Introduction:
There are many factors and influences which can contribute to a building being considered Green-that is a building which minimizes its impact on the environment. A building that uses its site well, uses appropriate material resources, construction and mechanical systems, and preferably makes use of natural energy flow, daylight and air movement are all possible attributes of green buildings. Ultimately it comes down to a client's eagerness to execute a Green project. If an architect is commissioned by someone who is not interested in producing a sustainable building, he/she can only try to educate the client on the subject matter and hope the client accepts this vision. Many of the green technologies have up front costs associated with them that clients do not want to assume. Despite the client's position, there are elements of building design that architects can control which can make a building greener. Frank Lloyd Wright was truly a Master Architect. Not only because he designed beautiful buildings with elegant spaces, but because his buildings made great use of natural energy flow. He carefully sited his buildings to take advantage of the sun's path and understood how the daylight would enhance the interior spaces. If an architect sites a building and thinks about how its position in the landscape is relating to the Solar and Seasonal cycles he/she can then begin to derive a form for the building that responds to the Sun's Path. Maximizing on day lighting of interior spaces and implementing shading techniques can greatly reduce a building's energy consumption even if the most conventional construction techniques and technologies are being used.
Architectural Form: Strategies That Respond To The Solar And Seasonal Conditions
Surface Treatment Due To Orientation: Faces of a building need to respond to the unique conditions created by the solar and seasonal cycles. Architect and Educator Hassan Fathy in his book Natural Energy and Vernacular Architecture, describes some basic characteristics of the solar condition acting on faces of buildings in the northern hemisphere. He points out that the northern facade only receives direct solar exposure in the summer months during the early morning and late afternoon. At these times the altitude of the sun is low and the azimuth causes the sun's rays to hit the surface of the building tangentially. The gentle angles of the sun cause spaces positioned along the northern face of a building to have diffuse lighting conditions. During the summer months the sun is high over the horizon and light does not penetrate deeply into the openings on the southern face. However, in the winter months the angle is low and the sunlight does penetrate deeply. Eastern facade receives sun from morning until noon and spaces along this face do not tend to heat up too much, whereas the western face is exposed to the sun from noon on and spaces that share this face can overheat and often require shading.
Articulation: Demarcations can be created in building forms that acknowledge the presence, or influence, of the solar and seasonal cycles. Markings can be quite simple as demonstrated in the ancient Anasazi construction of Pueblo Bonito. Sunrise on the winter solstice and sunset on the summer solstice was marked. Ralph Knowles has done extensive research on deriving an entire building's form that maximizes the benefits of incoming solar radiation and limits the shadow cast by a building onto adjacent elements of the landscape.
Daylight Controls: Daylight Controls are building elements used to modify the amount of solar radiation that enters a building or a space. Controls can be active or passive, that is, moveable/operable or fixed in place. Some examples of daylight controls are screens, fins, louvers, brise-soleil, and light diffusers that both Louis Kahn makes use of at the Kimbell Art Museum and that Renzo Piano uses at the Menil Museum of Art. An extensive overview of various controls and strategies can be found in William M.C. Lam's book Sunlighting as Formgiver for Architecture.
Materiality: Materials used for construction have thermal and optical properties. Material properties influence the thermal and lighting conditions of space. They can be categorized as conductors or insulators based on their ability to transfer heat energy. Materials have optical properties in that they can reflect, absorb and transmit light rays. While an entire scientific discipline of materials exists, it is more the purpose of this investigation to select materials in order to convey the meaning and the purpose of their use. In the Passive Solar Energy Book written by Edward Mazria, both basic concepts and precise scientific data of material performance are presented.
About The Author:
Serge Young recently started his architectural practice in the Hudson Valley of New York. He has a special interest in vernacular architecture. You can access more information about architecture and view his work at: http://www.sergeyoung.com/
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