CHAP 3

CHAPTER 3

METHODOLOGY

 The approach that will be used in the study is experimental. The researcher follows H. Rittle’s method. First is the identification of the problem—the issues and the need of the project will be discussed there.  It is followed by the collection of information. The information gathered is derived from chapter 2. The studies and approach will be discussed in the analysis of information where the researcher would select a strategy that is fit to the project. It will be worked out and tested by the analysis and studies derived from the cases.

			Bioclimatic medium- rise housing facility for the informal settlers that would provide them shelter and at the same time improve their lives in their own community

 

Problem Identification

The study calls for a bioclimatic medium- rise housing facility for the informal settlers that would provide them shelter and at the same time improve their lives in their own community. A housing facility also includes infrastructures (roads, housing units, drainage systems, etc.) utilities (water and power) and common facilities (open spaces, schools, health centers, market) accessible to their needs.

The study presented here defines and implement bioclimatic criteria in architectural housing projects. It also aims to link comfort requirements, climate conditions and the thermal behavior of the built environment, in order to contribute to the design process. The approach adopted emphasizes the role of natural conditioning and bioclimatic design strategies in the production of sustainable architecture, including both indoor and outdoor spaces that provide thermal comfort by responding to the natural conditions with reduced energy demand and low environmental impacts. Natural conditioning is a process that modifies the environmental conditions, especially the thermal variables, through the use of design alternatives and selection of materials. For this reason, the urban, architectural and detailed design decisions impact strongly in the modification of the environmental conditions, with respect to the external situation. Specifically, the architectural design decisions and construction characteristics modify the daily cycle of external temperature variations, defined by the average temperature and the temperature swing.

The need for a housing facility is narrowed down to these requirements:

            a) Provision or improvement of technical services e.g., water, waste            and waste water management, sanitation, electricity, road pavement,   street lighting, etc.

            b) Provision or improvement of social infrastructure such as schools,         clinics, community centers, playgrounds, green areas, etc.

            c) Physical improvement of the built environment, including             rehabilitation improvement of existing housing stock.

            d) Construction of new housing units

            e) Design of community  plans (arrangement of sites and street       patterns according to infrastructure needs, although working within existing settlement patterns is generally less disruptive to community    networks. This measure might entail resettlement of some residents).

            f) Changes in regulatory framework to better suit the needs and       opportunities available to the poor, as far as possible keeping to           existing settlement patterns.

            g) Densification measures (e.g. multiple- story houses) for example in       order to protect fertile land from being occupied for settlement.

Analysis of users needs

            There will be approximately 200 beneficiaries that needs be catered by a housing facility. People’s response to housing resettlement is characterized by patterns of coping strategies evident in how they generally deal with the compound conditions of poverty. A sustainable environment (in terms of health and economics) is virtually needed. For every family, there are at least 6 members, that would sum up to 1,200 users (PRRC). Their need for a safe environment will be studied, by injecting the bioclimatic concept in the design of their future community.

            The users are will be needing the basic needs in a community specifically, schools, clinics, community centers, playgrounds, green areas, etc. In order to provide each required social infrastructures the site must first be recognized. It is essential to provide them utilities that are sustainable for them to be able to minimize their daily expenses. Because of the importance of water quality and waste management, different technologies need to be utilized.

Analysis of information and Solution

            Housing

            The housing design will depend upon the climate of the area. Philippines is considered to be a tropical country. It is the humid to warm climate. Typical design recommendations include: solar protection, lightweight construction and cross ventilation. The limited annual and daily variation of temperature does not require control of the indoor temperature swing if the impact of direct sun and strong diffuse radiation from overcast skies is avoided, while the use of breeze can achieve a useful reduction in the apparent temperature, in spite of the low average wind velocities typically found in this equatorial region.

            The project is a medium rise housing facility that falls into a complex building category. With large internal gains from occupants and equipment, as well as deep plan buildings where artificial ventilation and lighting is essential in the internal spaces. The problem will be, the beneficiaries are from the lower class. Hence, they can’t afford additional costs for the facility. The housing shall, therefore, provide a strategy that is passive. That is, buildings with no mechanical heating and cooling systems) depends upon a number of strategies that have to work together. They include proper orientation of the main rooms and windows, adequate size of the glazing, and the use of insulation, thermal mass and summer shading.

Table 1 Typological solution sets for a warm continental climate: Row house

Source: Bioclimatic housing: Innovative design for warm climates, 2008 (p156)

           

           

            Utilities

                        Water. Because of the importance of water quality in waste water treatment and water reuse applications, different technologies are utilized, either singly or in combination, to achieve desired levels of constituent removal.

                                    Centralized treatment Plants. In a typical centralized plant, the treatment plant is located at a low point in drainage area, usually near the point in the drainage area usually near the point of effluent disposal. At the time of selecting the original location of the treatment plant, the area surrounding the plant may have been relatively uninhabited. Overtime, however, the surrounding land may be developing to any use. In this environment, some local water reuse opportunities might be available such as landscape irrigation and supplying industries with processed water.

The requirement is an isolated area where the facility needs to be placed. There will be and additional cost for labor and monitoring, except it would be a job opportunity for some of the beneficiaries. And the cost of energy will be minimized significantly in the long term usage.

                        Energy. Daylighting must be the earliest and most natural ‘bioclimatic’ application, yet this is an approach in which there is renewed interest as energy issues in non-domestic buildings are studied. Architectural devices designed to increase the penetration of natural light deep into the interiors of commercial buildings and schools improve the distribution by techniques such as clerestory lighting, light shelves and so on, offer significant design potential. Cooling is of particular (though not exclusive) relevance in southern climates (Goulding and Lewis, 1997). Techniques include evaporative cooling and night ventilation, and substantial thermal inertia will usually form an important feature of such buildings. All climate-sensitive or bioclimatic architecture will incorporate solar protection and shading as appropriate to regional circumstances.

                        Given an efficient building, on- site energy production can further reduce environmental impact.  Selecting the best strategy for on- site generation will depend upon factors such as type and location of the project, regional and micro climates, utility, rates and possible tax and financial incentives for clean and/or renewable energy.

                                    Solar Energy. There are two possible options in getting energy for the facility. One is the fission power plants: it involves controlling the temperature of the U- 235, as well as starting out with a sample of U- 235 having exactly the right mass and shape. To some extent, the amount of neutron radiation within the sample can be controlled to keep the system operating steadily state. The other is Photovoltaic cells: it is often combined with series parallel to obtain higher power output that is possible with a signle cell alone.

The principle of power generation is in all cases the same: Heat energy from combustion of fossil fuels or from nuclear fission is used to drive a thermal engine—in most cases using stream turbines—and to produce electric current via generators coupled to the turbines.

Table 2 Simplified function diagram of a nuclear fission power generating system showing one reactor and one turbine

Source:  Alternative Energy: Demystified, 2007 (p 223)

                        Uranium is relatively inexpensive. It can be found in regions widely scattered throughout the world. Fission power plants do not produce green house gas emissions, CO gas or particulate pollutants as do fossil fuel plants.

Table 3 Optimal placement of panels

Source: Alternative Energy: Demystified, 2007 (p 236)

            Optimal placement of fixed, south- facing solar arrays for locations in northern temperate latitudes for year round operation (A), low solar angle season operation (B), and high solar angle season operation (C). The variables x,y and z represents angles in degrees with respect to the zenith. In each case, the panel is viewed edge- on looking west.

                        Wastes. All waste system elements should be looked upon as being stages in the movement, or flow, of materials from the mining stage, via processing, production and consumption stage towards final treatment and disposal. A waste management system is a combination of several stages in the management of the flow of materials within the city and the region. A waste management plan is part of an integrated materials management strategy, in which the city makes deliberate and normative decisions about how materials should flow. The waste elements then become specific tactics to deal with specific materials after they have been consumed.

                        Instead of copying high- tech waste collection systems from abroad, it is encouraged to: (1) Allow a mix of approaches and technologies to be included in a well planned overall collection system, which includes sufficient secondary collection and transfer points, adequate shortage space and drop off centers; (2) Enabling specifically allowing pluralistic approaches in laws, ordinances, and regulations, and encouraging pluralism in private sector contracts; (3) Selecting a combination of collection techniques that allow for optimum recovery of valuable materials by municipal and private collectors (Klundert and Anshutz, 2001).

            Social Infrastructures

            The density of the added infrastructure must be considered to obtain a relative placement or allocations of each use.

            Contextual analysis of a development site identifies the location of existing facilities and networks. This helps to determine the suitability of the site for housing and indicates what types of housing might be most appropriate. It can identify a shortfall in facilities which might be made good within the development itself or provided nearby through the planning system. Finally, it can help to ensure that the site is planned in such a way as to link into local networks, providing good accessibility to nearby destinations and the wider community (Towers, 2005).

            NOTES

            Current themes centre on a range of issues concerning the relationship between the biological and physical domains, such as:

                       

                        • climate types and requirements;

                        • adaptive thermal comfort;

                        • vernacular and contextual solutions;

                        • tools and assessment methods;

                        • microclimate: sun path, wind and rain;

                        • working with the elements, such as passive and active                                systems; and

                        • development of a responsive form (Price & Myers, 2005).

This can be conceptualized as building design that utilizes a range of biophysical elements. These biophysical elements are primarily drawn from the ecosphere, rather than the lithosphere – that is, heat, light, landscape, air, rain and materials. (See figure 1)

Figure 1

Source: Bioclimatic Housing: Innovative designs for warm climate, 2008 (p.4)

Findings

The housing design will depend upon the climate of the area. Philippines is considered to be a tropical country. It is the humid to warm climate. Typical design recommendations include: solar protection, lightweight construction and cross ventilation. The main electricity for the whole development is drawn from the city; however, photovoltaic panels will be installed on the pergolas of the roof garden on top of the apartment building. It is expected that the development will generate sufficient excess electricity to be sold to the local energy utility since the dwellings use very little energy for space heating and cooling, water heating and lighting, having been carefully designed to be as self-sufficient as possible.

In summer, direct solar gain is avoided through the use of external shades (bamboo blinds), balconies, pergolas and overhangs, as well as vegetation. During the day, the external shades are usually drawn and all openings are shut. Reflective foil (and bulk insulation) in the roofs of the apartment building and cottage also help to reduce solar gain.

Providing a healthy living environment is the main goal of this development.

Throughout the project, materials are selected very carefully. As described in the section on ‘Building construction’, only non-toxic construction and finishes are used and formaldehyde and PVC are avoided. All concrete used has a maximum content of fly-ash, a waste product of power stations, to reduce the amount of cement used. Cement production is one of the largest contributors of greenhouse gas emissions.

Noise control in each dwelling is provided by the massive walls and double-glazed windows, which also provide thermal advantages.

Instead of copying high- tech waste collection systems from abroad, it is encouraged to: (1) Allow a mix of approaches and technologies to be included in a well planned overall collection system, which includes sufficient secondary collection and transfer points, adequate shortage space and drop off centers; (2) Enabling specifically allowing pluralistic approaches in laws, ordinances, and regulations, and encouraging pluralism in private sector contracts; (3) Selecting a combination of collection techniques that allow for optimum recovery of valuable materials by municipal and private collectors (Klundert and Anshutz, 2001).

The earth’s resources are usually defined as being ‘renewable’ or ‘non-renewable’. The renewable resources are those that can be renewed or harvested regularly, such as timber for construction or linseed for linseed oil.

The success in this climate of passively designed buildings (that is, buildings with no mechanical heating and cooling systems) depends upon a number of strategies that have to work together. They include proper orientation of the main rooms and windows, adequate size of the glazing, and the use of insulation, thermal mass and summer shading.

Conclusion

In order to obtain Bioclimatic architecture, every aspect must be vividly studied. Economic, social, and environmental issues must be taken into consideration. Since the project calls for a housing facility, proper zoning and orientation is needed. The Philippines is under the warm climate classification, therefore, the usage of passive cooling strategy will be the best approach for the design. Renewable energy is a good source of energy for the facility, since it caters a large amount of users. In designing the aesthetics and flow of the facility, the social aspect must be taken into consideration that the user may adapt with the environment.