Computational Analysis of Climate Performance for Improving Design Strategies at an Australian Community

Nightingale 1 is a well-designed, community-led building for owner-occupiers in Brunswick, Melbourne, which is continuously awarded as the top five of the most livable cities in the world. To identify sustainability aspects of the Nightingale 1, the study will not only investigate local topographic characteristics and solar performance but also demonstrate the advantages or disadvantages of the current design related to the solar analysis. Based on the analysis, the study will propose improvements of thermal comfort in the housing project.

A Method for the Automated Construction of 3D Models of Cities and Neighborhoods from Official Cadaster Data for Solar Analysis

3D city models are a useful tool to analyze the solar potential of neighborhoods and cities. These models are built from buildings footprints and elevation measurements. Footprints are widely available, but elevation datasets remain expensive and time-consuming to acquire. Our hypothesis is that the GIS cadastral data can be used to build a 3D model automatically, so that generating complete cities 3D models can be done in a short time with already available data. We propose a method for the automatic construction of 3D models of cities and neighborhoods from 2D cadastral data and study their usefulness for solar analysis by comparing the results with those from a hand-built model. The results show that the accuracy in evaluating solar access on pedestrian areas and solar potential on rooftops with the automatic method is close to that from the hand-built model with slight differences of 3.4% and 2.2%, respectively. On the other hand, time saving with the automatic models is significant. A neighborhood of 400,000 m2 can be built up in 30 min, 50 times faster than by hand, and an entire city of 967 km2 can be built in 8.5 h.

INVESTIGATING THE APPLICABILITY OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN FORM AND DESIGN TO TRADITIONAL CITIES, CASE STUDY: THE OLD CITY OF SANA'A

This research compared the traditional urban form of old Sana'a with the modern by applying three main basic principles of sustainability; 1. Form and density, 2. Walkability and connectivity and 3. Building energy. The method of inquiry was based on qualitative and quantitative methods and analysis using GIS, ECOTECT and Space Syntax modelling. The findings show that traditional form with its higher building density and compactness is a good model with regards to sustainable principles. Similarly, as to walkability index, traditional layout has higher rates of intersections and connected nodes and least angular changes with higher rates of integrations and choices in terms of Space Syntax properties than new layouts. Finally, the result of applying ECOTECT for urban solar analysis to confirm that the traditional pattern achieved sufficient values of solar access, exposure and shadows over different periods of the year. The overall results indicate that the traditional urban layout is more sustainable in terms of form and density, walkability and connectivity and urban solar energy than the new layouts.

A study on association between tilt angle, solar insolation exposure and output of solar PV panel using BIM 3D modelling

Solar PV has been used extensively in the construction industry as non-renewable energy is not environmentally friendly and is costly. Building Information Modelling (BIM) can incorporate the solar energy application to reduce the dependency of non-renewable energy. This study attempted to propose a model of solar analysis using BIM software on existing buildings at Padang Besar, in terms of best orientation and optimum tilt angle. The finding of July 2017 shows that the ideal orientation of solar panel installation for the building is tilted 10° North and 20° West. Analysis indicated that the higher solar irradiance harvested contributed towards higher generation of power. The use of BIM software incorporating fieldwork data proved to be more convenient compared to the conventional physical method in proposing options for solar panel installation. The finding from the solar analysis of the proposed model indicates that solar insolation exposure on the roof increased by 1.45% compared to the existing roof design. Therefore, it can increase the renewable energy potential in an effective way.