THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE

ENVIRONMENTAL CONCEPT AND THE INTERIOR

Environmental Planning
*Equatorial Sun path

S N

NE = Amihan ; November to April

SW = Habagat ; May to October

ENVIRONMENT + ARCHITECTURE

4 Goals of Green Architecture

1. reducing impact on the earth from constructing buildings and their materials
(mining & harvesting, embodied energy, pollutants in manufacturing)
2. Reducing impacts which arise during occupancy
(fuel use, land pattern disruption, maintenance impacts)
3. Reducing the impact of the structure at the end of its life
(whether decaying in place or joining a landfill)
4. Creating a more desirable human experience
(natural materials have profound effects on people)

SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
- attempt to balance resource consumption and replenishment

Built Natural
environment environment

ENVIRONMENTAL ARCHITECTURE
Goal: attractive, comfortable, affordable shelter that does not harm the earth in its manufacture or use

In practice, it means
1. maximum use of renewable building materials
2. minimum use of non-renewable energy-intensive building materials
3. catch energy falling from the house
4. design and build for long useful service life
5. the house must be sturdy, disaster-resistant and bullet-proof
6. the house must be futureproof, with access channels all around the structure to easily upgrade and add
future technology
7. capable of being “stand alone”
8. low maintenance
DESIGNING FOR THE CLIMATE
*for cooler, more efficient tropical homes
1. big windows
2. wide, low overhangs
3. high-pitched roof
4. use of light materials
5. locating living spaces on the second floor
6. putting a garden

GREEN MATERIALS –non-toxic, durable, reusable

Floor Finishes:
1. avoid using vinyl tiles
2. use stone
3. try bamboo
4. be mindful of wood
5. avoid synthetic carpets

Wall Treatment:
-be mindful of paints – low VOC (volatile organic compound)

ENERGY CONSERVATION AND THE DESIGN PROCESS

Energy
- capacity for performing work, strength
- resources for using such power
- can neither be created nor destroyed; merely changed from one form to another

ENERGY-EFFICIENT ARCHITECTURE works towards eliminating dependence on external sources of energy

CONCEPTS
1. Passive Solar
– using building’s elements to collect and store heat
Passive Cooling
- strategies to allow natural cooling
Ex. Sunshading devices + ventilation

2. Active Solar
-captures solar energy in specialized collectors, stores it, and uses it to heat or cool

3. Earth Shelters
- a portion of a building is places underground, reducing its heating or cooling load

4. Roof Ponds
- water storage insulated by movable ponds

5. Superinsulation
- isolates a building so that body heat will heat it, summer heat is kept out
- not let outside heat enter

ENERGY DEVICES commonly integrated with Architecture

1. heat pump
2. photovoltaic panels
3. solar heaters

ENERGY EFFICIENT DESIGN

Sun, Sky – lighting
Wind – ventilation

Building orientation:
South – best to achieve the full potential of the sun
North - best to achieve the full potential of the sky
East and West – poor due to vertical sun path
DAYLIGHTING
- Symbolize virtues of cleanliness, purity, knowledge and heavenly peace
- sun & sky – 11 to 13 hours/day
- free, beautiful, pleasing to the eye, psychologically necessary for man’s biological needs

REASONS TO INCORPORATE DAYLIGHT

1. for seeing and for better production results
2. for man’s well-being, health & projecting cleanliness for his interior environment
3. for economics – less dependence on electricity
4. for aesthetics

General goal of daylighting:

- to obtain sufficient amount of daylight in the interiors to achieve the best quality of light for man’s physical
and biological needs
- avoid visual strain and discomfort (minimize direct glare, excessive brightness)

OBJECTIVES OF DAYLIGHTING OF BUILDINGS

1. Use the following as daylight sources
a. diffused light of the sky
b. indirect light from the sky and the sun
c. light coming from the ground and surrounding exterior surfaces
2. Allow sun’s rays to penetrate into non-working areas of a building. Ex. Lobby, stairs, hallways, corridors,
etc. Take advantage of sunlight as an asset
-take advantage of sunlight as an asset
3. allow more daylight to penetrate deeper into the workroom
- uniform level of illumination
4. prevent direct daylight glare
- caused by unprotected openings
5. prevent excessive brightness ratios to occur within the workplace
-cause discomfort and may be unacceptable to the user of the area
6. prevent occurrence of veiling reflections
- from skylights and clerestory
7. diffuse daylight by means of multiple reflections off the ceilings and walls

NATURAL DAYLIGHTING STRATEGIES

1. Orient building towards the sun and the sky in order to attain full advantage of their potentials as sources
of daylight.
2. Study the form of the building to effect a larger exterior surface area for more exposure to daylight.
2 general ways of creating openingd in exterior spaces
a. sidelighting

b. toplighting

horizontal-skylight vertical-clerestory)
* interior spaces with window openings are generally limited to a width of 4.5meters to achieve a totally
workable daylit space
3. Design windows efficiently to obtain the right amount and quality of daylight (see fig 17)
a. increase amount of daylight entering windows to achieve 10fc (min. intensity level)
*ratio of window area to floor area = 1:5
*WA = 0.20 FA
b. distribute daylight evenly across the room
-bilateral lighting is more advisable than unilateral
c. increase daylight penetration into the deeper portions of the room
-the greater the height of windows, the deeper the penetration of daylight in a room.
For 10fc: WHH = 0.30D
 d. control and project daylight as needed
 external reflectors – patios, walkways, roads
 use lightshelves for multistory structures
e. decrease slope of daylight curve across the room
- the steeper the slope, the more gloomy the room
- solution: supplement with electric lighting
f. prevent windows from being direct glare sources
-locate windows away from the observer’s line of sight
-splaying or rounding off edges of windows
-using control devices and different materials to cover windows

4. Design toplighting systems efficiently to supplement windows

For skylights:
a. Spacing

b. .

c. Skylights should preferably face north and/or south

d. Splay or round off skylight openings
e. Shade skylight to prevent intense daylight
- glazing, daylight screens
f. Use interior reflectors

For clerestory windows:

5. select surface finish early in the design for effective daylighting.