DESIGN Principles & Practices: An International Journal Volume 3, Number 6 Evolutionary Performance: Passive Design for a Hotel in Central India James Kraus www.design-journal.com DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL http://www.Design-Journal.com First published in 2009 in Champaign, Illinois, USA by Common Ground Publishing LLC www.CommonGroundPublishing.com. © 2009 (individual papers), the author(s) © 2009 (selection and editorial matter) Common Ground Authors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables and maps. All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact <[email protected]>. ISSN: 1833-1874 Publisher Site: http://www.Design-Journal.com DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL is peer- reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenced article ranking and qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatest substance and highest significance is published. Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichannel typesetting system http://www.commongroundpublishing.com/software/ Evolutionary Performance: Passive Design for a Hotel in Central India James Kraus, New York, USA Abstract: Merging sustainable design and energy usage in developing economies is one of the most significant architectural design challenges. This paper outlines the process of an architectural design project at Skidmore Owings and Merrill from 2006-2007. The project is a 250 room hotel in Hyderabad, India bolstered by a government economic incentive which encourages tourism and informed by envir- onmental sensitivity and parametric computer models. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that thorough understanding of both the external environment and the internal environment combined with clear understanding of client goals, computer simulation, and knowledge of fabrication techniques can result in a successful passive designed architecture which can significantly reduce energy demand and increase indoor quality. This paper focuses on thee primary design concepts to reach the final solution. First, an examination of the electromagnetic spectrum as it pertains to visual comfort. This paper explains how basic science can provide a high performance elegant design. Secondly, the paper validates a process for identifying specific environmental parameters (in this a case, a mild tropical climate with solar insulation and lux levels) and is supported by empirical analysis. Finally, the process of optimization of a pattern for views and daylight combines three types of parameters: of design, fabrication and performance into a building information model to create a final design solution that lowers the energy use of the hotel and creates a beautiful prototype. The resulting design had a 20% reduction in energy load in mechanical systems and provided a further optimized design through multi- disciplinary collaboration, environmental sensitivity and building information modelling. Keywords: Passive Design, Sustainable Design, Optimisation Introduction USTAINABLE DESIGN IN the next century will involve multidisciplinary collab- oration that enables building performance to evolve through informed and deliberate design. Sustainable design processes will change not because of a radically different Sapproach but rather out of a desire for conserving vital natural resources while maintaining economic growth. This paper will use a case study of a hotel designed by Skidmore, Owings and Merrill from 2006-2007, to demonstrate how a collaborative process and an emphasis on environmental factors have allowed the design to evolve to a more sophisticated solution. It will begin by describing the context in which this design process was developed followed by the results of a climate data analysis. Synthesis of the data informs the mass and orientation of the building which is the foundation for further optimization. Once the form is “optimized” the formal aspirations of the client and the design team is ex- plored and tested relative to set of goals established early in the design process. Three different types of goals inform the final design of the exterior enclosure: design, performance, and fabrication. This study shows how important environmental parameters and sophisticated digital tools are to creating sustainable and evolutionary design. Design Principles and Practices: An International Journal Volume 3, Number 6, 2009, http://www.Design-Journal.com, ISSN 1833-1874 © Common Ground, James Kraus, All Rights Reserved, Permissions: [email protected] DESIGN PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL The case study is a building and exterior envelope design of a 250-room boutique hotel for the Appejay Surrundra Park Hotel Group in Hyderabad, India. The building will be the client’s first newly constructed project and serves as its flagship Hotel. The Park Hotel Group wanted the hotel to reflect the highly optimistic and sustainable culture in a growing India through a forward-thinking architecture. Once completed, it will be the first LEED Gold Hotel in India. To further encourage development and tourism, the national government has developed new economic incentives that eliminate any tax duty on products imported for the hotel and tourism industry. The design team included engineers, computer specialists, energy simulators, and university researchers, all embracing the opportunity to contribute to design decisions throughout the process. Many decisions have been informed by environ- mental research including building program, orientation, massing, and façade optimization. The energy-and resource-intensiveness of the hotel typology has underscored the importance of these results. The process sought to redefine the typical role of master architect and de- signer to address a specific challenge of sustainable design in emerging economies through an in-depth understanding of climate and culture. Climate Analysis Hyderabad lies at 17°20’N 78°30’E in the Andrah Pradesh state in central India. It is in the “Tropical Monsoon” (Am) region as defined by the Koppen classification for international climate. Summer months between March and May experience a large diurnal temperature swing between 25°C to 42°C. The Monsoon season stretches from mid-June to September and brings heavy rains and prevailing wind from the northeast. The fall season or “post- monsoon” is characterized by high humidity with minimal rainfall.2 The winter months carry much cooler temperatures and pleasant breezes that create opportunities for passive cooling and natural ventilation. The temperatures range from 20°C to 32°C (humans are most com- fortable in a range between 18 and 25 degrees, depending on wind speed and humidity). The hourly temperature chart below highlights the maximum and minimum diurnal tem- perature throughout the year overlayed on the human comfort zone. Of significance in this climate data is the high solar radiation, particularly in the winter season from December to April. The direct solar radiation drops significantly in the summer from June to August, as the monsoon season mitigates the direct solar gain through the building envelope. (Fig 1.) Wind analysis reveals that the prevailing wind during the monsoon is from the west/south- west. Building outdoor spaces should be positioned to protect them from the higher winds and wind-driven rain in the summer months. (Fig 2.) 40 JAMES KRAUS Fig 1: Hourly Climate Data for Hyderabad Fig 2: Seasonal Windrose for Summer (Source: Meteonorm) Months Showing Frequency and Speed (Source: Meteonorm) Environmental Types The analysis of the local climate and application of this analysis to the design process recalls the words of James Marsden Finch in his book American Building, The environmental forces that shape it: “Our physical environment must be thought of as being of composite structure, formed of many distinct, coextensive and coexistent yet interacting elements which may actually be viewed as complete subenvironments”1 He describes seven types of “environ- ments” that are only concerned with those factors that which act directly upon the human body and which can be immediately and directly modified by buildings. For the purpose of the climate analysis, five of the seven environmental parameters are used: thermal, aqueous, sonic, atmospheric, and luminous. The thermal environment in Hyderabad consists of low diurnal swings and consistently high temperatures all year. The aqueous environment is characterized by the high relative humidity and high levels of rainfall through the year. It presents an opportunity for water collection during the monsoon months. The sonic environ- ment relates to acoustics and ambient noise that impact the building user. It manifests itself in the building through internal-borne sound such as vibration from equipment or from ex- ternal sound such as train horns and car traffic. The luminous environment pertains to the spectrum between 380 and 700nm that allows for visual light to be perceived. Arguably, a balance between the luminous and thermal environments is the most important aspect of design in this climate. Thus, the design prioritized strategies that struck a balance between these two parameters. The