Building design integrated energy simulation tools: Háskolatorg as case study

Today’s architects design highly glazed buildings with aesthetics, space transparency and daylight accessibility in mind. Glazing components however are crucial to the design and performance of a building but their energy efficiency has become more and more questioned, as there is risk of a high cooling and heating demand, during summer and winter respectively. They affect building´s indoor comfort and energy budget in many ways. Energy use and environmental degradation have been linked because of the heavy reliance on mechanical aspects of building design to solve climate related heating, cooling and lighting problems induced by an inadequate building design approach. In the context of building design, local climate is one of the important criteria to be considered. The local natural environment should act as a building tool to enhance comfortable indoor climate. Thus, well-designed architecture is a climate responsive architecture that takes advantage of free energy in the form of heat and light of natural environment, so that buildings are conducive to the occupant’s requirements of comfort using surrounding climatic conditions; in relation to ambient air temperature and humidity, wind speed and solar radiation. Significant energy consumption, however, can be reduced in building operation during the earlier phases of architectural design. Design improvement done with the aid of decision support simulation software is available to help architects predict the energy demand associated with different design option. It has been suggested that it could reduce energy use by 75% in new buildings. Since there is need to understand energy building usage performance in cold climates, hence, for this study, the Háskolatorg building, at the University of Iceland in Reykjavík was chosen as case study. DesignBuilder© energy simulation tools have been used to assess its energy balance, as a prelude to improving decision making related to building envelope design. This process is driven by the commitment to studying the building´s potential low energy usage goal, while identifying potential improvement in the building design. Therefore, in this thesis a methodology is introduced for determining that appropriate thermal insulation, glazing type and shading elements can reduce the heat conducted through the building envelope has been introduced. Both cooling and heating strategy were studied since they are crucial and influence Háskolatorg building energy balance and building energy usage. Further, it is projected that when architects begin to work with integrating environmental climate, building energy, and comfort related factors in the design process, the balancing of these demands can be expected to result in new, broader paradigms for low-energy architecture