Case Studies on Space Zoning and Passive Façade Strategies for Green Laboratories

ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH, Vol. 22, No. 2(June 2020). pp.41-52 pISSN 1229-6163 eISSN 2383-5575 Case Studies on Space Zoning and Passive Façade Strategies for Green Laboratories Jinho Kim Associate Professor, Division of Architecture and Urban Design, Incheon National University, Incheon, South Korea https://doi.org/10.5659/AIKAR.2020.22.2.41 Abstract Laboratory buildings with specialized equipment and ventilation systems pose challenges in terms of efficient energy use and initial construction costs. Additionally, lab spaces should have flexible and efficient layouts and provide a comfortable indoor research environment. Therefore, this study aims to identify the correlation between the facade of a building and its interior layout from case studies of energy-efficient research labs and to propose passive energy design strategies for the establishment of an optimal research environment. The case studies in this paper were selected from the American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment Top Ten Projects and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified research lab projects. In this paper, the passive design strategies of space zoning, façade design devices to control heating and cooling loads were analyzed. Additionally, the relationships between these strategies and the interior lab layouts, lab support spaces, offices, and circulation areas were examined. The following four conclusions were drawn from the analysis of various cases: 1) space zoning for grouping areas with similar energy requirements is performed to concentrate similar heating and cooling demands to simplify the HVAC loads. 2) Public areas such as corridor, atrium, or courtyard can serve as buffer zones that employ passive solar design to minimize the mechanical energy load. 3) A balanced window-to-wall ratio (WWR), exterior shading devices, and natural ventilation systems are applied according to the space programming energy requirements to minimize the dependence on mechanical service. 4) Lastly, typical laboratory space zoning categories can be revised, reversed, and even reconfigured to minimize the energy load and adjust to the site context. This study can provide deep insights into various design strategies employed for construction of green laboratories along with intuitive arrangement of various building components such as laboratory spaces, lab support spaces, office spaces, and common public areas. The key findings of this study can contribute towards creating improved designs of laboratory facilities with reduced carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions. Keywords: green laboratories, passive façade design, space zoning, integrated design, case study 1. INTRODUCTION required to minimize greenhouse gas emissions by reducing energy consumption. Such strategies must be developed based The global climate change crisis and current state of energy on the characteristics of specific building types and space depletion are core issues in the construction industry and have programming requirements. placed urgent focus on sustainability (UNEP, 2018). To resolve Scientific research laboratories are energy intensive facilities these issues, customized architectural design strategies are and require high construction costs. A variety of equipment, including ventilators for various experiments, air-conditioning Corresponding Author : Jinho Kim equipment for establishing the optimal research environment, Division of Architecture and Urban Design, Incheon National refrigerators, and freezers are installed in these labs. Thus, the University, 119 Academy-ro, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon, South Korea energy consumption per unit area of research and testing labs e-mail : [email protected] is five to ten times higher than that of ordinary office buildings This paper was developed from the proceedings of 7th Annual (Sartor et al., 2000). Additionally, the cost of mechanical, International Conference on Architecture Civil Engineering (ACE electrical, and plumbing (MEP) equipment in lab-type buildings 2019) held in Singapore May 2019. This research was performed account for as much as 50% of the total construction costs, with financial support from the National Research Foundation of the whereas the corresponding cost is 20-25% for an office building Government of South Korea (NRF-2017R1C1B5076708). (Crosbie, 2004). Developing design strategies for energy-efficient research This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the labs, in which diverse types of equipment are concentrated, Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http:// is important. If the energy consumption used in labs can creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, be reduced by applying passive environment controls, the provided the original work is properly cited. carbon footprint can be reduced to alleviate global warming. ©Copyright 2020 Architectural Institute of Korea. 42 Jinho Kim Additionally, more economical equipment management and controls in the non-lab areas such as offices, atrium, meeting maintenance are required to reduce the energy costs associated rooms, and other supporting areas. Similarly, Grömling (2005) with equipment operation. Furthermore, construction cost suggested separating buildings, office buildings with standard savings and energy-efficient research facility can be achieved by building services, and well-equipped laboratory wings as an designing appropriately sized MEP systems. alternate strategy for achieving optimal energy performance. The reminder of this paper is organized as follows. Section The author pointed out that this could hinder social interaction 2 presents the literature review on the main characteristics and teamwork. On the other hand, Griffin (2005) suggested that of laboratory spaces including space zoning, space zoning an internal courtyard between the building wings could provide types. Moreover, three research questions are presented after a buffer zone for reducing the heating and cooling load and investigating passive façade designs to create laborartory specific function as a communication and community space for building work environment by controlling the external environment users. At this point, the investigation of space zoning strategies (e.g., light, air, and heat) to reduce the heating and cooling based on the completed case studies is necessary to verify the load. Sections 3 and 4 explain the research methods and case design process from the context of an individual project. studies, respectively. Finally, section 5 presents the discussions and conclusions, followed by limitations and future studies in 2.2 Space Zoning Types in Laboratory Facilities section 6. By investigating numerous publications describing space Therefore, the goal of this paper is to present case studies of planning of the laboratory facilities (Dahan, 2000; Mayer, green laboratories that have utilized space zoning and passive 1995; Grömling, 2005; KlingStubbins, 2010; DiBeradinis et al., façade design strategies by analyzing the correlation between 2013; Watch, 2016), this study identified and summarized the building facade and laboratory spaces. This study can assist three major laboratory space zoning types, as shown in Figure designers and related stakeholders interested in developing 1-6. They are mainly classified according to the location of the green laboratories by providing insights on space zoning and corridor. Because the distance between the laboratories and passive facade designing from the preliminary design phase. offices has a significant impact on the layout of the research buildings, the corridor allows the convenient distribution and 2. BACKGROUND assignment of allotted space and provides a circulation area for building users. 2.1 Space Zoning in Laboratory Facilities The first zoning type is a single corridor concept, which has Space zoning, which is a space programming activity, involves advantages over other schemes with regard to flexibility. Office grouping the related spaces based on their spatial characteristics and laboratory space can be separated by a corridor (Figure and functional requirements. It is one of the passive building 1, Type 1A; Figure 2, Type 1B) or both space groups can be design strategies to maximizing energy savings when their repeated across the corridor (Figure 3, Type 1C). The laboratory zoning and configuration are integrated with other sustainable support space can be arranged next to the laboratory they serve design strategies for daylighting, cooling, and heating (NY, 1999; along the corridor to yield daylight and views to the laboratory WBDG, 2018). Every decision made during the programming and office area (Figures 1 & 3). To maximize the daylight and phase influences the space occupied by the laboratory building views, the office space can be located facing south and the (physical efficiency) and the amount of energy consumed by laboratory and laboratory support space can be located across it (operational efficiency). The more efficient a laboratory is the corridor facing north (Figures 1 & 2). The single corridor and the fewer resources it uses during its operation, the more option is generally considered more efficient, as it encourages sustainable it becomes. It is possible to create a low-impact design through careful and well-considered decisions during the space zoning process. A compact floor plan is efficient, therefore, the more compact a floor plan is, the shorter

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