Applying Systems Principles in Design

For our final systems assignment we were asked to implement many of the strategies used in energy efficient design into our current studio project. Considering our project’s site and environmental context we responded to issues of daylight, energy capture and storage, ventilation, and the building envelope through our design intentions.

My current studio project takes place in downtown Manhattan in New York City, directly on the high line, where it intersects with Little W. 12th st. The high line is an elevated public park with benches, walking paths, amphitheaters, and other comfortable communal features that was converted from a dilapidated elevated railway. The site runs parallel with the high line in an area filled with low-rise buildings, with exception for the Standard Hotel. The program for our final studio project is a Cistercian Monastery that includes a chapel, library, monk cells, and a self-sufficient workshop as its main features. Here are some preliminary renders:

For the first part of this assignment I analyzed my project’s environmental context by determining its solar window and how it changes throughout the year. This cross section illustrates changes in the height of the sun’s path at key points throughout the year such as the solstices and the equinoxes at five times throughout the day. I was able to graph the path of the sun using information gathered form solar path charts of New York throughout the year, which tell me the sun’s elevation throughout the day in degrees. Since my sight is not oriented perfectly north-south, but slightly northeast, the point for South along the Azimuth along the bottom of the page (180 degrees) is slightly to the right of the center of the section (the section cut is looking towards north), as opposed to be being perfectly centered as usual.

cross sectional diagram the range of solar altitude and azimuth throughout the year

After I overlaid this information onto the cross-section of my building I was able to determine the type of light, the inherent thermal qualities of the building, and what a good approach would be for ventilation. Considering the large solar window my site maintains throughout the entire window, there is a wide range of exposure of direct sunlight throughout the entire day and year. This provides a considerable opportunity for passive heating, creating many warm thermal environments through radiant heat. Subsequently, combine this environmental characteristic with the tall, multistory volumes of the structure and there should be multiple cases of a stack effect. The large solar window also means adequate exposure for dayligting as well.

In my second diagram I explored what strategies I would actually like to implement

A transverse section diagramming programmatic responses to site characteristics, implementing Systems principles through design strategy

Detailed 3D section of human engagement with space and the function of implemented design strategies

Azuma Row House by Tadao Ando | Designing Architecture to Purposefully Make People Feel uNCoMfoRTabLE

The Azuma Row House (Sumiyoshi, Osaka, Japan) was designed by Tadao Ando in 1976. Built in an old post WWII neighborhood of wooden row houses, his project replaced its predecessor with a modern interpretation of the urban context. Cast in concrete, Ando’s austere and functional design divides the site into three parts – two equally sized enclosed interior volumes flanking an open-air courtyard. Centralizing the courtyard makes it an integral part of circulation and the focus of everyday life. What makes this setup particularly unique is that there is no way to cross to either side of the house without passing through exterior and ultimately confronting nature. Despite the hardships that this may enforce on the inhabitants, Ando defends his design:

At the time [mid-1970s], I thought of residential design as the creation of a place where people can dwell as they themselves intend. If they feel cold, they can put on an additional layer of clothing. If they feel warm, they can discard extraneous clothing. What is important is the space be, not a device for environmental control, but something definite and responsive to human life… No matter how advanced society becomes, institutionally or technologically, a house in which nature can be sensed represents for me the ideal environment in which to live.

With subtle and careful presentation Ando forces occupants to experience the dynamic flows of nature every single day. Despite the advent of highly thermally controlled architecture, the environment’s energy flows are somehow an inherent experience in inhabiting the house. I’d like to explore how this seemingly anachronistic and modest design approach affects the comfort and lifestyle of its victims, oops I mean tenants 😉

Tadao Ando is actually one of my favorite architects, and is world renowned for his stunning manipulation of air, light, and water. This project, his first residential commission, explores issues we’ve discussed in class regarding heat transfer, air flow, and light.

Thermally Active Surfaces and flows: What kind of environment does Ando create?

The building envelope of the Azuma Row House is simple and uniform — a continuous façade with no apertures, except for one small skylight. Apart from its inward –facing glass walls and minimal wood finish, the majority of the envelope is cast concrete, which has a very high specific heat capacity (0.880 J/(gK)), and therefore capable of absorbing  a lot of heat energy. This trait affects the heating and cooling of the interior and courtyard in various ways

Courtyard_ Constantly exposed to the sun, the concrete and stone slabs receive heat energy from the sun’s direct radiation, diffused sky radiation, and any rays reflected off of surrounding buildings. They cannot easily conduct or release this energy and stores it throughout the day, gradually increasing in temperature. The ground can retain a large amount of heat for hours, which can make standing in that space uncomfortable – think of asphalt on a summer day. Also since hot air molecules rise, the occupant space air temperature can become overheated and uncomfortable as well. This is a greater concern in the summer time when exposure and temperatures are high. Furthermore, by placing the exterior space at the center of the row house the building envelope’s surface area almost doubles, which can be a crucial matter for skin-loaded or envelope dominated structures. Expanding the threshold for hot or cool air to transfer across makes the thermal environment asymmetrical, less predictable, and uncomfortable.

The Interior­­­­_ In each room there are four surfaces of exposed concrete. Although the floors are covered with wood slats providing insulation between the foot and slab, there is still conduction of heat energy through the walls. Bearing in mind the house’s small scale, there is likely considerable contact with the building envelope which prompts measurable heat loss from the human body – comfortable during warm seasons, frustrating during cold.

The sixth surface of every room is a floor-to-ceiling plane of glass with a glass door. Although certain types of glass have relatively high heat capacities, the metal mullions that support the panes are highly conductive – not to mention that a building cannot be perfectly sealed. A significant temperature difference across this barrier will cause a convection current that will easily circulate warm air into a cooler courtyard, and vice versa, causing fluctuations in the room’s temperature.

In addition, without any apertures to penetrate, radiation waves reflect off of the house’s exterior facade or are absorbed by it. Unlike the courtyard, this heat exchange occurs on the side the occupants do not have contact with. Since the thick thermal mass absorbs all of the heat, the interior remains cool. Again, despite the benefit in the summer, this kind of passive radiant heating could be very useful during the winter.

Thermal Comfort_ After reading Heating, Cooling, and Lighting by Lechner we discussed the body’s thermal response to any environment, or its relationship with the space’s temperature profile. Many of the thermally dynamic characteristics of the Azuma House are beneficial during one season, and a burden during another. However, some issues like convection across thermal surfaces can always work against your desired comfort zone. Ando includes many conductive and convective thermal surfaces in his construction and few radiant sources. The volatility of convection patterns make air flow, heat transfer, and therefore room temperature asymmetrical and unpredictable.

Natural Ventilation: How does Ando achieve reasonable comfort through passive design?

As a skin-load or envelope dominated structure – with climate dependent cooling requirements– passive solar heating is a reliable method to keep the structure reasonably comfortable because it is an efficient transfer of heat energy between the climate and envelope that requires no fluid medium like in convection. Part of what makes these structures so easily influenced by their envelopes, are their large surface area-to-volume ratio, which creates a large gateway for heat loss. It’s interesting to see what fluid dynamics principles, if any, Ando utilized to make the space more comfortable by modern standards. To start, there are no mechanical systems in the structure for heating or cooling.

Cross Ventilation_ Again, the building envelope is a continuous and uniform surface. There aren’t proper inlets or outlets to let wind through the interior spaces, as there no apertures at all. Therefore, no cross ventilation can occur.

Stack Effect_ However, high-speed winds redirected over the row house can create a region of lower temperature that draws out the warm air from the courtyard. It produces something similar to a stack effect. When air in the courtyard gains heat energy due to high air temperature or thermal radiation, its buoyancy will decrease, causing it  to rise up out of the courtyard. This is what prompts the convection of cool air from the interior to the exterior through the glass pane, as I mentioned above under Interior thermal flows. The rising warm air molecules leave a region of low pressure that draws the high pressure cool air into the void – as molecules always flow form groups of greater energy to groups of lower energy.

High Mass Cooling_ The Azuma row house is a great example of Night ventilation of a thermal mass. The concrete slabs have a great capacity to hold heat that accumulated during the day and is gradually released as the surrounding environment cools in the evening. More specifically, at night, cool air circulates through the building and the heat in the thermal mass is released to the space above it, keeping it warm and renewing its own ability to re-absorb more energy the following day. This prevents sudden swings in hot and cold temperature.

Why not more natural ventilation? _ There are several cons or obstacles that come about when utilizing certain types of natural ventilation, which is why Ando might have under-utilized these methods. Noise, pollutants, and harsh winds are a side effect of any kind of ventilation system that passes through a structure at occupant level, which — considering the scale of this project — was unavoidable.  Although I think that these system characteristics could in some way support Ando’s thesis regarding bringing the house’s inhabitants closer with nature, cross ventilation in addition to such a large open-air courtyard, would form a setting too abrasive for his clients, especially considering the urban conditions. Furthermore the penetrating sounds, smells, and contents of street’s cross breeze would also undermine his idea of the “inward looking” house.

In Conclusion: Would I have the courage to live here?

Is Tadao Ando successful in creating a thermally appropriate environment for humans. Well, that’s a difficult question to answer, as it can be interpreted from many of his works and from his own words that his intention was to make his occupants slightly uncomfortable. Ando has said that walls have often separated us from the outside world in a way that has “bordered on violent.” Through his design it seems he allows light and air to enter into the  daily lifestyle of humans in order to disrupt the stale inertia of the modernist lifestyle. As we have discussed in class, humans are historically and genetically outdoor animals, and that our bodies thrive considerably more when we expand our temporal zone of comfort. Ando does exactly that, challenging the widespread momentum towards thermally controlled environments in residential architecture that was simultaneously taking place in America during the 1970’s. I agree with the general principles Ando implies in his design — that we should stop relying on mechanical heating/cooling systems to moderate every environment we occupy, and that a little compromise on our end can go a long way in terms of conserving energy and minimizing waste. On the other hand, I’d also appreciate not having to use an umbrella in my own house. Tadao Ando caught the world’s attention with his extreme manifestation of nature’s intervention in the modern home — and he successfully and succinctly made his point. But if I were to follow his footsteps in my personal practice, I’d most likely prefer a more moderate approach.

Energy Systems | Production and Consumption at Multiple Scales

Assignment 3

In this particular assignment our aim is to understand the dimensions and interconnections of energy flows within a system we inhabit, such as a neighborhood or city. We came to terms with the system by diagraming the points at which we (individually, of course) consume some form of energy within a four hour period. Despite spending most of the year here, we chose to document our lifestyles outside of Charlottesville in order to come up with a diverse range of responses. It’s impossible to trace every thread of energy flow at such a large scale, so we emphasized major threads or pathways from widely used energy sources to common means of distribution and our preferred mode of consumption. The following diagrams offer insight into a fun evening I spent with my peers while studying abroad in Shanghai, China.

Energy Flow at the Larger Scale of Shanghai

Energy Consumption at the Individual Scale

We were also asked to consider ways we could minimize the global impact of our energy flow web at the scale of the individual, the habitable space, and the infrastructural network.

The individual:

Some of the simple changes of habit that I could personally make back in the United States would not have the same impact here necessarily. Whereas back home in the U.S. I could buy my food from organic producers in order to support the shift towards eco-friendly farming, determining those sources in Shanghai are not very easy. The food market is not so transparent to to the public as it is back home. There aren’t Whole Foods Grocery stores or locally owned co-ops in this dense urban setting. Much of the produce is sold by street vendors in carts and small kiosks, and even the larger grocers don’t really clarify where there food comes from, unless it’s a process, packaged good. Therefore, I would not be able to make an informed decision in this regard. However, since Shanghai is such a large city I could easily change my transportation habits for the better. Biking or using public transportation would help reduce pollution. There is a lot of traffic in Shanghai and any effort to minimize it would surely help.

Habitable Space:

Furthermore, since the majority of Shanghai’s energy input is derived from coal, I could opt to use renewable resources for my personal home and devices. Many houses are now installing solar panels to the roofs of their houses, where there is a large solar window. I could also attack the problem at its source provide a smaller demand on the energy system by limiting my reliance on it — unplugging devices and using natural sources for needed energy such as light. Energy efficient design within the home could be a secondary means for changing my global impact.

Infrastructural Network:

The change that would have the most impact at this scale would be relieving the infrastructure of its dependence on coal. Coal is a highly polluting resource that has accounted for about 75% of Shanghai’s energy since the 90’s. Minimizing its usage would make a huge leap in the city’s energy consumption. The high usage of coal and immensely broad traffic system has accounted for Shanghai’s reputably terrible air quality that, like many other Chinese cities, has come about due to its rapid development. Fortunately, in the last several years the Shanghai municipal government has been making changes to clean up the city’s public spaces, natural features, and air. Thanks to efforts such as the 10 billion dollar cleanup of the Suzhou Creek, and infrastructural change to buses and taxis with better exhaust standards, Shanghai’s air quality has been gradually improving since the late 90’s.

The U.Va Bay Game

*The U.Va Bay game is a large online simulation of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed. Individuals are allowed to participate in this simulation as stakeholders (farmers, watermen, bay regulators, etc.) and make decisions about their livelihood. Consequentially, one can observe the affect all of these players have on the health of the Chesapeake Bay. 

My Experience In the Bay Game | Crop Farmer

The land use of the Chesapeake Bay watershed varies greatly — 58% undeveloped, 22% agricultural, 9% suburban and urban. As a crop farmer, the decisions I make in regards to my land use directly affect the health of the bay due to chemicals in runoff and other forms of drainage carried into the bay, such as fertilizers and pesticides. The amount of chemicals and foreign elements that enter the bay affect the quality of the water, which ultimately have an affect on the quality of life of the animals that inhabit the bay. Consequentially, the health of the bay influences the decisions of bay regulators who determine policies that affect the decisions of stakeholders like farmers make, which in return affects the health of the bay. It is a continuous cycle with many intermediate steps. In diagramming the elements, connections, and functions of the Chesapeake Bay ecosystem, I consider the bay’s health the primary stock, and the crop farm and bay regulations as very important but secondary stocks. Below is a simple diagram of the system analyzing these three stocks, some other intermediate elements, and the actions that occur between them.

The diagram is color-coded into several subdivisions I recognized within the system that affected the bay's health most directly: bureaucratic (blue), agricultural (green), economic (yellow), and natural (red)

What I did not expect during my experience with the Bay Game, is the simultaneous affect of the systems variables on all three stocks, which is a much more realistic and rational model than I originally pictured. Furthermore, it was interesting to see how economy, a completely abstract system, had such a direct affect on a physical ecosystem. For example, the economy’s status can influence the prices set by crop regulators. Low prices decrease a farmer’s income, which can decrease the next crop yield due to the lack of ability to afford resources or invest capital. A significantly smaller crop yield will result in less chemicals running of into the bay.

Possible Strategy to Improve Bay Health 

In a real life model of the Chesapeake Bay, we as a community would have to consider significantly more variables and their possible outcomes, than what we were able to manipulate in our one hour of play. I also think that in order to meaningfully change the Bay’s Health one strategy or approach is not adequate. Seeing how all of these elements engage and affect each other throughout one continuously flowing system, improving the bay’s health might require multiple strategies all engaging different parts of the system at once. Dividing my Bay system diagram can help organize or aim each of these strategies.

Since we have no way of controlling natural events, we can ignore the branch or subdivision in clouding the weather. I consider the economic branch to pertain mostly to the crop farmer, since this diagram takes into consideration his income and expenses primarily. The crop farmer could always decide to plant less crops, or move to another location; however, these decisions would have a direct effect on his/her income and  require a sacrifice on the farmer’s behalf. The agricultural branch pertains to the farmer as well, but to his methods of farming, rather than his overall decisions. The farmer could convert to environmentally friendly or sustainable methods of farming, which are often more expensive and could impact the income negatively. However, agricultural policy makers might have monetary incentives that might make such methods mutually beneficial to the bay and the farmer. Finally, the bureaucratic piece lies in the and of policy makers. As of now, it seems the political system has the farthest reaching hand in improving the bay’s health. Approaches that modify land cultivating methods, or land’s direct use are left to people’s discretion, which will likely change in order to benefit the individual. Policy makers can enforce or incentivize land users to engage in bay-friendly approaches through laws that apply to everyone in the watershed. The challenge is creating policies that benefit the bay but aren’t to harmful or abrasive to individual land owners, who could spark negative feedback within the community. It seems the best option for policy makers are to create strategies that will can gradually convert growers and other stakeholders to sustainable methods and have significant benefits for the bay at the same time, as for taking to gradual an approach may not help the bay at all.

Ultimately, t taks the entire community to change their attitude and direction, because everyone has an impact on the Chesapeake Bay. It’s health will not change until we decide to adapt our overall behavior and relationship with the bay.

Landscape Ecology Within an Urban Context

On Patches, Edges, and Corridors….

Ecology is generally defined as the study of interactions among organisms and their environment, and Landscape as an expansive mosaic (kilometers wide) over which many local environments and ecosystems occur. These mosaics are generally organized through the elements of :

• Patches – which withhold the local environments or ecosystems
• Edges – which enclose the patches and provide a buffer between its interior and its neighboring contrasting environment
• Corridors – which create means of circulation of organisms between different patches

This is a a diagram of patches and edges alone. However, corridors would connect multiple patches like these and frame a connected network. When a patch is fragmented or fractured one patch becomes two separate patches with distinct but larger boundaries, and remarkably reduced interior patch space

Throughout the late 20th century many principles emerged regarding how to govern and promote healthy landscapes. According to Landscape Ecology Principles in Landscape Architecture and Land Use Planning (Dramstad, Olson, and Forman), all landscape ecology principles can apply to all types of systems — pastural, urban, desert tundra, etc. In other words, these principles, which at first may seem only applicable to rural or untouched environments, can actually inform our design decisions across a broad range of geographical contexts to create healther environments. They can guide urban planners when deciding where to place a new suburban development with the smallest risk to ecological integrity, or where it may be appropriate to establish a wildlife conservation park. As bureaucratic and tedious as they seem, these issues are consequential to all citizens, as they correlate to our economy, lifestyle, and well-being.

The Urban Context….

To provide a relatable example, consider Washington, D.C. It is a very thorough and explicit landscape system built on these organizing principles. The city itself — a 10 mile x 10 mile rhombus can be considered a large but distinct urban landscape. Within it major neighborhoods form large patches. Georgetown, Adams Morgan, Spring Valley, or Dupont Circle, are all bordered patches differentiated through the type of architecture present, the density and size of its recursive streets, or even urban and environmental material changes. Major avenues like Connecticut, Georgia, or 16th St run the length or width of the city and form corridors of circulation that establish a network of connectivity between these different neighborhoods or “patches.”

Consider Georgetown and Rock Creek Park. Georgetown is a rich historical area with original cobblestone streets and renovated houses, not to mention the very old Georgetown University. It sits along the waterfront of the Potomac River with a dense system of one-way streets that access its low-elevation buildings. Its inherent organisms — residents and visitors — are often busy shopping along its commercially developed areas or enjoying its entertaining plazas. However, Rock Creek Park, another preserved landscape, is surrounded on all sides by urban context, while it remains minimally developed with only jogging paths and rest stops. Its access to water is mostly dependent on small creeks, and its inherent organisms are largely animals, although park police and joggers often patrol the area. Both self-contained environments, equally part of the fabric of the Washington, D.C., are situated along the Rock Creek/Potomac Parkway. This corridor guides vehicular circulation in and out of the city while connecting several patches of neighborhoods along the way.

We can further understand, and evaluate the he success and health of Washington, D.C. as an urban landscape by investigating the three main characteristics of landscapes: structure, function, and change. It’s comprehensive spatial organization as a large mosaic becomes clear as we consider its patches and corridors. How are these neighborhoods places? Are they spaced equally? Do they meet right at each other’s boundaries providing little room for expansion?

We can also consider its functioning through its connectivity. How do people circulate between the different neighborhood patches of D.C.? Are there multiple ways to arrive at your destination? Do these streets create a lot of traffic or is it efficient and easy to navigate? Are there other means of transportation besides streets? These questions help us conclude whether D.C. is an effective landscape for its human inhabitants.

Finally, there is the element change. Has there been radical development or changes to the internal organization of this system? Considering that it has not experienced critical change since the McMillan Plan in 1901, and that it still largely maintains its original layout as it was designed by Pierre Charles L’enfant in 1791, Washington, D.C. seems hold a largely satisfying and successful sort of “urban ecology” for its inhabitants. I do not possess enough data or knowledge to know how these characteristics stand when applied to the strict landscape ecology of the capital.

On a closing note….

“What are the natural features which make a township handsome? A river, with its waterfalls and meadows, a lake, a hill, a cliff or individual rocks, a forest, and ancient trees standing singly. Such things are beautiful; they have a high use which dollars and cents never represent. If the inhabitants of a town were wise, they would seek to preserve these things, though at a considerable expense; for such things educate far more than any hired teachers or preachers, or any present recognized system of school education. I do not think him [or HER] fit to be the founder of a state or even a town who does not foresee the use of these things…”

— Henry David Thoreau, Journal, 1861

Unfortunately, due to the advent of modern urbanism, ecology and culture have diverged within the urban landscapes of many countries. Meaning that ecological health has lost its priority in landscape planning and design within urban contexts due to changes in what our cultures deem as valuable — economics, aesthetics, and politics. Designers and planners must return to the conceptual foresight that shaped the design of great American cities, and development of national parks during the 20th century — successful harmonies of distinct landscapes. Their splendor and success lie in there ability to merge ecology and culture, land and people, human and nature.

Solar Chart | U.Va South Lawn

In this simple project It was my goal to further understand  the path of the sun and its relation to preexisting site conditions. To explore this, I overlaid a diagram of the sun’s path on a 360 degree panoramic elevation of the area behind Gibson Hall — known to many at U.Va as the South Lawn.

Primary Solar Window

The primary solar window for the gardens behind Gibson during this time of year is relatively 9 am to 3 pm, a short period of only 6 hours. This is a relatively small solar window compared to many other sites on U.Va’s campus — say, McIntire amphitheater. I attribute this to the site’s enclosure on most sides by tall objects, and its relatively small area. Gibson Hall is a several story building, and although it begins at a point directly North of where I was standing it extends to the East, blocking the sun’s access to the site during the early hours of the morning. To my South and West was a tall tree line that sits upon the crest of a hill. Despite the fact that the trees are significantly more porous than the facade of Gibson Hall, they still hinder the sun’s exposure to the site in the late afternoon, cutting the solar window short.

My response to the site as an architect

The primary solar window for this site allots most of the sun’s exposure during the morning hours, before noon. This is when the sun is still rising in the east. This is most likely because most of the sun-blocking obstructions to the site, Gibson Hall and the high tree line, are oriented to the North and West. Working on a project in this area, I would orient my structure towards the East and South, where it would have the longest direct exposure to the sun. Consider azimuth as the sun moves throughout the sky during the day. For this particular site, the sun is first exposed when it is about 60 degrees East of South in the morning, moves through South as the day approaches noon, and is continually exposed until about 45 degrees West of South in the afternoon. Technically, the sun has a wider range of exposure when it is East and South.

A diagram of the sun's path