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BU Institute of Design and Architecture

TOA-2
2nd Semester 2021-2022

Compiled Notes on Environmental

Concept of Architectural Design

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ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPT OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
Great Big Theory
“How Sustainability Is Bringing Architecture Back Down to Earth”
September 20, 2019
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHOG2gOtJZw

Ar. Kengo Kuma

Japanese Architect
Skylines are soaring higher and higher, and cities are awash in concrete. But world-
famous Japanese architect Kengo Kuma is bucking the urban trends. He is designing
low-rise buildings and using sustainable, locally sourced materials like wood and
bamboo. We visit Kuma in Tokyo to talk about the philosophy behind his design and
marvel at the natural beauty of his work.

WIRED UK
“Sustainability in architecture and design with Bjarke Ingels | WIRED Live”
March 10, 2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx3DYgSfeCU
Bjarke Ingels, Founder and Creative Director, BIG - Bjarke Ingels Group, defines
architecture as the art and science of making cities and buildings fit with the way we
want to live our lives. At WIRED Live 2020, he explains the importance of sustainability
in architecture and design.
Barker Associates
“Sustainable Architecture”
Sustainability is a buzzword that has already infiltrated many industries. With
construction being a major contributor in global energy consumption, it is then no
surprise that sustainable architecture has become a leading consideration in how
buildings and cities are being built.
Now, architects are challenged not only in crafting a design that excels in form and
function, but also in being able to come up with integrated solutions that take into
account environmental factors.
To better understand this concept. It’s important to discuss what sustainability in
architecture really means.
What is Sustainable Architecture?
The World Commission on Environment and Development defines sustainability as
development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs.

When applying this complex concept to architecture, it then refers to design that
creates healthy living environments while aiming to minimise negative environmental
impacts, energy consumption, and use of human resources.

Sustainable architecture is reflected in a building’s materials, construction methods,

resource use and design in general. The design must also facilitate sustainable
operation during the building life cycle, including its ultimate disposal. While it has to be
functional and aesthetically superior, the space has to be constructed with the mind-set
of achieving long-term energy and resource efficiency.

Sustainable architecture is also referred to as green architecture or environmental

architecture. It challenges architects to produce smart designs and use available
technologies to ensure that structures generate minimal harmful effects to the
ecosystem and the communities.

If you are not from the construction world, it may be difficult to get your head around
this concept so giving an over simplistic example at this stage may be necessary.

Imagine that there is a plot of land that you think is conveniently located for you to
build your house. The problem, however, is that there are 100 trees planted on it and
that these trees are the last of their kind. If sustainability is not a concern, what you’ll
probably do is cut down all the trees to clear the space and use all the lumber to build
your house – not caring if nobody else gets the chance to use the same kind of trees in
the future.
This is the opposite of sustainable architecture. Sustainable architecture means putting
environmental factors into consideration:
Is there a nearby piece of land you can use instead?
How can you use some of the wood from the trees without completely depleting the
entire plantation so others can also benefit?
Could you perhaps still build your house in the space without cutting down all the trees?
These are just some factors that should be considered when approaching the
sustainable concept in design and construction. Sustainable architecture needs to
recognize the existing natural resources and environmental conditions in the
construction site and how to incorporate these into the build.

Why is sustainable architecture important?

“Buildings and construction account for more than 35% of global final energy use and
nearly 40% of energy-related CO2 emissions.”
-UN Environment, Global Status Report 2017

While metropolises are continuously expanding, the Earth itself is not getting any
bigger. This growth has a huge impact to the environment because the process of
developing new habitats for our communities constantly requires a huge chunk of our
natural resources. The Earth is not an unlimited well that can replenish itself to match
the pace of modernisation.

According to the UN Environment Global Status Report 2017, building and construction
account for more than 35% of global final energy use and for nearly 40% of energy-
related CO2 emissions. While these numbers are lower than those in 2010 due to a
higher awareness regarding sustainability, there’s still a long way to go.

Designing a building’s form and appearance can no longer be carried out in isolation.
Building services, fabric and controlled fittings are now all intrinsically linked. A delicate
balance now needs to be made between a building’s form, function and interactions
with its surrounding environment to be considered sustainable development.

In implementing sustainable architecture whether in new or old builds, there are

accompanying environmental, economic and social benefits.
DANIEL ALEJANDRO B. CAL | BS-ARCHITECTURE 1A

Now we have already learned that there are a lot of variables that dictate how spaces
and buildings are designed.
From building codes and standards that we must follow- to how furniture and spaces
are laid out, and how they interact or avoid each another.
these mainly focus on the relationship between man and their space.

But there is another factor that is innate to architecture,

* Something that we should always take into consideration,
* And something we should never overlook when designing a building
and that - is the environment.

It dictates how buildings are designed.

* It can be both a hindrance and a help to us architects, and it’s our job to balance its
impacts on our design
* It affects the buildings envelope, form, layout, color, materials and more.
* It influences how a building looks, feels, functions, and interacts with the environment.

and that is Environmental Design or Environmental Planning

Environmental Planning

The architect usually begins to work when the site and the type and cost of a building
have been determined.

Thus, planning is the process of particularizing and harmonizing the demands of the
environment, use, and economy. This process has a cultural as well as a utilitarian value, for
in creating a plan for any social activity the architect inevitably influences the way in which
that activity is performed.

This is the whole essence of architecture. We plan people's indoor environment. A

person's relationship to the site is also necessarily the subject of planning. Neighbors are
important. Much consideration is due to other people a no to the buildings that adjoin any
project. Finally, nature has long since given us an environment. We shall now study the inter
relationship of nature and the interior environment.

Historic Architectural design reacted to its environment without reliance on mechanical

assistance which, in those early times, was not available. These design considerations
included:
• Siting and orientation: The relation of the building to the land, the sun, and the wind.
• Building Shape: The less skin, the less exposure.
• Nature of the Envelope: Fenestration, insulation, thermal mass. wall shading, color
and reflectivity, openings, and penetrations.
Planning the Environment

The natural environment is at once a hindrance and a help, and the architect seeks both
to invite its aid and to repel its attacks. To make buildings habitable and comfortable, the
architect must control the effects of heat, cold, light, air, moisture, and dryness and foresee
destructive potentialities such as fire, earthquake, flood, and disease.

Site & Orientation

The relation of the building to the land, the sun, and the wind.

SITE SELECTION

Selection options, if
there are any at all are
usually limited to a few sites
within a community.

Most commonly, the

client has already selected
the site before coming to
the architect to discuss the
proposed building; and the
design consideration
becomes one of developing
the site and the building as
harmoniously as possible to
minimize ultimate energy
consumption.
ORIENTATION TO THE SUN

The sun is regular in its course; it favors the southern and neglects the northern
exposures of buildings in the Northern Hemisphere so that it may be captured for heat or
evaded for coolness by turning the axis of a plan toward or away from it.

The general strategy for the placement of windows calls for the largest
window area on the side where the sun exposure minimizes combined
heating and cooling needs sunlight transmission will be a net benefit on
an annual basis if the winter (cold months) solar heat gain exceeds
(winter) cold months heat loss and summer solar heat gain. The
percentage of the incident solar energy that a window transmits for
any given day depends on the angle at which rays of sunlight intercept
the window and for how many hours the window receives sunlight.

In general, buildings located in southern latitudes (like in Manila) should have window
areas concentrated on the northern and southern exposures (ideally with a projecting
horizontal shading device over south-facing windows) to minimize the air-conditioning burden.
To obtain the greatest benefit from the sun as a cold month (winter) heat source, buildings
located in northern latitudes (like in Baguio) should have window areas concentrated on the
south (with minimal window areas to the north).

ORIENTATION TO THE WIND

Orientation may control air for circulation and reduce the disadvantages of wind, rain,
and snow since in most climates the prevailing currents can be foreseen.

When window placement on opposite sides of an interior space is possible, the building
should be oriented slightly askew to the direction of the wind. When window placement on
opposite sides of space is not possible but placement on the adjacent side is possible, the
building should face directly into the wind.
 The characteristics
of the immediate
environment also
influence orientation:
trees, land formations,
and other buildings create
shade and reduce or
intensify wind, while
bodies of water produce
moisture and reflect the
sun.

It will be seen that if the wind encounters an inlet and an outlet in alignment with its outside
direct

Windbreaks consist of either a fence or a

tow of trees or shrubs which reduce air filtration
through windows by diminishing the wind
pressure. The most effective location for a
windbreak is upwind a distance of 1 1/2 to 2 1/2
times the height of a building.
At this distance, the wind will be deflected up and well over the building, reducing the pushing action on the
building's windward side and the pulling action on its leeward side.

A windbreak is more effective if it allows part of the wind to penetrate. A solid windbreak creates a low-
pressure area on its leeward side with resulting strong eddy currents. These may be as destructive as a
direct wind in eroding the still air at the surface of the window. Allowing a portion of the wind to pass
through the windbreak tends to relieve this leeward suction.

Overall ventilation is consequently

better, where the building interior is
subdivided into a series of interconnecting
spaces, placement of interior partitions can
provide the disruption of the otherwise
straight path of airflow between upwind and
downwind windows.

Landscaping can also improve performance; shade trees can seasonally control direct
radiation from the sun; ground surfaces can control reflected radiation, planted ground cover
can moderate air temperature and windbreaks can diminish the force of the wind.

Adapting to the Environment

We have discussed how the environment controls our design and now we will discuss
how we control the environment by the design of architectural forms that may modify the
effects of natural forces. For example, overhanging eaves, moldings, projections, courts, and
porches give shade and protection from the rain.
Components Of the Envelope

• Roofs- are designed to shed snow and drain or preserve water.

• Walls- control the amount of heat lost to the exterior or retained in the interior by their
thickness and by the structural and insulating materials used in making them. Walls, when
properly sealed and protected, are the chief defense against wind and moisture.

• Windows -are the principal means of controlling natural light; its amount, distribution,
intensity, direction, and quality are conditioned by their number, size, shape, and
placement and by the characteristics of translucent materials (e.g., thickness, transparency,
texture, color).

The windows can include skylights, clerestories, screens, shutters, drapes, blinds, diffusing
glass, and reflecting a glass-an array of components that determined more exactly how the
envelope does its job of making the transition between inside and outside. A component also
should be thought of by its function in the exchange of energies: as a filter, connector, barrier,
or switch.

• Filter - a means to make the connection indirect (Controlled)

• Connector - a means to establish a direct connection
• Switch- a regulating connector
• Barrier - separating element

An opaque wall thus serves as a filter to heat and cold, and as a barrier to light. Doors and
windows have the character of switches because they can stop or connect at will.

But the planning of fenestration is influenced by other factors, such as ventilation and
heating. Since most translucent materials conduct heat more readily than the average wall,
windows are used sparingly in extreme climates. Finally, since transparent windows are the
medium of visual contact between the interior and exterior, their design is conditioned by
aesthetic and practical demands.

Two Different Concepts of Envelope Design

• The Closed Shell

o Arid
o Cold
• The Open Frame
o Hot-Humid
o Temperate

• Connectors
o are strong indicators that something outside is welcome inside.
o They are characteristic of regional architecture in milder climates, but sun
connectors are dominant in solar-heated buildings anywhere.
o Connectors, being open to outside influences, are often one position of a switch
that in other positions becomes a filter or barrier.
 • Filters
o represent decisions about how much or what kind of outdoor condition is to be
admitted. They are found in some form in all building envelopes and in all
climates, and they include a wide variety of types. Because they admit desired
amounts or qualities of light, air, and sound, they offer an opportunity for an
enhanced awareness of selected outside conditions from inside the building. For
example, the stained glass of a church selects the blue of a north sky, or the
warm reds and oranges of a sunset; the 'texture' of the sky's cloud patterns is
not admitted to the interior -only its color comes through. Often the filter is one
of the positions of a switch, as in the case of the windows of buildings which
have venetian blinds or jalousies.
• Barriers
o are more drastic in their complete severance of the outdoor-Indoor relationship.
They are characteristic of regional architecture in harsh climates but are also
common to spaces needing a tightly controlled environment (such as
auditorium). Barriers to rain are an almost universal building features; barriers to
wind are at least seasonally common in all climates, except hot-humid ones.
Barriers to sun are more likely to be one position of a switch unless a building is
suffused with electric light or other plentiful sources of internal heat that make
solar heat permanently unwelcome. in practice, cultural influences often
override those of climate, barriers to sun are erected even in cold, damp-
environments.
• Switches & User’s Choice

Color, Materials, and Techniques

Color
Percentages of Incident Light Reflected by Some
Color has a practical planning function as Ground Surfaces
well as an expressive quality because of the Material Percentage
Reflected
range of its reflection and its absorption of White paint: New 75%
solar rays. Since light colors reflect heat and Old 55%
dark colors absorb it, the choice of materials Concrete 55%
and pigments is an effective tool of Marble (White) 45%
Granite 40%
environmental control.
Brick buff 48%
dark glazed 30%
Vegetation (average} 25%
Macadam 18%
Material
The choice of materials is conditioned by their own ability to withstand the environment as
well as by properties that make them useful to human beings.
One of the architect’s jobs is to find a successful solution to both conditions; to balance the
physical and economic advantages of wood against the possibility of fire, termites, and mold,
the weather resistance of glass and light metals against their high thermal conductivity, and
many similar conflicts. The more violent natural manifestations, such as heavy snow loads,
earthquakes, high winds, and tornadoes, are controlled by special technical devices in regions
where they are prevalent.
Any number of these controls may be out of reach of the planner for several reasons. The
urban environment, for example, restricts freedom of orientation and design of architectural
forms and creates new control problems of its own: smoke, dirt, noise, and odors.
Interior control

The control of the environment through the design of the plan and the outer shell of a
building cannot be complete, since extremes of heat and cold, light, and sounds penetrate the
interior, where they can be further modified by the planning of spaces and by special
conditioning devices.

Temperature, light, and sound are all subject to control by the size and shape of interior
spaces, the way in which the spaces are connected, and the materials employed for floors,
walls, ceilings, and furnishings. Warm air may be retained or released by the adjustment of
ceiling heights and sources of ventilation.
Light reflects in relation to the color and texture of surfaces and may be reduced by
dark, rough walls and increased by light, smooth ones. Sounds are transmitted by some
materials and absorbed by others and may be controlled by the form of interiors and using
structural or applied materials that by their density, thickness, and texture amplify or restrict
sound waves.
Conditioning devices played only a small part in architecture before the introduction of
mechanical and electrical systems in the 19th century. The fireplace was almost the only
method of temperature control (though the ancient Romans anticipated the modern water
system for radiant heating); fuel lamps and candles had to be movable and were rather in the
sphere of furnishings than of architecture; the same is true of the tapestries and hangings used
for acoustical purposes and to block drafts.
Today, heating, insulation, air conditioning, lighting, and acoustical methods have become basic
parts of the architectural program. These defenses and comforts of industrialization control the
environment so efficiently that the contemporary architect is free to use or to discard many of
the traditional approaches to site and interior planning.

References

Ackerman, J. S. (2022). Britannica. Retrieved from Britannica: Architectural Planning:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture/Architectural-planning

Salvan, G. S. (1999). Architectural Theories of Design. Quezon City: JMC PRESS, INC.

Stewart Hicks. (2022, March 10). How This Midcentury Modern House Harnesses the Sun [Video].
YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qq-3cZ0cbws

Phil Edwards [Vox]. (2022, April 22). Why Frank Lloyd Wright’s windows look like this [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPnDOxMXlUc

Phil Edwards [Vox]. (2022, February 3). How insulated glass changed architecture [Video]. YouTube.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGG7sJBBnV0

Sean McNaughton [National Geographic]. (2018, May 29). See How Termites Inspired a Building That
Can Cool Itself | Decoder [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=620omdSZzBs