Course syllabus
Course-PM
ACE350 ACE350 Building climatology lp3 VT24 (5 hp)
Course is offered by the department of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Contact details
- examiner Krystyna Pietrzyk
- teachers/lecturers Krystyna Pietrzyk, John Helmfridsson, Walter Unterrainer,
Course purpose
Climate change demands actions both to mitigate changes and adapt building stock to them. To address them climate responsive design is promoted.
It is based on Integration of building form, structure, and material with local environment. It assumes taking advantage of natural resources to provide healthy and comfortably living conditions while lowering energy consumption.
Theory of building climatology supports architects to use passive design strategies for heating, cooling, and ventilation, treating the local climate as a resource. It is an interdisciplinary approach involving knowledge from the fields of climatology, building physics, physiology/psychology, and architecture. The focus of the course is put towards learning basic principles of building physics and highlighting the importance of local climate and different experiences of comfort.
Climate responsive design for low energy comfortable buildings is considered with support of theory and methods of building climatology. Bioclimatic design is discussed in reference to building/environment system and exemplified using the cases of vernacular and modern architecture from different climatic zones. Passive and hybrid strategies of creating thermal comfort under different climatic conditions are critically reviewed with the help of the analysis of risks and opportunities. Sustainability aspects of design solutions are discussed.
The course trains the student’s ability to use source texts as a basis for formulating a research question, an individual position on the matter, and a line of argument. It also trains the student in analyzing arguments laid out in other texts, and appropriately use citation, references, and bibliography.
Schedule
A detailed schedule is published as a pdf file and available from the General Information module.
Course literature
- Manzano - Agugliaro F., Montoya F.G. Sabio Ortega A., García-Cruz A. (2015). Review of bioclimatic architecture strategies for
achieving thermal comfort. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. Vol. 49, pp 736-755, Elsevier. (the obligatory one, find pdf on "Files") - Szokolay S. (2004) Introduction to architectural science – the basis of sustainable design. Architectural press. Elsevier.
- Liedl, P., Hausladen, G., & Saldanha, M. (2012). Building to Suit the Climate: A Handbook. Walter de Gruyter GmbH.
- Rahm P. (2004). Immediate Architecture. Rendell J., Hill J., Fraser M., Dorrian M. (eds). Critical Architecture. by Routledge Taylor and Francis Group.
Course design
The course consists of lectures, workshops, and seminars. The course ends with the presentations and the reports of the main assignment. Working on the assignment is a driving force for learning the phenomena presented and discussed in the lectures.
Learning outcomes are planned to be achieved through:
- reading the academic texts concerning bioclimatic architecture
- listening to the lectures and discussing the academic texts - seminars
- discussing/interpreting bioclimatic analysis (psychrometric chart, wind conditions, perception of comfort, comfort zones) - workshops
- discussing the cases of building designs with focus on form, structure, material, living habits, responsive to specified climatic conditions – through workshops and feedback sessions
- writing and presenting report explaining the examples of climate responsive traditional and modern architecture in relation to the general principles of building climatology and sustainable design.
Communication between teachers and students takes place mostly through Canvas. The actual schedule of lectures, seminars and workshops is available there. Each half a day in classroom relates to the subject described by one module. All lectures and articles will be uploaded to the modules on the day of presentation. Two assignments' folders are created, one for drafts and one for the final delivery.
Changes made since the last occasion
A summary of changes made since the last occasion - no changes
Learning objectives and syllabus
Learning objectives:
Knowledge and understanding
- demonstrate knowledge of the principles of building climatology with focus on local climate, passive strategies, and their possible role in creating interior climate
- demonstrate understanding about what we can learn about climate responsive design from the analysis of the cases of vernacular architecture (environmental/climatic context, form, structure, material, and living style) and how that knowledge is applied in modern architecture
Competence and skills
- use methods and tools of bioclimatic design for the promotion of passive strategies for ventilation, heating, and cooling
- communicate analyses in the proper format of written report and a short ppt. presentation and appropriately use citation, references, and a bibliography
Judgement and approach
- generalize the findings from the analysis of vernacular architecture in terms of "sustainable building design" in contemporary context
- critically approach the design solutions of climate responsive architecture and give qualified feedback to the reports of other students
Link to the syllabus on Studieportalen.
Examination form
It is obligatory to write and present report explaining the examples of climate responsive traditional and modern architecture in relation to the general principles of building climatology (with focus on building physics and local climate) and sustainable design.
The traditional building has been developed from adaptation to a local climate and to a site, in order to create a comfort zone for human life and an interior climate making use of passive strategies and local materials. The traditional buildings we find all over the planet inform a deeper understanding of why we in Sweden have adopted the passive house technology while it maybe is not desirable in hot humid climates. Your work should be additionally problematized by choosing an issue/question to be discussed by the comparison of the cases analyzed.
The final report should be an academic text (min. 2000 words per person). Complete with references (APA). Additionally, you are going to include diagrams and illustrations/photos. Feel free in choosing the way you communicate the results of the analysis. You can structure and illustrate the content freely.
You can get help in visualization of the climatic data and the psychrometric chart using “Climate consultant” https://www.sbse.org/resources/climate-consultant ; Dr Andrew Marsh http://andrewmarsh.com/software/psychro-chart-web/ ; Grasshopper or other tools.
All figures should be numbered and referred in the text.
General steps to work with the assignment:
Step 1 Planning for the individual work in a collaborative environment with a colleague. It is meant that students work individually for a traditional case and usually in pairs for the modern case. if there is a reason for that It is also possible to work fully individually.
Two students working together create for each other a collaborative environment. Assignment for each student requires: the choice and the analysis of one example of climate responsive traditional architecture from a climatic zone different from the one chosen by the collaborative colleague, and the analysis of one example of modern architecture together with the colleague. Assignment for the students working individually requires the analysis of 2 examples of climate responsive architecture: 1 traditional and 1 modern situated in different climatic zones. The students working individually constitute a supportive environment to each other.
Planning includes also the formulation of the objective/question to be discussed by the comparison of the cases analyzed.
Step 2 Find and describe a traditional building adapted to the chosen climatic zone. Describe climate with the meteorological data (wind, temperature, humidity). Use psychrometric chart.
Step 3 What do these buildings do for the comfort of their inhabitants? Make use of the Bioclimatic chart (psychrometric chart with superimposed comfort zone) to describe the relation between climate and comfort zone. Speculate on the basis of the collected material Which passive strategies for heating, cooling or ventilation are applied? Reflect over the mechanisms of those strategies. Differentiate between “night and day”, “summer and winter”.
Step 4 Elaborate on the relationship between place, technology, and the way of living for the chosen building.
Step 5 Find and describe one modern spectacular climate responsive building (optionally in collaboration with your colleague) – reflect on the mechanisms of passive/hybrid strategies used. Relate to the relevant strategies shown on bioclimatic chart.
Step 6 Prepare a draft report and a short digital presentation (ppt). OBS! Upload the draft of the report on Canvas folder. State clearly the names of the authors that have contributed to the study. Read the reports of the students chosen by examiner.
Step 7 Present the report and get a feedback from teachers and colleagues. Give a feedback to the students chosen by examiner. Listen to all presentations.
Step 8 Use the feedback you got from others to update the draft report and upload the final version of your report on Canvas no later than on March 11.
In the grading process the examiner will consider: the assignment, extra responsibilities and tasks, activity in the class, responsible attitude to the presence at the lectures/workshops/seminars and to the deadlines. A minimum of 80% attendance is required. Missed deadlines and revisions are handled individually.
Course summary:
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