Architecture and Systems Ecology: Thermodynamic Principles of Environmental Building Design, in Three Parts William Braham, University of Pennsylvania
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University of Pennsylvania From the SelectedWorks of William W. Braham 2015 Architecture and Systems Ecology: Thermodynamic Principles of Environmental Building Design, in three parts William Braham, University of Pennsylvania Available at: https://works.bepress.com/william_braham/16/ ARCHITECTURE AND “In a context in which energy efficiency inexplicably and erroneously remains the sole architectural consideration of energy, Architecture and Systems Ecology is a superb, and necessary, contribution towards advancing the design and discourse of energy systems in architecture. From salient principles to their application, Braham provides a cogent explication of the latent power of the thermodynamics ARCHITECTURE of building. These principles have yet to transform our collective modes of reasoning and imagination for energy systems, but soon will.” – Kiel Moe, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, USA “Comprehensive and accessible, Architecture and Systems Ecology presents environmental building AND design as both a technical and a social challenge. With solid scientific foundations in thermodynamics and SYSTEMS ecology, and understanding buildings as physical shelters, life settings and urban sites, this important book goes beyond energy efficiency to propose principles of sustainable construction for contemporary cities. If Vitruvius established firmitas, utilitas and venustas as the basis of sound architecture, Braham offers a new triad for the twenty-first century: shelter, setting and site.” – Luis Fernández-Galiano, Int FRIBA, Professor of Architecture, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain ECOLOGYMATERIALS WATER FOOD Modern buildings are both wasteful machines that can be made more efficient and instruments of Thermodynamic SUPPLIES GAS the massive, metropolitan system engendered by the power of high-quality fuels. A comprehensive SYSTEMS principles of method of environmental design must reconcile the techniques of efficient building design with ELECTRIC the radical urban and economic reorganization that we face. Over the coming century, we will environmental be challenged to return to the renewable resource base of the eighteenth-century city with the building design, knowledge, technologies, and expectations of the twenty-first-century metropolis. in three parts This book explores the architectural implications of systems ecology, which extends the principles of BLDG thermodynamics from the nineteenth-century focus on more efficient machinery to the contemporary STRUCT & ENVEL. concern with the resilient self-organization of ecosystems. SYSTEMS WIND SOFTWARE INTERIORS Written with enough technical material to explain the methods, it does not include in-text equations or ECOLOGY FF&E calculations, relying instead on the energy system diagrams to convey the argument. Architecture and Systems Ecology has minimal technical jargon and an emphasis on intelligible design conclusions, CONDENSER making it suitable for architecture students and professionals who are engaged with the fundamental A/C issues faced by sustainable design. FURNACE The energy systems language provides a holistic context for the many kinds of performance already SUN GAS evaluated in architecture—from energy use to material selection and even the choice of building style. ELECTRIC It establishes the foundation for environmental principles of design that embrace the full complexity AMBIENT DIST. HOT WATER of our current situation. Architecture succeeds best when it helps shape, accommodate, and represent HEAT WATER new ways of living together. WILLIAM W. BRAHAM WILLIAM W. HEAT ENVELOPE (COOL) William W. Braham FAIA is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania, where he is PMENT UI Director of the Master of Environmental Building Design. He received an engineering degree from Q E BATH Princeton University and an M. Arch and Ph.D. Arch. from the University of Pennsylvania. Braham WINDOW ROOM is the director of the TC Chan Center, a faculty research unit on energy and environment in the built LAUNDRY STUDY LIGHT DINING environment. Recent projects include the Sustainability Plan, Carbon Footprint, and Carbon Reduction RAIN LANDSCAPE LIVING KITCHEN BED Action Plan for the university. His publications include Rethinking Technology (2006), Energy and Architecture (2013), and Energy Accounts (2016). T SETTING SustaiNABLE ARCHITECTURE SHELTER Cover image: © William W. Braham and Jill Sornson Kurtz ISBN 978-1-138-84607-4 SITE www.routledge.com 9 781138 846074 Routledge titles are available as eBook editions in a range of digital formats WILLIAM W. BRAHAM HEAT SINK Architecture and Systems Ecology Thermodynamic principles of environmental building design, in three parts William W. Braham First published 2016 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2016 William W. Braham The right of William W. Braham to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data [CIP data] ISBN: 978-1-138-84605-0 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-138-84607-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-315-72772-1 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by Keystroke, Station Road, Codsall, Wolverhampton Contents List of figures ix List of tables xvii Preface xix INTRODUCTION 3 Wealth and power 4 Synergy and correalism 5 Glass walls 8 Ecotopia 16 1 Environments of maximum power 21 Accounting for a living, self-organizing environment 22 Thermodynamics of living systems 24 Limitations of efficiency: the roles of entropy and exergy 26 Bioenergetics 31 Maximum power 39 Hierarchies of production and e[m]ergy 41 Material cycles and the pulsing of systems 49 System principles in the built environment 54 Self-organization 54 v Contents 2 Buildings in three parts 61 Three aspects of buildings: site, shelter, setting 62 The Ellis House 66 3 Building-as-shelter 69 Building construction 70 Accounting 72 Disposal and recycling 76 Layers and longevities of construction 79 Climate modification 80 Bioclimatic approach 82 Mechanical approach 90 Ventilation and waste processing 98 Illumination: windows and lamps 104 Wasting waste heat 110 A thermodynamic minimum 115 4 Building-as-setting for the work of living 125 Material services 127 Water supply 130 Wastewater treatment 132 Food supply 135 Supplies and solid waste 136 Concentrated power 139 Fuels 141 Electricity 145 Information 147 Currency 150 The work of living 152 vi Contents 5 Building-as-site in urban and economic locations 161 Spatial hierarchies: urban self-organization 163 Evaluating location 179 Design for location 183 Social and economic hierarchies 183 Cultural evolution 186 The common good 192 The slow and the fast of location 192 6 Design of thermodynamic narratives 199 Design methods at multiple (or at least three) scales 204 Shelter 206 Setting 207 Site 208 Thermodynamic principles for environmental building design: a conclusion 210 Three points of leverage 211 Building well 212 Appendix A: Energy systems language 215 Appendix B: E[m]ergy synthesis of the Ellis House 219 Index 247 vii.