Tallinn University of Technology – Academy of Architecture and Urban Studies
Academic year 2021-22 - fall semester - 6 ECTS credits
Dr. Francesco De Luca, Arch. Ioannis Lykouras
Tuesday 16:00 – 19:15 - TalTech Mustamäe campus class U03-405 + U03-422/423
Syllabus
Introduction
Contemporary cities in Europe are
inhabited by almost 80% of the total population, demands for nearly 75% of
total energy and account for the production of 75% of total CO2 emissions. The
growth of population living in cites will continue steadily for many years to
come. Scientists agree that combustion of fossil fuels is changing dramatically
and irreversibly climate patterns increasing global warming. This effect
already poses a serious threat for human health and increases the occurrence of
natural disasters.
Predicted global increase of average
temperatures with and without initiatives to reduce climate change (source:
IPCC).
Source: https://strangesounds.org/2021/06/canada-hottest-temperature-record-lytton-june-27-2021.html
Despite being comfortable for most of
the warm season, in Tallinn air temperatures increased more than 2 °C on average
during the last decades, which is more than the average in cities in the north
of Europe. Further, climate change studies have predicted the alarming doubling
of the number of hot days on an annual basis in Tallinn before 2050.
The European Union Directive 2010 art.
9 states that from 2020 all new buildings will have to be nearly-Zero Energy
Buildings. In the design of new residential and office buildings the
orientation, distance of surrounding buildings, urban density and envelope
characteristics such as material and size of glazed areas and presence of
shading, have a direct relation with the daylight and energy performance.
Interiors daylight and buildings
energy efficiency are strictly related and dependent from building and urban
morphology, i.e. buildings size, orientation and distance. Architects and
planners are urged on the one hand to design buildings characterized by low
energy consumption and indoor comfort through passive design strategies to
reduce resource depletion and the impact on the GHG emissions thus on the
climate, and on the other hand to design taking into account climate change
scenarios by adopting mitigation strategies to create resilient urban
environments and to improve the out-door thermal comfort and livability of
pedestrian areas.
Scope of the course is the realization
of a design proposal by students for a new urban block located in Tallinn. In
the block will be located residential and office buildings. The designed block
will have architecture quality and will fit the urban area and surroundings.
The block buildings will receive enough natural illumination and will fulfill
the Estonian requirements of low energy consumption. Open public areas and
green areas will be integral part of the design proposal.
Design area
The plot for the design of the urban
block will be selected by the teams through consultations with the lecturers of
the course, among three available areas in Tallinn. Each area will be assigned
to two or three teams. The design plots are located along Ahtri street,
Kristiina street and Lastekodu street. The areas are occupied partially or
fully by buildings that, for the scope of the design exercise, will be
considered as to be demolished.
The three areas have been selected
because they are different for morphology, density and function of surrounding
buildings and form of the local urban structure. In this way the outcomes of
the course will be represented by a variety interventions characterized by different
scale, heights and density and layout of the new urban block. The projects will
have to show a strong relation with the surrounding urban environment character
together with fulfilling the requirements of maximization of comfort (daylight)
and minimization of resource deletion (energy) as prescribed by the Estonian
standards. The 3D models of the limits of the plots and the surrounding
buildings will be provided to the students.
Area of Ahtri street.
Area of Kristiina street.
Area of Lastekodu street.
Studio
The course will be conducted as a design studio. It will consist of lectures, tutoring and team work to be conducted in the computer lab with the assistance of the lecturers. Most part of the work to finalize the project proposals will be conducted in the computer lab. The software used for design and simulation is available on the computers of the lab. Additionally, students can install the software on their own laptop if need to continue to work at home. Most of the software is free or has educational (free) licenses. The software used is:
- Rhinoceros/Grasshopper. This software is used for modeling and parametric design. It is installed on all the TalTech campus computer labs. All the students are encouraged to download and install the software also on their laptops (link in the Materials section below). Every student must register an account on the Rhinoceros website using the TalTech email (tt.ee or taltech.ee). The registration will give the possibility to use one of the Rhinoceros licenses owned by TalTech for the duration of the course (after, an educational license can be purchased if a student wants to continue to work with this software). Consequently, every student will send an email to francesco.deluca@taltech.ee writing in the subject line “Name family name EAL0140” and in the text of the email “Name Family name EAL0140 course and Rhinoceros email”. After that, every student license will be activated. Before starting to use Rhinoceros either in the lab or on the laptop the student will access his/her account on the website.
- - ClimateStudio. This software is used for daylight and energy simulations as a plug-in of Rhinoceros and Grasshopper. It is installed on all the TalTech campus computer labs. All the students are encouraged to download and install the software also on their laptops (link in the Materials section below). The students will receive by the tutors the code to use the software. If the student wants, this license can be used for all the study period at TalTech (not only during the course).
It is possible additional software will be used during the course. In case it will be provided by the lecturers. The software used for rendering and image editing and the techniques used for presentation panel layout can be any decided by the students. Presentation techniques and panel design will be topics covered in a specific lecture.
Teams
The projects will be developed by
students in teams. Each team is composed by 2 students. In few cases 3 students
can form a team. Each team will develop an urban block project after selecting
one design area. However, the three design areas will have to be evenly
distributed among teams (each area will be used by 2 to 3 teams). It is
advisable that the teams are formed in a way that, if possible, one member has
already skills in using the modeling and parametric software Rhinoceros and Grasshopper.
Activities
The course is divided in different activities, each one with a specific outcome. Some activities overlap and are carried on totally or partially in parallel, others are consequential (the outcome of one is used as starting data of the next). During the course theoretical lectures about urban block design and performance design are given. During the different activities large quantity of time is given to team work with the possibility to take advantage of tutoring and consultations.
- Urban block layout development - Activity in which the project concept is developed, its architectural quality, adequacy and robustness is verified with the lecturers. The initial project idea is represented by bi-dimensional diagrams. The diagram expresses the linkage of the project idea to the site, the environmental factors and the surrounding urban morphologies.
- Parametric design of urban block – During this activity the urban block layout validity is verified through generation of different alternatives using parametric design. Practical lectures about how to design parametric models of urban blocks are given.
- Parametric modeling of urban block alternatives - Teams will develop urban block alternatives using parametric design. The design outcome quality is assessed together with the lecturers during the activity Urban block layout development. Quality and appropriateness is assessed not for every urban layout alternative but for the model that generates them on the basis of few cases. This activity ends with a general review of all the teams which will present the project idea (diagrams), the urban layout generation process and urban layout alternatives (Interim review 1).
- Daylight and energy performance - During this activity lectures about daylight simulations and energy simulations of urban block models are given. The simulations will be used by the teams to assess the performance of urban layout alternatives with respect to daylight availability and energy consumption. The scope is to produce a number of alternatives that meet the requirements and even perform better. Each team will select, also on the basis of the lecturers input, one final layout, among those that meet the requirements, to use for final urban design proposal development.
- Performance analysis – During this activity lectures are given to students about how to analyze and compare the performance of different alternatives and how to present results for an architectural project. It will be important that project presentations will show how the performance analysis results have guided design decisions. During this activity the teams will have the possibility to develop analysis presentation for the relative drawing panels.
- Urban block project and open area design + presentation – During this activity the teams will develop and finalize the urban block design proposal including the open area creating renderings and graphics. The teams will present the project status including all the aspects, i.e., design idea concept, parametric model structure, design alternatives, simulations, performance analysis, urban block design, at Interim review 2 before the finalization of the project to be presented at the final review during January 2022.
Requirements
The new urban block will have to
meet qualitative and quantitative requirements. Qualitative requirements refer
to the architecture and urban quality of the proposal. The quality is assessed
during the tutoring work with the lecturers and during the interim and final
reviews. Quantitative requirements refer to the performance of the urban
district and are the following:
FAR – Floor Area Ratio measures
the density of the built environment (the ratio between the total built floor
area and the design area). FAR will be calculated through the parametric design
software. There is not a minimum FAR requirement. However, the FAR of the
different design proposals will be used by the teams and lecturers to evaluate
the design. It is advisable to realize a high density urban block (high FAR
value), as it would be required by a developer. There is no limitation in
minimum and maximum number of floor. The massing and heights of buildings will
be assessed on the basis of its relation with the surrounding urban environment
and architectural concept.
Daylight – Daylight performance is measured using the metric Daylight Factor (DF). It expresses the potential of a building interior to receive daylight. The Estonian Daylight standard Daylight in dwellings and offices, EVS 894:2008/A2:2015 requires different average DF for different types of buildings: at least 1.5% for living rooms in residential buildings and 2% in office buildings. These values will be used as the daylight performance that the urban block buildings will have to guarantee.
Energy – The energy requirements used in the course refers to the Estonian regulation Minimum Requirements for energy performance, Annex 58, RT I, 18.01.2019, 12. Scope of the course is to design low energy buildings. Hence the maximum primary energy (PE) use will be 120 kWh/m2y for residential buildings (multi-apartment) and 130 kWh/m2y) for office buildings. The software ClimateStudio calculates the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) for the entire urban block. EUI is calculated for different types of energy consumption as heating, cooling, lighting and equipment. The energy performance of the urban block to take into account is the PE use. It is required that each building fulfill the maximum PE use as required by the Estonian regulation. To perform building energy modeling the Tallinn weather file and building templates with data about construction and use are provided be the lecturers. The design variables of the urban district that will be varied in order to reach the performance requirements are: block layout, size and ratio of building footprints, heights and orientations, distance between buildings, Window to Wall Ratio (WWR) and use of shading of the different building facades.
Office buildings PE = ((((Heating/0.97·0.65)+(Cooling·1.1·0.4)+(Lighting·2))/0.85)+71.2)
Where
0.85 = Safety margin
Heating = Heating need obtained from simulation
Cooling = Cooling need obtained from simulation
Lighting = Lighting need obtained from simulation
0.97 = Radiator emission and distribution losses
1.1 = Cooling system emission and distribution losses
Deliverables
The final review (exam) will be done by each team using 4 drawing panels (placard) of standard size A1 (594 mm width x 841 mm height). The number of 4 is mandatory and should not been exceeded. If necessary, it can be agreed with the lecturers to add 1 more panel. The content of each panel is the following:
1 - Diagrams for presentation of the project concept. Diagrams for presentation of the parametric design process for the generation of urban block alternatives. Different urban block alternatives used in performance studies.
2 - Daylight analysis results presentation on selected urban block layout alternatives. Presentation of design factors related to the chosen site and morphology influencing the daylight provision in the buildings.
3 - Energy analysis results presentation on selected urban block alternatives. Presentation of design factors influencing energy performance. Data and charts that are used to analyze performance and compare alternatives.
4 - Design proposal of the selected block among those that fulfill both daylight and energy requirements and have a high FAR. Architectural presentation using 3D views and general plan of the proposal (simplified asendiplaan).
It is required to each group that the 4 drawing panels of the project are sent by email to the course lecturers before the final review day in pdf format. The maximum file size for each A1 project board in pdf format is 10Mb. Together with the A1 boards is requested to deliver an A4 file in pdf format of all the project panels with a maximum file size of 2Mb.
Grades
Team grades will be assigned in an objective way according to the method described hereinafter. However, a certain degree of subjective evaluation cannot be excluded. The course grades will go from 0 to 5 and will be the sum of partial grades given for the following sections:
1 - Project concept and architectural design quality – from 0 to 1. This section evaluates the quality of the project concept, the block layout and its relation to the surrounding urban environment or to specific urban design principles. It evaluates as well the relation of the design proposal with the project area and program. This section is relative to the material presented on the project panels 1 and 4.
2 - Parametric model – from 0 to 1. This section evaluates how the project idea has been included in the parametric model and the efficiency of the parametric model to generate a large number of different project variations. This section is relative to the material presented on project panel 1.
3 - Building performance – from 0 to 1. This section evaluates to which extent the project meet the performance required of daylight and energy and the correctness in performing the performance simulation as presented in the course. This section is relative to the material presented on the project panels 2 and 3.
4 - Performance analysis results presentation and design exploration – from 0 to 1. This section evaluates the analysis of the performance results for the selection of the final project urban layout, the correctness and completeness of the textual presentation of the performance requirements used in the course and the accuracy in the presentation of the simulation project diagrams (3D models with false colors) using variation names/numbers, legends, titles, abbreviations and units. This section is relative to the material presented on the project panels 2 and 3.
5 - Presentation – from 0 to 1. This section evaluates the quality and completeness of the presentation, through diagrams, drawings, charts and images of all the project panels. It evaluates as well the clarity of oral presentation with demonstration by students of the sufficient level of building performance knowledge acquired (relative to what presented in the course).
For the final grade will also be
taken into account the quality of midterm presentations and participation in
course. All the students of the same group will receive the same grade.
Exceptions can be made for students of the same group with different level of
participation in the course and showing different level of building performance
knowledge relative to the aspects presented in the course.
Course Schedule
01 - 31.08 - Course presentation
Software account creation, introduction
to parametric design
02 – 07.09 - Lecture: urban block
design by Arch. Ioannis Lykouras
Design teams formation and assignment
of area
03 – 14.09 - Parametric design of
urban block – Design strategies 1
Design idea consultations
04 – 21.09 - Parametric design of
urban block – Design strategies 2
Design idea consultations, teamwork on
urban block parametric model and design variations with tutoring – Design idea
development consultations
05 – 28.09 - Parametric design of
urban block – Design strategies 3
Design idea consultations, teamwork on
urban block parametric model and design variations with tutoring
06 – 05.10 - Parametric design of
urban block – Generation of alternatives and preparation for simulations
Design idea consultations, teamwork on
urban block parametric model and design variations with tutoring
07 – 12.10 - Principles of daylight in buildings and standard requirements, daylight simulation model setup
Teamwork on urban block daylight simulation with tutoring
08 – 19.10 - Interim review 1 –
Architectural concepts and diagrams, parametric model and design variations
Lecture on final project presentation
09 – 26.10 - Daylight simulation and
results analysis
Teamwork on urban block daylight
simulation with tutoring
10 – 02.11 - Principles of building energy
performance and standard requirements, energy simulation model setup
Teamwork on urban block energy
simulation with tutoring
11 – 09.11 - Energy simulation and
results analysis
Teamwork on urban block energy
simulation with tutoring
12 – 16.11 - Performance results
presentation
Teamwork on urban block daylight and
energy results presentation with tutoring
13 – 23.11 - Combined performance
analysis of design variations
Teamwork on data generation of
parameters and performance results of urban block design variations with
tutoring
14 – 30.11 - Data analysis for design
variation selection
Teamwork on data management and export
for the creation of analysis charts with tutoring
15 – 07.12 - Teamwork and
consultations on all the architectural and technical aspects of the urban block
design
16 – 14.12 - Teamwork and consultations
on all the architectural and technical aspects of the urban block design
17 – 21.12
Interim review 2
Organization
For any information students can
contact Francesco De Luca at francesco.deluca@taltech.ee
and Ioannis Lykouras at ioannis.lykouras@taltech.ee.
The course will have a page in Moodle that will be managed by Ioannis Lykouras.
The course is anticipated to take place at university. If the Covid situation
will change it will be carried on in Teams. Teams will be used also to provide
the students with the files necessary for the course (the same file will be
available on this website for future reference). The lectures will be recorded
and available in Teams. However, it is recommended that the students
participate to the lectures in person.
Materials
Through this sections materials useful
for the course are available. They are links to download the course design and
simulation software, websites and publications related to the design and
simulation software, urban block design and performance design examples,
websites useful for the course and files to be used in the course. Materials
will be added during the course to this section.
Books
The following books are available at TalTech main library. The books are useful for the course and in further studies to acquire knowledge about basic and advanced principles of sustainable, climatic and environmental design, building technology, performance simulations and theories of architecture and performance design:
- M. DeKay, G.Z. Brown, 2014. Sun, Wind, and Light: Architectural Design Strategies: Architectural Design Strategies, John Wiley & Sons.
- N. Lechner, 2014. Heating, Cooling, Lighting: Sustainable Design Methods for Architects, John Wiley & Sons.
- K. Anderson, 2014. Design Energy Simulation for Architects: Guide to 3D Graphics, Routledge.
- T.R. Oke, G. Mills, A. Christen, J.A. Voogt, 2017. Urban Climates, Cambridge University Press.
- M. Santamouris, 2016. Urban Climate Mitigation Techniques, Routledge.
- M. Krautheim, R. Pasel, 2014. City and Wind: Climate as an Architectural Instrument, DOM Publishers.
- B. Kolarevic, 2004. Performative Architecture: Beyond Instrumentality, Routledge.
- M. Hansel, 2013. Performance-Oriented Architecture: Rethinking Architectural Design and the Built Environment, John Wiley & Sons.
- M. Hansel, F. Nilsson, 2019. Changing Shape of Architecture: Further Cases of Integrating Research and Design in Practice, Routledge.
- W.T. Grondzik, A.G. Kwok, 2019. Mechanical and Electrical Equipment for Buildings, John Wiley & Sons.
Support material
Rhinoceros/Grasshopper https://www.rhino3d.com/
ClimateStudio https://www.solemma.com/climatestudio
Estonian standard Daylight in dwellings and offices EVS 894:2008+A1:2010 >>>>>
Estonian standard Daylight in dwellings and offices EVS 894:2008/A2:2015 >>>>>
Estonian regulation Minimum requirements for energy performance (English) https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/ee/520102014001/consolide
Estonian regulation Methodology for calculating the energy performance of buildings (English) https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/520102014002/
Tallinn Ruumiandmed https://www.tallinn.ee/est/geoportaal/Andmed
Tallinn Linnamudel https://gis.tallinn.ee/linnamudel/?fbclid=IwAR3513omJhZdmfLj5nYzaiKowQMnXqY4n_UjY8O2U4BmMfEFdVk0oifWfyg
Rhinoceros tutorials https://www.rhino3d.com/learn/?keyword=kind:%20rhino_win
Grasshopper manual http://grasshopperprimer.com/en/index.html
ClimateStudio tutorials https://www.solemma.com/climatestudio-tutorial-videos
Files and links for lectures and
project work
- GH files lecture 07.09.21 >>>>>
- Ahtri urban environment 3D model >>>>>
- Kristiina urban environment 3D model >>>>>
- Lastekodu urban environment 3D model >>>>>
- Clipper software tool for Grasshopper >>>>>
To install the software tool follow these steps with Rhinoceros and Grasshopper are switched off: 1 - Download the .zip file. 2 - Unblock all the files contained in the .zip archive by right-clicking the .zip file and checking the Unblock box, and click Apply (as shown in the image below).
3 - Create a folder named Clipper into the folder C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\Grasshopper\Libraries where NAME is your username used on your laptop or on the class computer. If you cannot access the folder on the class computer then you need to make the installation with Rhinoceros and Grasshopper switched on. In this case from the Grasshopper dropdown menu select File then Special Folders and then Components Folder as show in the image below. Then create a folder named Clipper in this folder (which is the folder Libraries).
