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Buildings, Volume 4, Issue 1 (March 2014) – 4 articles , Pages 1-59

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1273 KiB  
Article
Development of a Façade Assessment and Design Tool for Solar Energy (FASSADES)
by Jouri Kanters, Maria Wall and Marie-Claude Dubois
Buildings 2014, 4(1), 43-59; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings4010043 - 13 Mar 2014
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7029
Abstract
Planning energy-efficient buildings which produce on-site renewable energy in an urban context is a challenge for all involved actors in the planning process. The primary objective of this study was to develop a façade assessment and design tool for solar energy (FASSADES) providing [...] Read more.
Planning energy-efficient buildings which produce on-site renewable energy in an urban context is a challenge for all involved actors in the planning process. The primary objective of this study was to develop a façade assessment and design tool for solar energy (FASSADES) providing the necessary information for all stakeholders in the design process. The secondary objective was to demonstrate the tool by performing an assessment analysis of a building block. The FASSADES tool is a DIVA4Rhino script, combining Radiance/Daysim and EnergyPlus for simulating the annual production of solar thermal and photovoltaic systems on facades, the cost-effectiveness of the solar energy system, and the payback time. Different output methods are available; graphically within the 3D drawing environment and numerically within post-processing software. The tool was tested to analyse a building block within a city under Swedish conditions. Output of the developed tool showed that shading from nearby buildings greatly affects the feasibility of photovoltaic and solar thermal systems on facades. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Performance Analysis and Simulation)
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403 KiB  
Article
A Numerical Study on the Impact of Wind Gust Frequency on Air Exchanges in Buildings with Variable External and Internal Leakages
by Dimitrios Kraniotis, Thomas K. Thiis and Tormod Aurlien
Buildings 2014, 4(1), 27-42; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings4010027 - 05 Mar 2014
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6223
Abstract
Wind-driven air infiltration has been recognized among the major reasons for energy loss in buildings, and the impact to energy efficiency under steady conditions has been reported and issued as part of many building codes. The nearly zero-energy building demand makes uncontrolled leakage [...] Read more.
Wind-driven air infiltration has been recognized among the major reasons for energy loss in buildings, and the impact to energy efficiency under steady conditions has been reported and issued as part of many building codes. The nearly zero-energy building demand makes uncontrolled leakage paths even more undesired and creates the need for further investigation of their behavior under unsteady wind conditions. The present numerical study examines the role of wind gustiness on instantaneous infiltration rates of a low-rise building. For this purpose, two levels of gust frequency Ω have been simulated, expressed as a sinusoidal factor in the wind profile formula. In parallel, a ratio α is employed to represent seven different cases of external leakages distribution, while five scenarios of compartmentalization and internal leakages shows the impact of the latter on the dynamics of building air exchange rates. The results indicate that higher wind gustiness results in higher ACH, marking out gusts as a potential critical factor under unsteady climate conditions. The infiltration rates shown in relation to the leakage distribution ratio α provide arguments for the importance of the detailed detection of external leakages while the comparison of the different internal-volume-scenario highlights the key-role of internal leakages control towards a drastic reduction of infiltration rates. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Performance Analysis and Simulation)
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Editorial
Acknowledgement to Reviewers of Buildings in 2013
by Buildings Editorial Office
Buildings 2014, 4(1), 25-26; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings4010025 - 25 Feb 2014
Viewed by 3185
Abstract
The editors of Buildings would like to express their sincere gratitude to the following reviewers for assessing manuscripts in 2013. [...] Full article
594 KiB  
Article
Site-Specific Soundscape Design for the Creation of Sonic Architectures and the Emergent Voices of Buildings
by Jordan Lacey
Buildings 2014, 4(1), 1-24; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings4010001 - 29 Jan 2014
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 7978
Abstract
Does a building contain its own Voice? And if so, can that Voice be discovered, transformed and augmented by soundscape design? Barry Blesser’s writings on acoustic space, discuss reverberation and resonant frequencies as providing architectural spaces with characteristic listening conditions related to the [...] Read more.
Does a building contain its own Voice? And if so, can that Voice be discovered, transformed and augmented by soundscape design? Barry Blesser’s writings on acoustic space, discuss reverberation and resonant frequencies as providing architectural spaces with characteristic listening conditions related to the architectural space’s dimensions and materiality. The paper argues that Blesser and Salter expand such discussion into pantheistic speculation when suggesting that humanity contains the imaginative capacity to experience spaces as “living spirits”. This argument is achieved by building on the speculation through the discussion of a soundscape design methodology that considers space as containing pantheistic qualities. Sonic architectures are created with electroacoustic sound installations that recompose existing architectural soundscapes, to create the conditions for the emergence of the Voices of buildings. This paper describes two soundscape designs, Revoicing the Striated Soundscape and Subterranean Voices, which transformed existing architectural soundscapes for the emergence of Voices in a laneway and a building located in the City of Melbourne, Australia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Architectural, Urban and Natural Soundscapes)
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