Facade Material Consideration

West Facade

East Facade

As the neighboring buildings cast shadow on the east facade of Oasis Terraces, we expect it to be have less sun glare. However, the annual glare simulation shows otherwise. The luminance level is still too high to be tolerable. Thus there is still a need for sun shading.

Both east and west facades actually use concrete wall rather than full glazing for a more comfortable working environment of 500 lux. The simulation of both facades with the solid concrete wall justifies its effectiveness.

Annual wind rose shows that prevailing winds come from northeast and south, which correspond to Oasis Terraces' orientation and typology. Together with the south wind, it appears that cross-ventilation is likely to form to cool the entire atrium.

Thus we hypothetise that Oasis Terraces is designed such that the slope increases wind velocity and drives air flow especially at the ground floor.

January wind direction tallies with site visit measurements and experiences.

In order to verify our hypothesis on the massing strategy, we compared the terrace slope with a void and a rectangular box on the site location respectively.

Test 1: No building on the existing terrain

Test 2: Building massing as a 6-storey-high flat rectangle

Observation: Wind speed increases dramatically and abruptly around the borders of the rectangular massing.

Test 3: Actual design, which contains a slope

Top View (left)

Isometric View (right)

Observation: The increase in air velocity along the terraces is more gradual. A low pressure zone down the atrium is also created to draw air in, evident in the less dense tracing lines that envelope the rectangular massing.

Conclusion: The slope facilitate air flow and venturi effect is set up on the ground floor.