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Asian Architecture [ARC 2213/2234] PROJECT 1: CASE STUDY
The application of material selection to maintain sufficient thermal comfort in the contemporary design of Villa Tanjung Wan at Belum Rainforest Resort
NAME:
Trevor NJC Hoareau
STUDENT ID:
0308914
LECTURER:
PN. Nor Hayati
SUBMISSION DATE:
11th November 2014
Asian Architecture [2234]
Trevor NJC Hoareau (0308914)
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Contents
Abstract
3
1.0 Introduction
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2.0 Villa Tanjung Wan and Contemporary Architecture
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2.1 Contemporary features
5-6
3.0 How important is contextual climate?
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4.0 Thermal comfort in Villa Tanjung Wan
8-10
5.0 Conclusion
11
6.0 References
12
7.0 Appendix
13
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Abstract
The purpose of doing a descriptive study on the selection of materials in the contemporary design of Villa Tanjung Wan is to analyze and identify the achievement of sufficient thermal comfort of a contemporary design in a tropical climate. Villa Tanjung Wan is part of phase 3 development at Belum Rainforest Resort. It differs from the other phases in the resort in terms of design and materiality. In assisting the substantiation of the research, a visit to Belum Rainforest Resort, and thus Villa Tanjung Wan and literature reviews based on various sources regarding tropical architecture, contemporary design and materials for thermal comfort were conducted. The contemporary design of Villa Tanjung Wan triggered some simple yet clever use of common building materials, in the respect of the objectives of the design. This paper will highlight these architectural features and describe how their materiality helps in controlling heat gains to the building. The materials in this design are highlighted in this paper by their thermal properties and their potential contribution to the thermal comfort balance or imbalance in the building. It is important to note that the data collected are insufficient for a detailed thermal comfort assessment, however, an assumption will be made onto the basic collected data. From such data, and response from visitors, it was clear that the Villa Tanjung Wan did in fact have a positive thermal comfort for the visitors while there. The results of the mini survey and dry bulb temperature recordings are collated and analysed alongside factual data of the built materials and concluded that the use of such selected materials did in fact contribute to thermal comfort.
Main title: The application of material selection to maintain sufficient thermal comfort in the contemporary design of Villa Tanjung Wan at Belum Rainforest Resort.
Research questions
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How does the design intention (contemporary design) affect the selection of materials?
2. In terms of contextual climate, how is the material selection impacted? Responding to this natural factor, what are the significant features adopted in Villa Tanjung Wan, in terms of architectural elements and their materiality? 3. How does the selection of these materials directly contribute to the thermal comfort in Villa Tanjung Wan?
1.0 Introduction
Belum-Temenggor is the largest uninterrupted forest reserve in Malaysia. It is situated in the Malaysian state of Perak and crosses into Southern Thailand. The Royal Belum State Park is entirely contained within the forest complex. Belum-Temenggor is believed to have been in existence for over 130 million years making it one of the world’s oldest rainforests, older than both the Amazon and the Congo. (Belum Temenggor Forest Reserve. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2014). Belum Rainforest Resort is at the heart of the reserve, specifically on Banding Island, which is an artificial island, surrounded by Lake Temenggor. Belum-Temenggor has a tropical climate and temperature ranges from 20°C to 35°C depending on the time of year, peaking between July and August. The rainy season lasts from midNovember until January. There are cool breezes from the lake and intermittent showers almost all year round. (Belum Temenggor Forest Reserve. (n.d.). Retrieved November 3, 2014).
Fig.1 climate data for Ipoh
fig.2 monsoon season
For us to understand the choice of materials, we need to also appreciate the design intention, and Villa Tanjung Wan follows a contemporary design. Contemporary architecture has been described broadly as the building style of the present day. Examples do not necessarily have similar or easily recognizable features, however they typically include an irregular or unusually
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shaped frame, an open floor plan, oversized windows, and the use of "green" and repurposed components. Such homes also often have an organic design, fitting into the surrounding space and meeting an immediate need in the area ( What Is Contemporary Architecture? (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2014). These design objectives affect the choice of materials, especially when site context is also an issue. Material selection, and site context, in turn affect the thermal comfort level of the users. According to ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55 thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation. Satisfactory thermal conditions would differ from user to user. For the purpose and scope of this paper, thermal comfort is regarded more as the thermal sensation as the observations would be made from the little amount of direct response data collected. 2.0 Villa Tanjung Wan and Contemporary Architecture
Villa Tanjung Wan is part of phase 3 development at Belum Rainforest Resort. It differs from the other phases in the resort in terms of design and materiality. Contemporary design has simple yet modest requirements in achieving comfort in households. Present day buildings are responsible for the consumption of large quantities of materials, energy and money during their construction, maintenance and use. Contemporary building structures are challenging designers and builders to utilize more resourceful materials in order to provide buildings that are environmentally kind and at the same time provides for the necessary occupant environment and operating efficiency, and in our case, the thermal comfort. Unfortunately the vast details of contemporary architecture are beyond the scope of this paper, however the main contemporary features of Villa Tanjung Wan will be highlighted.
Fig.3: Villa Tanjun Wan layout plan 2.1 Contemporary features
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The main general features or important design elements in contemporary architecture and found in Villa Tanjung Wan include design inspired by function, simplicity in form & design, material exposure, linear design, bold roof lines, windows, open floor plan, post & beam architecture, revamped outdoor space. The function of the villa is intended to be a holiday getaway deep amongst the vegetation, following that of the rest of the resort. The spatial layout is very rectilinear and so is the exterior form of the villa. Throughout the villa, specifically in the living room area, there is an expansive use of exposed materials from the post & beam stainless steel frames and the bare concrete walls. On one half of the villa, the exterior is capped with red clay bricks and thick ground and roof lines (fig.4). The main entrance area as well as the living room area are well illuminated by natural daylight due to the use of large glass doors (fig.5), which are operable to increase natural ventilation and this contributes to the thermal comfort. This feature is also part of the open plan intention whereby spaces are altered by the users’ desires. The open area of the villa which boasts a long elegant swimming pool stretches out into the trees. The decking is made out of a wood composite panel which is more sustainable than the traditional use of timber, yet yields similar output in terms of aesthetic and functional qualities. (fig.7). The interior respects quite thoroughly the feature of material exposure, from the kitchen to the bathrooms,(fig.6) most walls are bare concrete and some table tops of granite slabs.(fig.8) Only the bedrooms are finished with white paint to provide a simple yet humble relaxing interior bedroom space. The space which articulates a great deal of the design intention is the interior and exterior of the living room, with the exposed air-conditioning piping complementing the exposed steel frame and high clerestory windows. (fig.5)
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
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Fig. 7
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Fig. 6
Fig. 8
It is apparent throughout the villa that the material choices are simple and actually common building materials, concrete, red clay bricks, steel frame, wood composite panels, left in somewhat their raw state, and exposed as much as possible to the user, as per the norm in contemporary designs.
3.0 In terms of contextual climate, how is the material selection impacted? Responding to this natural factor, what are the significant features adopted in Villa Tanjung Wan, in terms of architectural elements and their materiality?
Context is external elements that influence an object. These elements are physical and nonphysical. Roads, buildings, and land contour are examples for physical elements while nonphysical elements are weather condition, local culture, as well as political and economic constraints. Thus the contexts are influencing contemporary architecture design. Design for a house in four seasons’ countries for example is different than the design in tropical countries. Understand the local contexts are important for designers to produce a good building design. For the scope of this paper, only climatic context and land contour will be discussed. The climatic context plays the important role in design. Ken Yeang explained climate context as “understanding the site ecological history gives further clues as to what design strategies should be adopted”. (Ken, Y., 2009. Ken Yeang Eco Master Planning, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p.16.). There are three basic climate groups, low‐latitude climates, medium‐latitude climates and high‐latitude climates. Each of the climates has its own features; with the architecture strategies should also be appropriate in the circumstances. Villa Tanjung Wan is found in a tropical climate, with rainfall all year round and high daytime temperatures of 24˚C-35˚C, the first design solution was to have most of the openings facing north-south directions, and those facing east-west, to be complemented by a slightly longer overhang. On the half of the villa closest to the thick vegetation cover from the incoming wind direction, red clay bricks are used due to the low level of water porosity, low heat gain and their good insulating properties, keeping the interior rather cool. The other half of the villa, is finished in bare concrete as this side is exposed to the late afternoon sun only. Concrete has a poor insulating capacity, but relatively good thermal mass. The outdoor spaces uses composite wood panels for decking rather than the traditional timber strips due to the high amount of rainfall, traditional timber strips would need both special weatherproofing treatments as well as continuous maintenance. With the closeness of the vegetation comes another possible threat to Asian Architecture [2234]
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the villa, termites. This issue is directly addressed by using stainless steel post and beam framing system and the wood composite panels on the exterior, the only treated wood are the glass door frames and interior furniture. The foundation is made of granite rocks and concrete, and due to the soil condition, is made slightly deeper than usual. In terms of the topography, the villa is built according to the slope of the land. The aforementioned material choices are directly responsive to the temperature, rainfall, humidity and vegetation conditions whilst still maintaining the contemporary design intention at hand.
4.0 How does the selection of these materials directly contribute to the thermal comfort in Villa Tanjung Wan?
Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation (ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55). The main factors that influence thermal comfort are those that determine heat gain and loss, namely metabolic rate, clothing insulation, air temperature, mean radiant temperature, air speed and relative humidity. Psychological parameters such as individual expectations also affect thermal comfort. (De Dear, Richard; Brager, Gail 1998). Unfortunately, due to some constraints and the scope of this paper, a complete thermal assessment of Villa Tanjung Wan could not be possible, however, basic raw data was collected to which observations were derived from. One data method collection was concerning the ambient temperatures of some places around the villa and the dry bulb temperature was recorded for these spaces at two different periods of the day. (See table.3) Secondly, the Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) model was used to score the response of the users visiting the villa. The PMV model stands among the most recognized thermal comfort models. It was developed using principles of heat balance and experimental data collected in a controlled climate chamber under steady state condition (Fanger, Pole 1970).The PMV was used as a direct feedback from some users at that time. There are many variables needed to effectively calculate this matter including metabolic rate, clothing insulation, values which in our scope cannot be obtained unfortunately, so assumptions have been made on data collected. There are many factors required when analyzing thermal comfort, but here we discuss solely the thermal properties of the chosen materials. Different materials absorb or retain heat differently, and hence, radiate that heat differently (Hall, M. 2010). This is known as thermal mass. Thermal mass is a term that describes the ability of a material to store heat; something many construction materials can do to a greater or lesser extent. But, to be useful in the built environment, they must also be able to absorb and release heat at a rate roughly in step with a building’s daily heating and cooling cycle. Concrete and masonry products do this well and, being dense Asian Architecture [2234]
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materials, can also store a lot of heat. Timber absorbs heat too slowly to offer much effective thermal mass, and steel conducts heat too rapidly to be in synch with a building’s natural heat flows over the day. (Thermal mass. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2014.) Thermal mass is one of the major consideration to be taken as it is important to know how easily or not, the chosen materials can retain heat, which in turn, affects the thermal comfort of the interior spaces.
Material
Thickness of material
Thermal mass (in kj/m2K)
Dolerite (rock/stone)
200
433
10-31 solid brick
190
410
Adobe
200
340
Concrete
100
221
Adobe/mudbrick
200
200
Concrete block
90
194
Clay brick
113
187
10.01 regular brick
90
151
Clay brick (3.5kg solid + 05.kg
110
142
110
124
Aerated concrete block
100
50
Fibre cement sheet (compressed)
18
32
Wood flooring (hardwood)
19
25
Weatherboard (softwood)
15
16
Fibre cement sheet
6
8
Plasterboard
10
8
Glass
3
6
mortar)
Clay brick (3.0kg face + 05.kg mortar)
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Expanded polystyrene (EPS-class)
50
1.8
Air
50
0.5
Table 1: comparison of thermal mass of various construction materials.
Table 2: Collated PMV data(left) from students during site visit along with the value scale(right).
Table 3: Dry bulb floor radiant temperature measurement of four areas
When we observe the PMV readings from the students we notice that although the radiant temperatures from the floor did not change drastically between morning and afternoon, the minimal change could be contributing to the thermal sensation results. The PMV was conducted by each user standing still in clothes value of around 0.4 to 0.5clo based on clothing values set in Thermal Comfort chapter, Fundamentals volume of the ASHRAE Handbook, ASHRAE, Inc., Atlanta, GA, 2005, and the data compiled into table.1 above. It is apparent there is a clear increase in the
response of the users who found the same space cooler later in the day. Therefore we can assume the materials along with natural ventilation, contribute to the sufficient thermal comfort, or rather, in our case, thermal sensation in those spaces.
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5.0 Conclusion
As the construction industry progresses into a new era where more lightweight construction materials are being used to allow visual transparency into and out of the building, measures have to be taken to ensure such construction establishments do not compromise on environmental sustainability. Furthermore, design objectives need to be strongly adhered to, to achieve the expected aims of the design. The role of the architect is deeper rooted in the design, he has to value the occupancy of the building, with occupancy comes comfort, and thus thermal comfort. Thermal comfort will always be an issue in any architectural design, and how it is addressed strongly depends on a few factors, namely the design intention, the climatic context and the selection of materials and their use as a response to certain conditions. The contemporary design of Villa Tanjung Wan in a tropical climate, along with the simple selection of construction materials contribute quite efficiently to the thermal sensation of an average user in the spaces observed. However, as mentioned previously, from the data collected, although not a complete set of raw data for a thermal comfort assessment, an assumption can be made on the efficacy of the choice of materials to maintain sufficient thermal comfort throughout the villa. Based on factual data of the chosen materials and the basic data collected during the site trip, it is clear that the villa does achieve or maintain adequate if not a pleasant level of thermal comfort, more prominent in some areas than others based on the PMV. Unfortunately, during our visit, some areas were off limits, and due to the lack of professional equipment to
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measure accurately other much needed data, the results of this case study need further investigation.
6.0 References
ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2013, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupancy Belum Temenggor Forest Reserve. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://belum.com.my on November 3, 2014 Ching, F. D. (2008). Building Construction Illustrated (4th Ed.). New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. De Dear, Richard; Brager, Gail (1998). "Developing an adaptive model of thermal comfort and preference". ASHRAE Transactions 104 (1): 145–67 Fanger, P Ole (1970). Thermal Comfort: Analysis and applications in environmental engineering. McGraw-Hill Fergus Nicol, Michael Humphreys, (2012) Adaptive Thermal Comfort: Principles and Practice Hall, M. (2010). Materials for energy efficiency and thermal comfort in buildings. Boca Raton: CRC Press Ken, Y, (2009). Ken Yeang Eco Master Planning, United Kingdom: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, p.16. Moe, K. (2008). Integrated design in contemporary architecture. New York, N.Y.: Princeton Architectural Press.
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Thermal mass. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.concretecentre.com/technical_information/ performance_and_benefits/thermal_mass.aspx on October 28, 2014 Thermal Comfort chapter, Fundamentals volume of the ASHRAE Handbook, ASHRAE, Inc., Atlanta, GA, 2005 What Is Contemporary Architecture? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.org/what-iscontemporary-architecture.htm on October 24, 2014
7.0 Appendix Figure listing Fig.1 climate data for Ipoh (Sourced fromhttp://belum.com.my) Fig.2 monsoon season (Sourced fromhttp://belum.com.my) Fig.3 layout plan of Villa Tanjung Wan (Sourced fromPDF file of landcape plans of Villa Tanjung Wan during onsite interview) Fig 4-8 Photographs taken by Trevor Hoareau Table 1: comparison of thermal mass of various construction materials. (sourced from Hall, M. (2010). Materials for energy efficiency and thermal comfort in buildings. Boca Raton: CRC Press) Table 2: Collated PMV data from students during site visit along with the value scale Table 3: Dry bulb floor radiant temperature measurement of four areas
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Asian Architecture [2234]
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