ASHRAE Journal - February 2015 - S15

Façades Enhancing Outdoor Environment-
Micro-climate Impact
Growing vegetation on the façade
can potentially create a positive microclimate around the built form. A
micro-climate is a local atmospheric
zone, where the climate differs from
the surrounding area. Studies suggest
that a reduction of approximately 2˚C
can be achieved by using green vegetation around buildings compared to the
surrounding ambient in composite
climates like Delhi.
Solaris stands as a dramatic demonstration of the possibilities inherent
in an ecological approach to building design. With its extensive ecoinfrastructure, sustainable design
features and innovative vertical green
concept, Solaris strives to enhance its
site's existing ecosystems, rather than
replace them. In September 2009,
Solaris was awarded a Green Mark
Platinum rating, the highest level of
certification granted by BCA's Green
Mark, Singapore's sustainable building
benchmark.

Façade Addressing Fuel Crisis-
Building Powered by Algae
Vertical gardens, solar panels and
smart glass have become popular façade
materials for their green credentials, but
bio façades take things a step further,
generating energy for their buildings.
The trend towards bio-materials is being
driven by the depletion of fossil fuels.
Buildings are responsible for 30-40% of
the world's total energy consumption,
and the façade industry is responding through the new form of building
exteriors.
The new gas and receiving station of
the Agro and Food Cluster (AFC), New
Prinsenland, located in the Netherlands,
has been recognized as the world's first
bio façade.
Another benchmark project is the
world's first algae-based bioreactor façade,
which was unveiled at the International
Building Exhibition in Hamburg last year.
The façade features make up the exterior
of The BIQ House, which is clad in 200
square metres of integrated photo-bioreactors. Micro-algae are then cultivated
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into the glass elements of the façade to
make up the building's 'bio skin'.
The façade system, known as Solar
Leaf, generates micro-algae biomass
and heat to create a renewable energy
source while providing shade for the
building, offering insulation, interior
thermal comfort and acoustics.

Façades Addressing Food Crisis-Hydroponics
The idea that fruits and vegetables
can grow with water, light and nutrients is the basis of hydroponic: one of
the innovative systems of making the
building self-sustaining. There have
been other numerous advantages of
this system as well. A reduction is seen
in street level concentrations up to 40%
for NO2 and 60% for particulate matter. They potentially contribute to an
increase in biodiversity in urban areas
by providing a habitat for insects and
birds.The most important is their 'rejuvenating effect' on the living creatures
around as they contribute to softening
of the urban landscape and allowing
buildings to seem more 'natural' and
pleasing for the people. It is a great
design concept to integrate hydroponic
gardens into tall sky scrapers which
give apartment dwellers in urban communities an opportunity to join in on
the joy of some gardening and purify
the polluted city air to a certain extent.
The underlying advantage is reduced
solar heat gains, thereby bringing
down the annual energy bill of the
building.

Figure 13: Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV Solar
Glass skylight) at Centre for Interactive Research on
Sustainability - designed to be the most sustainable
building in North America.

Figure 14: Floating Balls of Rotterdam cooled (air conditioned) by PCM.

Conclusion
Energy efficiency is a primary challenge in today's commercial construction industry. How important are
energy efficiency gains from a building envelope is a topic that is gaining
momentum amongst industry-leading
architects and design firms. In order to
address a few paramount issues in the
industry, with ever-increasing pressure
for the dual objectives of higher performance and improved payback to stakeholders, innovative trends and forces
shaping the future of building skin
contain the answer of many unfolded
domains. However, as we continue the

Figure 15: The second, outer skin of RMIT University's
Design Hub in Melbourne, Australia, features thousands of
operable PV discs that turn to face the sun, improving solar
energy collection and providing a unique shading strategy.

journey down the realization of the
dream for a perfect façade, there is an
underlying statement that adhering to
the basics of building design provides
the maximum benefit and becomes
the foundation for adopting better
technologies, providing a cost effective
solution.
FEBRUARY 2015

ASHRAE Journal - February 2015

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