Building Automation and Digital Technologies

By Shahryar Habibi

Building automation systems and digital technologies are highly relevant for the environmental and energy performance of buildings. However, a clear gap remains between architectural engineering and the use of such technologies. Building Automation and Digital Technologies shows how to assimilate automation and digital technologies into making buildings smarter and more environmentally sustainable. This book shows why architects need smart and digital systems in building design and construction and promotes innovative technological tools for improving sustainability. It focuses on the development of automated environmental conditions and how new technology informs architectural engineering. The book also provides new evidence on the impact of building automation systems and digital technologies, such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, and information and communication technology for developing a performance-based approach to the environmental sustainability of buildings, and provides a key reference for architects on how digital technology can inform their practice. Its four chapters cover: developing strategies for improving sustainable and smart buildings; architectural practice and construction technology; creativity and innovation in building automation systems; and the use phase of buildings.

Building Automation and Digital Technologies meets a critical need for a sustainable and smart built environment from an architectural perspective, providing an important reference to architects and professionals in related fields by demonstrating the assimilation of the latest information and automation technologies.

• Puts forward an architectural perspective on the design and construction of smart, sustainable buildings
• Presents the use of digital technologies for design and construction
• Bridges the gap between architectural engineering and the use of automation and digital technology
• Considers the development of automated environmental conditions and new technology

• Language: English
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Release date: Mar 17, 2022
• ISBN: 9780128221648

Shahryar Habibi

Dr Shahryar Habibi is a postdoctoral fellow at Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States. He is licensed to practice architecture in Italy and is a sustainability consultant and researcher. He holds a PhD from the University of Ferrara, Ferrara, Italy, for which he won an award for the best thesis of 2016, as well as the prestigious Nicolò Copernico prize. He has practical experience in both academia and industry. He has also held teaching positions at different universities across the world.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Developing strategies for improving sustainable and smart buildings

Abstract

This chapter focuses not only on learning methods about the adoption of sustainable practices in architecture but also on harnessing innovative approaches in architectural concepts.

Keywords

Sustainable development; Sustainable design strategies; Building automation systems; Smart sustainable buildings; Smart building systems

Chapter Outline

1.1 Sustainable design and construction principles 1

1.2 Smart building systems and sustainable infrastructures 20

1.3 The role of digital and enabling technologies 25

References 33

Within the past decade, digital technologies have created potential opportunities to facilitate the development of smart sustainable buildings (Albino, Berardi and Dangelico, 2015). However, a consistent interpretation of the terms such as sustainability, smartness, and dynamics in the fields of spatial planning, urban development, and building should be taken into consideration. For this purpose, it is important to highlight the most important factors that influence sustainable and smart buildings.

Future buildings are envisioned to achieve both smart growth and sustainable development and to deliver sustainability-related goals, economic growth, social and cultural facilities. For example, a sustainable energy system is an appropriate vision for smart and sustainable infrastructures and can lead to a significant impact on energy efficiency in future cities and buildings.

1.1 Sustainable design and construction principles

In recent years, smart cities and buildings have contributed enormously to the development of energy savings and environmental management methods. The growing energy problems and environmental concerns have led researchers to speculate on the development of innovative solutions for the urban environment. Although innovation systems and technologies have solved several environmental problems, they have not been fully implemented in the control system strategies and smart management systems.

It is important to note that the key implications of the design path to sustainable and smart cities are associated with strategies to reduce energy consumption and increase urban green spaces and water cycle management. In this context, energy efficiency is a major concern and an important criterion for the evaluation of sustainability. A study by (Song et al., 2017) highlights that the dependence of cities on intensive energy consumption is a major cause of climate disruption. The studies (Kennedy et al., 2012; Rutherford and Jaglin, 2015; Song, Yang and Chahine, 2016; Webb, Hawkey and Tingey, 2016; Vogiatzi et al., 2018) make several key proposals such as promoting energy-saving awareness, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and transportation methods, and developing more renewable energy for improving urban energy efficiency.

There is increasing interest within cities in the role of transition towards sustainable and renewable energy utilization. Buildings are believed to be important for energy efficiency improvements and targets. In summary, increasing energy-saving strategies during the design process and construction is a basis for smart growth and sustainable development. (Calvillo, Sánchez-Miralles and Villar, 2016) reviewed energy-related work on planning and operation models within the smart city by classifying their scope into five main areas: generation, storage, infrastructure, facilities, and transport (mobility).

According to (Schwartz, 2012), energy in a smart city relies on a smart, sustainable, and resilient energy system built in an integrated planning approach for energy planning, active buildings, smart grids, smart supply technologies with the inclusion of regional renewable sources, and sustainable mobility. A study by (Mosannenzadeh et al., 2017) discusses smart energy city (SEC), which is an emerging urban development strategy in Europe. It is aimed at assisting cities to exploit recent opportunities in technology and the economy in order to provide citizens with a better quality of life. In fact, it is a research program, and has a more efficient grid, utilizes renewable energy sources.

In order to achieve sustainable design strategies, it is so important to develop principles based on local environmental and climate conditions. Climate-responsive design principles can be considered primarily as efficient strategies to ensure environmental sustainability. Moreover, in climate-responsive building design theories and approaches, there is a strong emphasis on the exploitation of climate and environmental conditions.

Appropriate design features based on topographic factors such as elevation, slope angle, and slope direction have an important influence on developing more energy-efficient and climate-responsive buildings. For example, in a cold climate, due to the falling air temperature during the night, an increase in the intensity and accumulation of cold air occurs within topographic features like pits. Therefore, the settlement of buildings located in cold climate zones should be far away from these features, due to both harnessing more energy from the sun and minimizing energy consumption for heating processes.

In hot-dry climate zones, to moderate the effects of undesired winds, green areas of plants around and within urban settlements should be taken into consideration and it is furthermore important to add an appropriate amount of moisture to the air and permit easy to adequate air movement across space. For these reasons, in hot-dry climate zones, low-altitude areas are considered as appropriate settlement locations to meet these planning objectives. While in hot-humid climate zones, it is important to eliminate any source of excess moisture and to maximum benefit from wind. In this respect, high-altitude areas with evaporative possibilities are believed to be more suitable for the settlement of buildings in hot-humid climatic zones.

In moderate-dry climate zones, it is important to maximize natural ventilation by winds and consider the topographical location with maximum air velocity and shade. It is worth noting that there is a continuous movement of air above high altitudes and a thermal belt (belt of warmer air) is created with colder air above it and colder air below it. In this belt area, wind speeds are often lower. Therefore, the lower levels of the thermal belts are suitable for the settlement of buildings in hot-humid climatic zones. While in moderate-humid climate zones, in order to get sufficient wind to distribute heat and moisture in the atmosphere, the high levels of the thermal belts are suitable for the settlement of buildings (Fig. 1.1).

Fig. 1.1 Suitable building settlements according to different climate zones.

Building orientation is one of the most important factors contributing to the development of energy-efficient strategies and targets. A properly oriented building can affect optimization focused on daylight and solar gains. It is so important to consider optimal orientation in different climatic zones for improving the energy performance of buildings (Fig. 1.2).

Fig. 1.2 The optimal orientation of buildings according to different climatic zones.

In the context of urban planning, the optimal open space between buildings should be determined according to different climate zones. Because it is important to design buildings that can benefit from the passive movement of solar radiation and wind. The optimal open space between buildings plays an important role in mitigating the negative effect of solar radiation on the environment. In order to make optimal solar radiation levels, open space between buildings should be greater than or equal to the length of the long shadow of adjacent buildings as shown in Fig. 1.3.

Fig. 1.3 The appropriate open space between buildings according to different climate zones.

In the context of passive design strategies, especially in the case of environmental wind benefits, open space between buildings should be aligned with the prevailing wind direction in order to affect the thermal performance of the building at the desired level.

Finding the proper building section and principles of landscape design according to different climatic conditions is crucial to provide energy conservation opportunities. For example, the relationships between buildings and open spaces should be related to the effects of solar radiation and wind. Furthermore, the structure of wind-guiding motion should be considered along with the humidifying and cooling effects of plant communities and landscape heterogeneity such as tree height and canopy density according to different climatic conditions (Fig. 1.4).

Fig. 1.4 The appropriate building section and landscape arrangements according to different climate zones.

The form of a building has a considerable effect on the patterns of wind and can significantly improve indoor air quality. It should be chosen in a way to ensure the minimum heat gain in the hot periods and the maximum heat gain in the cold periods. However, the effect of wind to increase heat losses should be taken into consideration.

The assessment of the effects of a building’s form factor on the building energy consumption is necessary to meet the energy efficiency design goals. In order to avoid the problems caused by excessive heat gain or heat loss in buildings, architectural forms should be designed according to climatic regional parameters. For example, in examining the characteristic factors of building form in different climatic regions, the key evaluation criteria such as shape factor (the ratio of building length to building depth in the plan), building height, roof type, roof slope, and facade slope should be considered according to the needs of local climate conditions. The building’s form factor can play a significant role in determining the amount of solar radiation received and airflow around buildings.

Accordingly, building form should be defined in terms of a set of design variables that are associated with climate characteristics. For example, characteristics of building form should include sufficient details about adequate protection from the prevailing wind in cold climate regions and the sun in hot-dry climate regions. While in hot-humid and moderate-humid climate regions building forms should provide maximum openness at the facades are oriented in the prevailing wind direction. As illustrated in Fig. 1.5, the selection of an optimum building form in the different climate regions should be determined properly based on a wide range of characteristics, i.e.:

Hot-humid climate: a long rectangular building form, adequate roof, and floor ventilation.

Hot-dry climate: courtyard, the square base form, proper ventilation at surfaces.

Moderate-dry climate: slow rate of ventilation during hot weather periods, compact shapes (e.g., the near square).

Moderate- humid climate: longer façades facing wind direction during hot weather, the rectangular or free plan form.

Cold climate: the smaller area of façades facing wind direction, compact possible shape (similar to a square).

Fig. 1.5 Appropriate building plan form and landscape arrangements according to different climate regions.

The traditional Japanese and Iranian houses are some examples of climate-responsive architecture. In these houses, there are some environmental sustainability approaches that include increased efficiencies in the use of daylight and wind. For example, the traditional houses in Japan are designed according to the principles of passive cooling and heating. They have a passing inner court (Tooriniwa), which provides light and air circulation to the house based on a socio-environmental sustainability philosophy (Fig. 1.6). Furthermore, the traditional Japanese courtyard houses can improve the thermal conditions and gain more solar heating and daylighting to respond to environmental challenges.

Fig. 1.6 Illustration of the principles of passive design in traditional Japanese houses

The traditional courtyard houses in the hot and arid climatic area in Iran are regarded as the best examples of climatic responsive architecture and energy-efficient houses. These houses are considered to take maximum advantage of passive cooling techniques and to address the key functions that are central to the climatic requirements and socio-cultural contexts. In this regard, the courtyard concept plays a key role in achieving a comfortable indoor thermal environment and is least affected by environmental conditions such as solar gain, wind direction, and shading performance.

As shown in Fig. 1.7, one of the passive cooling techniques applied in the Iranian traditional architecture is Badgir (wind catcher), which that catches the available wind from any direction and channel it down into the living rooms. In this process, temperature change produces air pressures and the difference in air pressure generates airflow. Badgir can provide passive ventilation and cooling by employing both stack effect and wind-driven ventilation. It is worth mentioning that wind-driven ventilation can be increased by the application of the courtyard.

Fig. 1.7 Illustration of the traditional courtyard houses in Iran

Trees and landscape plants have more influence on environmental conditions like thermal comfort, wind sheltering, air-pollution reduction, and shading. The adaptation and acclimation of trees vary by climate region and tree-species should be selected based on local climate conditions (Fig. 1.8). For example, in hot-humid climate regions, trees should allow cooling summer breezes to ventilate and allow low-angle winter sunlight to warm buildings.