Climate Responsive Building Design Strategy In Chaoshan Rural Area

Recently, newly-build residential houses, which ignore the interaction of building andlocal environment and climate, have largely replaced traditional vernacular buildings in ruralChaoshan area. The energy demands in those buildings are growing fast as the economicalgrowth in China. The objectives of this thesis is to develop design strategies that can saveenergy and maintain human comfort in residential buildings in Chaoshan rural area based onextensive field study, theoretical analysis, and energy simulation.Firstly, background survey was conducted to identify the history and current status ofresidential buildings, as well as their energy consumptions in Chaoshan rural area. We foundthat most traditional buildings employed courtyard and semi-open spaces, which was not thecases in new buildings. The energy survey results show that residential buildings in rural areaconsumed far less energy than their urban counterparts. It was also found that larger semi-open area helped reducing energy consumption in rural residential buildings.Furthermore, whole-year thermal environment measurements were conducted in threetypical buildings (traditional one-story buildings with courtyards, new multistory buildingswith/without courtyards) to evaluate the effect of building designs on thermal environment inbuildings. It was found that semi-open spaces, variable envelope and shading were three mainclimate responsive strategies employed in traditional buildings, which were largely ignored innew buildings. Lacking of ventilation was identified as one of the main problem in traditionalbuildings because of the small size of windows and vents. This problem remains unsolved innew buildings although windows are employed.The third component of this study consists thermal comfort field studies in thosebuildings. An adaptive model has been established based on448sets of questionnaires.Compare with previous results on thermal comfort in urban area in hot humid climate, ruralresidents adapted to climate better than urban residents. Rural residents used air movementand adjusted clothing more often than urban residents. Based on occupants’ thermal sensationvotes in semi-open spaces and indoor, we found that semi-open spaces helped occupants toadapt to hot humid climate.Lastly, optimizations were made for design strategies such as shading, insulation andnatural ventilation in low-rise buildings with/without courtyards. Numerical analysis wasconducted to quantify the energy and comfort performance of those design strategies. Stiltfloor was found to be a good way to build semi-open spaces in low-rise buildings withoutcourtyards. The heights and orientation of courtyards were important features in buildings with courtyards.