I have no particular proposal to makeon how professionals must act to re-arrange thedistribution of control of built environment that isnecessary to make built environment healthy andlong living. That would be presumptious. Onlypractitioners who understand the local situation cando so in a realistic way.
Take, for instance, the recent “long lifehousing act” passed by the parliament in Japanwhich rewards technical adaptability for reasons ofsustainability. The idea of such a law had nevercrossed my mind. But it was inspired by the impres-sive record of Open Building projects done in thatcountry over several decades. The new law’s pur-pose was durability of housing stock but the resultis also a way of working that enables individualadaptation of dwellings to user preferences.
for another example: The economicadvantages of Open Building have been Studiedfirst by Karel Dekker, building management consul-tant who could initiate them in practice as memberof the board of a housing corporation in the Dutchtown of Voorburg in the eighties. More recentlyfrank Bijdendijk as director of a Amsterdam hous-ing corporation initiated a path breaking pro-ject based on his understanding that user adapt-ability makes possible long term investment for thebase building which, in turn, allows a higher initialinvestment for a higher quality architecture.
In these examples as well as others, we seeprofessionals applying their expertise to real worldsituations that they understand thoroughly, whichgives their initiatives credibility. In the last decadeor so, virtually all new Open Building projects wereinitiated or supported by people in practice forcommercial reasons. Those are the kind of exam-ples that can have an impact on things. In turn, theexplanations of the people in practice on what theydid contribute to our theoretical understanding ofthe issue. It is this exchange between research, the-ory, and practice that is only beginning and must bestimulated.
So the short answer to your questionis: Inform practitioners about the potential of theOpen Building approach in practice and informresearchers about what happens in practice. Thatmutual information is the best stimulation for inno-vation and change.
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Q.3) Perhaps you could explain to us the similaritiesand differences between the Open Buildingapproach and your Supports proposal, if there isany.
Ans. The Open Building approach is close-ly linked to the initial idea of separation of Supportand Infill as promoted and researched by SAR, theDutch foundation for Architect’s Research, found-ed in 1965. It is now identified as a internationalnetwork of academics and practitioners with arather informal agenda that can perhaps best bedescribed as pursuing a number of related ideas:
* The idea of distinct levels of Intervention in thebuilt environment, such as represented by ‘suport’and ‘infill’ and urban design and architecture.
*The idea that users/ inhabitants may make designdecisions as well.
* The idea that designing is a process with multipleparticipants also including, but not limited to, dif-ferent kinds of professionals.
* The idea that the interface between technical sys-tems must allow the replacement of one system withanother performing the same function, with mini-mum disturbance of other systems.
* The idea that built environment is in constanttransformation and that change must be recog-nized and studied.
The term Open Building has a history that can besummarized as follows.
In the eighties of last century, a group ofindividuals in the Netherlands, who subscribed tothe SAR research effort but were eager to get prac-
tical results, founded another not-for-profit organi-zation with the specific intention to implement inpractice the results of the SAR research. This groupcalled itself the Open Building foundation and wasbased in Delft Technical University. Eventually bothSAR and the OB group had increasing internation-al contacts with academics and practitioners. Thisnetwork was eventually formalized as a Task Groupof the CIB, a world wide “International Congress ofBuilding” founded in 1953 to encourage researchin the building industry. (CIB or “CongressInternational de Batiment” was a french initiativethat presently has thousands of building researchinstitutes as members. Its headquarters are nowlocated in Rotterdam). The CIB Open Builldingtask group TG26 was founded in 1996 in Tokyoand as the network grew over time, it convened ina different country every year. In the year 2000 thetask group was given a more permanent status asthe Commission W104 for Open BuildingImplementation. Presently, the three joint coordina-tors of the commission are: Stephen Kendal, prof.at Ball State University USA; Beisi Jia, Assoc. prof.at Hong Kong University, Hong Kong; and ShinMurakami, prof. at Sugiyama Jogakuen University,Nagoya, Japan. The 2011 conference was inBoston, USA and this year the network will meet inNovember in Beijing, China.
Q.4) It may be difficult for architects to think aboutdistributing control considering not only our educa-tional formation and cultural heritage but also ourworking tools.
Ans. Many find it indeed difficult to thinkabout it. But nevertheless, in practice, the distribu-tion of design control is a common fact. No practi-tioner could survive without dealing with it. Tobegin with, there are the constraints put forward byhigher level decisions already taken by otherdesigners. for instance in case of the urban design-er who offers a spatial framework for architects toact in. Then there are rules on patterns imposed bylocal authorities like, for instance, building height,and set-back rules or the use of certain materialsand colors. In addition, when the user is notinvolved, the client will interpret what the user wantsand impose a functional program that may be evenmore restrictive. finally, in a large design office,teams of designers are assigned to take care of abig job. Somehow tasks must be distributed. In thatgame, outside consultants for such things as struc-tural design or heating and ventilation are expect-ed to add their own design decisions.
Supports (English edition 1972).Source: N. J. Habraken.
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The difficulty in our profession is that wenever consider these constraints and relations aspart of the design job. We cling to the ideal of unre-stricted freedom in design decisions; an ideologythat wants us to believe that freedom is the primecondition for good architecture while, of course,real creativity is triggered by the challenge of con-straints. As a result, we do not have any theoriesabout how design relationships can best be orga-nized, how tasks can be distributed that guaranteeefficient interaction and minimum friction. We haveno explicit methods that help us to decide whereone party should take over from another party, orhow common principles can be adopted for allinvolved. It is truly amazing to be part of a profes-sion that does not study its own ways of workingand denies the need for cooperation and designdistribution. Education too is in full denial of thisreality. The things mentioned above are seldom ifever discussed in schools, let alone being includedin the curriculum.
If cooperation and distribution of designtasks would be a explicit skill in the profession, theintroduction of the inhabitant in the process wouldnot be a big deal. We would be able to rationallydiscuss how this could best be done. If, therefore,when we propose user involvement, this issuecomes up as a problem, it is not because the prob-lem is new, but because it can no longer be denied.
Q.5) Although you have stated you do not have aproposal on how architects should act, how do youunderstand the work of multiple participants and dif-ferent kind of professionals in the design process?
Ans. In my book “The Structure of theOrdinary. form and Control in the built environ-ment” I have tried to answer that question. The wayI have approached the topic is not to talk aboutwhat professionals must do, but to explain how builtenvironment is a complex physical entity with itsown properties that define the kinds of control wecan exercise. Thus our freedom to act is defined bythe environmental elements we manipulate. If weunderstand the organization of those elements, our
Interior of the empty IJburg solid, Designed by DitmarEberle Baumschlager Eberle, architects. Source: N.J.Habraken.
Solid in Amsterdam West, Designed by Tony Fretton.
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toacts will be most effective. When we play a gameof chess we can move the pieces as we see fit; wecan act as a free player as long as we do so withinthe rules of control attached to those pieces. In thebuilt environment we can distinguish three “Orders”within which we operate.
The first is the “Physical Order” which isgoverned by gravity and the properties of materials.It encompasses decisions about how things are puttogether. Like with all physically complex things innature as well as in human artefacts, that order ishierarchically ordered. There are “Levels ofIntervention”, that is to say physical organizationsthat contain one another in the way , for instance,the urban spatial organization contains the build-ings in it and the way buildings contain fit-out sys-tems and furniture configurations.
The second is the “Territorial Order “whichis about control of space: it is about deciding whoand what can go in or out the spaces we build. Thisis also a hierarchical organization in the way oneterritory contains other included territories. forinstance how a neighborhood contains privatehomes and gardens, and houses contain privaterooms controlled by inhabitants.
finally, there is the “Order ofUnderstanding” ( understanding in the sense ofagreed upon ways of working ) in which we decidewhat preferences we have in common. This iswhere we come to speak about styles, patterns,types of buildings, and systems we work with.
When we design, we operate in all threeorders simultaneously, but in each order we relateto other parties in a particular way: parties thatoperate on higher or lower physical levels than wedo, parties that control territories we operate in orwho operate in the spaces we control, and partieswith whom we share preferences that define ourculture.
If we could share an understanding of thebuilt environment in the way of control as summa-rized above, we would find it much easier to dealwith the distribution of control that shapes it.
Q.6) I understand you do not use the word partici-pation in Supports proposal. In this case, what arethe mechanisms or instruments that effectively pro-mote and/or ensure the real involvement of resi-dents in the decision-making processes?
Ans. I prefer not to use the term “participa-tion” because it usually means that professionals
are willing to listen to would-be inhabitants, but inthe end will make all decisions. “Decision makingpower”, on the other hand, means that profession-als do not make certain decisions but seek to pro-vide a context in which those decisions can bemade by inhabitants. This means a shift in the wayprofessionals organize themselves, which, in turn,implies new ways of working in design, financing,management, and technology. They are the subjectof both practice in the real world and study in thecontext of the Open Building Network. Where doyou want me to start?
Q.7) Within these 'new ways of working' an impor-tant concept is implied. Shared decision-makingprocesses must recognize non-scientific knowledge(essentially from dwellers) to be recognized as ameaningful component added up to the scientificknowledge. Has the Open Building movement actu-ally increased in such issue?
Ans. This question may have intellectualand academic interest but we do not need the dis-tinction between knowledges to implement theSupport Infill approach. We are not talking aboutshared decision-making but about separating deci-sion making. About not telling people what to do,but accept them as legitimate parties to relate to. AsJohn Turner has demonstrated in his writings, peo-ple who take responsibility over their own environ-ment are perfectly able to tell professionals whatthey want. That discussion is about concrete thingslike physical elements, utility services, and territorialboundaries, that everybody understands. I wouldargue that everybody understands environmentalknowledge. It is not abstract.
P ro jec t s
Q.8) Perhaps we should go deeper on what OBwants to do and what has been done both in termsof projects and in terms of ways of working.
Ans. Let me first talk about projects thathave been done. There are two sources one canturn to for executed OB projects. In 1999 already,the book titled “Residential Open Building” byStephen Kendall and Jonathan Teicher lists some93 executed projects of which some twenty are dis-cussed in more detail. (ISBN 0-419-23830-1, E &fN Spon, London, New York) Presently the web-site composed by Jia beisi, one of the coordinatorsof the OB network, adds a large number of morerecent projects while also listing some earliere ones
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of particular note.
http://open-building.org/archives/booklet2_small.pdf
In his overview a short graph is added to each pro-ject stating which of a number of characteristics ofOB projects are found in it.
Neither of the two lists mentioned aboveare exhaustive. In what follows I will mention fiveprojects that each added important new insights toour understanding of the potential of the OBapproach.
The so-called MOLENVLIET project in theDutch town of Papendrecht comprises some onehundred dwelling units for rent. It was completed in1977 and was the first project in the Netherlandswhere dwellers of subsidized rental units couldselect the size and location of their unit and wereallowed to do the internal fit-out themselves, aidedby the not-for-profit housing corporation. Mostimportantly, the architect, frans van der Werf decid-ed that a support structure - because it did notdefine the dwelling units themselves - could beapplied on a large scale and, as such, make for anurban fabric in which public open spaces wereshaped. He designed a fabric of courtyards someof which were accessed from a street and gaveaccess to the units in the four floor structure whileothers served as garden space for the units aroundit. This ingenious urban layout produced a very spe-cific and architecturally attractive urban environ-ment. It also allowed for a single structural principleto be built continuously and efficiently on a urbanscale, without producing deadening repetition oruniformity because the courtyards could all be dif-ferent in size and the dwelling units also were indi-vidually diffferent and could express their individu-ality by shaping their own facades from predeter-mined elements and selected colors. The capacityof a support structure principle to shape a urbanfabric is still new to professional thinking and afterall these years the Molenvliet project is still a pathbreaking concept still receiving visitors from othercountries.
The potential of a support structure as anaddition to the urban field was worked out in a dif-ferent way in the year 1994 in the NExT21 projectin Osaka, Japan. This was an initiative of OsakaGas Commpany who asked prof. Yositika Utida toexplore the housing of the future with a team of col-laborators who all had previous experience inOpen Building in Japan. The project comprises abuilding block in a extant part of Osaka city. Utida
declared that he did not want to do a building butdo “three dimensional urban design”. The structureis U shaped around a garden courtyard and has apublic path going up five floors to end at anotherpublic roof garden. One of the major innovationsin this project is the fact that Utida, true to his con-cept of three dimensional urban design, invitedother architects to design the interior units of verydifferent sizes. This decision continued the tradi-tional relation between urban designer and archi-tect in a entirely new physical organization. It alsodemonstrated correctly that the separation of sup-port structure and fit-out need not mean that usershad to build with their own hands or design theirown units, but would act as clients to professionaldesigners.
The distinction between the responsibilitiesof different professionals operating on different lev-els of intervention in a new way was most radicallyimplemented in a more general way in the designof a large intensive care hospital in Bern,Switzerland. Giorgio Macchi, the director of theprovincial (Kanton) building office that acted asclient for this facility decided that a strict separationof a long term “primary structure” from a short term“secondary structure” would assure better adapta-tion to new equipment and changing demands ofdoctors over the life time of the building. Moreoverit could speed up the design and building processand could better meet changing functionaldemands during the years of preparation andbuilding. To implement this approach a first com-petition was called for the primary structure withoutany specific functional interior subdivision. Onlyafter construction of the primary structure wasunder way, a second competition was called for theinterior design and an entirely different design officebecame responsible for this detailed response topresent functional demands. The Kanton BuildingOffice is responsible for all public buildings of theBern region, including buildings for the local uni-versity. Giorgio Macchi re-organized his office toapply the two level distinctions to all projects. Hethereby followed the practice of commercial devel-opers of office spaces in the United States and else-where who leave floor space empty for lease andfit-out by occupant companies. He was the first toimplement this strategy for the more complexdemands of occupants in public facilities like hos-pitals and university buildings.
While commercial developers increasinglyleave occupancy of office space to the renters of
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such spaces, they remain wary of this approach inresidential for-sale projects. There is no doubt thatresponding to the individual demands of manyhouseholds in a apartment building is a much morecomplex task compared to the office building. Notonly does one have to deal with many more indi-vidual parties each occupying a relatively smallfloor space, but also the technical complexityincreases substantially where bathroom and kitchenequipment occupy a relatively large part of thedwelling surface and must satisfy the particular pref-erences of the inhabitants. Moreover these techni-cal facilities may be found in very different parts ofthe dwelling surface.
The issue of increasing complexity wasresponded to by architect Esko Kahri in finlandwhen he submitted a proposal for a housing com-petition called by the city of Helsinki to encourageOpen Building solutions. Kahri invited the Tocomandata processing company which had extensiveexperience in dealing with building projects. Theirjoint submission to the competition did not onlyoffer a support design but also a detailed proce-dure in dealing first with individual would-be occu-pants to help them plan their units providing instantcosts information, to then pass on the detailedspecification and technical details to the builder. Aswinners of the competition Khari and Tocomanfound Sato development company willing to takeon their project. The result was not only that homebuyers could decide on their dwelling size, as wellas their own floor plan and its finishings, but alsothat the units were delivered in time and for theagreed upon budget while Sato company made a
good profit. This not only triggered an open endedcontract with Khari and Tocoman, but also demon-strated a profitable model for the commercialdevelopment of for-sale Open Building residentialunits. It disproved the general notion that OpenBuilding might be good for the users but could notbe profitable for commercial developers.
Where the commercial developer needs tomake a short term profit, long term ownership of asupport building has its own economic advantages.This was seen most clearly by frank Bijdendijk, thedirector of a large not-for-profit housing corpora-tion in Amsterdam. He initiated two large, what hecalled “Solid” projects that were inspired on the19th century New York warehouse buildings withtheir monumental cast iron facades that were still inuse today, attracting a wide variety of uses. In his‘solids’ people could rent space and fit it out forwhatever purpose they fancied, provided theywould not harm or disturb their neighbors. frankBijdendijk pointed out that long term ownership ofthe ‘Solid’ - say for a century or more - made longterm investment attractive where the owner did notneed to have a immediate return of investment butwould make profit in the future. This, in turn allowsfor a larger initial investment and hence a betterquality building. He stated that a building can livefor a very long time when two conditions are met: itmust have the capacity to adapt to very differentuses that change over time, and it must be loved bythe occupants and the neighborhood. When abuilding is loved by people and can be used inmany ways, it will not go away. In the year 2011spaces in the first ‘Solid’ was auctioned off through
Molenvlient Project of Frans Van Der Werf near Rotterdam Source: Aerocarto.
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the internet. In the middle of a real estate slump thefive thousand square meters of the building were allrented out within a day, accepting the entire rangeof possible uses: varying from individual peoplewho wanted a small apartment of their own to acompany that rented an entire floor to start a smallhotel.
It is interesting to note that in the sameyear that frank Bijdendijk’s solids were built, theJapanese government passed the Long LifeHousing Act to promote a life time for residentialconstruction of up to two centuries. Both initiativeswere made in the conviction, based on researchand experience, that long term investment, cou-pled with adaptability, is the best guarantee for aneconomic and ecological responsible buildingpolicy.
Q.9) In practice, how these professionals, differentagents involved in the processes of design andbuilding, have worked together? What are the lim-itations and further improvements already incor-porated into their ways of working?
Ans. Each OB project has its own history.More experience and documented histories areneeded before any general conclusions can bedrawn. But it is a safe bet that, while new ways ofcooperation are the essence of Open Building,there is not one single good model. This is alreadyevident in the five projects mentioned earlier. for ademonstration of sophisticated data processing insupport of a commercial housing project, theArabianranta project in Helsinki by Kahri architectsand Tocoman data processing is a prime example.The Next 21 project in Osaka demonstrates how awell thought through modular system helps the sep-aration of sub systems on different levels while alsothe invitation of fellow architects to take care of the
fit-out was a good demonstration of what “threedimensional urban design” might entail. The INOintensive care hospital project in Bern, Zwitserland,contains valuable experience in the application ofthe multi-level approach not just in a complexbuilding project, but particularly in the (re-)organi-zation of a institutional organization in control oflarge public building facilities. The SOLIDS projectsinitiated by frank Bijdendijk in Amsterdam demon-strate in particular the investment policy compatiblewith long life sustainable housing as well as thearchitectural challenge and opportunities createdby such a strategy. The Molenvliet project of theearly seventies demanded a new way to value for-mal approval of subsidized housing as well as awillingness by the non-profit institution that owns theproject to support ongoing change of individualdwellings when user preferences shift when childrenmove out or when new occupancy is in order.
We may well expect that over time newmodels of cooperation will become generallyaccepted. But while that may be, it seems to me,that this evidence also points out that the future pro-fessional establishment will be much more flexibleitself and will have the capacity to organize eachproject in response to its particular needs. A moreagile behavior in the organization of projectsdemands not only the clear identification of eachplayer’s professional expertise but, most important-ly, a common understanding of the hierarchicalstructure of the living built environment based onlevels of intervention that each have their own lifespan and the boundaries of which may be drawnsomewhat differently in each case.
Shor t b iography
N. John Habraken, a Dutch citizen, was born inBandung, Indonesia in 1928. He received hisarchitectural training at Delft Technical University,the Netherlands (1948-1955). Author of 'Supports,an Alternative to Mass Housing' (1962), Habrakenproposes the separation of 'support' (or base build-ing) from 'infill' (or interior fit-out) in residential con-struction and design. from 1965 to 1975, he wasDirector of SAR (foundation for ArchitectsResearch) in the Netherlands, doing research intoand development of methods for the design andconstruction of adaptable housing. Appointed pro-fessor at Eindhoven Technical University, 1967, toset up its new Department of Architecture and serveas its first chairperson. Appointed Head of the
Elevation of IJburg Solid. Source: N.J. Habraken.
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toDepartment of Architecture at MIT, Cambridge,MA. 1975-1981. Taught at MIT till his retirement in1989. Remains occupied with Methods and Theoryof architectural and urban design. Lectured onthese topics worldwide and is the author of a num-ber of books, research reports, and many articles.Served in a partnership for the invention and devel-opment of an infill system for residential construc-tion, from 1987 till 1997. Recipient of the 1988Creative Achievement Award of the Association ofCollegiate Schools in the US; the David Roëll prize1979 of the Dutch Prince Bernhard fund, The Kingfahd award for desing and research in IslamicArchitecture, 1985-86, and the Oevre Award for1996 of the National foundation for Art, design,and Architecture.(BKVB oevre prijs) in theNetherlands. Honorary member of the ArchitecturalInstitute of Japan. Knight of the Royal Order of theDutch Lion 2003. Recipient of the 2003 “Kubus foradvancing the standing of Architecture”, by theBNA, Dutch Association of Architects. His book,titled: "The Structure of the Ordinary", published in1998 by MIT Press, is an investigation of laws gov-erning built environment as revealed by patterns oftransformation. Doctor Honoris Causa from theTechnical University Eindhoven 2005. His mostrecent book: “Palladio’s Children” is an attempt toexplain why architects do not know how to deal witheveryday environment. Habraken is presently work-ing on a new book on “Thematic Design Plays”which is a revision and extension of the exercises hedid in MIT course. Presently lives in Apeldoorn, TheNetherlands.
Denise Morado Nascimento holds adegree in Architecture and Urbanism byFaculdades Metodistas Isabela Hendrix, Master ofArts (Architecture) from the University of York,England and Ph.D. in Information Science/UfMG.She is currently a professor at the School ofArchitecture, UfMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil, leaderof the research group PRAxIS (Práticas sociais noespaço urbano – (www.arq.ufmg.br/praxis),researcher at CNPq,researcher at Observatório dasMetrópoles, contributor of CIB W110 InformalSettlements and Affordable Housing and of W104Open Building and Implementation comissions.
This interview was realized from dialogues betweenApril to June 2012.
Denise Morado Nascimento (Interviewer)
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INTrODUCTION
In light of compelling evidence on anthropogenicclimate change (Solomon et al. 2007), there is anurgent need to mitigate the impacts of climatechange by reducing the concentrations of green-house gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere (Stern2007). Buildings play an important role in climateimpacts mitigation, as they are responsible for 40%of global energy use and over one-third of globalGHG emissions (UNEP 2009). Efforts on climateimpacts mitigation are also closely linked withadaptation of buildings to the inevitable climatechange, as mitigation and adaption are often inter-dependent and there exists a positive feedbackloop between the two (Mourshed 2011). Theapproaches for the reduction of GHGs in the pre-sent-day climate may affect a building’s potentialfor adaptation, from floods (Wilby and Keenan2012) to increasing temperature (De Wilde andColey 2012), in a future climate.
Increased emphasis on mitigation withoutmuch consideration of the dynamics between build-ings and future climates may even exacerbate thecause of climate change by requiring energy inten-sive adaptation to ensure occupant comfort andwellbeing. Exposure to climate risk varies widely,between regions and groups of people (Solomon etal. 2007). regions with a prevalence of high tem-peratures such as overpopulated and sprawlingcities in the temperate latitudes may experience
higher than the projected temperatures because ofdisproportionate warming and the urban heatisland effect (Patz et al. 2005). The urban poor, inparticular the vulnerable groups such as childrenand the elderly, living in congested communitiesand with poor access to energy and infrastructure,can be disproportionately affected by increasedtemperatures (Bartlett 2008) than their well-offneighbours in the same region. The ability to adaptto the projected changes in climate is thus greatlyaffected by a number of socio-technical factors, afuller understanding of which is required to tacklethe challenges of adaptation. Moreover, the factorsaffecting adaptation potential of a building or acommunity are interdependent. Assessment foradaptation, therefore, requires an integrated andmultidisciplinary approach (Taseska et al. 2012).
The need for integrated and multidiscipli-nary processes for environmentally sustainablebuildings, cities and communities has been high-lighted in the past, even before the mainstreamingof climate change mitigation and adaptation. Awide spectrum of research discussed variousaspects of integrated, collaborative and multidisci-plinary design, from design platforms and environ-ments (Hartkopf et al. 1997; Mourshed 2006;rosenman et al. 2007) to design process andmethods (Flager et al. 2009; Mlecnik 2010;Mourshed et al. 2003a, 2003b), as well as metricsand tools for integrated assessments (Helgeson andLippiatt 2009). However, there exist several barriers
Fuad H. Mallick and Monjur Mourshed
Abstract
The interdependence and feedback between climate impacts mitigation and adaptation to the inevitable changes in cli-
mate are the key challenges for the built environment in the coming decades. These challenges are more pronounced
in the interface between science and society, in which scientific knowledge and evidence are transformed into policy
actions. This editorial looks at current and growing evidence base on the impacts of climate change and the means to
adapt buildings, as well as the interface between policies and evidence base while summarising the contributions to
this special issue.
Keywords:
ADAPTING BUILDINGS TO CLIMATE CHANGE
Editorial
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hedto the adoption of integrated tools and approach-
es. Khandokar et al. (2009) explored the barriers inthe domain of strategic decision making for sus-tainability assessments using concepts from infor-mation sciences and demonstrated that the adop-tion of tools is often constrained by the chain effectsof interconnected barriers relating to technology,people and resources. The adaptation of buildingsand cities to climate change does not necessarilychange the underlying process of how decisions aremade but adds another dimension to the alreadycomplex decision landscape. Contemporary issuesof and developments in multi-dimensional deci-sion-making (Mourshed et al. 2011) will, therefore,play a significant role.
Akin to the need for integrated assessmentsand tools for built environment sustainability(Alavarado et al. 2012; Paranagamage et al.2010) that dominated both the research and pro-fessional circles in the last two decades, the successin adapting buildings and cities to climate changewill largely depend on assessment tools and deci-sion making processes. On the one hand, ourunderstanding of the climate and its relationshipwith the built environment (Mavrogianni et al.2010; Mourshed et al. 2005), and impacts of cli-mate change will shape the context and directionsfor adaptation. On the other hand, the intercon-nected nature of mitigation, adaptation and humanhealth will influence the identification of optimalpathways for adaptation (Mills 2007). As the pro-jected changes in climate will increase the occur-rence and severity of disasters (O’Brien et al.2006), it is also important to consider past lessonsin disaster risk management (Wamsler 2010) whileidentifying and implementing adaptation strategies.
CONTr IBUTIONS
This themed issue on adapting buildings to climatechange contains seven articles on wide rangingtopics related to climate change adaptation andgreen buildings. These range from the investigationinto adaptation strategies to the analysis of thedevelopment of environmental codes and stan-dards that can enhance the adaptation potential ofthe built environment.
Marsh (2012) explores the paradoxbetween climate change mitigation and adaptationin the Danish context. The author discusses how theoverarching drive to reduce energy consumptionfrom homes has resulted in poor indoor environ-
mental conditions, which may be made worse byclimate change. The discussion suggests that thereexists an extensive overheating problem in recentlycompleted new-build houses. Analysis carried outby the author also suggests an exacerbation of theoverheating problem in future climates. Theresearch further investigates the interplay betweenclimate change adaptation and mitigation, with across-disciplinary focus on users, passive designand active technologies. Findings demonstrate thatthe cumulative use of these strategies has thepotential to create an adaptation buffer, thus elimi-nating problems with overheating while reducingenergy consumption.
Bennetts et al. (2012) start their investiga-tion into design strategies for houses subject toheatwaves with a discussion on the Australian con-text, which has seen a significant increase in theaverage floor area of new houses, as well asgreater expectations of thermal comfort in homes.The rise in the use of air-conditioning for comfortcooling is discussed against the projected increasesin temperature in the region, which sets the contextfor their investigation into design strategies foradaptation. Their research suggests that occupantbehaviour and thermal comfort expectationschange during heatwaves, which result in increasedenergy consumption and may have a strong influ-ence on adaptation decision making. The authorsinvestigate the suitability of incorporating coolrefuges in the existing dwelling stock and reportsthat the results are promising.
Translating our understanding of the ener-gy and environmental impacts of buildings into pol-icy actions is an important aspect of adapting build-ings and cities to the inevitable climate change.Building environmental codes and standards, mostof which are voluntary, have been developed andimplemented in various parts of the globe in thepast decades. The article by Abdul-Aziz and Ofori(2012) charts the development of one such envi-ronmental code, the Green Building Index (GBI),developed for and specifically suited to theMalaysian context. Through interviews with stake-holders and reviews of secondary sources, thepaper makes the case for a strong cooperationbetween the private sector and the government forthe development of a green building code. Privatesector leadership features strongly in their study andis complemented by a collaborative spirit and theproactive nature of the Government, aimed atgreening the economy. The lesson learnt in thiscase can prove to be a vital resource for develop-
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ing codes and standards related to adaptation, aswell as the development of green building codes inother countries.
The article by Shikder et al. (2012) is aimedat investigating the performance of new-buildmulti-occupancy dwellings for human thermalcomfort in the present-day and projected future cli-mates in four main British cities: Birmingham,Edinburgh, London and Manchester. The investigat-ed cities are geographically distributed to accountfor variations in climatic condition. They carried outevaluations by a series of dynamic thermal simula-tions using widely adopted threshold temperaturefor overheating as suggested by the CharteredInstitution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)and adaptive thermal comfort standards. The studyoffered a perspective on regional variations of per-formance and a snapshot of the use of appropriateadaptive comfort standards in the evaluations. Oneof the unique features of this article is the use ofmore appropriate comfort metrics for evaluatingthe performance of existing buildings in the project-ed climates. The authors also discuss possible per-sonal and building adaptation measures to allevi-ate overheating risks in dwellings.
Housing accounts for a significant share ofglobal greenhouse gas emissions. It is responsiblefor 27% of UK’s carbon emissions (Hamilton-MacLaren et al. 2013). Dwelling characteristics,construction, age and the type of tenure are someof the important considerations for dwellings’ adap-tation to climate change. A significant share ofEuropean dwelling stock is owned and maintainedby large stockowners such as the social housingsector. roders et al. (2012) look at the level ofawareness of climate change adaptation amongDutch housing associations through a contentanalysis on the policy plans and annual reports ofthe 25 largest housing associations in the country.results show a distinct lack of awareness of climatechange adaptation in the sector and highlight theneed to develop appropriate governance strategiesand government policies. The authors opined thatthe integration of adaptation measures with designand maintenance activities could be a cheaperoption to cope with the projected changes in cli-mate, as opposed to inaction.
Adebamowo and Ilesanmi (2012) focus onthe structural and behavioural strategies of adap-tive measures for buildings in warm humid climatein Nigeria through a case study of a students’accommodation building. Investigated structuralstrategies include flexible and adaptive structural
systems while the behavioural strategies cover thespatial, personal and psychological control mea-sures which may influence the design and opera-tion of buildings. The effectiveness of these strate-gies are viewed and discussed in the context ofadaptive thermal comfort of occupants during therainy and dry seasons in Abeokuta, Ogun. Theanalysis of responses from the occupants suggeststhe need for a greater synergy between the techno-structural and socio-behavioural dimensions ofbuilding adaptation. The article attempts at filling agap in literature on the interrelationships betweensocio-behavioural, technical and environmentalaspects of climate change adaptation in warmhumid climates.
rasmussen (2012) suggests a strategicapproach for existing Danish buildings to withstandclimate change. The four-stage approach is basedon a review of likely impacts of projected increasesin temperature in Denmark and set against a back-ground of national and international agreementsand targets of greenhouse gas emissions reduc-tions. The article also evaluates the assumptionsthat form the basis for the projected scenarios, aswell as discusses the uncertainties in the projec-tions. The approach developed in this article callsfor a risk-based framework for adaptation to cli-mate change in which the consideration of risk isbased on a vulnerability analysis. The author stress-es the importance of the strategic approach anddiscusses the risks to continuing investments in thebuilt environment, if one is not developed andadopted.
CONCLUSION
This themed issue presented seven recent researchon adaptation of buildings to climate change. Anoverwhelming majority of the papers called for anintegrated approach, considering social, techno-logical, political and economic aspects of adapta-tion. The issue also highlights that the built environ-ment community is currently focused on climateimpacts mitigation; i.e. the reduction of energy con-sumption and greenhouse gas emissions frombuildings, and that adaptation of buildings toinevitable climate change needs to be urgentlyincorporated alongside mitigation efforts.
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Author(s)
Fuad H. Mallick
Department of Architecture, BrAC University, 66
Mohakhali, Dhaka, Bangladesh
Email: [email protected]
Web: http://www.bracu.ac.bd/
Monjur Mourshed
School of Civil and Building Engineering,
Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU,
UK
Email: [email protected] and
Web: http://monjur.mourshed.org/
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INTRODUCTION
The challenge of climate change is perhaps one ofthe most serious problems that the housing sectorwill face this century. Growing evidence of theeffects of greenhouse gas emissions on the globalclimate mean that buildings must greatly reducetheir energy consumption. It is however paradoxicalthat climate change mitigation strategies inDenmark have created a series of negative energyand indoor climate problems, and that these maybe made worse by projected climate change. Thispaper therefore examines the interplay between cli-mate mitigation and adaptation for new build hous-ing in Denmark:
1 A literature review of low energy housing demon-stration schemes, built over the last 20 years, show-ing that climate mitigation can result in overheating. 2 A theoretical study of how climate mitigation, fol-lowing Building Regulations and contemporarydesign strategies over the last 30 years, can result inoverheating and a growth in cooling demand.
3 A theoretical examination of how climate changeand rising temperatures can affect energy con-sumption and indoor comfort in new build housing.4 A theoretical study of the interplay between cli-mate adaptation and mitigation strategies to botheliminate problems with overheating and reduceprimary energy consumption.
This paper has its roots in experiences fromresearch and practice regarding how housing ener-gy consumption and regulation has changed overtime in Denmark. As a consequence of the 1970’soil crisis, a series of measures were introduced inthe Building Regulations in 1977 to reduce heatloss by setting standards for thermal insulation andglazing areas for new housing. This was extendedin 1985 with an Energy Target calculation method,allowing the use of passive solar energy to reducespace heating.
In 2006, a broader low energy calculationmethodology was introduced in the Regulations,based on the European Union Energy Performanceof Buildings Directive. Energy consumption tospace heating, domestic hot water, mechanical
Rob Marsh
Abstract
Climate change means that buildings must greatly reduce their energy consump-tion. It is however paradoxical that cli-
mate mitigation in Denmark has created negative energy and indoor climate problems in housing that may be made
worse by climate change. A literature review has been carried out of housing schemes where climate mitigation was
sought through reduced space heating demand, and it is shown that extensive problems with overheating exist. A the-
oretical study of regulative and design strategies for climate mitigation in new build housing has therefore been carried
out, and it is shown that reducing space heating with high levels of thermal insulation and passive solar energy results
in overheating and a growing demand for cooling.
Climate change is expected to reduce space heating and increase cooling demand in housing. An analysis of new
build housing using passive solar energy as a climate mitigation strategy has therefore been carried out in relation to
future climate change scenarios. It is shown that severe indoor comfort problems can occur, questioning the relevance
of passive solar energy as a climate mitigation strategy. In conclusion, a theoretical study of the interplay between cli-
mate adaptation and mitigation strategies is carried out, with a cross-disciplinary focus on users, passive design and
active technologies. It is shown that the cumulative use of these strategies can create an adaptation buffer, thus elimi-
nating problems with overheating and reducing energy consumption. New build housing should therefore be designed
in relation to both current and future climate scenarios to show that the climate mitigation strategies ensure climate
adaptation.
Keywords: Housing design, Climate Change, Climate Mitigation, Climate Adaptation, Indoor Comfort.
THE PARADOX OF CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATIONAND ADAPTATION IN DANISH HOUSING
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cooling and building services is now regulated,whilst problems with overheating during the sum-mer months are regulated by calculating the equiv-alent electricity consumption to eliminate tempera-tures over 26°C with standard cooling equipment.The use of building integrated renewable energyproduction is also included. Total energy consump-tion is expressed as primary energy, where electric-ity consumption is multiplied by a factor of 2.5 anddistrict heating, gas and oil by a factor of 1.0.Calculations must be carried out with the Be10 soft-ware developed by the Danish Building ResearchInstitute. This provides a common platform for ener-gy analysis that is widely used in the procurementprocess. It is based on all relevant European stan-dards, with calculations being carried out on asteady state monthly basis (Pedersen el al. 2007;Dansk Standard 2008).
CLIMATE MITIGATION AND OVERHEATING: LIT-ERATURE REVIEW OF EMPIRICAL STUDIES
As one of the Nordic countries, Denmark has beenat the forefront of energy and environmental devel-opment in many years. National energy policy wasalready focussed on climate mitigation and CO2reductions in 1990, just two years after the creationof the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(Energiministeriet 1990), with the housing sectorplaying an active role in this process.
Review of Empirical Studies: 1977-2005Strategies for low energy housing built between1977 and 2005 focussed exclusively on reducingspace heating (Marsh et al. 2010a). Many well-known housing demonstration schemes were builtto show how space heating reductions could beachieved, and the results have been documentedthrough monitoring of energy consumption andindoor comfort conditions.
The Solar Terraces in Vonsild, built in 1994,are highly insulated houses with an extensive use ofpassive solar energy. The housing terraces were ori-entated east-west with very large glazing areas ori-entated to the south and very small areas to thenorth in green suburban settings (see Figure 1). Thesolar orientation is reflected in a zoned plan solu-tion, with open, double height living spaces orien-tated to the south and more closed secondaryspaces to the north. The results showed that thespace heating demand could be reduced by 50%in relation to the then current Building Regulations.
However, the monitoring also showed that indoortemperatures were continuously between 25 and33°C for six continuous weeks during the summer,despite external temperatures of on average only20°C. The indoor temperatures were so high thatresidents had to use portable air conditioningequipment (Kristiansen 2000).
The Ecohouse ’99 houses in Kolding, builtin 1998, are also highly insulated houses with anextensive use of passive solar energy, with the ter-races orientated east-west in an urban setting withlarge glazing areas to the south and very smallareas to the north (see Figure 2). The resultsshowed that the space heating demand could bereduced by 25%. Monitoring during the wintermonths showed that indoor temperatures couldeasily rise to 28°C when the sun shined, despitecorresponding external temperatures that werenever above 15°C (COWI 2000). A questionnairecompleted one year after completion showed dis-satisfaction with high indoor temperatures all yearround when the sun shone (Hans BjerregårdRådgivning Aps 2001). Informal discussions thisarticle’s author has had with residents whilst pho-
Figure 1. The Solar Terraces built in Vonsild in 1994 are
highly insulated with an extensive use of passive solar ener-gy in green suburban surroundings.
Figure 2. The Ecohouse ’99 scheme built in Kolding in
1998 is in an urban setting with large glazing areas to thesouth and very small windows to the north.
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tographing this project indicate that indoor temper-atures of up to 35°C are regularly experienced dur-ing the summer.
The Bogholder Allé apartments in Vanløse,built in 2003, demonstrate the use of large areas ofhighly insulated glazing systems to maximise pas-sive solar energy and minimise heat losses (seeFigure 3). The monitoring recorded average indoortemperatures of 25°C from May to September,despite external temperatures of on average 17°C(Bergsøe et al. 2009).
Review of Empirical Studies: 2006-2011The new energy regulations introduced in 2006included a focus on overheating and coolingdemand. Despite this change, empirical studies ofrecent low energy developments show a continuedfocus on reducing space heating without address-ing indoor climate concerns.
The Detached House of the Future is ademonstration scheme where 50 low energy hous-es have been built in Herfølge between 2006 and2010 (see Figure 4). Low energy strategies havefocussed exclusively on reducing heat consumption,and nine of the houses have been extensively mon-itored, including the use of questionnaires(Kristensen and Jensen 2010). The monitoringshowed that 78% of the houses had average indoortemperatures of over 25°C in July and August,despite external temperatures of on average 18°C.The questionnaire showed that over 85% of the res-idents found the housing ‘too hot’ in the summerseason, with one comment being that it ‘felt like agreenhouse in the summer’. Over 75% of the resi-dents would have preferred a house with less glaz-ing in the living room and more glazing in the bath-room.
The Comfort Houses are a demonstrationscheme of eight detached houses, designed toPassivHaus Standard, and built in 2009 in Vejle(see Figure 5). The houses make extensive use ofsuperinsulation, passive solar energy and mechan-ical ventilation heat recovery, and they have beenextensively monitored, including the use of ques-tionnaires. The results show indoor temperatures ofover 26°C for 70% of the time in July, despite exter-nal temperatures of on average 17°C. Residents’comments regarding summer conditions includedthat they were ‘thinking of buying an air condition-er’ and that ‘nothing helped; we had to go out inthe garage’ (Brunsgaard et al. in press). It is ironicthat so-called Comfort Houses have been shown tohave such serious summer indoor comfort prob-lems.
Figure 3. The Bogholder Allé apartments built in Vanløse in
2003 use large areas of highly insu-lated glazing to max-imise passive solar energy and minimise heat losses.
Figure 4. The Detached House of the Future in Herfølge
has 50 houses built between 2006 and 2010 with anexclusive fokus on reducing heat consumption.
Figure 5. The Comfort Houses built in 2009 in Vejle are
eight detached houses to Passive House Standard andmaking extensive use of passive solar energy
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HOW C L IMA TE MI T IGAT IO N CA NRE SUL T IN OVE RHE AT ING AND AGROWING COOLING DEMAND: THEORET ICAL ANALYS IS
The above empirical studies show that the policy ofclimate mitigation by space heating savings has aseries of negative energy and indoor comfort con-sequences. It is therefore relevant to illustrate howthese problems can occur. A theoretical study hasbeen carried out by analysing a two storey terracehouse with a footprint of 6.5 m x 9.2 m (width xdepth) and a gross floor area of 120 m2. Thistypology reflects developments within Danish archi-tectural traditions over the last 30 years (Harlang2000; Mortensen and Welling 2004). Energy con-sumption and indoor climate are calculated withthe Be10 software.
Typical New Build Housing: 1972-2006The first analysis looks at historical changes in ener-gy consumption for new build terrace housingdesigned to comply with the relevant historicalBuilding Regulations for 1972 to 2006, and withglazing areas orientated to the south and northequal to 35% of the façade area. The total heatconsumption covers space heating and domestichot water, using the thermal insulation standardsfrom 1972, 1977, 1998 and 2006 (see Table 1).Typical efficiency losses for a heating system withdistrict heating are included, and electricity con-sumption for building services and overheating arealso calculated.
The results of the analysis (see Figure 6)show primary energy consumption and the per-centage of the year with indoor temperatures over26°C for typical new build housing built in 1972,1977, 1998 and 2006. With the only variablebeing the thermal insulation levels, the results showclearly that policies of climate mitigation by reduc-ing space heating demand create problems withoverheating and a growing cooling demand. In theperiod 1972 to 2006, the space heating demandis reduced by almost 80%. In contrast, the total pri-mary energy is only reduced by about 60%, andwhilst there was no cooling demand in 1972, it hasgrown to fill 15% of the total primary energy con-sumption in 2006. This remarkable tendency isreflected in the growth in the percentage of the yearwith indoor temperatures over 26°C from 0% in1972 to 11% in 2006, if cooling is not used.
Passive Solar New Build Housing: 1972-2006Passive solar energy has played a prominent role inDanish research, demonstration and disseminationprograms since the 1970’s (Aggerholm andSvensson 1995). For architects, strong modernistimages and a legitimate wish for more daylight inbuildings meant that passive solar energy gained astrong reputation for being environmentally friend-ly, taking on a prominent role, as shown in the pre-vious empirical studies.
The second analysis therefore uses thesame historical changes in thermal insulation fornew build housing from 1972 to 2006, but addsthe extra dimension of passive solar exploitation.This is achieved by using the same total area ofglazing, but with a larger proportion facing to thesouth, equal to 60% of the façade area, and asmaller proportion to the north, equal to 10% of thefaçade area. The results of the analysis (see Figure7) show even greater problems with overheatingand a growing cooling demand. In the period1977 to 2006, the space heating demand isreduced by 80%. In contrast, the total primary ener-gy is only reduced by 55%, whilst the coolingdemand has grown to fill 25% of the total primaryenergy consumption in 2006. The percentage ofthe year with indoor temperatures over 26°C has
Table 1. Maximum allowable U-values for housing in the
Danish Building Regulations from 1972, 1977, 1998 and2006 (Boligministeriet 1972:97-101; Boligministeriet1977:100-105; Danish Ministry of Housing and UrbanAffairs 1998:66-67; Danish Enterprise and ConstructionAuthority 2008:124-138).
Figure 6. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for typi-cal new build housing built in 1972, 1977, 1998 and2006.
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grown from 3% in 1972 to 14% in 2006, if coolingis not used.
DiscussionThe results show that strategies for reducing spaceheating demand with high levels of thermal insula-tion and passive solar energy can result in over-heating and a growing cooling demand. It has alsobeen shown that passive solar energy does not givereductions in total primary energy consumption,since the reduction in space heating equals thegrowth in cooling demand. This is also corroborat-ed by recent research (Jenkins et al. 2009, Perssonet al. 2006). It can be argued that the historicalfocus on reducing space heating demand has beenvery effective, with new build housing becomingbetter insulated with large areas of highly insulatedglazing. This shifts the energy balance betweeninternal heat losses and heat loads, meaning thatproblems with unwanted solar gains and a growingcooling demand begin to play a critical role for alarger proportion of the year. This is again corrob-orated by recent research (Orme et al. 2003;Marsh et al. 2010a).
CL IMATE CHANGE AND THE EFFECTO N E NER GY CO NSUMPT IO N ANDINDOO R CO MFOR T : THEO RE T ICA LSTUDY
It has been shown that climate mitigation can resultin problems with overheating and growing coolingdemand. It therefore makes sense to also examinethe effects of climate change, since rising tempera-tures are expected to result in overheating. Danishclimate change scenarios calculated on the basis ofIPCC A2 and B2 scenarios predict an increase intemperature of up to 3°C for both winter and sum-mer conditions in the years up to 2085, and this is
expected to result in reduced space heating in thewinter and greater cooling demand in the summer(The Danish Government 2008).
A theoretical study has been carried out byanalysing the two storey terrace house designed tomeet the energy regulations from 2006, and calcu-lating the primary energy consumption with theBe10 software in relation to the expected rise intemperature between 2006 and 2085 because ofclimate change (see Table 2). It is assumed thatmechanical cooling is used to eliminate overheat-ing and ensure thermal comfort (The DanishGovernment 2008).
Typical New Build Housing: 2006-2085The first analysis looks at the typical new build ter-race house with evenly spread glazing areas. Theresults (see Figure 8) show that by 2085, spaceheating demand is reduced by 30%, whilst thecooling demand has grown by 40%. The percent-age of the year with indoor temperatures over 26°Cgrows from 10% in 2006 to 15% in 2085 if cool-ing is not used. The demand for mechanical cool-ing will therefore rise, whilst the demand for spaceheating will fall, and these results are supported bysimilar international studies from comparablecountries showing the same tendencies (Frank2005; Hacker and Holmes 2007).
Passive Solar New Build Housing: 2006-2085The second analysis looks at the effects of climatechange when passive solar energy is exploited. Thepassive solar terrace house from 2006 is used, with60% of the south façade and 10% of the northfaçade as glazing. The results (see Figure 9) showthat by 2085, space heating demand is reduced byover 30%, whilst the cooling demand has grown by40%, and already by 2050 the cooling demand isa larger proportion of the total primary energy con-sumption than space heating. The percentage ofthe year with indoor temperatures over 26°C growsfrom 14% in 2006 to 22% in 2085 if cooling is notused.
Table 2. Expected rise in monthly average external temper-
ature in 2020, 2050 and 2085 caused by climate changeand based on average of IPCC A2 and B2 scenarios calcu-lated for Denmark (The Danish Government 2008:14-16).
Figure 7. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for pas-sive solar new build housing built in 1972, 1977, 1998and 2006.
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THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN CLIMATE MITIGATIONAND ADAPTATION: THEORETICAL ANALYSIS
The results from the preceding analysis show theneed to explore the interplay between broad cli-
mate mitigation and adaptation strategies. Withinthe architectural and environmental research tradi-tion it is possible to discern a theoretical and empir-ical model regarding how energy and environmen-tal impacts can be reduced with three levels of inter-vention; occupants, building design and buildingservices (Baker and Steemers 2000; Bech-Danielsen 2010). This is also reflected in climateadaptation research (Hacker et al. 2005). Theadvantage of such a model is that it encompassesa broad, cross-disciplinary approach, and reflectsthe design process with a progression from the gen-eralised to the specific.
A theoretical study has been carried out toanalyse the interplay between climate mitigationand adaptation. Three strategies have been devel-oped, reflecting the three levels of intervention, andincorporating solutions that reduce overheatingand the demand for cooling, both today and in thefuture, whilst at the same time reducing total pri-mary energy consumption. The three cumulativestrategies (see also Table 3) are:
User Focus: The role of building use together withuser behaviour.
Passive Design: Solutions relating to built form,geometry and materials.
Active Technologies: Integration of energy savingand producing technologies.These three strategies are applied cumulatively to
Figure 8. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for typi-cal new build housing from 2006 in relation to predictedclimate change for 2020, 2050 and 2085.
Table 3. Variables used to calculate primary energy consumption for the Typical House and with strategies User Focus,
Passive Design and Active Technologies.
Figure 9. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for pas-sive solar new build housing from 2006 in relation to pre-dicted cli-mate change for 2020, 2050 and 2085.
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the two storey terrace house designed to meet theenergy regulations from 2006, and calculating theprimary energy consumption with the Be10 soft-ware in relation to the expected rise in temperatureby 2085 because of climate change.
User FocusIn a Nordic context, the debate on indoor comforthas been dominated by Fanger’s static model ofthermal comfort, and it can be argued that this isreflected in contemporary housing design. In theComfort House project presented earlier, the win-dows were not designed so they could stay open forsummer ventilation, even though the users wantedthis (Brunsgaard et al. in press). Unwanted userbehaviour by opening of windows, which wouldhave negatively affected the ventilation system dur-ing the winter, was eliminated by design solutionsthat do not allow users to regulate summer condi-tions. In contrast, a newer model of adaptive ther-mal comfort has been developed in recent yearsthat integrates behavioural, physiological and psy-chological factors in how users achieve thermalcomfort (Kwok and Raijkovich 2009), and this isseen as playing a critical role in allowing both usersand buildings to adapt to future climate change aspart of a climate mitigation strategy (Shove et al.2008).
For the strategy User Focus, the aim istherefore to provide glazing solutions where natur-al ventilation with cross ventilation together withexternal and adjustable solar shading are used onall windows, so that users are both able to openand shut the windows and adjust solar shading inthe summer months. The results (see Figure 10)show that the strategy User Focus can reduce thecooling demand by over 60% under current climat-ic conditions, whilst the total primary energy con-sumption is reduced by only 15%. The percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26°C isreduced from 10% to 5% if cooling is not used.
In relation to 2085 and the expected risingtemperatures from climate change, the results showthat the strategy User Focus will experience a risingcooling demand, whilst the total primary energyfalls marginally. The percentage of the year withindoor temperatures over 26°C will have grown to9% in 2085 if cooling is not used.
Passive DesignWith the regulative aim of climate mitigationthrough minimising primary energy consumption,housing design needs to focus on reducing spaceheating and cooling demand without increasingelectricity consumption, and this points towards theuse of passive design solutions (Marsh et al.2010b).
For the strategy Passive Design, the goalsare achieved by redistributing the total area of glaz-ing, with a larger proportion facing to the north anda smaller proportion to the south. The thermal insu-lation of the walls, roof, floor and windows is alsoimproved. Since highly insulated buildings typicallyreplace concrete facades with lightweight timberframing, the total thermal mass is kept constant byintroducing more heavyweight internal floors andwalls. Since the double glazing is replaced by tripleglazing, the total glazing area is increased toensure that daylight levels are maintained, and day-light optimised windows are used which reduceframe area per unit area of glazing. The windowsto living and bedroom spaces are also replacedwith preheat ventilation windows that minimise ven-tilation losses without electricity consumption.
The results (see Figure 11) show that thecumulative strategies User Focus and PassiveDesign can eliminate the cooling demand undercurrent climatic conditions, and the total primaryenergy consumption is reduced by almost 50%. Thepercentage of the year with indoor temperaturesover 26°C is reduced from 10% to 0% if cooling isnot used. In relation to climate change in 2085, theresults show that the strategies will experience a ris-ing cooling demand and an almost unchanged pri-mary energy consumption. The percentage of theyear with indoor temperatures over 26°C will havegrown to 7% in 2085 if cooling is not used.
Active TechnologiesThere has been a rapid growth in the extent ofbuilding services in modern buildings, and this isexpected to continue in the future, partly due to
Figure 10. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for typi-cal new build housing from 2006 and climate adaptationand mitiga-tion strategy User Focus for 2006 and 2085.
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g technological and social changes relating to theknowledge-based information society, and partlybecause of the larger environmental focus in theconstruction sector (Marsh 2008). There is a clearneed to utilise active energy saving technologiesand renewable energy production strategies in themovement towards a zero carbon society (Dunsteret al. 2007).
For the strategy Active Technologies, abroad selection of energy saving technologies isused for climate mitigation and adaptation. Thisincludes electricity and water saving appliances tominimise unwanted heat emissions and reduceoverheating, together with low energy building ser-vices to minimise heat and electricity consumption.A building management system is included to allowfor automatic regulation of natural ventilation andsolar shading when users are not at home. Solarpanels are used to reduce heat consumption fordomestic hot water.
The results (see Figure 12) show that thecumulative strategies User Focus, Passive Designand Active Technologies can eliminate the coolingdemand under current climatic conditions, and thetotal primary energy consumption is reduced by60%. The percentage of the year with indoor tem-peratures over 26°C is reduced from 10% to 0% ifcooling is not used. In relation to climate change in2085, the results show no problems with overheat-ing, and the total primary energy will actually bereduced by an extra 20% since the expected risingtemperatures give a reduction in space heatingdemand without a corresponding rise in coolingdemand.
It is interesting to note that climate mitiga-tion solutions with no overheating or coolingdemand under current conditions do not necessar-ily ensure adaptation under future climate change
scenarios (see Figure 11). Here, climate changeresults in an unchanged total primary energy con-sumption since space heating reductions are neu-tralised by a rising cooling demand. It is onlythrough the use of further, cumulative mitigationstrategies aimed at reducing overheating that anadaptation buffer is created (see Figure 12).Climate change here results in falling total primaryenergy consumption because there is a reduction inspace heating demand without a rise in coolingdemand.
CONCLUSIONS
This article has examined the paradox of climatechange mitigation and adaptation in Danish hous-ing. A literature study of empirical studies hasshown that problems with overheating and a grow-ing cooling demand have been prevalent in mostwell-known low energy demonstration projects builtin Denmark since the 1990’s. With this back-ground, a theoretical analysis has been carried outto illustrate how climate mitigation can result inoverheating in new housing.
The analysis shows that strategies forreducing space heating demand with high levels ofthermal insulation and passive solar energy canresult in overheating and a growing coolingdemand. Reductions in space heating have shiftedthe energy balance between the internal heat loss-es and heat loads, meaning that problems withunwanted solar gains, overheating and coolingdemand begin to play a critical role for a growingpart of the year.
A theoretical analysis of the effects of cli-mate change has been carried out. The resultsshow that typical new build housing built after cur-
Figure 11. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for typi-cal new build housing from 2006 and climate adaptationand mitiga-tion strategies User Focus + Passive Design for2006 and 2085.
Figure 12. Primary energy consumption and the percentage
of the year with indoor temperatures over 26 OC for typi-cal new build housing from 2006 and climate adaptationand mitiga-tion strategies User Focus + Passive Design +Active Technologies for 2006 and 2085.
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shrent standards can expect to experience growingproblems with overheating as a result of rising tem-peratures in the future. For new housing optimisedfor passive solar exploitation, the problems can beeven more extreme, resulting in severe indoor com-fort problems and a growing cooling demand thatmay become larger than the space heatingdemand over the next 30 to 40 years. It is para-doxical that climate mitigation strategies for reduc-ing space heating demand may not actually reduceenergy consumption, but may end up replacingheat with electricity consumption. The continueduse of passive solar energy as a climate mitigationstrategy can therefore be called into questionbecause of climate change and expected risingtemperatures.
A concluding theoretical analysis has there-fore been carried out to examine the interplaybetween climate adaptation and mitigation strate-gies. A series of cross-disciplinary strategies rootedin the architectural and environmental research tra-dition have been developed, relating to user focus,passive design and active technologies. The resultsshow that the cumulative use of these climate miti-gation strategies, with a focus on eliminating over-heating, can ensure new build housing is adaptedto future climate change and expected rising tem-peratures. An adaptation buffer can be createdwhich is able to eliminate the demand for coolingfrom future rising temperatures and climatechange. This also results in falling primary energyconsumption because there is a reduction in spaceheating without a rise in cooling demand.
New housing should therefore be designedin relation to both current and expected future cli-mate scenarios, with temperature rises of between2 and 3°C, to show that the climate mitigationstrategies ensure climate adaptation with no over-heating or need for cooling. This could be achievedthrough voluntary design codes or mandatory reg-ulations.
REFERENCES
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BAKER, N. and STEEMERS, K. 2000, Energy and Environmentin Architecture: A Technical Design Guide, E & FN Spon,London, Great Britain.
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BERGSØE, N.C., THOMSEN, K.E. and ROSE, J. 2009,Rumhøje, oplukkelige glaspartier i etagebolig [Full-height,openable glazing elements in multi-storey apartments]. SBi2009:07, Danish Building Research Institute, AalborgUniversity, Hørsholm, Denmark.
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BRUNSGAARD, C., KNUDSTRUP, M-A. and HEISELBERG, P. inpress, Occupant Experience of Everyday Life in Some of theFirst Passive Houses in Denmark, Housing, Theory and Society.DOI: 10.1080/14036096.2011.602718.
COWI 2000, Evaluering af Økohus 99, Kolding. Miljørapport1 [Evaluation of Ecohouse 99, Kolding. Environmental Report1], Ministry of Urban and Housing Affairs, Copenhagen,Denmark.
DANISH ENTERPRISE AND CONSTRUCTION AUTHORITY2008, Building Regulations 2008, Danish Enterprise andConstruction Authority, Copenhagen, Denmark.
DANISH MINISTRY OF HOUSING AND URBAN AFFAIRS1998, Building Regulations for Small Dwellings, BR-S 98,Danish Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Copenhagen,Denmark.
DANSK STANDARD 2008, Energy performance of buildings -Calculation of energy use for space heating and cooling(DS/EN ISO 13790:2008), Dansk Standard, Charlottenlund,Denmark.
DUNSTER, B., SIMMONS, C. and GILBERT, B. 2007, The ZEDbook, Taylor & Francis, London, Great Britain.
ENERGIMINISTERIET 1990, Energi 2000: Handlingsplan foren bæredygtig udvikling [Energy 2000: Action Plan for aSustainable Development], Danish Ministry of Energy,Copenhagen, Denmark.
FRANK, T. 2005, Climate Change Impacts on BuildingHeating and Cooling Energy Demand in Switzerland, Energyand Buildings, 37:11, 1175-1185.
HACKER, J. and HOLMES, M. 2007, Thermal Comfort:Climate Change and the Environmental Design of Buildings inthe United Kingdom, Built Environment, 33:1, 97-114.
HACKER, J., HOLMES, M., BELCHER, S. et al. 2005, ClimateChange and the Indoor Environment: Impacts and Adaptation.CIBSE TM36, Chartered Institution of Building ServicesEngineers, London, Great Britain.
HANS BJERREGÅRD RÅDGIVNING APS 2001, 12 byøkolo-giske forsøgsbyggerier: Erfaringer og anbefalinger [12 UrbanEcological Demonstration Buildings: Experiences andRecommendations], Danish Enterprise and Housing Authority,Copenhagen, Denmark.
HARLANG, C. 2000, Housing Development, Arkitektur DK,44:2, 57-110.
JENKINS, D.P., PEACOCK, A.D. and BANFILL, P.F.G. 2009,Will future low-carbon schools in the UK have an overheatingproblem? Building and Environment, 44:3, 490-501.
KRISTIANSEN, F. 2000, Lavenergirækkehuse. IEA - Task 13.Målinger og beregninger. Rapport R-025-2000 [Low Energyterrace Houses. IEA – Task 13. Measurements and calcula-tions. Report R-025-2000], IBE/Technical University ofDenmark, Lyngby, Denmark.
KRISTENSEN, L. and JENSEN, O.M. 2010, Erfaringsopsamlingpå lavenergibyggeri klasse 1 og 2. – med “FremtidensParcelhuse” som eksempel [Collection of Experiences from LowEnergy Buildings Class 1 and 2 – with “The Detatched Houseof the Future” as case], The Green House, Køge, Denmark.
KWOK, A. and RAIJKOVICH, N. 2009, Addressing Comfort inClimate Change Standards, Building and Environment, 45:1,18-22.
MARSH, R. 2008, Future Directions for Building ServicesTechnologies in Denmark, in: T. Hassan, J. Ye (Eds)Proceedings of the 1st International Conference onIndustrialised, Integrated, Intelligent Construction (I3CON),Loughborough, UK, 14-16 May 2008. LoughboroughUniversity, Loughborough, Great Britain, 99-107.
MARSH, R., LARSEN, V.G. and KRAGH, M. 2010a, Housingand energy in Denmark: past, present and future challenges,Building Research & Information, 38:1, 92-106.
MARSH, R., LARSEN, V.G. and HACKER, J. 2010b, Towards aNew Paradigm: Design Strategies for Architecture, Energy andClimate Change using Danish Office Buildings as a Case Study,Nordic Journal of Architectural Research, 22:1/2, 32-46.
MORTENSEN, P.D. and WELLING, H. 2004, The home as aproduct, Arkitektur DK, 48:8, 572-579.
ORME, M., PALMER, J. and IRVING, S. 2003, Control ofOverheating in Well-Insulated Housing, in: Proceedings ofASHRAE/CIBSE Conference (24-26 September) – BuildingSustainability, Value & Profit, CIBSE, London, Great Britain.
PEDERSEN, F., WITTCHEN, K.B. and THOMSEN, K.E. 2007,Energy Standards in Denmark, Scottish Building StandardsAgency, Livingstone, Scotland.
PERSSON, M-L., ROOS, A. and WALL, M. 2006, Influence ofwindow size on the energy balance of low energy houses,Energy and Buildings, 38:3, 181-188.
SHOVE, E., CHAPPELLS, H., LUTZENHISER, L. et al. 2008,Comfort in a lower carbon society, Building Research &Information, 36:4, 307-311.
THE DANISH GOVERNMENT 2008, Danish Strategy foradaptation to a changing climate, Danish Energy Agency,Copenhagen, Denmark.
Author(s)
Rob MarshArchitect MAA PhDSenior Researcher, SBi Energy and EnvironmentDanish Building Research InstituteAalborg University, DenmarkEmail: [email protected]
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INTRODUCTION
Climatic conditions in the more densely populatedparts of Australia are generally moderate with coolwinters and warm to hot summers. This has meantthat enhancing the thermal performance ofdwellings has not been a major preoccupation,especially with relatively low cost energy (DRET2010). Infrequent and short-lived cold or very hotconditions have been tolerated as unavoidableinconveniences. A number of factors have changedin the recent past to alter this situation. Firstly, ener-gy prices have risen significantly impacting onhouseholds with more limited financial means.Electricity prices have increased by up to 60% overthe five years to 2010 (Novak 2010) and furtherprice rises are inevitable due to the costs of replac-ing infrastructure and carbon pricing mechanisms(AEMC 2010). Secondly, in recent years there havebeen a number of ‘record-breaking’ heatwaves insouthern Australia. During the worst of these, inearly 2009, Adelaide had 6 consecutive days over40°C, Melbourne recorded its highest ever maxi-mum (46.4°C) and several regional centres record-ed temperatures above 48°C. Heatwaves are likely
to become more frequent according to the model-ling of future climates (Alexander and Arblaster2009). Heatwaves cause distress to the more vul-nerable in the community (the young, infirm andelderly) and are associated with a range of healthconcerns and increased mortality (PWC 2011).Thirdly, at the same time that these factors haveoccurred, the average size of newly constructedAustralian houses has exceeded that of all othercountries (James 2009). Since thermal comfortexpectations of occupants in new houses are high,this has resulted in the use of large ducted andother air conditioning systems leading to higherpeak power demand during hot conditions.Increasing peak load and the avoidance of powerdisruptions is a significant problem particularly withfuture climate trends (Crossley 2006).
This paper elaborates on these issues anddiscusses the options available for modifying housedesigns to create comfortable conditions duringheatwaves particularly for the more vulnerable inthe community. As a result of this background, apilot study on modifying the design of an existingsmall dwelling was undertaken and the results aredescribed. The study assists in identifying a method-
Helen Bennetts, Stephen Pullen, George Zillante
Abstract
Over the last two decades the average floor area of new houses in Australia has increased significantly. This has coin-
cided with greater expectations of thermal comfort in homes. In certain locations, the result has been an escalation of
the use of large mechanical air conditioning systems in houses. Since it is predicted that climate change will lead to an
increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events such as heatwaves, the future maintenance of ther-
mal comfort in houses in an affordable manner is likely to be challenging. This will have implications not only for the
health and comfort of the occupants but also for peak energy loads. A compounding factor is the likelihood of increased
energy prices caused, in part, by financial mechanisms aimed at minimising greenhouse gas emissions. There will be
sections of the community, such as the elderly and the less well off, that will be particularly vulnerable to these com-
bined factors.
This paper explores design strategies that could be incorporated in new and existing houses to improve thermal
comfort for residents during heatwaves. It is shown that during such periods, behaviour change, thermal comfort
requirements and extra energy consumption have a strong influence on devising solutions for this challenge. The results
of a pilot study are given that indicate opportunities for creating cool refuges in the existing dwelling stock.
Keywords: Heatwaves, House Design, Thermal Comfort, Future Trends, Australia.
DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR HOUSES SUBJECT TO HEATWAVES
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ology which will be applied in further researchinvolving existing and new dwellings as well as cur-rent and future climate conditions. The research ispart of a project at the University of South Australiaentitled ‘A Framework for Adaptation of AustralianHouseholds to Heatwaves’ and supported by theAustralian Government’s National ClimateChange Adaptation Research Facility (NCCARF).The part of the research program referred to in thispaper investigates building design options forimproving thermal comfort during heatwaves.
CONTEXT
Background cons idera t ionsAlthough climates in Australia range from tropicalto alpine, the more densely populated parts ofAustralia are located in temperate regions and thisoffers the possibility of maintaining thermally com-fortable conditions in dwellings with minimum ener-gy consumption. During the hotter parts of the year,the diurnal temperature range in these regions canbe exploited to create cool interiors using variouspassive design techniques (DCCEE 2010). At leastin theory, good design can result in the minimal useof mechanical cooling except during prolongedheatwaves.
For the future, a factor that requires con-sideration is that of climate change and its effect onthermal comfort in houses. The modelling of theeffect of increasing greenhouse gas emissions onglobal climate over the 21st century by theInternational Panel on Climate Change is wellknown (IPCC 2007) and includes a warming effectof between 1.4°C to 5.8°C over the period 1990 to2100. In Australia, the Commonwealth ScientificIndustrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) andBureau of Meteorology have developed climatechange projections (CSIRO 2007) that are basedon the possible future scenarios for emissionsdefined by the IPCC. Table 1 is an extract from theCSIRO report showing the number of days over35°C for various population centres. This givesdata for current conditions, and projections for2030 and 2070 based on two emissions scenarios.The data indicate an increase in number of daysover 35°C over this century ranging from moderateto substantial.
There is no generally accepted definition ofa heatwave but the many versions often involve acombination of environmental factors (such as tem-perature, humidity, radiation and wind speed) and
social or cultural factors (such as acclimatisation).In Australia, there are some regional definitionswhich specify between two to five days over partic-ular temperatures e.g. 30°C, 35°C or 40°C andmay consider relative humidity i.e. apparent tem-perature (Queensland Government 2004) andovernight minimum temperatures (SA Government2011). The Bureau of Meteorology has recentlyderived an Excess Heat Factor (EHF) index that hasbeen defined as ‘the combined effect of ExcessHeat and Heat Stress calculated as an index to pro-vide a comparative measure of impact, load, dura-tion and spatial distribution of a heatwave’ (PWC2011). This provides a more complex assessmentof heat that links to the health risks associated withoccurrences of severe and prolonged hot weather.Regardless of the definition of heat events, simula-tion work carried out by various researchers sug-gests that the length of heat events will increasesubstantially in the 21st century (Tryhorn and Risbey2006, Alexander and Arblaster 2009, PWC 2011).
Very hot weather results in the greater useof air conditioning in buildings causing peak elec-tricity loads and during severe heatwaves, poweroutages are more common (ISR 2010). Maller andStrengers (2011) suggest that, even if air condition-ing is installed, higher energy costs may mean thatvulnerable groups may not be able to maintain it.The inability of people to meet their energy needsand the problems that arise as a result is known asfuel poverty and there is considerable evidence thatthis phenomenon is occurring in Australia (DPI2005). It is likely that the section of the communitywhich is susceptible to fuel poverty will be more vul-nerable in the future given the combined effect ofmore extreme climate events and higher energycosts.
Hea twaves and hea l thOne of the major concerns about heatwaves is theirimpact on health, particularly for vulnerable sec-
Table 1. Number of days over 35°C for various Australian
population centres, current and projected. Data source:CSIRO (2007).
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antetions of the community such as the young, elderly,
homeless and socially disadvantaged (Wilson2011; Vaneckova 2010; Vandentorren 2006). Inthe USA it was found that living in cities com-pounded the problem and this has been linked tothe urban heat island effect (Luber and McGeehin2008). Heatwaves and the urban heat island effectare both contributors to heat related illness espe-cially where there is little vegetation and denseurban form (Golden 2004).
Heatwaves are associated with a range ofhealth impacts from sunburn, heat stress and heatexhaustion to kidney failure and heart attacks(WHO 2004). Pre-existing mental and physical ail-ments can be exacerbated (O’Neill et al. 2009;Hansen 2010). People may have trouble sleepingduring a heatwave and this can cause fatigue, alack of concentration and lead to accidents(Hansen 2010).
Heatwaves can result in an increased num-ber of ambulance callouts, as well as increasedmorbidity and mortality (Nitschke 2007).Furthermore, heatwaves are a major source ofweather related fatalities in Australia (BOM 2011)and the United States (Robinson 2001). In 2003,heatwaves in southern Europe had a devastatingimpact with estimates of nearly 15,000 deaths inFrance alone (Vandentorren 2006) and between25,000-70,000 throughout Europe (D'Ippoliti2010). People of low socio-economic status andthose living in poor housing were disproportionate-ly represented (Santamouris et al. 2007). Duringthe 2009 heatwave in Australia there was a 62%increase in mortality in Melbourne and 10%increase in Adelaide (Nitschke 2011) and it is esti-mated that 500 deaths can be attributed to theevent (Kiem 2010). Granger (2005) reported thatmore than 34 deaths and nearly 2000 admissionsto hospital have been caused by heatwave events insubtropical southeast Queensland since 2000.
Based on the EHF index, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC 2011) have modelled the numberof deaths arising from excess heat at approximate-ly 80 per year across the major Australian capitalcities rising to between 120-130 in 2030 andbetween 170-200 in 2050. When climate changeprojections are factored into the model, heat-relat-ed deaths of up to five times greater are predicted(PWC 2011).
DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR DWELL INGSDUR ING HEATWAVES
BackgroundSo what design strategies can be devised for bothnew and existing dwellings for maintaining comfortconditions in current and future heatwaves thatminimise cost increases, avoid excessive peakdemand and limit larger greenhouse gas emis-sions? Passive design will play an important role.The strategies need to be tailored to the particularclimate but may include:
1.Controlling solar gains through careful siting and orientation
of the building, shading external surfaces and the careful
design, orientation and shading of windows.
2.Controlling internal heat gains with energy efficient appli-
ances. Using thermal inertia such as internal mass and ground
coupling to modify temperature swings and external mass to
increase time taken for heat to reach interiors.
3.Insulating building elements to increase the time taken for
heat to reach interiors. Using air movement to improve thermal
comfort for occupants and appropriate ventilation to reduce
the heat of building elements and reduce internal tempera-
tures.
Concep t s for improvi ng the heatwaveper fo rmance of dwe l l ingsA potential design strategy for both new and exist-ing dwellings may be to concentrate on maintain-ing one room or zone of the dwelling in a cool con-dition. This approach has been suggested inAustralia and overseas. After the 2003 heatwave inEurope, the French Government recommendedthat retirement homes should have at least oneroom that is air conditioned to provide a refugeduring hot weather periods (Kovats and Ebi 2006).A study of the use of air-conditioners in southeastQueensland mentions the possible policy responseof mandatory inclusion of an air-conditioning unitin at least one room in every house to create arefuge during heatwave events (Aitken and Losee2006). This concept is incorporated in a recom-mendation by Losee et al. (2007) to the BrisbaneCity Council. They recommend a one-room, insu-lated and climate controlled refuge (e.g. lounge)rather than conditioning the whole house. Differentmodes of cooling houses in a fully tropical climatehave been analysed by Tenorio (2002) who sug-gested that a living area could act as thermalrefuge during the day to accommodate work,domestic and leisure activities.
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New dwe l l ingsFor new dwellings, a cool refuge could exploit thenear constant moderate temperature below theland’s surface i.e. increased ground coupling. Thisconcept is not new and current examples includethe underground dwellings in Coober Pedy in out-back South Australia and earth covered houses inmany parts of the world (Roy 2006). In more con-ventional houses, increased ground coupling canbe achieved by including a basement in the designof dwellings that provides a cool refuge during hotconditions. Without the benefit of air conditioningtechnology, some early settlers in Australia utilised abasement in the hotter months. Pikusa (1986) refersto a number of older houses in Adelaide thatincluded a large basement room known as theSummer Room where the residents sought refugefrom the heat. Excavating basements increases thecost of the building and the practicality of sub-grade rooms can be impaired during wetter sea-sons by possible water ingress. An alternative maybe to design an internal room in a dwelling atground floor level that is especially well insulated. The room could be bounded by four internal wallsor with one external wall at the most. This is theconcept behind cool rooms that are used in someremote outback dwellings for storing food. The liv-ing areas partially surround the cool room and pro-vide some insulation from hot climatic conditionsand this is coupled with additional insulation in thecool room walls and ceiling. The cool room isrefrigerated but requires less power input due to thedesign. The concept is a development of olderremote houses in South Australia that were con-structed with basements for food storage.
Ex i s t ing dwe l l ingsDue to the size of the dwelling stock and the rela-tively low proportion of houses that are constructedeach year, the conversion of existing dwellings forheatwave conditions represents a significant chal-lenge. Existing houses are constructed with differentmaterials and techniques depending on their age;they differ in their orientation and shading, and theyare subjected to different local weather conditionsand micro-climates. Hence, any solutions toimproving performance during heatwaves by wayof retrofitting existing houses would have to be tai-lored to house type. In some climates and for somehouse designs improving the shading, insulationand /or glazing may be sufficient. For other cli-mates where heatwaves are prolonged or result inextremely high temperatures, passive design mea-
sures may not be enough to provide thermal com-fort. However, simply relying on an air conditioningsystem to provide comfort to the whole house dur-ing a heatwave may not be a solution for manyoccupants such as those who have a low-income orlive in rental properties. To minimise both retrofittingand ongoing operational costs for occupants a lim-ited conversion might be undertaken so that a sin-gle room or zone of the dwelling is improved there-by providing a cool room or refuge during pro-longed heatwaves (Pullen 2008).
PILOT CASE STUDy
With a range of possible design strategies avail-able, a pilot case study based on one strategy i.e.cool refuge was undertaken. This was to investigatethe feasibility of this solution in maintaining comfortconditions during heatwaves with minimal energyconsumption. It was also aimed at establishing amethodology for the further evaluation of otherstrategies for existing and new house designs.
The focus of the pilot case study is an exist-ing small, two-bedroom house in Adelaide, SouthAustralia (see Figure 1 and Table 2). This house istypical of public housing for people on low-incomes and the elderly. The pilot investigates thetemperatures in the house during a heatwave and
Table2. Construction of case study house: Base Case.
Figure 1. Case study house: floor plan and front elevation.
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anteexplores the impact of a number of design modifi-
cations that could be retrofitted to an existinghouse. The energy use is calculated for wholehouse cooling and for cooling one area of thehouse (“cool refuge”). This study uses existing cli-mate data to investigate possible improvements inthe performance of the dwelling during heatwavesunder current climate conditions. Once climate fileshave been developed for 2030 and 2050, it isintended to extend the investigation to future cli-mate scenarios.
Public housing presents a particular prob-lem in terms of thermal comfort during heatwaves.Public housing tenants may be in one or more ofthe categories of people vulnerable to heatwaves(for example, the elderly, disabled, socially isolat-ed); often there are inadequate resources for majorupgrades to the building stock and occupants maynot be able to afford to install and operate cooling.In South Australia’s public housing, air conditionersare provided in limited cases (e.g. for people withcertain disabilities such as multiple sclerosis (DFC2011). Many current and future occupants of hous-ing similar to the case study house do not have airconditioning although welfare agencies and theAustralian Medical Association are calling for themto be mandatory (AMA 2010).
Mode l l ingThe temperatures and energy use in the case studyhouse are modelled using AccuRate software(Delsante 2004). The AccuRate engine forms thebasis of software used for rating houses under theAustralian Nationwide House Energy RatingScheme (NatHers). As well as modelling heatingand cooling energy, AccuRate can be run in non-rating mode to assess the temperatures in a free-
running house. AccuRate incorporates weatherdata for 69 climate zones with data derived fromthe Bureau of Meteorology.
Design modifications are modelled for theAdelaide climate zone with a particularly hot four-day period of the climate file chosen for investiga-tion. The climate file does not have a period thatcorresponds to the current Bureau of Meteorologydefinition of a heat wave for Adelaide (i.e. 3 dayswith a maximum greater than 40 °C or 5 days withgreater than 35 °C). However, it does have a peri-od that would trigger high watch conditions underAdelaide’s Extreme Heat Plan as the maximumtemperature is ≥ 35°C for 3+ consecutive daysand the minimum ≥ 21°C for 3+ consecutivenights giving an average daily temperature (ADT) of28°C (SA Government 2011). The maximum out-door temperature during the study period is 44°C,it is more than 35°C for 25 hours of the 96 hourperiod and there are three very hot nights. The nighttime temperatures are an important considerationas one of the factors that predisposes people toheat-related illness is fatigue or lack of sleep(WHO, 2004). Increased heat-related morbidityand mortality has been identified after a secondnight of elevated minimum temperature (Nitschke2011; Loughnan 2010). In terms of thermal com-fort and building performance not only is this fourday period uncomfortably hot, it follows a weekwith temperatures of more than 30°C for six of theseven days and where several days are more than35°C.
The internal conditions are compared toupper limits of residential thermal comfort suggest-ed by Peeters et al. (2009) i.e. Bedrooms at 26°C,or 29°C if a fan is present, and 30°C for theLiving/Kitchen. The hours of occupation are pre-set
Figure 2. Occupied hours above comfort temperature: (a) Living/Kitchen area with no air conditioning, (b) Bedroom 1 with
no air conditioning.
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in AccuRate and are 1600-0900 hours forBedrooms and 0700-2400 hours for theLiving/Kitchen zone.
Wi thou t coo l ingWithout cooling, temperatures in the case studyhouse during the four-day period of the study reach38.8°C in the Living/Kitchen area, 35.7°C inBedroom 1 and 36.2°C in Bedroom 2.
Figure 2 shows the thermal comfort condi-tions for the Base Case and of a number of possi-ble retrofit measures. For the Base Case, theLiving/Kitchen area is hotter than 30°C for morethan 65% of occupied hours and the Bedroom ismore than 26°C for nearly 90% of the time. A ceil-ing fan in the Bedroom reduces the time above thecomfort temperature to 65%. None of the retrofitmeasures has a significant impact. This is perhapsunderstandable as when the night-time temperaturestays high, there is little opportunity for the heatstored in the building fabric to be shed. The weekpreceding the 4-day study period was hot andtherefore the building fabric is already heating upbefore the very high temperatures commence.These figures suggest that for this house designwithout air conditioning, it is impossible to achievethermally comfortable conditions during this period.
Coo l ing ene rgy requ i r ements dur inghea twave – ex i s t i ng houseCooling energy requirements for the case studyhouse can be determined using AccuRate software. AccuRate assumes a cooling thermostat setting forthe Adelaide climate of 25°C and that living zonesare occupied from 0700 – 2400 hours with bed-rooms occupied from 1600 – 0900 hours. Initially,cooling to all habitable rooms (Living / Dining /Kitchen and Bedrooms) is considered. This is fol-lowed by consideration of the ‘cool refuge’ conceptwhere the two options are cooling to just the Livingzone (Living/Dining/Kitchen) and to just Bedroom 1.
Table 3 shows the energy demand for cool-ing for all habitable rooms during the four dayheatwave to be an average of 127.5 MJ/day. Bylimiting cooling to the Living Zone to form a ‘coolrefuge’, the demand drops to 106.8 MJ/day. Thisbase case performance for the Living Zone can beimproved by retrofitting the existing dwelling withthe following modifications:
•external blinds to windows in Living/Dine/Kitchen
zone
•retrofitted double-glazing to the western windows
of Living/Dine/Kitchen
•This results in a further reduction in energy
demand to 86.0 MJ/day during the heatwave.The alternative ‘cool refuge’ is Bedroom 1
which has an average energy demand of 50.0MJ/day in its base case form and 36.0 MJ/daywhen retrofitted with the following design modifica-tions:
•external blind to Bedroom 1 window
•retrofitted double-glazing to Bedroom 1 window
•In this case Bedroom 1 is re-classified in AccuRate
as a Living Zone to allow the cooling to be available
from 0700-2400 hours. The improved energy demands for cooling
during the heatwave by using variations of the ‘coolrefuge’ concept can be compared with the averageenergy demand during non-heatwave summer con-ditions This is the energy demand for the sixty daysbetween November and April and has been evalu-ated as an average of 52.2 MJ/day. This figure canbe used as a baseline against which the ‘coolrefuge’ options can be assessed.
DISCUSSION
The pilot analysis shows that there is potential forthe cool refuge concept to maintain comfortableconditions during a heatwave period without con-suming excessive energy. Figure 3 compares thecooling energy loads for the cool refuge optionsand for cooling the whole house.
Taking the average cooling energy load forall habitable rooms of 52.2MJ/day as a baseline,then the cooling load for Bedroom 1 during theheatwave is lower while the Living zone option issomewhat higher and would require furtherimprovements. Not only is the Living zone largerthen Bedroom 1 but it has the additional heat loadsgenerated from cooking as it incorporates thekitchen. The Bedroom 1 option as a cool refuge
table3. Energy demand for cooling.
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achieves the aim of consuming no more daily ener-gy during heatwaves than would be used duringnon-heatwave conditions (i.e. 52.2 MJ/day).
The design modifications modelled for thetwo cool refuge options illustrate that some simplemeasures can provide significant benefits in termsof reducing the cooling energy load during heat-waves. Furthermore, the modifications providereduction to the cooling load not only during theheatwave but also for the rest of the year.
Of significance is the peak energy demandand for the whole house this is 6.8 kW. For theLiving zone, the peak energy demand is reduced tojust under 4 kW and for Bedroom 1 it is 1.9 kW forthe base case and 1.4kW once design modifica-tions have been included. The peak demand forelectricity in South Australia is more than double theaverage demand for power (ETSA 2009) so that thecool refuge concept can be seen as a potentialdemand side management technique. Further casestudies using different dwelling types will providefurther information for modelling the impact onstate or national energy consumption.
In terms of greenhouse gas emissionsduring the 4 day heatwave, whole house cooling(all habitable rooms) would produce 43.4kgCO2e, whereas the Living zone andBedroom1 cool refuges (both with modifications)would produce 29.3 and 12.2 kgCO2e, respec-tively. This assumes an energy efficiency ratio of 3for air conditioning equipment and a conversionfactor of 255 kgCO2e/GJ of energy used basedon the full fuel cycle for electricity generation(DCCEE 2011).
Overall, the study demonstrates the feasi-bility of operating houses under heatwave condi-tions in a way that maintains comfort (in a restrict-ed area) with minimal cost increases comparedwith non-heatwave conditions. This is important
for certain sections of the community. It also pro-vides the benefit of reduced greenhouse gasemissions and the lowering of peak load duringheatwaves.
CONCLUSIONS
It is becoming increasingly clear that building cli-mate change policy needs to address both mitiga-tion (reducing the greenhouse gas productionthrough measures such as passive design andrenewable energy) and adaptation.
Extreme events resulting from climatechange will require the adaptation of dwellings andoccupant behaviour to future climatic conditions.With regard to heatwaves, there are various adap-tation strategies and it is likely that certain sectionsof the community will opt for the additional costs ofincreased energy consumption and capital invest-ments in enhanced renewable energy and coolingsystems. Investment in new houses with unconven-tional features (e.g. basements) offers an alternativestrategy to be investigated. However, the more vul-nerable in the community will be at greater risk.There are various design options for improving thethermal performance of existing dwellings to main-tain thermal comfort at minimal energy consump-tion including the use of cool refuges.
A pilot case study of a small dwelling inheatwave conditions has shown that substantialsavings in cooling energy load can be achievedwith modifications to the existing home and withdesign improvements to produce an enhancedbuilding. The approach taken is based on somebehaviour change where residents are willing tooccupy just part of the dwelling during heatwaveperiods. The study demonstrates that heatwaves donot necessarily result in extra costs to residents inorder to maintain comfort conditions if they areable to restrict their area of occupation. For somemembers of the community, this is important. It isalso a factor which contributes to lowering peakelectricity load.
The pilot case study indicates that furtherresearch on improving the performance of existingdwellings is worth pursuing. It provides a methodol-ogy to extend the analysis to other types of existingand new houses in current and future climate con-ditions. The next stage of the research will involvethe development of climate files of future weatherdata suitable for use with the AccuRate software.Various house types will be analysed in the different
Figure 3. Daily cooling energy demand during a heat wave
for different design modifications compared with averagecooling load (52.2 MJ/day).
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climate zones within Australia that are subject toheatwaves both now and in the future. The costbenefit of possible retrofit kits for dwellings needs tobe considered as well as the affordability of powerbills for residents subject to financial constraints.Ultimately, consideration may need to be given topolicy and legislative changes to implement theoutcomes of the research.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The support of the National Climate ChangeAdaptation Research Facility (NCCARF) for theresearch described in this paper is gratefullyacknowledged. Thanks also go to the anonymousreviewers of this paper for their helpful comments.
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Author(s)
Helen Bennetts
Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia,
Adelaide
Stephen Pullen
Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia,
Adelaide
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: +61 8 830 22753
Fax: +61 8 830 22252
URL: http://people.unisa.edu.au/Stephen.Pullen
George Zillante
Barbara Hardy Institute, University of South Australia,
Adelaide
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INTRODUCTION
Increased occurrences of extreme climate eventshave prompted governments around the world totake remedial actions to arrest its adverse econom-ic and social effects on the planet. Use of fossil fuelfor energy and anthropogenic emissions of green-house gases are considered to be the key driver forclimate change, which is arguably the subject ofgreatest concern for sustainable development. TheFourth Assessment Report produced by theIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC2007) indicates that buildings have the capacity toreduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29% by2020. A four-year study for the United NationsEnvironment Programme on green jobs (UNEP2008), considered to be one of the most rigorousstudy conducted on the subject – shows how ener-gy use in buildings can be cut by 60% by 2050,provided immediate actions are taken.
Malaysia’s total energy consumption percapita increased from 1,307 kgoe (kilograms of oilequivalent) per person in 1990 to 2,229 in 2000,which was almost double in just a decade. It thenrose by another 20% to 2,418 in 2005 (IEA 2007).
Saidur (2009) estimates that Malaysia’s electrici-ty–gross domestic product elasticity is around 1.5;i.e. for every rise in the former, electricity consump-tion increases by 1.5%. Malaysia’s energy con-sumption pattern in pursuit of economic prosperitycan be considered to be unsustainable. In January2009, a private-sector led initiative culminated inthe unveiling of the Green Building Index (GBI), agreen rating tool for buildings which catered forMalaysian features. It marked a significant mile-stone in the greening of Malaysia’s built environ-ment. Significantly, the newly appointed prime min-ister, Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak, endorsed GBI bytying it to tax incentives in the 2010 Budget andearmarking two townships for greening.
A study was conducted to reconstruct theactions taken which led to the GBI coming intooperation. It also examined the processes involvedwhich culminated in the government endorsing it.This paper makes the case that the GBI episodeepitomised effective public-private partnership. Thispaper does not purport to evaluate GBI which, todo justice, requires a separate treatment on its own.Besides, this task had been conducted byRahardjati et al. (2010) and Mohd Sood et al.
Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz and George Ofori
Abstract
From interviews with selected experts and secondary sources, this paper charts the actions that led to Malaysia having
its own green building rating tool. It began with the Institution of Architects Malaysia and the Institution of Engineers
Malaysia working together in 2008 to come up with the Green Building Index (GBI) specifically suited for the Malaysian
condition. The index was launched a year later, the same year that a new prime minister came into office. With green-
ing the economy in mind, he launched a few major initiatives, one of which was the creation of the Ministry of Energy,
Green Technology and Water to replace the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications and another was the
launching of the National Technology Policy. In December 2009, he made the commitment on Malaysia’s behalf to
reduce carbon dioxide emission at the Copenhagen Summit, thereby cementing his commitment to green issues at the
international level. Behind-the-scene lobbying by the private sector resulted in the government explicitly endorsing the
GBI by tying GBI certification of buildings to financial incentives. This paper makes the case that the strong coopera-
tion between the private sector and the government over the GBI represents a form of public-private partnership on
aspects of collaborative spirit, complementarity of resources, private sector leadership, wide-ranging ramifications over
other partnerships across time, timing and sustainability. Other countries intending to come up with their own rating tool
can take stock of the Malaysian experience.
Keywords: Green Building Index, Green Building Rating Tool, Malaysia, Private-Public Partnership.
GENESIS OF MALAYSIA’S POLICY RELATING TO SUS-TAINABILITY OF THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
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(2011). Put simply, this paper is not about what GBIis technically all about but how it came about.
ANTECEDENCE OF CURRENT GREENINIT IAT IVES
To be fair, green issues had been addressed by pre-vious administrations. The present subject mattermarks a departure from the past in that it cameabout from a partnership between the private andpublic sectors. This section makes a cursory reviewof past policies and actions implemented under thevarious Malaysia Plans.
Energy efficiency was first mooted in the 7thMalaysia Plan (1996-2000) (van der Akker 2008).Policies, initiatives and economic instruments forattaining energy efficiency were outlined in thatplan (Mohamed and Lee 2006). So were regula-tions requiring energy management of controlledinstallations, appointment of energy efficient offi-cers, and approval and labeling of certain con-suming products and scheduled products(Mariyappan 2000).
Energy efficiency was again covered in the8th Malaysia Plan (2001-2005) (EPU 2001). TheNational Policy on Environment was launched in2002, aimed at continuing economic, social andcultural progress of Malaysia and enhancing thequality of life of its people, through environmental-ly sound and sustainable development (MOSTE2002).
In the 9th Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), thegovernment gave focus to the design and installa-tion of energy-efficient features in public-sectorbuildings (EPU 2006). The government used acombination of behavioural and economic instru-ments together with the demonstration effect toinculcate green consciousness in companies andindividuals. Those relevant to the building industryincluded providing advice, offering fiscal incentives,constructing showcase energy-efficient public build-ings, and formulating building regulations. Theseare discussed below.
Fiscal incentives were the main instrumentto encourage energy conservation (see Table 1).The development of the LEO (Low Energy Office)Building in 2001 was an early commitment of thegovernment to demonstrate the economic viabilityof such a development by using energy efficiencyfeatures easily replicated in other buildings inMalaysia, and requiring additional investment notexceeding 10% of the base building price (Ibrahim
2008). The LEO Building now houses the Ministryof Energy, Green Technology and Water. The gov-ernment then went on to build other demonstrationgreen buildings including the SecuritiesCommission Headquarters, GEO (Green EnergyOffice) Building which houses the Malaysian EnergyCentre and the office of the Energy Commission.
The Department of Standards Malaysia(DSM 2007) came up with MS 1525:2007, the“Code of Practice on Energy Efficiency and the Useof Renewable Energy for Non ResidentialBuildings.” The code recommends that all new air-conditioned non-residential buildings exceeding4,000 m2 of air-conditioned space should be pro-vided with an electric management system. Theoverall thermal transfer value (OTTV) should alsonot exceed 50 W/m2; and the roof thermal trans-fer value should not exceed 25 W/m2. This codehowever is not mandatory.
RESEARCH METHOD
The case study approach was deemed most appro-priate for the research as it gives special attentionto complexities in observation, reconstruction, andanalysis of the cases under study (Zonabend 1992).The underlying premise of case study is that multi-ple viewpoints can be captured of a situation in itscontext, thereby offering depth and comprehensive-ness for understanding the specific phenomenon(Easton 1995). With this approach, data are trian-gulated from multiple sources of evidence whichmay include direct observations, interviews, docu-ments, archival files and actual artefacts (Yin
Table 1. Fiscal incentives for companies offering energy
conservation services Ministry of Finance Malaysia(online) http://www.treasury.gov.my/index.php?option=com_content&view= category&id=87&Itemid= 195&lang=en
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1997). There is growing confidence in the casestudy as a rigorous research strategy in its own right(Hartley 2004).
For this study, semi-structured interviewswere mainly used to obtain data. Based on the lim-ited knowledge that was known beforehand, basicquestions posed included: what was the motivationbehind the desire to come up with Malaysia’s ownGBI? How did the promoters go about crafting thetool? How did they manage to get governmentendorsement? Minimal restrictions were placed onthe interviewees in expressing themselves, providedthey kept within the subject area (Kerlinger 1986).In purposive interviews, the investigator ascertainswhat needs to be known and then searches peoplewho can and are eager to provide the data on thebasis of their experience or knowledge (Bernard2002). Key personnel in organisations that havebeen instrumental in bringing to reality the GBIwere approached for the study. Either that, or theywere intimately familiar with the subject matter. Thedetails of the six interviewees are provided inAppendix 1. For anonymity, they are referred to asMr A, Mr B, and so forth.
While six interviews might seem small, sat-uration was reached, that is to say, no new obser-vations or themes were observed by the time the lastinterview was completed. It should be stressed thatMr A and Mr B had been directly involved through-out the entire process of coming up with GBI andgetting it recognised by the Malaysian government.Guest et al. (2006) note that basic elements formeta-themes can be present in as early as six inter-views. Other public-private partnership studies thatrelied on small number of interviewees include Linkand Scott (2001), Regéczi (2005), Mörth (2009), toname a few. What matters is not the number ofinterviewees but the richness and accuracy of infor-mation collected. The interviews lasted on averageone hour. Triangulation of data established theirvalidity (Yin 1997). The results of the analysis arepresented as description of the processes involvedin the establishment of the GBI and its endorsementby the government. Printed media, another validsource of data (Yin 1997), also served to recon-struct past actions and triangulate data.
F INDINGS
The private sector was not prompted to come upwith the GBI in the wake of the government con-structing demonstration green buildings as men-
tioned above, but because for-profit developerswere doing likewise in response to multinationalcompanies’ willingness to pay premium rentals orprices for green spaces. At that time, these devel-opers relied on United States’ LEED (e.g. MRCB’s348 Sentral Project) and Singapore’s Green MarkScheme (e.g. Goldis Bhd’s GT Tower) to rate theirbuildings. Detecting an emerging niche market, theMalaysian Architects Association (PAM) strongly feltthat Malaysia should have its own rating whichtakes into account local environment, climate,practices and cultures, but still benchmarkedagainst established rating schemes – a standpointwhich resonates with Reed et al. (2009) who, whilerecommending that a set of ‘global’ benchmarkparameters should be established for sustainablerating tools, acknowledge that unique characteris-tics of individual countries must not be subsumed.The rating tools used in the United States, Europeand Australia cater to temperate climate whereasSingapore’s Green Mark, while suited for tropicalclimate, gives emphasis to certain aspects deemedinappropriate for Malaysia. For example,Singapore’s tool takes for granted excellent publictransportation system for which Malaysia lacks.Hence the Malaysian team wanted site selection tobe stressed so as to minimise vehicular emission.The Malaysian team was also particular about post-occupancy commissioning and maintenance ofenergy-consuming systems.
In August 2008, PAM Council createdSustainable Committee with seed money ofRM100,000 (£20,000) to develop and set up theGBI and its accompanying certifying and accredit-ing panel. To get early buy-in from other mainindustry stakeholders, the proposal was presentedto the Building Industry Presidents’ Council whosemembers comprised Real Estate and HousingDevelopers’ Association, Master BuildersAssociation of Malaysia, Association of ConsultingEngineers Malaysia, Institution of EngineersMalaysia and Malaysian Institute of Planners. Mr Aexplained that getting early buy-in from other stake-holders was a strategic move to promote industry-wide change through volunteerism rather than leg-islation. Soon after, the Association of ConsultingEngineers Malaysia (ACEM) agreed to draft the rat-ing system for non-residential (i.e. commercial)development, leaving PAM to focus solely on resi-dential development. Apart from studying notablegreen building ratings which included BREEAM(UK), LEED (USA), Green Mark (Singapore) andGreenstar (Australia), the committee made study
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visits to Singapore and Australia between Augustand November 2008 to acquire experientiallessons and knowledge in devising the respectiverating systems. Mr B said that Singapore’s Buildingand Construction Authority that certifies the GreenMark scheme was very helpful, for example by giv-ing tips on the appropriate training format for GBIfacilitators and even offering the Green Markscheme for adoption in Malaysia (under a differentbrand name, if necessary). The Malaysian visitorswere surprised when told that the Green Mark wasinitiated by only five persons or so (BA 2009a).They also learnt the incentive strategies for theindustry players to adopt Green Mark and the con-sequence if they did not (BA 2009b). In Australiathe team visited the Green Building Council whichcertifies Australia’s Green Star. There, they learnthow a green building rating scheme was managed
by a non-government organisation, and how it waspromoted to consumers (BA 2009b). The GBI pro-moters acknowledged that the generous sharing ofexperiences accelerated the learning curve, to theextent that GBI could be rolled out in less than ninemonths (BA 2009c).
On the 3 January 2009, the GreenBuilding Index Malaysia was soft launched at theGreen Design Forum organised by PAM (2009).The GBI classification is as such: 86 points andabove for Platinum, 76-85 points for Gold, 66-75points for Silver and 50-65 points for certified. Thepoint system is shown in Table 2. This event was fol-lowed by national roadshows to introduce GBI tothe masses as well as to obtain feedback for refine-ment of the scheme. The purpose of the whole exer-cise was also to get buy-in from the building indus-try. Soon after, PAM approved the setting up of anorganisational structure to manage the rating tool,and accredit GBI certifiers and GBI facilitators. Aseries of launches followed (see Table 3). Like othercountries (with the exception of Singapore whichwas government-initiated), the GBI was a profes-sion-led effort. The two professional bodies whichproduced the GBI took pride that it was a private-sector, multi-profession initiative. Mr F applauded
table 2. Criteria for assessment, definition, and allocation of points under GBI.
Table 3. Green Building Index milestones.
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them for rolling out GBI in such a short space oftime. Mr E noted, “Because it was private sector dri-ven, things moved very fast.”
In the budget statement for 2010, it wasannounced that owners whose buildings receive theGBI certification between 24th October 2009 and31st December 2014 are given income tax exemp-tion equivalent to the additional capital expenditurethey incurred in obtaining such certificates (i.e. inproviding the buildings with the features whichenabled them to satisfy the requirements for GBIcertification). Buyers who purchase GBI-certifiedbuildings from developers are also granted exemp-tion from stamp duty on the instruments of transferof ownership. The total amount of the exemption isequivalent to the additional cost incurred by thefirms to obtain the GBI certificates. This exemptionis given to buyers who execute sales and purchaseagreements between 24th October 2009 and 31stDecember 2014. By using GBI as the basis forincentive schemes in the Budget 2010, the govern-ment had effectively endorsed it.
Mr A and Mr B intimated that the PrimeMinister had instructed his office in Putrajaya to berefurbished to meet the GBI rating, thus providingfurther endorsement to it. In the 2010 Budget, thegovernment had earmarked Putrajaya andCyberjaya as demonstration green townships. The10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) document alsomentions of the wider adoption of the GBI (EPU2010).
When probed how the GBI promotersmanaged to get the Prime Minister to lend supportto the green building rating scheme, Mr A divulgedthat it was the result of lobbying. He explained: “… We approached the government and said,“Why don’t you encourage them by telling them ifthey get their buildings certified green, we will giveyou tax rebate.” So this is where we started… Ofcourse, when you want to do that, you must have aproper rating tool, and then a set of professionalswho are competent, with clear guidelines on howthey should do it.”
A partnership between the government andprivate sector was therefore forged in connectionwith the GBI. When asked how they went aboutlobbying, he explained:“… There are ways and means of doing it… Byapproaching the Prime Minister’s Department,Ministry of Finance and the people who are alreadyin the green industry who have already managed toget incentives – [e.g.] solar panels … So we got thesame people to help us lobby the government…”
Mr E observed, “PAM and ACEM did agood job in getting the government to offer taxincentives for GBI-rated buildings.” Mr B predicted,“The government’s announcement of fantasticincentives is the biggest driver, and things are real-ly going to fly.” Mr C, Mr D and Mr F concurredthat ultimately greening the construction industryhas to be client-driven rather than government-coerced. Unless clients are convinced of the com-mercial benefits of greening their buildings, GBI willsuffer from a short life span.
In fact, the GBI-linked tax incentives hadmade some developers think quite deeply aboutgreen issues, said Mr E. Mr A also said that thedevelopers had jumped on the green bandwagon.When asked whether they understood the implica-tions of tax incentives, Mr A replied, “They are busi-nessmen; they are very smart. They know exactlywhere the money is coming from.” Mr F describedone building project in which, halfway through theproject, the client wanted it to be green so as toenjoy the government rebate.
The GBI promoters believed that peer pres-sure was more sustainable than legislation. “Peerpressure is definitely there, nobody wants to loseout,” said Mr B. “GBI was expected to derive addi-tional impetus from real estate investment trusts’preference for green buildings,” Mr A pointed out.Thus, many of the private property developers andowners were looking beyond GBI-related tax incen-tives to capture market rewards. So far, two build-ings have been fully GBI certified, while another 32are provisionally certified.
At this juncture, it is instructive to comparethe success of the GBI promoters in mustering gov-ernment support and the failure of previous effortsto get the government to make MS 1525 manda-tory. Mr A and Mr B elaborated that since 2001, theprofessional bodies had been pressing the govern-ment to incorporate MS1525 in the UniformBuilding By-Law. They were promised that it wouldhappen in 2003 and again in 2007, but it nevertranspired. The government had articulated that itwould do so in the 10th Malaysia Plan (2011-2015) (EPU 2010:304). This intent remains as dis-tant as it was more than a decade ago.
Interestingly therefore, two private sector-led green initiatives achieved contrasting outcomes.Lobbying tactics cannot be blamed as almost thesame people were involved in both. The differentpolitical mood may have led to different receptions.The appearance of GBI fortuitously coincided withthe appointment of Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak as
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Malaysia’s new prime minister in April 2009.Almost immediately, he made known his desire tomake green technologies the emerging drivers ofeconomic growth. In April 2009, the Ministry ofEnergy, Water and Communication replaced theMinistry of Energy, Green Technology and Water. In
July 2009, the government unveiled the NationalGreen Technology Policy (see Table 4) to ensurethat national development will harmonise with envi-ronmental considerations (MEGTW 2009). Theprime minister’s commitment to sustainability wascemented when he announced in December 2009
Table 4. Green Technology Policy details Source: Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (online) http://www.ket-
tha.gov.my
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Table 4 Cont. Green Technology Policy details Source: Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (online)
http://www.kettha.gov.my
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at the Copenhagen Climate Change Summit thatMalaysia would reduce CO2 emissions by up to40% of the 2005 levels by 2020 (conditional upontechnology and finance from developed nations).
Difference in political mood aside, the dif-ferent political capital required may have led to dif-ferent outcomes for GBI and MS 1525. While theprofessional actors were keen for the governmentto enforce coercion with regards to MS 1525, theywere satisfied for GBI to be adopted voluntarily.
The entrenchment of the GBI in Malaysia’sbuilding industry should not be understated. “Tome, sustainable construction started with GBI,”asserted Mr E. And this transformation must also becredited to the government for fully supporting it.Taking the cue from LEED (USGBC 2009), GBI islikely to undergo revisions in the future to be in linewith continuous innovation in products, designsand practices. That however should not diminishthe significance of the actions and efforts which ledto the GBI having a firm place in the Malaysianbuilding sector in the first place.
DISCUSSION
By referring to available literature, we make thecase that what was described above was one formof public-private partnership (PPP) in action. PPP isa malleable term (Savas 2000) which has beenused for a variety of public-private cooperativeefforts or organisational innovation (Kernaghan1993, Linder 2000, Schaeffer and Loveridge2002). They range from mere exchange of infor-mation to full collaboration based on sharedresources (Gaster et al. 1996).
The most common connotation of PPP isthat of the private and public sectors workingtogether on infrastructure and other capital inten-sive programmes or government reforms (Linder2000, Savas 2000). In such instances, risk transferand private-sector profitability are central to theirformation. These two features however are absentin the present context. Collaborative working, alsoconsistent with commercial PPP, was however evi-dent from the study. The present application harksback to historical roots of public-spirited individualsand organisations working together with progres-
Table 4 Cont. Green Technology Policy details Source: Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water (online)
http://www.kettha.gov.my
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sive intent (Linder 2000). The actors who champi-oned the GBI did so for the greater good of thebuilding industry, and ultimately the country. Thepresent context was not about pooling of resourcesto achieve efficiencies, but about combiningrespective strengths to increase the scope of activi-ties (Schaeffer and Loveridge 2002). Unlike the pri-vate sector, governments everywhere are oftenbogged down by slow decision making process dueto competing interests. On the other hand, where-as the private sector can only rely on persuasion,the public sector can provide legitimacy to the plan(Klitgaard and Treverton 2004). In the Malaysiancontext, the two sides combined their complemen-tary powers and thus accomplished things that oth-erwise might have taken longer or less far-reaching.Additionally, the public-private partnership of thepresent study arose by default in the sense that theprivate sector recognised and satisfied an unmetdemand (Savas 2000). At the opportune moment,the government was approached to endorse theprivate sector effort. As Schaeffer and Loveridge(2002) and Deakin (2002) point out, PPP leader-ship need not come from the public sector. In thepresent context, the leader was not the governmentas one would find in conventional commercial PPP,but the private sector. It was the latter that success-fully campaigned for the government to endorsetheir green building rating tool.
Klitgaard and Treverton (2004) note thatpartnerships can take on three perspectives: the firstpromotes self-interest, the second is concerned withthe broader effects on society whereas the third ison the broader effects on society over other part-nerships as well and over time. The partnershipforged between the two sides in the GBI contextresembled, if not came close to, Klitgaard andTreverton (2004)’s third perspective partnerships.The GBI has far reaching ramifications which,among others, are likely to trigger realignment ofpartnerships between property developers, contrac-tors, building material manufacturers, financialinstitutions and even local authorities in years tocome.
With partnerships in capital-intensiveareas, timing is important. For example, imposingunpopular tariff hike at a time when privatisation iscontentious can provoke severe backlash (Jerome2004). The same applied to the GBI partnership. Itwas fortuitous that the mood of the government waspro-environment when effort was being made todraw government support. Furthermore, the politi-
cal capital required was within the means of thegovernment.
The partnership referred to in this study cer-tainly require sustained rather than short-term, one-off efforts (Schaeffer and Loveridge 2002). And thisis one area which can be a cause of concern. Sincethe unveiling of tax incentives in 2010, there hasbeen no new government initiative to further pro-mote the GBI. Malaysia only needs to borrow inno-vations from other countries to sustain the greenmomentum, possibly at no extra budgetary burden.For example, it could borrow the gross floor areaincentive adopted by the Indian, Hong Kong andSingapore whereby additional floor area for devel-opment is granted upon attainment of certain rat-ings (WGBC 2011). Although the governmentmentions in the 10th Malaysia Plan about wideradoption of GBI, specific details are conspicuouslyabsent (EPU 2010).
CONCLUSION
Malaysia has joined the ranks of countries with theirown green building rating tools. It was a ‘top up’initiative by certain industry players. This paperdwells on the how and not the what of the GBI. Indoing so, it provides an insight into what late-starters should be doing so that the process of com-ing up with a green building rating tool would beas smooth and effective as possible.
It does not take many people to come upwith a localised green building rating scheme; allthat is required are a few like-minded championswith a strong volunteerism spirit intent to bring pos-itive changes to the building industry. Neither doesit require huge financial outlay. Soliciting the expe-riences of those who had undergone the sameprocess previously helps to avoid costly mistakes.Effort must be made to get early buy-in from asmany industry stakeholders as possible, from rele-vant trade associations right down to individualprofessionals. Securing government endorsementwould certainly go a long way in fostering industryacceptance. For this, effective behind-the-scenelobbying is crucial. The promoters must strike achord with the political mood of the day. The polit-ical capital they require must match as close aspossible with what the government of the day candispense. Only then would a true PPP prevail.
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UNEP 2008, Green jobs: Towards decent work in a sustain-able low carbon world, United Nations EnvironmentProgramme, Nairobi, Kenya.
USGBC 2009, Foundations of LEED, United States GreenBuilding Council, Washington, DC, USA.
VAN DER AKKER, J. 2008, Final evaluation: MalaysianIndustrial Energy Efficiency Improvement Project (MIEEIP),Government of Malaysia, United Nations DevelopmentProgramme and Global Environment Facility. Kuala Lumpur,Malaysia.
WGBC 2011, Government Leadership Awards for Excellencein City Policy for Green Building, World Green BuildingCouncil, Ontario, Canada.
YIN, R.K. 1997, Case Study Research: Design and Methods,Sage Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
ZONABEND, F. 1992, The monograph in European ethnolo-gy, Current Sociology, 40:1, 49-60
APPENDIX 1The details of the six interviewees are as follows. To con-ceal their identities, their names are not revealed.
1.Mr A was the co-chairman of Malaysian ArchitectAssociation (PAM) Sustainability Committee that devel-oped the GBI and the pro-tem Honorary Secretary of theMalaysian Green Building Council. He was the teamleader for GBI Residential Tool.2.Mr B was the past president of the Association ofConsulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM), the Institution ofFire Engineers Malaysia and the Malaysian Chapter ofASHRAE. He was the team leader for GBI Non-residen-tial tool.3.Mr C was the Chief Operating Officer, MalaysianEnergy Centre.4.Mr D was with the Construction Industry DevelopmentBoard. He was the Chief Coordinator of theConstruction Industry Master Plan.5.Mr E was the managing director of a company pro-viding solar district cooling system. The company won aregional award in 2009 for Best Practices for EnergyEfficient Building Competition.6.Mr F was previously a partner with one of the largestquantity surveying firm in Malaysia. He is currently theglobal president-elect of a worldwide professional bodybased in London.
Author(s)
Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz,Corresponding author: School of Housing BuildingPlanning, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang,Malaysia, Email: [email protected], Tel: (06) 04652816, Fax: (06) 046576523
George Ofori, School of Design and Environment, National Universityof Singapore, 4 Architecture Drive, 117566 Singapore. Email: [email protected], Tel: (65) 65163421,Fax: (65) 67755502
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INTRODUCTION
In light of compelling evidence for rapid anthro-pogenic climate change, there is a gradual shifttowards adapting buildings and cities to theinevitable climate change, while mitigating itsimpacts. The basis for investigating climate changeimpact, vulnerability and adaptation in the UK is thescenarios projected by the United Kingdom ClimateImpacts Programme (UKCIP). The projected UKCIPmedium emissions scenario suggests that averagesummer temperature will increase by up to 5.4°C inthe southern part of England by 2080s (Murphy etal. 2009). Concerns over rising temperature has,therefore, resulted in a growing awareness of theneed for embedding adaptation in the design andoperation of a building in the UK and around theglobe. A number of recent publications, includingthe ones from the Chartered Institution of BuildingServices Engineers (CIBSE) (CIBSE 2005) haveinvestigated the impact of climate change in build-ings, indicating that the UK has a high probabilityof experiencing overheating in buildings in future.
BRIT ISH DWELL INGS AND NEED FORADAPTATION
A significant number of new dwellings are builtevery year in the Britain. According to theDepartment for Communities and LocalGovernment (DCLG), 1.6 million new dwellingswere built in the UK between 1997 and 2006.Although new construction has fallen since the eco-nomic downturn, it is expected to be temporary. Thehousehold numbers are also projected to grow to27.8 million in 2033 – an increase of 5.8%, com-pared to 2008 (DCLG 2009). Increasing house-hold numbers will require additional dwellings to bebuilt, which will constitute a significant part of thetotal dwelling stock in coming decades. Moreover,there is a tendency in the UK towards building flatsin multi-occupancy buildings rather than single-occupancy traditional houses. Flats accounted for46% of total new dwellings in 2008-09 (DCLG2009).
British dwellings are mostly naturally venti-lated and heating dominated, which can make
Shariful Shikder, Monjur Mourshed, Andrew Price
Abstract
Recent climate change projections estimate that the average summertime temperature in the southern part of Great
Britain may increase by up to 5.4°C by the end of the century. The general consensus is that projected increases in tem-
perature will render British dwellings vulnerable to summer overheating and by the middle of this century it may become
difficult to maintain a comfortable indoor environment, if adaptation measures are not well integrated in the design and
operation of new dwellings, which are likely to remain in use beyond the 2050s. The challenge is to reduce overheat-
ing risks by integrating building and user adaptation measures, to avoid energy intensive mechanical cooling.
Developing guidelines and updating building regulations for adaptation, therefore, requires an understanding of the
baseline scenario; i.e. the performance of existing buildings in future climates.
This paper aims to investigate the performance of new-build multi-occupancy British dwellings for human thermal com-
fort in the present-day and projected future climates in four regional cities: Birmingham, Edinburgh, London and
Manchester. Evaluations are carried out by a series of dynamic thermal simulations using widely adopted threshold tem-
perature for overheating, as well as adaptive thermal comfort standards. This study thus offers a unique perspective on
regional variations of performance and provides a clearer snapshot because of the use of more appropriate adaptive
comfort standards in the evaluations. Finally, the paper sheds light on possible personal and building adaptation mea-
sures to alleviate overheating risks.
Keywords: Adaptive thermal comfort, climate change, adaptation, thermal performance, building simulation.
SUMMERTIME IMPACT OF CLIMATE CHANGE ONMULTI-OCCUPANCY BRITISH DWELLINGS
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ricethem vulnerable during hot weather or sudden heat
waves, in particular in future climates withincreased temperatures. According to CIBSE(2005), it will be difficult to maintain indoor condi-tions within comfort zone in many residential build-ings, in particular in bedrooms, in some parts of thecountry. Therefore, the challenge is to adapt to thewarming climate without the aid of energy-intensivemechanical cooling. Understanding the perfor-mance of the new-build dwellings in future climatesis the logical first step in developing strategies andguidelines for adaptation.
THE RMAL C OMFO RT A SSESSME NTMETHODS
A key issue while investigating the thermal perfor-mance is the evaluation criteria used in previousstudies. CIBSE has published several guidelines onenvironmental and design of buildings in currentand projected climates. CIBSE (2005, 2006) rec-ommended temperature benchmarks or thresholdsto identify building overheating. One of the key crit-icisms is that this temperature threshold remainssame, irrespective of the time of year and geo-graphical location. Past research on thermal com-fort suggests that the comfort range is significantlyinfluenced by the outside temperature and peoplecan adapt to a wider range of temperaturesdepending on their thermal experience of previousdays and available adaptation opportunities (deDear and Brager 1998; Nicol and Humphreys2002). This provides a wider range of acceptabletemperatures specifically for naturally ventilatedbuildings, also known as adaptive thermal comfortstandards (ASHRAE 2010; BS 2007).
AIM AND OBjECTIVES
This paper aims to investigate the performance ofnew-build multi-occupancy British dwellings forhuman thermal comfort in the present-day and pro-jected future climates in four regional cities:Birmingham, Edinburgh, London and Manchester.Evaluations are carried out by a series of dynamicthermal simulations using widely adopted thresholdtemperature for overheating, as well as adaptivethermal comfort standards. This study thus offers aunique perspective on regional variations of perfor-mance and provides a clearer snapshot because ofthe use of more appropriate adaptive comfort stan-
dards in the evaluations. Finally, the paper shedslight on possible personal and building adaptationmeasures to alleviate overheating risks.
PREVIOUS STUDIES AND ADAPTAT ION STRATEGIES
A considerable number of studies have identifiedthe impact of climate change on buildings thermalperformance and energy demand (CIBSE 2005;Holmes and Hacker 2007; jentsch et al. 2008; deWilde and Tian 2010, 2012; Lomas andGiridharan 2011; Mourshed 2011; Gupta andGregg 2012). Although earlier studies have onlyconsidered the simple overheating criteria pro-posed by CIBSE, there is considerable interestamong researchers to explore the application ofadaptive thermal comfort standards in this domainand has been applied in later studies. Previous pub-lications also discussed various adaptive opportuni-ties to mitigate the impact of overheating. The typeof adaptive opportunities can be divided into twogroups, one is directly associated with the occupantbehaviour and activity; the other one is adaptationopportunity/measures of the building. Studiesrevealed that the infiltration rate is one of the mostimportant design factors in defining the annualheating and cooling loads. In addition, other pas-sive design strategies such as building materials,solar gain controls, etc. needs to be considered(CIBSE 2005; Hamilton-MacLaren et al. 2012;Holmes and Hacker 2007; Mourshed et al. 2005).Although most previous studies have discussed theadaptation of building itself, aspects related tooccupants’ behavioural adaptation have not beenaddressed in detail. However there is a consider-able amount of personal adaptive opportunitiesthat may be helpful in controlling building over-heating. Key personal adaptive opportunities arerelated to the occupant’s ability to open windows,control solar glare, turn lights off, use portable fanand change clothing, as well as individual controlof HVAC rather than group control. In few cases,personal adaptive opportunities and buildingadaptation measures are closely linked. For exam-ple, if an occupant intends to open windows duringhot weather, the building must be equipped withoperable windows to facilitate this.
S IMULAT ION MODEL
The selected case study is a new two-storey pur-pose-built residential building containing two iden-
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tical flats in each of the two floors. Each flat com-prised two bedrooms, one hall, one bathroom andone open-plan kitchen and a lounge (Figure 1a).The building was specified to satisfy the require-ments of the current building regulations, specifi-cally Part L1A (NBS 2010).
The tool selected for the study is AutodeskEcotect Analysis 2010, a whole building simulationprogram. The software uses the CIBSE AdmittanceMethod to calculate heating and cooling loads forindividual zones. Further, it can calculate direct andindirect solar gains, internal gains, inter-zonal heatflow, hourly internal temperatures, various loadsbreakdowns, impact of thermal mass and annualtemperature distributions, etc. (Autodesk 2012).Simulation parameters for this study are discussedbelow.
U-value: U-values of the materials satisfythe requirements of current building regulations fornew dwellings, as stipulated in the ApprovedDocument L1A (NBS 2010).
Internal gains: Internal heat gain valueswere acquired from CIBSE Guide A (2006) to applyin the simulation model. A sensible and latent heatgains for human for seated/sedentary works wereconsidered 70 and 45 W respectively. Table 1states the rate of heat gains considered for thisstudy. This data was used to derive the internalgains (W/m2) for each zone.
Air change rate: In this study air changerate per hour (ACH) is used to define the infiltrationand ventilation rate of the building. Selected flatsare naturally ventilated and with heating provisionsto run during winter. Depending on the window sizein open states, ACH can vary from 0.5 to 10 in
small-scale residential buildings. Cross ventilationtypically results in higher the ACH. ACH can be calculated using equation (1),
where, = air change rate per hour, q = fresh airflow through the room (m3/s), and v = volume ofthe room (m3).
Again air flow rate (Qw) for a single aperture in aroom can be calculated by the following equation(2):
where Qw, is the air flow rate per hour, A is thearea of the apertures and Vw is the wind velocity.Average air change rate for first floor and groundfloor bedroom are 2.83 and 2.34 respectively. Thiswas calculated using Equation (1) and (2) consid-ering the open-able window area of 0.5 m2 (1.10m2 total glazing area) and average outside windvelocity of 1.80 m/s.
Figure 1. The case study building. (a) Plan. (b) 3D simulation model.
Table 1. Internal heat gains of various rooms.
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aperture of the opening, outside wind velocity andventilation system of the building. There can behigher ACH during hot weather compared to win-ter as windows are usually open for longer periodduring hot weather. In this study ACH ranged from2 to 10 have been used to evaluate the buildingthermal performance. ACH was modelled by theapproximate percentage of window opening andclosed states, where 100% indicates window wasfully open. It was considered the window was openfor 14 hours (1800 to 0800) in a day during hotweather.
WEATHER DATA
CIBSE developed two types of standard weatherdata files for use in building performance assess-ment: Test Reference Year (TRY) for systems plan-ning and Design Summer Year (DSY) for summeroverheating prediction and analysis (CIBSE 2005).Current climate DSY weather files were adopted inthis study, which was then used to generate project-ed weather data using the tool Climate ChangeWeather Generator (CCWeatherGen) (jentsch etal. 2008).
ANALYS IS METHODSOverheat i ng c r i t e r iaDefinition of the overheating criteria is based onacceptable operative temperature, and frequencyand duration of excessive temperatures (above theacceptable temperature). CIBSE Guide A (CIBSE2007) suggests in summer time 25°C may beacceptable where fewer people will be uncomfort-able. However for dwellings, recommended tem-perature level is 25°C for living rooms and 23°C forbedrooms. Sleep may be impaired at temperaturesabove 24°C.
For residential buildings CIBSE recom-mended benchmark peak temperature of 28°C forliving spaces and 26°C for bedrooms. The buildingwill be overheated when peak temperature exceedsmore than 1% of annual occupied hours above26°C for bedrooms and 28°C for living rooms.
ADAPT IVE COMFORT STANDARDS
Other than the recommended temperature bench-marks from guides, the adaptive comfort index pro-
vides a wider acceptable range of temperatures foroccupants. Adaptive comfort standards indicate thedegree of dissatisfaction of the occupants not onlybased on the current temperature, but also on thethermal environment experienced in previous fewdays.
Adaptive comfort standards have beengenerated by statistical analysis of collected dataover a long period of time from various locations ofthe world. This has caused variations in the qualityof data and analysis methods proposed by variousresearchers. Although key principles are same,ASHRAE (2010) and BS/CIBSE have differentadaptive thermal comfort standards. As this hasbeen a widely accepted standard and included inthe international and national standards, it is nec-essary to identify the adaptive comfort standards forfuture climate, and explore the extent of adaptationopportunity occupants require. In this study adap-tive thermal comfort ranges have been calculatedbased on BS 15251 (BS 2007).
The following equation was used to determine therunning mean of outdoor temperature,
where θRM, is the running mean tempera-ture in °C for the day under investigation, θed-1isthe daily mean external temperature (°C) for theprevious day; θed-2 is the daily mean externaltemperature (°C ) for the previous day and α is is aconstant between 0 and 1, and recommended touse 0.8.
Outdoor running mean temperature (θRM)was calculated considering previous 7 days byapplying Equation 3. θed-1 to θed-7 was calcu-lated using temperature data from CIBSE DSYweather files, and α= 0.8 was used. Adaptivecomfort bands were calculated by applying inEquations (4) and (5) for upper and lower values ofthe band respectively.
where,θU is the upper limit and θLis the lower limitof the adaptive comfort band in°C. θR is the dis-tance between the thermally neutral temperatureand upper or lower values of adaptive comfortbands. θR varies depending on the application ofthe index. For example, θR of 2°C refers to catego-
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ry I of adaptive comfort index in BS 15251 and cor-responds to less than 6 % Percentage PeopleDissatisfied (PPD), θR for category II is 3°C and cor-responds to less than 10 % PPD.
RESULTS AND ANALYS IS
PERFORMANCE IN PRESENT CL IMATE
Figure 2(a) presents the current climate (1990s)hour by hour temperature distribution of fourregional cities. The result shows that London andBirmingham have higher tendencies of sufferingwith temperatures over the acceptable comfort limit(23°C). Figure 3 describes the annual percentageof occupied hours (1800 to 0800), which remainabove 23°C, 24°C and 26°C for ground floor bed-room. These results show that the London is mar-ginally falling into the CIBSE overheating criteria(annual 1.13% of occupied hours). The tempera-ture remains over 24°C for a considerable periodof time during peak summer, which is 4.69% ofannual occupied hours. Total hour over acceptableoperative temperature (23°C) is 952 (39 days)among which 589 hours are within occupiedhours. Birmingham has 183 hours (8 days) over23°C among which 119 hours are occupied. Thelongest duration temperature remains above 26°Cis approximately 4.8 days continuously (Table 2).Table 2 shows that number of occurrences (fre-quency) of high temperature and maximum dura-tion are higher in southern half of the country asexpected.
PERFORMANCE IN FUTURE CLIMATE
Results show that London is already falling withinthe overheating criteria defined by CIBSE. In 2020sthis rises to 2.13% for London and 1.11% forBirmingham. This stipulates that Birmingham hasstrong bias to be overheated during 2020s. In2050s not surprising that annual percentage ofoccupied hours above 26°C will rise well above 1%for three cities: London (7.34%), Birmingham(1.53%) and Manchester (1.50%) (Figures 2 and3).
Average temperatures of the 4 bedroomsof the selected study for different periods are pre-sented in Table 3. The results showed that the aver-
age increment of indoor operative temperatureranges from 1.15°C (from 1990 to 2020) to1.89°C (2050 to 2080), which shows non-lineartrends of temperature rises from present time to theend of the century.
EVALUATION OF ADAPT IVE THERMAL COMFORT RANGES
Results show variable temperature ranges as com-fort criteria for selected 4 cities. Table 4 presents theupper limit of category II adaptive comfort range ofthese locations. Results show that London has high-er adaptive comfort upper limit compared to othercities. For both London and Birmingham this isabove the CIBSE recommended 26°C maximumtemperature benchmark to predict overheating cri-teria. This can indicate that using the adaptive com-fort bands for cooling purposes (for mechanicallycooled buildings) can consume lower energy com-pared to recommended temperature benchmarkoverheating.
Table 2. Frequencies of high temperature for four cities in
1990s.
table 3. Average temperature of bedrooms in different cli-
matic conditions and locations.
Table 4. Adaptive comfort range (category II) upper limit.
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In London although most of the time oper-ative temperature remains within the category IIcomfort band, sudden peak is seen in the month ofjuly rising above 4°C in 1990s (Figure 4a). The ten-dency of remaining above category II thermal com-fort band becomes higher in future climates, whereit remains above the comfort band for 1.35% ofannual occupied hours in 2020s (Figure 4a, 4band 4c). In 2020s and 2050s the maximum differ-ence between the adaptive comfort neutral temper-ature and the operative temperature is 5.6°C and6.9°C respectively. This can stipulate that even forshort period peak temperature can go well beyondacceptable limit and cause extreme thermal dis-
comfort. Similar trend is also seen for Birminghamduring 2050s, where more than 1.22% of annualoccupied hour remain above the upper limit of thecomfort band (Figure 5 and Figure 6). Again building guides suggest (CIBSE 2005, 2006;BS 2007) when indoor operative temperature isabove 25°C, air velocity can be increased to com-pensate the high temperature. In this case the max-imum temperature can be increased to few degreesprovided adequate air velocity has been achieved.This indicates the provision of increasing air veloci-ty (by fans or natural ventilation) should be a keypoint in future design recommendations.
IMPACT OF AIR CHANGE RATE (ACH)
All data presented so far are with an average ACHof 2 for the bedrooms. It is obvious that ACH canhave significant impact on the thermal performanceof the building, where increased ACH will help inmaintaining the indoor operative temperature with-in the comfort range in hot weather. A comparisonof variable ACH and indoor temperature perfor-mance is presented in Figure 7 for Birmingham andLondon.
Results show that a minimum of 4 ACH canreduce the overheating criteria within the accept-able range for Birmingham in 2050s. However tomaintain the overheating criteria in 2080 airchange rate as high as 10 is not enough, and leav-ing 1.41% of annual occupied hours over 26°C.For London a minimum of 6 ACH is expected toprevent overheating in 2020s, however this mightnot enough after this period. This indicates thatadditional adaptation measures are necessary forLondon area well before 2050s compared to otherparts of the country.
Again user behaviour associated with ven-tilation can have an impact on the thermal perfor-mance of the building. A comparison of 3 scenar-ios of window opening duration (8, 15 and 24hours/day considering 6 ACH for Bedroom1) dur-ing hot weather (May to September) are investigat-ed in the study. Results identified that, openingduration ranging from 8 hour to 24 per day canreduce the annual duration of excessive tempera-ture (over 23°C) by 286 hours (11 days) for Londonarea by 2050.
Figure 2. Hour by hour temperature distribution of four
cities in different climatic scenarios in summer.
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Figure 3. Annual percentage of occupied hours above temperature benchmarks.
Figure 5. Adaptive comfort range and indoor operative
temperature for 1990s (a), 2020s (b), 2050s (c) and2080s (d) for Birmingham.
Figure 4. : Adaptive comfort range and indoor operative
temperature for 1990s (a), 2020s (b), 2050s (c) and2080s (d) for London.
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D I SCUSS ION
This study presented a computer simulation basedevaluation of thermal performance of a multi-occu-pancy dwelling located in four regional cities inBritain in four time slices. Computer simulation isproved to be an efficient method for assessing envi-ronmental performance of buildings, includinglighting, thermal, airflow, energy consumption, etc.(Mourshed et al. 2003b; Shikder et al. 2009) andrecommended for demonstrating compliance withbuilding regulations (CIBSE 2006).
The study clearly identified that thermalperformance of a similar building can vary consid-erably in different regions. The findings highlighttwo key issues: dwellings need to adapt to copewith future climatic scenarios; and specific designguidelines/strategies are required for specificregions. Only satisfying the requirements of currentbuilding regulations may not lead to an adaptabledesign, even for a particular region.Underperforming designs can lead to increasedenergy consumption and discomfort, and can be aburden over time – making the building inhabitablewithout the aid of mechanical cooling system. Thissuggests the necessity of developing region specificdesign guidelines.
Adaptive standards are now considered aspart of the key international and national buildingstandards (BS 2007; ASHRAE 2010); hence includ-
ing this index into the evaluation process is recom-mended. However this process needs carefulassessment of the extent of adaptation opportuni-ties available for the occupants. Higher tempera-ture will require increased air velocity to keep occu-pants within the comfort zone. There can be ques-tion of how much air velocity is required to com-pensate the high temperature, as previous studieshave identified that increasing the air velocity with-in the comfort zone are exponentially related withthe temperature increment (deDear and Brager1998). It is, however, evident that occupants willrequire a higher degree of adaptive opportunities toincrease indoor air speed in future climate.
Ventilation of the building plays an impor-tant role in increasing indoor airflow and control-ling temperature within the comfort range. Resultsidentified that providing only 6 ACH (recommend-ed by CIBSE) might not be enough for London areain 2020s and may require higher ventilation oppor-tunities and other adaptation measures. However,improving the overall ventilation performancemight demand additional change or refurbishmentto existing buildings as it is highly dependent on thesize of the aperture, outside wind velocity and ven-tilation strategy. This can pose challenge for manyexisting buildings and there can be question to whatextent older buildings can adapt to this strategy. Thesituation becomes challenging in dense urbanareas where outside wind velocity is low. It can berecommended that architects/designers shouldconsider the provision of natural ventilationprospects while designing new dwellings. With achanging climate, provision of cross ventilationseems necessary in future, specifically for the south-ern half of the country.
Personal adaptive behaviour associatedwith ventilation can also have an impact on the
Figure 7. Impact of air change rate in percentage of annu-
al occupied hours for London (a) and Birmingham (b) infour climatic scenarios.
Figure 8. Thermal performance comparison of variable win-
dow opening duration.
Figure 6. Percentage of annual occupied hours above 2
and 3°C of thermally neutral temperature.
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overall thermal performance of the building.Keeping the window open for longer in a day canreduce the duration of overheating during hotweather (Figure 8). Although this study has investi-gated a single adaptive opportunity, there are num-ber of other personal and behavioral adaptiveopportunities that can impact on occupants’ ther-mal experience. It is evident that a combination ofpersonal and building adaptation will be able tominimize the impact of overheating in future cli-mate.
Figure 9 demonstrates that solutions for cli-mate change adaptation to maintain acceptableindoor environment involve the consideration ofmulti-disciplinary aspects. Evidence also suggeststhat indoor environment requirement can vary forspecific group of people (e.g. ageing population)depending on their physical and psychological con-dition (Shikder et al. 2012). To develop appropriatemodelling and simulation approach of the sce-nario, it is necessary to acquire a robust under-standing of the human behavioural, physical andpsychological aspects, and other building physicalparameters involved in the process. In addition, theapplication of advanced computer visualizationand optimization techniques can enhance the deci-sion making process of such multi-disciplinarydesign problems (Mourshed et al. 2003a,Mourshed et al. 2011, Shikder et al. 2010). Scoperemains for further research on how to model andoptimize the climate change adaptation strategiesthat integrates various personal and building adap-tation opportunities.
CONCLUSION
To minimize the impact of overheating risks in futureclimate, design recommendations with adequateadaptation strategies are required for specificregions rather than a single standard for the wholecountry. This study identified that average indooroperative temperature of multi-occupancy new-build residential buildings can increase by around1.89°C by the end of the century in medium emis-sion scenario. This trend of temperature rise cancause an excess of around 6.9°C in 2050s forLondon than adaptive comfort neutral temperatureof that time, which indicates the maximum temper-ature can go well beyond acceptable temperaturelimits even for short or specific period of the yearand render the dwelling inhabitable. Such situationwill require either mechanical cooling systemand/or additional adaptation strategies.
The study also identified that the indoorthermal comfort is also influenced by the durationof window opening (ventilation) in a day. Keepingthe window open for longer period proved to beeffective in minimizing the overall temperature riseduring summer period. Windows open for 24 hourin hot weather can reduce the annual duration ofexcessive temperature (over 23°C) by 286 hourscompared to windows open for only 8 hours forLondon area in 2050s. Therefore, opportunities forbetter ventilation are a key adaptive measure toface the challenge of overheating in future.
Finally the study highlighted the complexrelationships between various adaptive opportuni-ties to compensate the high temperature in future.Although this study has discussed about the
Figure 9. Various personal adaptive opportunities and building adaptation measures for existing naturally ventilated buildings
due climate change overheating.
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riceprospect of ventilation only, other passive design
features and adaptation strategies should be alsoconsidered to minimise the impact of hot weather incombination with personal adaptive opportunities.Further studies should focus on identifying the com-binatorial solution of various adaptive measures tooptimise design strategies to mitigate overheatingin future.
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Author(s):
Shariful Shikder
School of Civil and Building Engineering
Loughborough University
Loughborough, Leicestershire
LE11 3TU, UK
Email: [email protected]
Monjur Mourshed
School of Civil and Building Engineering
Loughborough University
Loughborough, Leicestershire
LE11 3TU, UK
Email: [email protected] and
Web: http://monjur.mourshed.org/
Andrew Price
School of Civil and Building EngineeringLoughborough UniversityLoughborough, LeicestershireLE11 3TU, UK
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INTRODUCTION
There is clear scientific evidence of a changing cli-mate at both the global and national levels. TheIntergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) states that “warming of the climate system isunequivocal”. It reports that during the twelve-yearperiod between 1995 and 2006, eleven yearsranked among the warmest since the first measure-ments in 1850 (IPCC 2007a). The Royal DutchMeteorological Institute (KNMI) found out that thelong-term mean temperature in the Netherlandshas risen by 1.7°C since 1900, while the globalincrease has been 0.8°C. In the period 2003-2008, three years ranked among the ten warmestyears since records began in 1706 (KNMI 2008).
This evidence means that policy makerscan no longer postpone activities and must startaddressing the impact of climate change.Stakeholders such as housing associations play amajor role in securing the quality of life in our citiesbecause they own large stocks of housing and theirdecisions will therefore affect a greater percentageof citizens. This is particularly the case in many
North-West European countries such as Denmark,Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany, where therented sector owns and manages almost half of thehousing stock (Dol and Haffner 2010). In theNetherlands, the duty to secure the quality ofdwellings is a legal obligation for housing associa-tions (BBSH 2011). Therefore, they need to beaware of the changes that may adversely affect thequality of life of their tenants. Moreover, in order toprovide for financial continuity (BBSH 2011), theyalso need to treat their houses as assets that main-tain a good market value in the future, whichimplies that, among others, resilience to climatechange has to be taken into account.
Relative to the total building stock of 7 mil-lion dwellings, the social rented sector with its 2.4million dwellings is considerably large in theNetherlands (www.cfv.nl). The size of the social rent-ed stock, together with the fact that housing associ-ations have legal duties concerning quality of life(BBSH 2011), underline the importance of theengagement of housing associations for the devel-opment and implementation of climate changeadaptation strategies. Moreover, the Dutch social
Martin Roders, Ad Straub, Henk Visscher
Abstract
Climate change: the question is not anymore if it happens, but what the impact is of its effects such as drought, heat
waves and increased precipitation on the quality of our lives in cities, offices and houses. A significant share of the
Northern European housing stock is owned and maintained by large stock owners, such as housing associations. It is
their responsibility to be aware of changes and risks that might challenge the quality of life of their tenants. Moreover,
in order to provide housing with a good market value in the future, adaptation to climate change can no longer be
overlooked.
With the aim to discover the level of awareness of climate change adaptation among Dutch housing associations,
a content analysis was undertaken on the policy plans and the annual reports of the 25 largest housing associations.
Subsequently they were classified according to their level of awareness. The analysis returned no topics that directly
referred to climate change adaptation, which implies that all housing associations are categorised as being ‘unaware’.
Therefore, in order to reach higher levels of awareness and to incentivize the implementation of adaptation measures,
appropriate governance strategies need to be developed. Future research will define the characteristics of these strate-
gies in relation to the level of awareness of the housing associations. Adoption of the measures could be easier if adap-
tation measures are combined with maintenance activities, as this has been the case with mitigation measures.
Keywords: Awareness, Adaptation, Climate Change, Mitigation, Social Housing.
AWARENESS OF CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATIONSAMONG DUTCH HOUSING ASSOCIATIONS
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rented sector is relatively easy to approach since alarge stock of dwellings is owned by just a few orga-nizations. In 2009, there were 418 housing associ-ations in the Netherlands, which owned on average5,800 dwellings (www.cfv.nl). The largest housingassociation owns approximately 80,000 dwellings.
CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE NETHERLANDS
The impacts of climate change are numerous. Thesea level will rise, threatening the low-lying areasand river deltas (KNMI 2006). This effect will bemore pronounced in countries where major riversexperience more run-off in winter (Bessembinder2008), threatening the adjacent areas, as is thecase in the Netherlands. All in all, the risk areas forsea and river flooding cover 55% of the land areaof the Netherlands (PBL 2011). Another threatcomes from intensified peak precipitation, whichcan cause local flooding (Bessembinder 2008).Temperature increases will affect the natural envi-ronment (PBL 2009) and the climate in cities(Salcedo Rahola et al. 2009).
The main impacts of heat relate directly tohuman health issues, rather than financial damageto properties caused by natural catastrophes suchas flooding. Expected hazards include heat stress,summer smog, and an increase in allergies andviruses. A positive effect of a warmer climate isreduced illness and mortality in winter (PBL 2009).Because 62% of the Dutch social housing stock islocated in urban areas (with a density of > 1500addresses per km2, ABF 2011), special attention ispaid to the Urban Heat Island effect. This is thephenomenon by which the urban structure retainsheat and is consequently warmer than the sur-rounding countryside. The largest temperature dif-ferences occur at the end of the day and can reach10°C (Salcedo Rahola et al. 2009). The UrbanHeat Island effect is caused by several factors,being absorption of solar radiation, air pollution,‘street canyons’, anthropogenic heat (cars, air con-ditioners, industrial processes etc.), heat-retainingmaterials, a lack of evaporative surfaces, andreduced wind speeds (Kleerekoper et al. 2011).
The risk of flooding caused by the sea andmajor rivers will be tackled to a large extent as soonas the national government starts implementing themeasures proposed by the ‘Delta Commission’(Deltacommissie 2008), so the focus for housingassociations will be to help to reduce the flood riskscaused by precipitation.
Housing associations have the possibility toincrease climate resilience by applying adaptationmeasures to their dwellings. By ‘climate changeadaptation’ is understood “any action, either inten-tional or accidental taken to minimize the adverseeffects of climate change or to take advantage ofany beneficial effects” (HM Government 2006).
The application of lighter colours on build-ing façades in order to reflect radiation is only oneof the range of measures which could be imple-mented by housing associations. By using lightercolours instead of darker colours, the surface tem-perature of the façade – and therefore the air tem-perature close to it – can be reduced by 3-4°C(Wattkins et al. 2007). Another related measure iscareful consideration of the type of vegetation thathousing associations plant in common gardens ofe.g. apartment blocks, in order to prevent allergies(MWH 2011). The hazards of flooding caused byextreme precipitation can be reduced by applyingadaptation measures to retain water temporarily,such as ‘green roofs’ (MWH 2011) or to ensureeffective drainage such as open pavements(www.klimatilpasning.dk; MWH 2011) reducing thepeak load on the sewage system. Another effectivemeasure is to use materials that are not negativelyaffected by water so that if, despite all protectivemeasures, flooding happens under extreme cir-cumstances, the consequences are less intrusive(Pitt 2007).
AWARENESS
With the intention to reduce the effects of climatechange (mitigation), policies have been adopted onboth an international and a national scale. Forexample, the European Commission has approvedDirective 2002/91/EC, known as the EnergyPerformance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) (EP2002). In the Netherlands, the EPBD has beenapplied to existing buildings since 1 January 2008.The EPBD has made it compulsory for housingassociations to provide an energy label at eachtransaction (renting/selling) of their dwellings. In theNetherlands, the energy label is still merely a com-municative instrument. This is mainly due to a lackof law enforcement and/or sanctions, and becausethere are no requirements relating to minimumenergy performance (Tambach et al. 2010).However, it does provide an insight into the energyperformance of their dwellings. Most housing asso-ciations have ‘labelled’ all their units, so they now
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erknow the current energy performance of their build-ing stock (Tambach et al. 2010). For new buildings,legislation on energy performance is also in place.The building code prescribes the energy perfor-mance for new buildings using the so-called EnergyPerformance Coefficient. Buildings may only bebuilt if they comply with the building code, so prop-erty owners and the construction industry are auto-matically aware of the legal mitigation measures,even if they appear to not work well enough toachieve the intended goals in the Netherlands(Daniels and Kruitwagen 2010). However, even if itwere possible to stabilise greenhouse gas emis-sions, climate change and the associated effectswould continue (IPCC 2007b). Consequently, mea-sures have to be developed for adaptation.
Policy on this theme is being made at boththe international and national levels. The EuropeanUnion has demonstrated its adaptation awarenessby firstly launching a Green Paper on ClimateChange in 2007, which set out ideas on adapta-tion measures (CEC 2007), followed by a WhitePaper on Climate Change in 2009 (CEC 2009),proposing legislation on the matter. At the nationallevel, adaptation strategies are being developed incountries such as Denmark, Finland, France,Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Romania,Spain and the UK (Biesbroek et al. 2010).Information is more diffuse at the local level, butadaptation strategies are already being implement-ed or under development in world cities such asCape Town, Durban, Quito, Tokyo, Walvis Bay andWindhoek (MIT 2011) and European cities such asMadrid, Manchester, London, Stuttgart, Basel,Berlin and Freiburg (Carter 2011). Another indica-tor that cities are becoming aware of a changingclimate is their involvement in research projectssuch as Climate Proof Cities (www.knowledgeforcli-mate.nl), Klimzug-Nord (www.klimzug-nord.de)and GRaBS (www.grabs-eu.org). Since climatechange adaptation emerged only recently as plandevelopment field (Biesbroek et al. 2010, Lindley etal. 2007), much effort is still being channelled intosetting up adaptation programmes, which mayeventually lead to legislation.
METHODOLOGY
In order to find out if the awareness of adaptationhas already reached the operational level of policymaking, a case study was carried out among hous-ing associations in the Netherlands. The study con-
sisted of a content analysis (Bryman 2008) on pol-icy documents from 25 housing associations toreveal their awareness of climate change and aclassification of the associations according to theirlevel of awareness. The sample comprised the 25housing associations with the most rental units in2008 (ABF 2008). By selecting these 25, the sam-ple contained as much dwellings as possible ofwhich the state of adaptation would be known. Ifthe sample would have been selected on anotherway, for instance randomly, it would almost certain-ly contain fewer dwellings. In total, the selectedassociations own 881,000 dwellings, which isaround 37% of the Dutch social rented housingstock of 2.4 million dwellings (ABF 2008).Moreover, the sample contained housing associa-tions spread over the whole country, reducing geo-graphical bias (Figure 1).
Two types of policy documents were select-ed for their ability to report on the projects imple-mented by the associations and their general strate-gies. The first type of document were annual reportsdescribing the associations’ projects and their activ-ities in the previous year. The second type was thecorporate policy plan. In the latter, housing associ-ations usually describe their planned strategies forthe forthcoming 3-5 years.
Although some housing associations hadmore up-to-date information available on theirwebsites, it was decided to not use websites for thisresearch because information on websites canchange quickly, and it is not always clear whetherthis information has been approved by ExecutiveBoards, as is the case for policy documents such asthose mentioned above. The reference years were2009 for the annual reports and 2010 for the cor-
Figure 1. Geographical distribution of the 25 largest Dutch
housing associations (each circle represents the main officeof a housing association).
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porate policy plans.The keywords were structured into a taxon-
omy (Table 1) which was subdivided into four maingroups: climate, adaptation, mitigation and insula-tion.
The first group, ‘climate’, was created inorder to obtain a general view on the awareness ofclimate change among the housing associationsand included the notion ‘climate change’. Thisgroup also included the notion ‘climate’, in order to
find words referring to climate change, but not lit-erally expressing it, which is the case in a phraselike “This climate-friendly roof, (...)”. (Eigen Haard2010). The keywords were selected in order to dis-cover if housing associations are, with respect totheir dwellings, aware of climate change, meaning“a change of climate which is attributed directly orindirectly to human activity that alters the composi-tion of the global atmosphere and which is in addi-tion to natural climate variability observed over
Table 1. Taxonomy of topics searched for in content analysis.
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ercomparable time periods” (UN 1992). The secondgroup, ‘adaptation’, focused on revealing theawareness of the impacts of climate change hous-ing associations are required to adapt to. Thegroup included the notions ‘heat’ and ‘flooding’,being to date considered the main impacts on theurban environment in the Netherlands (PBL 2009).As the social housing stock is mainly located inurban areas, housing associations have to dealwith these impacts. However, not only the notions‘heat’ and ‘flooding’ as such were searched for, butalso notions referring to measures to adapt to theimpacts of heat and flooding, in order to gaininsight in the state of adaptation of the buildingstock. The adaptation measures are derived from aclimate change adaptation checklist by the GreaterLondon Authority (GLA 2005). An example of thiskind of measures is the notion ‘tree’, which wascounted as an adaptation measure in the ‘heat’category, because trees have cooling capacities bymeans of shadow and evaporative cooling (Gill etal. 2007). The search for this category of notionswas carried out against the background that eventhough a housing association did not show aware-ness of climate change, (part of) its housing stockcan be adapted, which in the end does providemore living quality for the tenants. The third group,‘mitigation’, included the notions ‘CO2’ and ‘livingcosts’, which would help to discover the awarenessof climate change mitigation among Dutch housingassociations. The selection of ‘CO2’ was based onthe establishment of the governmental policy focus-ing on CO2 reduction in the ‘Clean and Efficient’programme in 2007 (MinVROM 2007). ‘LivingCosts’ was selected as this topic came into consid-eration in the ‘Agreement Energy Savings in theSocial Rental Sector’ between the Dutch nationalgovernment and the housing associations in 2008.In this document the importance of taking energysaving measures was acknowledged in view of thedevelopment of living costs (MinVROM et al.2008). Living costs are defined as the total costs forliving, such as rent or mortgage, including addi-tional expenses for taxes, insurance, sewage, gas,water and electricity (Blijie 2010). Being mitigationto date more developed as a research topic thanadaptation (Biesbroek et al. 2010), the governanceof mitigation has been more institutionalised, result-ing in funding and regulation schemes (Anguelovskiand Carmin 2011). The analysis has to point out ifthese governance measures have led to moreawareness of climate change mitigation amonghousing associations. The reason to divide the mit-
igation topics into ‘CO2’ and ‘living costs’ was todiscover the motivation of the housing associationsto apply the mitigation measures, being respective-ly the (global) environment, or the socio-economiccircumstances of their tenants. Parallel to the adap-tation group, in ‘mitigation’ was also searched formeasures related to mitigation, in order to find outif housing associations were taking mitigationaction without naming it as such. The notions relat-ed to energy saving are connected to ‘living costs’because they refer to a better energy performanceof the dwellings, meaning lower energy consump-tion and a lower energy bill for tenants, whereas thenotions related to sustainable energy are connect-ed to ‘CO2’, because they imply less emissions, notnecessarily resulting in lower energy bills for ten-ants. The measures were taken over from the‘Toolkit sustainable housing’ (Hameetman et al.2006) and from the energy chapter of the guidelinefor education on sustainability: ‘Basisdoc XS 2’(Stofberg and Duijvestein 2008). ‘Insulation’, thelast group, included the notion of ‘insulation’ and‘double glazing’. It was added separately becauseof its role in both mitigation and adaptation.Insulation measures were suggested in both theadaptation measures checklist by the GreaterLondon Authority (GLA 2005) and the mitigationreference documents by Hameetman et al. (2006)and Stofberg and Duijvestein (2008). Insulation isan adaptation measure because it keeps heat out-side the dwellings on warm days, whereas on colddays it keeps the warmth (heating energy) inside thedwellings and thus can be considered as mitigationmeasure.
Every policy document was analysedaccording to the taxonomy. One disadvantage ofcontent analysis is that one notion can have multi-ple meanings, which requires interpretation by theresearcher. Moreover, notions that belong to one ofthe groups in literal terms but do not refer to climatechange were excluded from the results, in order tonot ‘contaminate’ results but have a clear view onthe climate change related topics. For example, theword ‘climate’ was excluded when referring to‘indoor climate’ or ‘social climate’.
In order to classify housing associationsaccording to their awareness of climate change, asuitable model was searched for, which had to havethe ability to clearly represent the link between twovariables, being aware/unaware andadapted/unadapted. One possibility was the BCG-matrix, which focuses on the positioning of business
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units of a company and market developments(Sarrico and Dyson 2000). This model was notfound suitable, because the values of the modeldeal with performance dimensions of businessunits, whereas in case of the awareness of the hous-ing associations the state of the subjects(aware/unaware or adapted/unadapted) has to berepresented. Another model was Hersey andBlanchard’s situational leadership model, givingdirections on the optimal leadership style suitablefor a certain ‘level of maturity of a subordinate’(Thompson and Vecchio 2009). This model was notchosen to classify the housing associations becauseHersey and Blanchard’s model focuses on leader-ship strategies and not on the state of the subjects.However, the four stages of the learning model asdescribed by Hughes (2002) did represent the stateof the subjects to be classified, so this model wasused as basis. This model links two variables, ‘con-scious/unconscious’ and ‘competent / incompe-tent’ in a logical manner. Moreover, the ‘con-scious/unconscious’ variable would also providean opportunity to consider the adaptation strategiesalready being implemented by housing associa-tions, without them being aware of their contribu-tion of the measures to climate change adaptation(see Table 2).
Basically, appearance of notions in theannual reports determines whether the housingassociations are being considered ‘adapted’ or‘unadapted’, whereas appearance of notions in thepolicy plans determines whether housing associa-tions are being considered ‘aware’ or ‘unaware’.However, the indirect notions have to be treated dif-ferently in the annual reports and in the policyplans. In the annual reports, indirect notions refer tomeasures that have been applied already, so bothdirect and indirect notions lead to the ‘adapted’
category. On the contrary, in the policy plans, indi-rect notions refer to measures that will be taken infuture developments but because the references areindirect, these do not imply more awareness, so inthis case, only direct notions lead to the ‘aware’ sit-uation.
The highest level that can be reached in thelearning process model is level 4, whereas foradaptation awareness level 3, ‘aware, adapted’was considered the most suitable. The rationale forsuch a change of target is that on this level, thebuilding stock is climate resilient and the housingassociations are aware of the consequences of achanging climate. On the other hand, housingassociations in level 4 are considered to have a cli-mate resilient building stock, but because of theirunawareness they are not alert to future changesthat may negatively influence their tenants’ qualityof life (see Figure 2).
Table 2. Four levels of awareness of housing associations. Adapted from Hughes (2002).
Figure 2. Schematic representation levels of awareness
(S=Strategies, described in the Policy plans; P=Projects,described in the Annual reports).
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erFINDINGS
The policy plans of 19 (76%) housing associationswere available for analysis. In these plans, ‘cli-mate’-related notions are mentioned by 3 housingassociations (see Figure 3). Climate change is notmentioned in any policy plan, which is also the casefor ‘adaptation’-related notions. However, the poli-cy plans do pay attention to ‘mitigation’-relatednotions (‘CO2 and ‘living costs’). ‘Living costs’ ismentioned in 13 plans while ‘CO2’ is mentioned inonly 8. ‘Insulation’ is mentioned by 7 housing asso-ciations in their policy plans.
Annual reports of 24 (96%) housing asso-ciations were available for analysis. These reportshardly referenced notions related to the mainthemes ‘climate’ and ‘adaptation’ (see Figure 4). Infact, only 10 of the reports mention ‘climate’ at all.Zooming in, ‘climate change’ was referred to evenless, being mentioned by only 3 housing associa-tions.
There are no direct references to ‘heat’ and‘flooding’. However, when we also take intoaccount the indirect references (e.g. ‘cooling’),‘heat’ is mentioned by 11 housing associations and‘flooding’ by 10. In total, 15 housing associationsdo refer to adaptation in their annual report, bymentioning notions related to ‘heat’, ‘flooding’ orboth. Notions relating to mitigation, however, showup far more frequently. Direct references to both‘living costs’ and ‘CO2’ appear in 18 annualreports. Adding the indirect references, ‘living costs’appears in all the annual reports analysed, while‘CO2’ appears in 19 of the reports. These highnumbers are caused by notions related to energy,such as ‘energy-saving’, ‘energy-efficient’ and‘energy label’. ‘Insulation’ is mentioned by 22housing associations.
DISCUSSION
The categorization of the housing associations hastaken place in steps. Firstly, the state of awarenessof climate change adaptation was determined,which depended on the appearance of directnotions in the policy plans. However, as explainedin the previous section, no notions were found sonone of the housing associations was attributed tothe ‘aware’ categories. Secondly, the state of adap-tation was considered, by assessing the appear-ance of direct and indirect notions referring to cli-mate change adaptation in the annual reports. It
can be stated that 15 housing associations can beclassified as being ‘adapted’, because they do referto adaptation measures in their annual reports(Figure 5).
The awareness of adaptation amongDutch housing associations contrasts strongly withthe awareness of mitigation, as notions related tothis topic were frequently found in both the policyplans and annual reports. This indicates that thehousing associations do have taken measures to alarge extent and the majority is even aware of miti-gation (Figure 6).
However, when the measures regardinginsulation are taken into consideration, the num-ber of housing associations classified as‘unaware / adapted’ increases significantly, asshown in figure 7.
The figures above show that most housingassociations in some way or another already applyadaptation measures on their dwellings, but theyare not aware of it. For example, they may havetaken these measures in projects without being
Figure 3. Content analysis of policy plans (each bar repre-
sents the number of notions found in the policy plan of onehousing association).
Figure 4. Content analysis of the annual reports of 2009
(each bar represents the number of notions found in theannual report of one housing association).
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aware that the measures also had adaptation char-acteristics, but in the analysis they were counted assuch (indirect notions). These measures were takenin order to enhance quality of life (e.g. plantingtrees, installing cooling equipment) or improveenergy performance (insulation). This means thatapplying adaptation measures is neither impossiblenor unrealistic; the question is rather whether themeasures taken are the right ones and whether theyare enough to make the dwellings climate-resilient.In order to make the entire building stock climate-resilient, however, the right adaptation measuresmust be implemented as standard. These measurestherefore have to be included in policy strategiesand maintenance budgets.
Awareness is very important in order to takethe right measures and to take all possible mea-sures. Moreover, it may prevent maladaptation,which is adaptation that brings negative trade-offs.An example of this is air conditioning, a measurewhich is to adapt a dwelling to increased tempera-tures but this measure demands extra energy andtherefore produces greenhouse gases, which in turnaggravate climate change (Barnett and O’Neill2010).
Even though many impacts are projectedwith 2050 or even 2100 as horizon (Klein Tank and
Lenderink 2009), adaptation measures can andshould be taken as soon as possible. Since newlybuilt houses account for less than one per cent ofexisting dwellings (www.cbs.nl), maintenance andrefurbishment activities of the existing building stockoffers the best opportunity to “mainstream” (Pinkseand Kolk 2012) measures. By mainstreamingadaptations synergies are sought between theadaptation measures and the work that was alreadyplanned. In the case of mitigation, the notions relat-ed to energy saving measures (living costs, indirect)are more found than notions related to sustainableenergy measures (CO2, indirect), which might indi-cate that housing associations have chosen tomainstream mitigation measures with activities aim-ing to reducing living costs for their tenants.Moreover, improving the energy performance ofdwellings by installing insulation is an effective strat-egy for mitigation as well as adaptation, preventingrespectively heat loss in winter and heat stress insummer. It would be advisable to begin adaptationactivities in dwellings that are the most sensitive tothe hazards of climate change. For theNetherlands, sensitivity maps of urban areas areunder development within the research projectClimate Proof Cities (Rovers et al. 2011).
CONCLUSION
Dutch housing associations display no awarenessof climate change adaptation in their policy docu-ments. However, this does not mean that the build-ing stock is not adapted to climate change. By cat-egorizing the housing associations on the basis oftheir awareness, strategies can be developed inorder to increase awareness among housing asso-ciations in a proactive way. As the subject of insula-
Figure 5. Classification of housing associations regarding
‘adaptation’.
Figure 6. Classification of housing associations regarding
‘mitigation’.
Figure 7. Housing associations with adaptation references
including insulation.
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ertion shows, adaptation is possible and feasible, buthousing associations need to be aware of climatechange adaptation in order to know what to do toinsure their tenants’ quality of life and not missopportunities to incorporate climate change adap-tations when refurbishing or maintaining their hous-ing stock. Governance strategies in the field of mit-igation, such as the implementation of legislationconcerning energy labels, seem to be an interestingpoint of reference, because housing associationshave shown an awareness of climate change miti-gation. However, further research is necessary todefine which of these mechanisms are the mostsuitable for initiating or adding to the climatechange adaptation measures implemented byhousing associations.
The method used – content analysis – hasproven to be effective for a quick scan of the cur-rent awareness of climate change adaptationamong housing associations. However, becausethe method focuses on reports and these do notusually extend to the level of individual buildings, itis possible that adaptation measures are alreadybeing implemented on a larger scale, but they werenot described in the analysed documents or misin-terpreted by the researchers. Further researchshould focus on the level of individual buildings by,for example, interviewing project leaders who knowthe state of the dwellings or by carrying out a con-dition assessment of the buildings focusing onadaptation measures.
Thus, to conclude, besides raising aware-ness of climate change among housing associa-tions, research needs to be carried out into themethods for adapting residential buildings effec-tively, because only in an ‘aware-adapted’ situationthe quality of life of tenants can be maintained. Thiswill enable housing associations to ensure that theirbuilding stock meets the needs of a modern society.
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Author(s):
Martin Roders, Delft University of Technology - OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment,PO Box 5030, 2600 GA Delft, The NetherlandsEmail: [email protected]
Ad Straub Delft University of Technology - OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment,PO Box 5030, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
Henk VisscherDelft University of Technology - OTB Research Institute for the Built Environment,PO Box 5030, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherlands
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INTRODUCTION
Climate is critical to social, economic and environ-mental sustainability (Satterthwaite 2009). Derivingfrom the regional macroclimate, the urban micro-climate may generate a range of endoclimateswithin specific buildings as occupants experiencemodified conditions as defined by the building andthe outdoor, indicating a dynamic relationshipbetween climate, humanity and architecture.Climate as a prime factor in the built form influ-ences the sensual qualities that constitute a vitaltropical architecture (Tzonis et al. 2004).
One prominent aspect of the phenomenonof climate change involves the effects of globalgreenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (IPCC 2007).Buildings considerably impact the environment,being responsible for approximately 40% of globalenergy consumption, thus contributing significantlyto carbon emissions which evidence suggests is oneof the main causes of climate change (Mourshed2011; Shah 2012). In addition, urban structures
and processes often modify the atmospheric back-ground, resulting in a specific urban climate becom-ing differentiated into microclimates within thebroader urban canopy. This underlines the need forlocal specificities in climatic analysis and researchesinto the thermal qualities of the environment.Katszchner (2006) posits that microclimatic thermalcomfort analysis is required for effective urban plan-ning and building design guidance. Cities with theirspecific topographical, environmental and meteoro-logical conditions, demand carefully assessed indi-vidual situations, which consider the local circum-stances for appropriate adaptation strategies(Rodriguez 2009). Within the broad range of miti-gation and adaptation responses, this study focuseson structural and behavioural adaptive measures.Using a case study of a hostel block in Abeokuta,Nigeria, the paper explores the adaptive thermalcomfort of occupants and examines the designstrategies for adapting buildings to climate changein this tropical context, with a view to determine theeffectiveness of these strategies as observed in thecase study.
Mike Adebamowo, Adetokunbo O. Ilesanmi
Abstract
Buildings have a considerable impact on the environment being responsible for a substantial proportion of global ener-
gy consumption, thus contributing significantly to the anthropogenic CO2 emissions, which evidence suggests is the
main cause of climate change. Mitigation and adaptation measures are required to tackle the challenges of climate
change. Adaptive measures – structural and behavioural strategies – are the focus of this paper. Structural strategies
include flexible and adaptive structural systems; while behavioural strategies cover the spatial, personal, and psycho-
logical control measures which may influence the design and operations of buildings. The study explores the adaptive
thermal comfort of occupants and examines the design strategies for adapting buildings to climate change in the trop-
ical context, with a view to determine the effectiveness of these strategies as observed in the case study. The study was
conducted during the rainy and dry seasons in Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, located in a warm humid climate zone.
The Institute of Venture Design student hostel was used as case-study to conduct the survey on a sample of 40
respondents by means of structured questionnaire. The respondents’ thermal sensation and access to thermal controls
were determined, and their thermal sensation and thermal adaptability in both seasons comparatively analyzed. Indoor
environmental parameters including air temperature, mean radiant temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were
also measured. The data were analyzed using relevant descriptive and inferential statistics. The study discussed the
effectiveness of design strategies available for building adaptation in an era of climate change within the warm humid
environment, concluding on the need for greater synergy between the techno-structural and socio-behavioural dimen-
sions of building adaptation.
Keywords: Adaptive Comfort, Behavioral Adaptation, Building Adaptation, Climate Change, Structural Strategies.
STUDY OF BUILDING ADAPTATION IN WARM HUMIDCLIMATE IN NIGERIA
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L ITERATURE REVIEW
The literature is replete with emerging approachesto building design and construction in response toclimate change (Almonte 2007). Concepts such asbioclimatic design, green or sustainable architec-ture, and energy conscious design, represent prag-matic responses to tackling the problems of globalwarming, depletion of fossil fuel resources, green-house effect, and air and water pollution (Mallick2000).
BUILD INGS, CL IMATE CHANGE ANDRESPONSE STRATEGIES
Human settlements constitute major contributors tothe climate crisis (Steemers 2003). Buildings con-sume enormous amounts of energy during theirentire life-cycle, and significantly contribute to thecauses of climate change (IPCC 2007). Mitigationand adaptation – the two basic responses to cli-mate change – imply integrating the mandates ofenvironmental responsibility (mitigation strategies)and climate responsiveness (adaptation strategies)(Almonte 2008; Dayaratne 2000). At a broadlevel, adaption may also include changes in poli-cies, technologies, infrastructures, and manage-ment, but the focus here is on design-related build-ing adaptation, the theoretical basis of which is theconcept of adaptive comfort.
ADAPT IVE THERMAL COMFORTAPPROACH
Studies were increasingly critical of the use of heatbalance models as predictive design tools, whencompared to occupants’ recorded thermal percep-tions (Charles 2003). Heat balance models predictthat thermal sensation is solely influenced by envi-ronmental and personal factors. Fanger’s (1982)Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model combined fourphysical variables (air temperature, air velocity,mean radiant temperature, and relative humidity),and two personal variables (clothing insulation andactivity level) into an index that could be used topredict the average thermal sensation of a group ofpeople. Nicol and Humphreys (1972) challenged‘steady-state’ comfort theories with the introductionof adaptive comfort theory, which assumes that fac-tors beyond physics and physiology play an impor-tant role in people’s thermal preferences; and thatoccupants could adapt to their environment, byadjusting clothing, controls or location, and there-
by tolerate environmental conditions outside of thethermal comfort standards based on ‘steady-state’theories.
The adaptive model accounts for the psy-chological dimension of adaptation (Auliciems1981). This becomes particularly important in con-texts such as naturally-ventilated buildings, wherepeople’s interactions with the environment mayalter their expectations, thermal sensation and sat-isfaction (De Dear and Brager 2002). Thisapproach to thermal comfort derived mainly fromresults of field-studies, which hypothesized thatbuilding occupants and their indoor climate weretwo parts of an integrated, self-regulating or home-ostatic system (Humphreys and Nicol 1998).Although temperature is its dominant basis, adap-tive comfort is a multi-dimensional index whichdepends on other parameters, such as the interac-tion of temperature with humidity for different levelsof clothing, activity, and air velocity (Nicol andHumphreys 2002). The temperature or combina-tion of conditions subjects find most comfortable isdetermined from their ‘comfort vote’ (Nicol andPagliano 2007). In both free-running (FR) and air-conditioned buildings, the effect of clothing hasbeen found to be significant (De Dear and Brager2002; Morgan et al. 2002).
ADAPT IVE COMFORT STANDARDS
Adaptive comfort standards or indices define theindoor conditions which occupants will find accept-able for any given outdoor condition. The finding ofHumphreys (1979) that the temperature whichoccupants of FR buildings find comfortable(Bedford scale) or neutral (ASHRAE scale) is linear-ly related to the monthly mean of the outdoor tem-perature, has been confirmed by other researchers(e.g. De Dear and Brager 2002). Further surveyshave increased the applicability of the model byshowing that the running mean of the daily meanoutdoor temperatures correlated best with indoorcomfort (McCartney and Nicol 2002). Althoughfield-studies can indicate the extent and frequencyof adaptation and of acceptable temperature drifts,a control band of ±2 K is often considered a suffi-cient and sensible comfort zone limit (Nicol andHumphreys 2007). Adaptive comfort temperaturesare now incorporated in the commonly acceptedstandards specifying indoor thermal comfort suchas: the ASHRAE Standard 55-2004 (ASHRAE2004); the CIBSE Guide Section A1 2006 (CIBSE2006); and EN15251 (ISO 2007; Olesen 2007).
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DES IGN STRATEGIES FOR BUILD INGADAPTAT ION
The development of design strategies and tech-nologies for low-energy buildings becomesmandatory in the face of climate change impacts(Smith 2005, 2007). This is particularly relevant intropical, warm humid climates, where high humid-ity and temperatures significantly affect occupant’scomfort (Aktacir et al. 2010; Mourshed 2011;Nicol 2004; Sangowawa et al. 2008). The overalldesign of the building – its structure, envelope, inte-riors, services – rather than the application ofadvanced technology per se governs the delicatebalance amongst the factors determining comfortconditions. Thermal performances, ventilation, lightdistribution, and visual comfort need to be bal-anced according to specific requests, contexts, cli-mate scenarios, and contingent technical choices(Altomonte 2008). Natural systems could providethe inspiration required to implement adaptivebuilding techniques, since virtually all living organ-isms develop adaptive mechanisms to function irre-spective of shifting climatic or contextual alterations(Steemers 2003). Some mechanisms are structural– physical features of an organism like the bird’s billor the bear’s fur; others are behavioural, inferringwhat they do to survive. Species that can adapt toenvironmental changes flourish and thrive; thosethat cannot may soon become extinct. Structuraladaptation strategies for buildings can be concep-tualized as complex systemic organisms with thecomponents (load-bearing elements, envelopes,services, partitions) constituting an integrateddesign. Behavioural adaptations fall under fourbroad classes: spatial, temporal, personal, andcontrol (Steemers 2003).
CL IMATE CHANGE AND THE NIGER-IAN BU ILT ENV IRONMENT
Nigeria is highly vulnerable to the impacts of cli-mate change, stemming from its geographicallocation in the tropics, and being a developingcountry with limited capacity to adapt to climatechange, in terms of awareness levels, social andfinancial resources, and technological capability(IPCC 2007). The 800km coastline is prone to sea-level rise, fierce storms, and exposure to coastalerosion (Ajibola 2000). Nigeria has also not fullyestablished the institutional and legal frameworks,and systematic approaches targeted at mitigatingand adapting to climate change impacts.
Moreover, many cases of faulty building designand/or construction make the need for artificiallighting during the day imperative. Buildings areoften constructed with little consideration of theambient climate: orientations are determined byexisting road-layout, such that residential buildingscan directly face the roads. Roofs exposed to thesun in low latitudes, often built without any thermalinsulation, soon darken in colour over time thuscreating high cooling loads. Thermal load causedby heat gain of windows is also high especially with-out the use of shading devices and appropriateglass, finishes and coatings. All of these justify theneed for context-specific studies into design strate-gies for adapting buildings to climate change;hence this study.
RESEARCH METHOD
The Students Hostel Block of the Institute of VentureDesign, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria designedby Prof. Olumide Olusanya was examined as acase study. The building was purposively selectedfor its unique design features which were identifiedas design strategies for adapting buildings for cli-mate change in the tropics. Climatic analysis ofbuilding designs in Abeokuta was conducted usingEffective Temperature, Psychrometric Chart, andMahoney Table. The thrust of this present paper ishowever, to examine the appropriateness and effec-tiveness of the passive design strategies adopted inthe case-study through adaptive thermal comfortsurvey. The instruments used include standard ther-mometer to measure dry bulb temperature (DBT),the globe thermometer for the mean radiant tem-perature (MRT), the Whirling hygrometer andHumidity Slide Rule for the relative humidity (RH)and the digital anemometer to measure the airvelocity (AV). Due to the limitation of equipment,workstations were set up in each Hostel Room andoutside, for sequential readings of indoor and out-door conditions, ensuring measurements withinhourly durations.
Participants were requested to sit or relaxfor about 30 minutes before measurements,which were taken at hourly intervals between8.00 a.m. and 8.00p.m. Apart from the environ-mental variables, the personal objective and sub-jective measurements were carried out simultane-ously. The objective measurements involved dataon personal parameters (clothing and metabolicactivity) while the subjective measurement madeuse of ASHRAE seven point scales of thermal sen-
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sation vote (TSV) as shown in Table 1.To facilitate the observational study on the
common behavioural adaptions, the answers pro-vided in the relevant section of the adaptive behav-ior questionnaire were in the form of five point ofscale of adaptive thermal control, indicating fre-quency of actions (Tables 2 and 3). The respon-dents were asked to evaluate how often in one daythey took the various adaptive actions listed. Theenvironmental variables were measured at thesame time as the subjective reactions were record-ed, because the aim was to obtain a reaction totypical conditions, with no attempt to interfere withthe environmental conditions. All the availableoccupants of the hostel during the duration of thefield study – 40 participants in this case (28 male,12 female) – served as ‘comfort meters’ of all theassociated variables.
THE CASE STUDY
STUDY CONTEXT
Abeokuta is located approximately on longitude3°35’N and latitude 7°15’E in the South-West ofNigeria, falling within the warm-humid climaticzone. The warm-humid climate is found close to theEquator, and extends to latitude 15° – North andSouth. It is characterized by limited seasonal varia-tions in temperature, high humidity, and high tem-peratures (Ajibola 2000). The relevant climatic datafor the zone, obtained from the meteorological sta-tion, were used for bioclimatic analysis and toexamine the implications of the climate for the ther-mal comfort of residents.
DESIGN FEATURES OF THE CASE STUDY
The case study – Institute of Venture Design,Abeokuta, Nigeria – consists of academic and hos-tel blocks designed to foster interaction and team-
work among researchers as well as providingopportunities for privacy and retreat for individuals.The hostels were of particular interest to the study,as they incorporate certain design and technicalinnovations based on flexible and adaptive struc-tural principles, making them amenable to masshousing design. The hostels consist of two blocksaround a garden atrium connected by suspendedbridges forming light-wells from the roof all the wayto the ground for natural light as well as cross ven-tilation in the internal spaces (Plate 1). The gardenatrium concept to organizing functional and circu-lation spaces is an improvement on the single-loaded, double-loaded, and courtyard corridorapproaches. It combines the benefits of the doubleloaded corridor and the courtyard by expanding thecirculation space into an atrium opening all the wayto the roof. The dimension of the corridor isretained and suspended in the atrium thereby pro-viding the light wells on either side. The interior spa-tial modules can then be opened to the light wellsfor natural light and ventilation without loss of pri-vacy. The key feature of the concept is a land-scaped atrium with plants shooting through the lightwells towards the roof – an embodiment of greenarchitecture. The garden atrium concept is adaptedto a sloppy site to provide hostel rooms, dining hall,and a variety of lounges.
The steel handrails double as a structural system oftrussed bridges suspended into the atrium, whichorganizes the circulation arteries into a gradation ofpublic, semi-public, semi private and privatespaces. The dual function of the handrails as a pre-fabricated structural component results in economyof material that produces visual elegance as well assignificant construction cost and time savings.
The design strategies for adapting build-ings to climate change as identified in this case-study can be summarized as follows:
Proper orientation of the building: theblank walls face the East–West direction.Shallow plans with a central atrium for better day-light and natural ventilation.Windows open fully and are appropriately posi-tioned (North – South axis).Adaptive skins elements – such as shades, awnings,blinds and shutters – are designed to maximize thepotential to protect the building from wind and sun.High levels of thermal mass adopted to stabilizeinternal temperatures and store renewable energy.
More direct control given to occupants inorder to maximize their adaptive opportunities for
Table 1. American Society of Heating Refrigerating and Air-
Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and Bedford scales ofuser response. Source: Nicol and Pagliano (2007)
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moderating their immediate environment. Healthierindoor environments may be ensured as fresher,cleaner air is re-introduced through open windows.Substantial input of local building crafts, to encour-age the trend towards bioregional sourcing ofmaterials and skilled workers, in response to rapid-ly rising materials processing and transport costs.
The appropriateness and effectiveness ofthese strategies were assessed through adaptivethermal comfort survey, examining the relationshipof the adaptive thermal control and temperatureson one hand and thermal sensations on the otherhand.
Figure 1. The garden atrium of the Institute of Venture Design.
Figure 2. The suspended bridge with 75mm reinforced concrete slab that ensures 75% reduction in material and significant
cost and time savings.
Figure 3. The suspended bridge during construction.
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R ESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Tables 2 and 3 summarize the behavioural andadaptive thermal controls and the percentages ofrespondents who adopted them in the rainy and dryseasons respectively. Responses to the preferredadaptive opportunities indicate a significant major-ity of votes for opening of windows, which in the dryseason scored almost 100% for ‘always’ and ‘mostoften’ and 93% in the rainy season. It was thereforethe most applied adaptive control out of the six; fol-lowed by more drink, change cloth, bath, go out-side and switch A/C in that order. The majority ofthe occupants seldom or never switched on the air-conditioning (55% and 17.5% in the dry season;50% and 22.5% in the rainy season). The high pref-erence for the opening of windows, particularly inthe dry season, signifies that air movement throughthe building was highly favourable and essential toenhance occupant’s thermal comfort satisfaction.The result aligns with Feriadi and Wong’s (2004)finding on the tendency of occupants to modify thewarm humid environment by creating a higher airmovement. This finding is important as a feedbackfor architects to pay more attention to incorporatinginto building design in the warm humid environ-ment.
Although the sample size of 40 availableparticipants was a methodological limitation in thisstudy, Pearson product moment correlation coeffi-cient was used to complement the descriptive sta-tistics in analyzing the relationship between the useof adaptive thermal controls and indoor and out-door temperatures after the scatter plot which con-
firmed the linear relationship had been established.Table 4 shows that there was no significant rela-tionship between the six adaptive thermal controlsand indoor and outdoor temperatures in both sea-sons. This showed that the uses of these controlswere governed by a stochastic process rather thana precise relationship: there was no precise tem-perature at which occupants switched to the use ofany of the controls.
The same analysis was conducted to exam-ine the correlation between the use of adaptivethermal controls and thermal sensation in both sea-sons. The results (see Table 5) show that the use ofadaptive controls has a significant positive relation-
Figure 4. View of the Institute of Venture Design.
Table 2. Adaptive Thermal Control in the Rainy Season.
Table 3. Adaptive Thermal Control in the Dry Season.
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ship with thermal sensation at p<0.05 (2 – tailedlevel of significance) in both seasons and out of thesix controls, opening windows again had the great-est impact.
The survey indicated significant support(97% in rainy season; 100% in dry season) foropening windows suggesting occupants’ activeintervention to increase ventilation rates andenhance thermal comfort. This appeared to rein-force results from other studies in which openingwindows had a positive influence on occupants’comfort votes (Brager and De Dear 1998; Barlowand Fiala 2007). This reinforces the thinking that toimprove existing buildings’ capacities to maintaincomfort levels, adaptive opportunities are requiredwhich allow occupants to create their own thermalpreferences by interacting with the environment,modifying their behaviour, or adjusting their expec-tations to match ambient thermal conditions.
CONCLUSION
This study underlines the perspective that passivebuildings are essential to humanity’s survival of cli-mate change and fossil fuel exigencies of the twen-ty-first Century. Applying the insights of adaptiveapproach to thermal design of buildings as evi-denced in this case study may contribute to the evo-lution of a sustainable building paradigm, enablingdesigners to create buildings that remain comfort-able for their occupants in the increasingly extremeweather events ahead and with the decreasingavailability of affordable oil and gas to help solveincreasing energy needs. The methodological limi-tation of this study in terms of the sample size thatthe case-study permitted however, limits the possi-bility of generalizing the results. This is also an indi-cation of the need for more comprehensive futureresearches that may involve, for example, the vali-dation of existing adaptive comfort algorithms in
the context of developing countries. The paperhowever related the design features of the case-study building to the investigation of thermal com-fort of the occupants. The strong positive relation-ship between the adaptive thermal control and ther-mal sensation vote suggests the appropriatenessand effectiveness of the design strategies adoptedin the case study. Overall, there is need for a holis-tic approach that recognizes that thermal comfort isa complex adaptive system, which requires atten-tion being given to psychological and socialaspects, apart from the physical. The essence of thestudy is the need for greater synergy between thetechno-structural and socio-behavioural dimen-sions of building adaptation.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors gracefully acknowledge the assistanceof Professor Olumide Olusanya for providing thephotographs for the case study presented in thispaper.
Table 4. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
Coefficients Computed Between Adaptive ThermalControls and Outdoor Temperature in Both Seasons
Table 5. Pearson Product-Moment Correlation
Coefficients Computed Between Adaptive ThermalControls and Outdoor Thermal Sensation
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Author(s):
Dr. Mike Adebamowo
Department of Architecture,
University of Lagos, Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]
Dr. Adetokunbo O. Ilesanmi
Department of Architecture,
Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Nigeria.
Email: [email protected]
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INTRODUCTION
Climate change and measures to mitigate its effectsare issues of high priority in industrial countriesincluding Denmark. In spite of efforts to develop abroad strategic approach to climate change, adap-tation of existing buildings does not appear to be ahigh priority.
In 2005, the Danish Government presentedan action plan that aimed to promote significantresults in the energy field. This action plan hasalready and will continue to have an impact onDanish energy-saving initiatives in the years tocome (Ministry of Transport and Energy 2005). Theaction plan includes an outline of the Danish ener-gy sector in the years leading up to 2025. Onesubject in the strategy is the climate policy related tothe Kyoto Protocol (UN 1998), which was enforcedon February 16, 2005. Industrialised countries sig-natory to the Protocol were obliged to limit theiremissions of greenhouse gases between 2008 and2012. As part of the internal obligations within theEuropean Union (EU), Denmark was required toreduce its emissions by 21% compared with 1990emissions (Olesen et al. 2004). Furthermore, the
draft action plan contains energy-saving initiativesprescribing that consumer energy consumptionshould be reduced by an average of 1% per annumfrom 2006 to 2012.
The effort of elaborating a new climate pol-icy agreement failed at the Conference of theParties (COP) meetings number 15 (COP15), 16(COP16) and 17 (COP17), held in Copenhagen,Mexico City and Durban, in December 2009,2010 and 2011, respectively. It was intended tosucceed the Kyoto Protocol (UN 1998) by introduc-ing obligations to limit emissions of greenhousegases after 2012. At COP17 it was stated that from2012 only the member states of the EuropeanUnion will succeed the Kyoto Protocol includingnew Kyoto-obligations to limit emissions of green-house gases. However, the Parties agreed on thedevelopment of a new global climate agreementthat must include all countries with the largest emis-sions of greenhouse gases. The new global climateagreement needs to be agreed on in 2015 andcome into force in 2020. At COP 15, a Green Fundwas agreed and at COP17 the fund was designed,with the purpose of aiding underdeveloped coun-tries in meeting the challenges of climate change.
T. Valdbjørn Rasmussen
Abstract
Buildings play a vital economic and social role in society and are vulnerable to climate change. This paper suggests a
strategic approach for existing buildings to withstand climate change. It emphasises the most likely climate impacts,
including the change in mean year values as well as the extent of maximum and minimum extremes, which are point-
ed out and set against a background of national and international agreements. Assumptions that form the basis for the
scenarios are outlined and evaluated in a Danish context and similar evaluations can be drawn for other countries. As
climate change progresses, the uncertainty of the scenarios leaves major challenges that will grow far more serious, if
not addressed and taken into account in building design and into a strategy for the adaptation of existing buildings.
An outline of the actions needed for developing a broad strategic approach to the adaptation to climate change
for buildings is given. The actions include four stages: a survey of the performance, the impact of climate change, the
vulnerability of the existing building stock and climate adaptation needs. This leads to the identification of a risk-based
strategic framework for adaptation to climate change based on the results of a vulnerability analysis. In addition, this
paper describes some issues that must be addressed in case a strategic approach is not developed, as the building
sector is continuously investing in measures to adapt to climate change.
Keywords: Climate Change, Impact, Effects, Strategy, Buildings.
A STRATEGIC APPROACH FOR EXISTING BUILDINGSTO WITHSTAND CLIMATE CHANGE
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The European Union continues agreed indepen-dently on their climate visions (CEU 2009). Theambition was global and aimed to limit globalwarming to a maximum of 2°C and reduce 1990emissions of greenhouse gases by a total of 80-95% in industrial countries by 2050. As a conse-quence, the Danish Commission on ClimateChange Policy presented their ambitions in 2010.These ambitions outline Danish energy-saving ini-tiatives, energy supply investments, energy distribu-tion and a slow-down of climate change in theyears leading up to 2050 (Danish Commission onClimate Change Policy 2009). Three main issuesrelated to the built environment, outlined in theplan, are:
(i) Changing the energy supply to be inde-pendent of fossil fuels by 2050. Today 80%of the energy demand in Denmark relies onfossil fuels like oil, coal and gas.
(ii) Mitigating the effects of climate change byimplementing a large reduction of theemissions of greenhouse gases. Emissionsfrom a large number of agents needs to beincluded i.e. fossil fuels and carbon dioxidefrom i.e. farming, industrial processes, sol-vents, methane and nitrous oxide fromplastics in waste and sewage along withindustrial gases as hydro fluorocarbongases, sulphur hexafluoride gases and per-fluoro-compound gases.
(iii) Adaptation of the built environment to thefuture climate.
In Danish society, buildings have a replacementvalue of approximately €1,600 to €1,850 billion.The value is determined in 2010 for the wholecountry based on built-up area (Statistics Denmark2010) with a mean value of 2,400 €/m2. Thevalue of infrastructure such as roads, rails, bridges,embankments, harbours and sewers are not takeninto account. The floor area of new buildings con-structed each year makes up about 1% of the totalfloor area of buildings. It is crucial to preserve thevalue of the building stock, and it is thereforeimportant to adapt the building stock to the chal-lenges of the future climate.
As buildings play a vital economic and socialrole in society and are vulnerable to climate changean effort to preserve their satisfactory performanceand value are needed. The paper suggests andoutlines actions needed for developing a broadstrategic approach for existing buildings to with-stand climate change. As effects of climate changeare a serious challenge for the design and upgrad-ing of buildings, adaptation must include keyrequirements dictated by the effects of climatechange, that for the time being are uncertain andevaluated differently in different countries.
Table 1. Projected climate change based on A2, B2 and EU2C scenarios.
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C L IMATE IMPACTS
The adaptation needed in the built environment isclosely related to the projected climate impacts.Available emission scenarios A2 and B2(Nakićenović et al. 2000, DMI 2005), as well asEU2C (Danish Government 2008) were used as abasis for the Danish strategy for adapting to achanging climate (Danish Government 2008), asthey are considered the most likely in Denmark. Thescenarios describe the projected climate impacts inDenmark leading up to 2100 and are shown inTables 1 and 2.
BUILD ING PERFORMANCE REqUIRMENTS
Buildings are designed and constructed based onbuilding requirements. Today building requirementsare based on measured climate data and put intopractice typically by performance-based buildingrequirements. Buildings designed on the basis ofthese requirements will very likely be exposed toand threatened by climate impacts, in case thesehave not been taken into account in the buildingdesign. At present, climate impacts therefore posea serious problem in relation to the design andupgrading of buildings.
The effects of climate change are only partof the demands that a building must meet. Thesedemands include requirements to architecture, tothe use of the building, including providing safety,with no danger of collapse, even during extremestorms or snowfalls. A building should be comfort-able to live in, providing thermal comfort, regard-less of weather conditions and good indoor airquality, as well as facilitating the use of surround-ings when weather permits. In addition, buildingsshould be durable with moderate maintenance
costs. The most serious demands related to the lossof life or health, must utilise the highest safety levelsso the effects of climate change can be neutralised.In some cases, it might prove to be much moreexpensive to upgrade a building after having fin-ished the construction, than it would have been ifthe right standard had been part of the originaldesign. However, upgrading a building to meet keyclimate impacts can be part of the original designand can be done at almost no extra costs at thetime of construction. This is of the utmost impor-tance for structures with the longest expected lifetime such as load-bearing foundations, walls andfloor decks.
NEEDED STRATEGIC APPROACH
How buildings address threats or make use ofopportunities presented by the projected climateimpacts have enormous economic consequence.However, until the quality of input data determiningreliable climate change scenarios has improved,full advantage of more advanced tools is not pos-sible. This leaves the uncertainty of the relevant cli-mate scenarios as being one of the key issues.
A strategy for adaptation needs to be imple-mented, as climate impacts will dictate future build-ing requirements. The need for adaptation mea-sures are closely related to the exact location of thebuilding, building design and the local effects of cli-mate change.
A strategic approach to climate changeadaptation needs to be developed to ensure thevital economic and social role of buildings in soci-ety. The strategic approach must include the follow-ing tasks:1. A performance model2. An impact model3. Vulnerability analysis4. An adaptation strategy
The elements of a strategic approach thataddress the threats or make use of opportunities,presented by the projected climate impacts aregiven in Figure 1 and these should be included indesign and continuous upgrading and mainte-nance of buildings. The lack of a strategicapproach will result in stand-alone initiatives andad-hoc upgrading of buildings as climate changeprogresses.
Figure 1. Elements in a strategic approachthat include addressing effects of climate changeand needs of adaptation. Absence of a strategic
Table 2. Extreme climate events in the present-day climate
and projected changes in climate scenarios.
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approach will result in ad-hoc upgrading of build-ings as the effects of climate change emerges.
ELEMENTS OF THE STRATEGIC APPROACH
The tasks 1), 2), 3) and 4) are further described inthe following sections.
A performance model
Since buildings have a long life and since existingbuildings might in future develop performanceproblems in meeting requirements related to cli-mate change (Nielsen 2006, Meløysund et al.2006), it is important to develop a performancemodel for the existing building stock that coversboth new and old buildings. Development of abuilding stock typology model is necessary. Themodel could be developed as a basis for definingand managing risk related to the building perfor-mance.
The model could build on a typologicalmodel of the building stock based on four cate-gories consisting of the design type (detached hous-ing; multi-storey housing; administration, educa-tion), age and construction (external walls; roof;ground floor/foundations; internal walls/floors).Such information can be found in already pub-lished research i.e. scotch information concerningthe Danish building stock is given in (Wittchen2009). The typologies could be followed up by aset of performance criteria (Backer 2008). A criteri-on, e.g. structural safety could be correlated to cli-mate parameters such as wind speed, weight ofsnow or soil moisture, describing necessary perfor-mance-based building requirements.
An impact model
There is a need to define climate impacts relevant
for the building sector and based on the perfor-mance model (5.1). It will be necessary to evaluatecurrently known climatic parameters and definenew climatic parameters such as for temperature,precipitation, wind speed, atmospheric humidity,solar radiation and soil moisture. The parametersmust also include mean monthly and seasonal val-ues as well as the frequency and extent of maximumand minimum extremes. It is important to set up aprobabilistic model of the impact of climate changeon the built environment.
Many of these data can be retrieved fromarchives containing the outputs of the regional cli-mate model at 12-50 km resolution from thePrediction of Regional Scenarios and Uncertaintiesfor Defining European Climate Change Risks andEffects (PRUDENCE) (DMI 2005, Christensen et al.2007) and the Climate Change and its Impacts atSeasonal, Decadal and Centennial Timescales(ENSEMBLES) (van der Linden and Mitchell 2009)projects. The available emissions scenarios fromthe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) Special Report on Emissions Scenarios(SRES), (Nakićenović et al. 2000), as well as theEU2C scenario (Danish Government 2008) areused and described in section 2 Climate Impacts.
Lacking data required by the building sectorneed to be assumed as well. For assumed andfound data, it is seen that there can be considerableuncertainty regarding the accuracy of the predic-tions. It will therefore be necessary to take accountof these elements of risk by developing a model forclimate impacts that span the predicted ranges oferror.
Vulnerability analysis
On the basis of the performance model (section5.1) and the impact model (section 5.2), it is possi-ble to develop a method to analyse where futureclimate impacts causes weaknesses in building per-formance. For each performance requirement anddesign criteria defined in the performance model(section 5.1), it is necessary to define relevant cal-culation methods that can be used in relation to theclimate scenario data sets developed in the impactmodel (section 5.2). This analysis will then be ableto be carried out for each of the building types andages defined in the performance model (section5.1). Design criteria could i.e. cover structural safe-ty, indoor comfort and energy consumption with cli-matic parameters such as wind speed/weight ofsnow/soil moisture, outdoor temperature/absolutehumidity and outdoor temperature evaluated in
Figure 1. Strategic approach
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senrelation to calculation methods outlined in ISO
(2007), DS 474:1995 (1995) and ISO (2008).The models should be tested on representa-
tive buildings that should be followed up by on-siteinvestigations related to the design criteria.
An adaptation strategy
The results of the vulnerability analysis (section 5.3)are expected to show, where performance vulnera-bility exists in relation to selected climate scenarios.On this basis, a risk-based strategic framework forclimate adaptation for the building stock can bedeveloped. This cross-disciplinary framework caninclude assessment models, monitoring technolo-gies, and specific design solutions. This will lead toa method to describe the risks associated withadaptation to climate change based on climateimpacts in relation to building performance vulner-ability.
From these analyses, concrete adaptationsolutions can be described according to the typo-logical model of the building stock suggested to bethe most suitable for each specific case.Suggestions can even be levelled according to theneed of a low-, medium- or high-risk adaptationstrategy ranging from the need of changes in build-ing regulations and design approach to monitorchanges of the certainty of climate change impacts.
D ISCUSSION
Buildings play a vital economic and social role inmost industrialised countries. In Danish society, it isestimated that buildings have a replacement valueof €1,600 to €1,850 billion. The consequencesthat climate impacts may have on the existing builtenvironment are not known, as climate impacts andhence the vulnerability of the existing building stockhas yet to be investigated. This leaves society withmajor challenges that, if not addressed and takeninto account, will grow far more serious as climatechange progresses. The need for a strategicapproach becomes even more urgent. Until astrategic approach has been launched, initiatives tochallenge the climate impacts will be ad-hoc andstand-alone initiatives.
Many resources have been spent on defin-ing data relevant for the building sector regardingthe impact of climate change, and ever more dataare needed as assumptions change over time.Assumptions are closely related to the successfulmitigation of climate impacts. The impact of climatechange on the built environment is unknown and
there are inevitably degrees of uncertainty associat-ed with individual parameters such as temperature,precipitation, wind speed, relative humidity, solarradiation or soil moisture. In addition to the sce-narios describing projected climate impacts; mostcountries in the world, including Denmark, havealready witnessed extreme single events. Singleevents have been more intense than predicted andinclude extreme rainfall, heavier cloudburst, morefrequent and longer periods of drought as well asincreased winter rainfall. In Denmark data clearlyshow a rise in precipitation in the period from 1874to 2010 (Drews et al. 2011).
Observations, from the last 100 years, showchanges in the geographic pattern of precipitationglobally. The connection between a warmer climateand heavier rainfall is confirmed by several studies.Some studies even estimate that the change in thetotal amount, seasonal variations and the intensityof rainfall estimated by the Intergovernmental Panelon Climate Change (Solomon et al. 2007) isunderestimated both for the tropics and for Europe(Allan and Soden 2008, Lenderink and vanMeijgaard 2008).
Without a strategic approach, building own-ers are presently uncertain which climate impactsare necessary to address and which scenarios havethe most credibility. Existing buildings and buildingsconstructed today should be able to withstand cli-mate impacts until 2100, as the main structures ofbuildings are expected to last for at least 100 years.The challenge of contemporary building require-ments is that they should take account climateimpacts for a period corresponding to the servicelife of individual building components. Climateimpacts therefore pose a serious problem in rela-tion to the design and upgrading of buildings.Besides threats from extreme rainfall and heaviercloudburst, which in most countries are consideredthe most urgent threats the threat of increased windloads is also an extremely important threat whichshould be included in building design.
Scenario A2 in table 1 foresees an increasedmaximum wind load at sea of about 20% in year2100, as the wind load depends on the square ofthe wind speed. Wind load is critical for most build-ings and a threat that must be dealt with. A heavierwind load calls for stronger constructions.Compared with the safety margin of load-bearingstructures in buildings, a 20% increase in the windload is not critical. However, in 1999 a heavy stormin Denmark reached today’s design wind standardand cost insurance companies sums that equalled
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about 10% of the yearly investment in buildings inDenmark (Nielsen 2006). In addition, it was foundthat the damaged buildings had strengths of abouthalf of what is required according to the buildingrequirements (Munch-Andersen and Buhelt 2000).Therefore, a 20% increase of the wind load as aresult of a 10% increase of extreme wind speed issupposed to result in a situation for which adapta-tion measures must be developed, both for existingbuildings and for buildings that are to be designedfor climate impacts. Such adaptation measures areexpensive, but far less expensive than rebuildingdamaged buildings after a storm worse than theDanish storm in 1999.
Another important climate impact is the pos-sible threat posed by a more humid and warmer cli-mate. This would challenge the building design thatprovides humans with thermal comfort, goodindoor air quality, and durable constructions. Suchchallenges are unlikely to be met at moderatemaintenance costs.
Data describing climate impacts for the dif-ferent scenarios also contain data for some of theparameters needed for the design of buildings.Unfortunately, the data for the various scenariosomit statistical information about the differenteffects. However, that is the nature of scenarios,since they prescribe a point perspective rather thanan interval at a specified level of certainty. Thismeans that more sophisticated tools for risk analy-sis cannot be applied (Willows and Connell 2003).Circumstances demand a continued need for astrategic approach to climate impacts and adapta-tion for existing buildings and building require-ments.
CONCLUSION
Lack of international agreements on the reductionof the emissions of greenhouse gases makes it dif-ficult to expect anything but an economically regu-lated use of available fossil fuels such as oil, coaland gas globally. Due to the shortage of availablefossil fuels together with an increasing demand andhigher production costs, the same economic condi-tions will drive policy for energy use and the devel-opment of new and other energy-supply sources.However, the economically regulated use of fossilfuels and hence the emissions of greenhouse gaseswill lead to climate impacts that are very difficult toforecast and leave threats as well as opportunitiesfor the design of buildings unknown. Therefore, it isunknown whether or not buildings constructed
today will be able to withstand the effects of climatechange in 2100, as the main structures of buildingsare expected to last for at least 100 years.
As climate change progresses, the effects ofclimate change will change the building require-ments. However, as the impact of climate change isunknown, it is very difficult to forecast the necessarybuilding requirements. This will leave investmentsthat are necessary for the preservation of the valueof the building stock as ad-hoc and stand-aloneinvestments, as future climate impacts emerge.Losing the opportunity to upgrade a building tomeet key climate impacts as part of the mainte-nance which increases the costs of necessary mea-sures. Therefore, the uncertainty of the scenariosleaves major challenges that, if not addressed andtaken into account in building design, will grow farmore serious as climate change progresses.
A continuous strategic approach to climatechange and adaptation needed to ensure the vitaleconomic and social role of buildings in societygrows ever more urgent. Until such a strategicapproach is launched, initiatives to challenge cli-mate impacts will be ad-hoc and stand-alone ini-tiatives that leave building owners at a crossroads,uncertain of which climate impacts that are neces-sary to address and which scenarios have the mostcredibility.
Circumstances related to national and inter-national policy, economics, energy use, emissionsof greenhouse gases and the development of newenergy-supply sources, demand a continued strate-gic approach to climate impacts and adaptation forexisting buildings as well as building requirements.
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the amplification of precipitation extremes, Science, 321:5895,1481-1484.
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Building Design, Building Simulation, 1:4, 356-371.
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CHRISTENSEN, J.H., CARTER, T.R., RUMMUKAINEN, M. andAMANATIDIS, G. 2007, Evaluating the performance and utili-
ty of climate models: The PRUDENCE project. ClimaticChange, 81:Suppl. 1, 1–6.
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dansk energisystem uden fossile brændsler, ISBN: www 978-87-7844-882-8, 2. ed, Danish Energy Agency(Energistyrelsen), Copenhagen, Denmark
DANISH GOVERNMENT 2008, Danish Strategy for adapta-
tion to a changing climate, Danish Energy Agency(Energistyrelsen), Copenhagen, Denmark.
DANMARKS METEOROLOGISKE INSTITUT 2010, IPCC's
udslipsscenarier, Danish Meteorological Institute,Copenhagen, Denmark.
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for Defining European Climate Change Risks and Effects (PRU-
DENCE), Final Report 2005, Danish Meteorological Institute(Danmarks Meteorologiske Institut), Copenhagen, Denmark.
DREWS, M., BOBERG, F., CAPPELEN, J., CHRISTENSEN, O.B.,CHRISTENSEN, J.H, LUNDHOLM, S.C. and OLESEN, M.2011, Fremtidige nedbørsændringer i Danmark - Fremtidige
nedbørsændringer i Danmark, Danish Meteorological Institute,Copenhagen, Denmark.
DS 1995, DS 474:1995: Code for Thermal Indoor Climate,Danish Standards, Charlottenlund, Denmark.
ISO 2007, EN 1990:2007: Eurocode – Basis of structural
design, International Organization for Standardization,Geneva, Switzerland.
ISO 2008. EN 13790:2008: Thermal performance of build-
ings – Calculation of energy use for heating and cooling,
International Organization for Standardization, Geneva,witzerland.
LENDERINK, G. and VAN MEIJGAARD, E. 2008, Increase in
hourly precipitation extremes beyond expectations from tem-
perature changes, Nature Geoscience, 1, 511–514.
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Energibesparelser og marked, Ministry of Transport(Transportministeriet), Copenhagen, Denmark.
MUNCH-ANDERSEN, J. and BUHELT, M. 2000. Stormskader
på bygninger, By og Byg Resultater 001, Danish Building andUrban Research, (Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut), Dr.Neergaards Vej 15, Hørsholm, Denmark.
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WITTCHEN, K. B. 2009, Potential energy savings in the exist-
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Author(s):
T. Valdbjørn RasmussenDanish Building Research Institute, Department of Construction and Health, Aalborg UniversityDr. Neergaards Vej 15, 2970 Hørsholm, DenmarkEmail: [email protected]: http://www.sbi.dk
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Book Title: T HE P R I NC IP LES OF GR EEN
URB ANISM: T rans fo rm ing t he C i t y f o r
Sus ta inabi l i t y
Author’s Name: Steffen Lehmann
Publisher’s Name: Earthscan
Reviewer’s Name: Prof. Dr. Derya Oktay, Eastern
Mediterranean University. Northern Cyprus.
ISBN Number: 978-1-84407-834-9 (hardback edition)
978-1-84407-817-2 (paperback edition)
Dimensions of the Book: 17cms x 23.50 cms
Hard or Soft Cover: Both
Number of Pages: 911
Order Address: www.earthscan.co.uk (and for price)
Number of Illustrations: 772 and many tables.
Today, more than 50% of the world population is living
in urban areas and this figure is estimated to rise to 65%
in 2025, while the world population is expected to dou-
ble by the mid-century. In this context, cities can be
thought as spaces for consumption, and with their spa-
tial organisation, infrastructure design and administrative
systems, they could significantly reduce the demand they
make on the earth’s resources and eco-systems.
Changes that have taken place in the world
over the past twenty years, including ecological distur-
bances and radical changes in traditional settlements
have produced cities that are not just chaotic and
monotonous in appearance, but have serious environ-
mental problems threatening their inhabitants. Green
urbanism, on that ground, appears as a sound frame-
work that draws attention to the immense opportunity to
redesign the built environment in a manner that supports
a ‘greener’ urban environment. This book addresses this
great challenge of making the existing urban structure
responsive to environmental concerns.
Stephen Lehmann has command of his exten-
sive material and authority in his exposition, but the book
is also highly accessible and clearly written, and does not
pretend to be a scientifically written work. As he makes
clear on page 27, “While it presents some quantitative
research, we believe that the focus of the design studios
and related explorations has to be qualitative, based on
careful observations, experiences gained from visiting
places and the study of best practice”. In line with this,
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the chapters are not written as complete texts on the top-
ics, but rather modules, and are introductions to differ-
ent specific themes, relying on the reader’s own further
research”.
The book consists of an introductory chapter
followed by four substantive chapters. Each chapter
introduces its keywords, discusses key research/design
principles and then concludes with key lessons by high-
lighting further research ideas. A collection of images
and diagrams in regard to the topics raised in the chap-
ter is added in the end of each chapter to give a wider
context and inspire the reader to conduct further
research in these fields. The detailed explanation provid-
ed for each image or diagram is very useful, but the lack
of presence of a full list of figures and figure numbers
may give the reader a sense of disorder. The book has a
rich appendices section where important documents like
‘Eco-city Declaration’, ‘A checklist for Healthy
Communities and Cities’, and so forth are included.
The opening chapter draws on a (field) study of
a typical post-industrial city, the seaport city of Newcastle
(New South Wales, Australia), where new ideas are test-
ed and lessons are learnt. The introduction is in the form
of a prologue that establishes the setting and gives back-
ground for the question “Can urbanism ever be green?”.
In Chapter 2, the author outlines a set princi-
ples for Green Urbanism as a step-by-step manual com-
prising the available and emerging most promising con-
cepts and technologies - namely energy conservation,
the use of renewable energy sources, the concept of the
city with densification, the city with special concern for
affordable housing and mixed-uses, the city with cultural
identity, public health and safety, the city of urban gover-
nance and sustainable procurement methods, and of
education focus on sustainable urban development. The
author, as a positive remark, reminds us that these prin-
ciples need to be adapted to the specific context, climat-
ic condition, local opportunities, project scale and site
constraints, and need to be considered simultaneously.
Education for sustainable development has
been in the agenda and/or practice of universities
around the world to different degrees, and the design
studios exploring the dynamic relationship that can exist
between architecture, city and society, and to promote
an awareness for ecological design during the education
is extremely important to evoke consciousness and pro-
vide orientations to enhance the dynamic relationship
between research, practice and teaching. In Chapter 3,
the author, building on three speculative case studies
from his own design studios in the Master of Architecture
programme, and one real case, shows how the princi-
ples of green urbanism can be applied strategically to
different sites and contexts, and shows the ways to pro-
mote and encourage design approaches with sensitivity
to local characteristics and values.
Finally, Chapter 4 looks at the urbanization of China and
India as the primary regions of the 21st-century urban
growth, and forms a conclusion by looking ahead with a
long term vision to identify the next steps require, and the
research agenda needed, for a Low-to-No-Carbon
Future, and draws implications for urban design and
academic research.
At a time of uncontrolled globalization in which
sense of place, history and cultural distinctiveness are
constantly under attack and many cities lack socially
inclusive and responsive environments, do the contem-
porary approaches to sustainable urbanism also inte-
grate social-cultural dimensions? (Oktay, 2011). One
positive asset of this book comparing to many others in
the field is drawing the attention to these social dimen-
sions i.e. diversity, urban complexity and social inclusion
as first highlighted by Jane Jacobs (1961), and clearly
stated in the end of the book: “The future of our societies
is not just merely a technical matter of finding more eco-
friendly solutions, but a question of holistic social sus-
tainability and healthy community”. In this context, the
social acceptability of certain contemporary paradigms
is questioned considering their appropriateness in devel-
oping countries in particular, an aspect that is usually
neglected in the literature.
The Principles of Green Urbanism is inspiring
for all interested in urban design and the future of cities,
and makes a helpful tool for those working in the fields
of urban design, urban planning and architecture. In
summary, the book offers a timely reflection on the rela-
tionship between conventional planning and design
practice and the new possibilities of renewable energy
technologies.
REFERENCES
JACOBS, J., The Death and Life of Great American
Cities, Random House, New York.
OKTAY D., “Sustainable Urbanism revisited: A Holistic
Framework Based on Tradition and Contemporary
Orientations, Green and Ecological Technologies for
Urban Planning: Creating Smart Cities (Ed: O. Y.
Ercoskun), IGI-Global, Pennsylvania, 2011, pp 17-36.
REvIEWER:
Prof. Dr. Derya Oktay,
Department of Architecture, Eastern Mediterranean
University Famagusta, N. Cyprus, via Mersin 10, Turkey.
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