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Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies
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Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Green Building".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 May 2024 | Viewed by 5729

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Shuai Lu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
2. School of Architecture, Design and Planning, The University of Sydney, Darlington, NSW 2008, Australia
Interests: room acoustics; acoustic simulation; anomalous acoustic reflection
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Junjie Li

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
1. School of Architecture and Design, Beijing Jiaotong University, Beijing 100044, China
2. Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH), 8049 Zurich, Switzerland
Interests: sustainable building technology; green building design and construction; high-performance low-carbon buildings; net-zero-energy houses; human health; climate-adaptive design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Chunxiao Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen 518060, China
Interests: sustainable landscape architecture; landscape heritage
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Since the beginning of the 21st century, our built environment has been reshaped by various emerging technologies to respond to the severe environmental and energy crises and provide healthier and more comfortable human habitats. To name a few, building-integrated solar photovoltaics changed how buildings are empowered, recycled materials changed what buildings are made of, digital fabrication and automated construction changed how buildings are built, and, most noticeable to end users, intelligent service systems and products changed how buildings interact with people. These technologies and their influence on the built environment have been extensively explored in the existing literature.

This Special Issue, however, focuses on how architectural design has been and could be changed by emerging technologies. As the starting point of the life cycle, architecture design plays a vital role not only in the functionality and aesthetics of buildings, but also in their sustainability. Only with appropriate designs can emerging technologies realize their full potential in the built environment, just like Le Corbusier’s modern architecture making full use of concrete and steel, and Frank Gehry’s fabulous geometries promoting computer-aided design. Now, in the current era with more exciting technologies and more urgent environmental and energy problems, it is again time to explore opportunities in design to facilitate sustainability, energy efficiency, and health in buildings, especially since this has been largely overlooked by scientific research.

This Special Issue aims to report current and promising innovations in sustainable architecture design theories, methods, and outcomes, distinguishable from normal practice, as an immediate result of emerging technologies, providing new perspectives and possibilities for pursuing energy efficiency, low environmental impact, zero carbon, human health, as well as beauty and pleasantness in the built environment. The scope includes but is not limited to new paradigms of sustainable architectural design, performance-based and/or AI-aided design tools and workflows, and novel architectural aesthetics and/or occupant experience brought by heuristic integrations of technologies. While design is partially a creative process, the superiority of the design innovations is expected to be clearly demonstrated by empirical investigations, such as measurements of built cases, simulations of envisaged designs, and/or subjective evaluations by occupants.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Buildings.

Dr. Shuai Lu
Dr. Junjie Li
Dr. Chunxiao Wang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable building
  • building energy consumption
  • renewable energy
  • design innovation
  • computational design
  • intelligent building

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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24 pages, 7156 KiB  
Article
Thermal Comfort Comparison and Cause Analysis of Low-Temperature High-Humidity Indoor Environments of Rural Houses in Gansu Province, China
by Junjie Li, Xijun Wu, Sharon K. W. Chow, Qiushi Zhuang and Guillaume Habert
Sustainability 2023, 15(23), 16428; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316428 - 29 Nov 2023
Viewed by 750
Abstract
Low temperatures and high humidity often occur in the northern basins and mountainous regions of China. This research reveals a common winter indoor environment in this rural areas characterized by low-temperature and high-humidity indoor thermal conditions. Improving this environment directly with equipment would [...] Read more.
Low temperatures and high humidity often occur in the northern basins and mountainous regions of China. This research reveals a common winter indoor environment in this rural areas characterized by low-temperature and high-humidity indoor thermal conditions. Improving this environment directly with equipment would inevitably result in significant energy consumption. Therefore, comprehending the thermal performance mechanisms of different structural building materials is of vital importance as it provides crucial baseline values for environmental improvement. This study conducted a survey utilizing user questionnaires, resulting in the collection of 214 valid responses. Additionally, a local experiment regarding thermal comfort was conducted. Simultaneously, this study monitored the indoor physical environments of these houses (a sample of 10 rooms was taken from earth houses and 12 rooms from brick houses). Parameters measured on site included air temperature, relative humidity, light illumination, and CO2. The results showed that the humidity inside the earth houses is more stable and regression models can be developed between thermal sensations and temperature for long-term residents. The residents of these earth houses are more sensitive to temperature step. In contrast, the residents of brick houses, experiencing greater environmental variability, demonstrated lower sensitivity and greater adaptability to temperature changes. In addition, heating from bottom to top is more comfortable and healthier for the residents of brick houses in Gansu. Moreover, it is more favorable for the inhabitants’ livelihood to regulate the temperature steps to a maximum of 4 °C. This study provides valuable reference information for the future design of houses in low-temperature and high-humidity environments. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies)
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20 pages, 5780 KiB  
Article
Influence of Opposing Exterior Window Geometry on the Carbon Emissions of Indoor Lighting under the Combined Effect of Natural Lighting and Artificial Lighting in the City of Shenyang, China
by Jianhua Ding, Xinyi Zou and Murong Lv
Sustainability 2023, 15(17), 12972; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151712972 - 28 Aug 2023
Viewed by 689
Abstract
According to relevant statistics, the electricity consumption for lighting in university buildings accounts for 20 to 40% of the total energy consumption of the buildings. Lighting energy saving is a key influential factor in achieving a low-carbon campus construction. The electricity consumption for [...] Read more.
According to relevant statistics, the electricity consumption for lighting in university buildings accounts for 20 to 40% of the total energy consumption of the buildings. Lighting energy saving is a key influential factor in achieving a low-carbon campus construction. The electricity consumption for lighting is simultaneously affected by the utilization of natural daylight and artificial lighting schemes. Currently, there is a lack of research regarding the dynamic quantitative correlation between the geometric design of external windows affecting the utilization of natural daylight and carbon emissions. Also, research on the dynamic synergistic impact between natural light utilization and artificial lighting on carbon emissions has not been observed. Hence, there is a lack of quantitative carbon impact prediction and guidance in the early design and actual operation of such spaces. This study took the professional drawing space of a university in the severe cold regions of Shenyang as a prototype. Daylight factor (DF) and spatial daylight autonomy (sDA) were determined using Rhino + Grasshopper and Ladybug + Honeybee for window geometry. DIALux evo simulation was used to analyze the carbon emissions of space operation, followed by correlation analysis and multiple linear regression analysis using SPSS to determine the degree of influence of each window design parameter on the carbon emissions. The window-to-floor ratio (WFR), window-to-wall ratio (WWR), windowsill height (Hws), window width (Ww), and window height (Hw) had inhibitory effects on carbon emissions from daylight-responsive artificial lighting (C), and the influence of different orientations was different. Under the condition of an opposing window, the overall C trend of the professional drawing space was west < east< south < north, and the C of the morning period in each orientation was significantly lower than that in the afternoon period. Taking the frame structure system space with a floor-to-floor height of 4.2 m as an example, within the requirements of WFR and WWR, the C of the west-facing professional drawing classroom with 2.55 m for Hw, 0.75 m for Hws, and 9.6 m for Ww was the smallest. To a certain extent, opening large windows and opening high windows can reduce the C of the space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies)
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27 pages, 4706 KiB  
Article
Research on Database Construction and Calculation of Building Carbon Emissions Based on BIM General Data Framework
by Ruizhe Zhang, Hong Zhang, Shangang Hei and Hongyu Ye
Sustainability 2023, 15(13), 10256; https://doi.org/10.3390/su151310256 - 28 Jun 2023
Viewed by 1355
Abstract
China is entering a new era characterized by carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and the construction industry, which accounts for a high proportion of social carbon emissions, urgently needs a method to calculate and predict building carbon emissions in advance. This study proposes [...] Read more.
China is entering a new era characterized by carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, and the construction industry, which accounts for a high proportion of social carbon emissions, urgently needs a method to calculate and predict building carbon emissions in advance. This study proposes a method for calculating the life cycle carbon emissions (LCCEs) of buildings based on building information modeling (BIM) technology. The method uses a BIM universal data framework to establish a building carbon emission calculation model and a building carbon emission factor database instance. Taking prefabricated construction projects as an example, it is compared with the traditional calculation method. The results show that the method can more accurately predict building carbon emissions and provide methods and a basis for the construction industry to control carbon emissions in advance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies)
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Review

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30 pages, 6727 KiB  
Review
Challenges and Optimization of Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Windows: A Review
by Shaohang Shi and Ning Zhu
Sustainability 2023, 15(22), 15876; https://doi.org/10.3390/su152215876 - 13 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1999
Abstract
PV windows are seen as potential candidates for conventional windows. Improving the comprehensive performance of PV windows in terms of electrical, optical, and heat transfer has received increasing attention. This paper reviews the development of BIPV façade technologies and summarizes the related experimental [...] Read more.
PV windows are seen as potential candidates for conventional windows. Improving the comprehensive performance of PV windows in terms of electrical, optical, and heat transfer has received increasing attention. This paper reviews the development of BIPV façade technologies and summarizes the related experimental and simulation studies. Based on the results of the literature research, the average comprehensive energy-saving rate of BIPV façades can reach 37.18%. Furthermore, limitations and optimization directions of photovoltaic integrated shading devices (PVSDs), photovoltaic double-skin façades, and photovoltaic windows are presented. To improve the energy-saving potential of windows as non-energy efficiency elements of buildings, smart PV windows are proposed to be the key to breakthrough comprehensive performance. However, not all switchable windows concepts can be applied to PV windows. Typical studies on smart windows and PV windows are sorted out to summarize the challenges and optimization of smart PV window technical solutions. Considering the technological innovations in smart PV windows, two requirements of energy-saving materials and building envelopes are put forward. The advances in materials and the building envelope are complementary, which will promote the sophistication and promotion of solar building technology. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Design Innovations in Sustainable Buildings Driven by Emerging Technologies)
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