Sustainability has gained momentum in recent years due to natural threats and government regulations with housing sector being at the center of this debate. Affordable housing providers frequently face a dilemma of delivering sustainable homes while maintaining affordable rent for customers. This paper aims to shed some light on the important considerations of sustainable, affordable housing criteria, and hence increasing understanding of sustainable housing from an affordable, social housing perspective. To achieve this aim, the paper reviews the relevant literature to identify a common ground in defining sustainability, and presents an example of sustainability approach from a social housing provider at Bradford: namely, Incommunities. The outcome suggests that in order to achieve true sustainability, the environmental, social, and economic dimensions must be simultaneously taken into consideration, although the weight of each dimension can differ depending on the context. The outcome also suggests that Incommunities takes a holistic approach to sustainability based on residents and affordability requirements. Incommunities provides affordable rent, employment opportunities, and access to different services and support for residents. The affordable rent is mainly achieved through energy efficiency measures and Decent Homes government programme. These initial outcomes provide the basis of an on-going partnership project, between University of Bradford and Incommunities, aimed at developing decision support tools and techniques for sustainable, affordable social housing to ultimately deliver customer satisfaction and quality of life for the Bradford community.
Installations using solar energy have negative visual impact and this discourages some potential users. The aesthetic of solar thermal collectors can be an obstacle to their development and limits the growth of the market. The integration of solar collectors in buildings allows to make them invisible from the ground. In France, the law remains rigid and promotes the appearance of the buildings to its energy aspect. Although there is a recent release, the conditions are strict, and tend, at the same time that financial aid at a maximum integration of energy components. Government guidelines are also reaffirming the priority given to the solar technologies integration into the building in order to promote friendly aesthetic solutions landscape and architecture, and position the industrial sector and artisans on a higher value added. In this paper we present a new patented concept of solar collector totally integrated into a gutter. We developed a two-dimensional thermal model using a finite difference method and we modeled the hydraulic loop. The model was implemented and the numerical results were validated from experimental data. We present also the feedback performances of this solar installation in a building located in Corsica during one-year period. Another modeled conception was simulated and performance comparisons were realized. This project is built on the objectives of contributing at the European politic on the «Building Integration of Solar Thermal Systems» (BISTS) through the COST Action «European Cooperation in Science and Technology» – TU1205.
Architecture inspirations of modern office buildings draw from new material and construction solution or from philosophical aspects of human living. During last decades there were a lot of trends in building market derive from fashionable mottos e.g.: solar, green, environmental friendly, sustainable, low-energy, zero-net or plusenergy architecture. However, most of the existing office buildings were often design without previous analysis and final effect was worse than it was expected. The presented study was devoted to developed an external wall system dedicated for zeroenergy office building. Initial analyses start with architecture and ergonomic considerations taking into account different construction of building elements and it is topology. The second step of analysis determined minimum and maximum window size based on results obtained from daylighting simulation. Thermal analysis using transient heat conduction method show the energy balance of the wall and adjacent zone. Finally, the potential of solar energy as a source of heat and electricity were estimated for assumed configurations and PV – glass ratio. In the second part of the analysis the seasonal and annual energy balance for single components were estimated numerically using ESP-r software. The following component types were considered: opaque – glass and PV or transparent – single or double skin. Based on the obtained results authors proposed a function of energy flux versus number of panels. The functions show that some of the components have a positive energy balance and could be apply to achieve effect of zero or even plus energy façade. The final optimized solution of the façade system will be design and construct at one of the university building within the framework of German-Polish Energy Efficiency Project.
In response to the demand for housing units which will cater to an increase in population, housing research in Nigeria has generally benefitted from studies related to housing finance, mortgage, land acquisition, appropriate building materials and technology. Comparatively less attention has been paid design and spatial requirements for future housing units, leading to the dearth of appropriate theories to inform future housing policies. This is an area academia through architecture education needs to adequately address. This paper explores the Unique Adequacy approach from Construction Management Research through interdisciplinary methods from Anthropology, Sociology, Behavioral studies and Architecture in two stages. The approach was explored in Tangale land, northeast Nigeria to generate appropriate architectural theories and offer practical suggestions towards improving future housing policies. Northeast Nigeria is a region which has received little by way of intense architectural research in part due to mountainous terrain and a rise in insecurity and insurgency in the last four years. Results from the first stage, an ethnographical survey reveals that external influences on the culture influenced the basic lifestyle of the community. Architecturally, this is expressed in changing housing typologies. Architecture conforms and reflects dynamic culture in a passive capacity. The second, a demographic and measured survey was instrumental in establishing the sustainability of cultural values in community-produced compounds. Architecture serves as a mechanism of cultural resistance in an active capacity within the study area. An implication of findings from this paper is that architecture education plays an important role in training and equipping future architects to generate appropriate theories and data necessary to improve design and practice. This can be achieved through reviving awareness for original research during undergraduate training as well as pro-active interdisciplinary collaboration with allied disciplines of the built environment in postgraduate programs.
The paper investigates the state of the South African residential sector and how the principles of Open Building are relevant and applicable to this field. This is done firstly through unpacking the concept of Open Building and related concepts; the catalytic potential of Open Building for design and technology, space and society, the public realm, as well as its relevance and potential for management, economics and industry are considered. Definitions of sustainable building transformation are articulated; it is an approach that is firmly rooted in theories of architecture which highlight the design of systems and the interface between systems. The approach draws heavily on Habraken’s concept of ‘supports’, Kendall and Van der Werf s Open Building ‘levels’, as well as ideas related to the way in which materials, building components and buildings themselves are re used or salvaged based on life cycle analysis. The paper distinguishes between superficial (cosmetic) change and functional/technical/spatial change, where the latter is believed to add value to the users’ experience and quality of life. Both are perceived to have positive social impact. Residential case studies are revisited to strengthen the argument for the need to accommodate the changing circumstances and preferences of users as well as enhance ‘change capacity’ in buildings. The issues that emerge from the case studies have assisted in the development of assessment tools, which enable measurement of ‘change capacity’ in new buildings and building refurbishments. This in turn allowed for the development of ‘design tools’ for the architect. To demonstrate the latter, a teaching experiment is presented, deeply rooted in the South African context – with its unique characteristics, idiosyncrasies and difficult histories. There are some obstacles to the adoption of an Open Building approach. Practice and education systems are rooted in convention, negative perceptions about change, and a lack of experimentation are seen to be some of the reasons why ‘change capacity’ is not fully considered in the built environment in general, and in the residential sector in particular. There is also an assumption that changing practice would increase costs. However, this is untested and it is argued that long-term capacity of the building stock would have immense, long-term, economic benefits. There is also a lack of collaboration across disciplines and countries, and a lack of uniform definitions, with the result that different groups pull in different directions.
The fire resistance of reinforced concrete columns can be checked, according to EN 1992-1-2 [1], considering three methods presented in the form of tables: Method A, Method B and Method C (or Method of estimated curvature). In this paper is presented a study developed in order to verify the influence of two parameters required for the application of these methods: the reduction factor, ηfi, and the load level at normal temperature conditions, n. The methods referred in the previous paragraph were applied to the 14124 reinforced concrete columns inserted in the structures of 63 buildings, designed for different types of occupations and licensed before 2007, in Portugal. The fire resistance classes, defined for the different occupations, vary from R30 to R180. The reduction factor values were calculated for each project and the load level for each column. As it was observed, the reduction factor values vary between 0.58 and 0.68 (0.58≤ηfi≤0.68) in ordinary buildings. So, it is recommended the use of values in this interval for the calculation of the axial design load in fire situation, NEd.fi, determined from the design value of the column’s resistance, NRd, namely for the quantification of the initial load to be applied to the columns in experimental tests. Comparing the results, considering the reduction factor, nfi, with design values and with ηfi=0.7, a recommended value in EN 1992-1-2 [1] that can be used as a simplification, it was found that using the second value led to a lower number of columns that satisfied the required fire resistance, corresponding to a percentage between 1,4% and 4,4% of the columns. Regarding the load level, n, calculated for each column, it was found that the most frequent values vary between 0.2 and 0.4.
