Team member(s): Paula De Simone, Abdulrahman Alhabib and Manolya Nielsen
Modified by Paula De Simone on December 22, 2023

Current situation

Buenos Aires is a densely constructed city characterized by scarce surface vegetation, and is currently experiencing the effects of what is referred to as the Heat Island. Consequences such as elevated temperatures, heatwaves, and increased energy consumption are brought about by this phenomenon. Climate projections suggest that these trends will continue.

The location of the building was chosen in the Neighborhood of Belgrano due to its porous urban tissue, where free perimeter buildings are permitted by code, and its heterogeneous context, featuring variable heights and open areas to explore different situations.

Direct Sun Hours

Summer (21Dec – 21Mar)

Design mass approach

Shape, position and dimension iterations, maintaining total exposed surface constant for comparable results.

Direct Normal Radiation

Summer (21Dec – 21Mar)

Observations :

NE could be a good orientation for maximizing sun hours, however, a strategy to minimize harmful radiation will be needed

Direct Normal Radiation results :

By rotating and changing dimensions of the floorplan, overall sun hours were increased.

Façade facing north surface with greatest harmful radiation values was reduced.

NE facing orientation to profit from the prevailing wind direction for natural ventilation in future analysis.

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UTCI

Urban Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) within our urban context was investigated, starting with a large area and scaling down to our building premise. The analysis period was set based on extreme hot and cold weeks in February and July, respectively. The use of trees was found to slightly improve equivalent temperatures in summer and winter, though consideration of deciduous trees is necessary for winter shading.

Differences in ground materials were tested within the premise. Grass areas showed a slight decrease in ground UTCI compared to full asphalt ground due to the high albedo of grass reflecting more solar radiation upwards. Shaded areas by the building, mostly concrete, exhibited low values, while non-shaded areas reached high values, up to 33 degrees in the summer.

UTCI Results :

Urban thermal comfort in building premise is increased with the inclusion of trees for shade.

Inclusion of grasslands in building premise reduce the areas with thermal stress in comparison to a full asphalt ground.

Thermal stress in building premise ranging from 8 to 22 in summer and 8 to 10 in winter.

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Radiation analysis

Radiation analysis revealed the north side having maximum harmful radiation in summer. Efforts were made to minimize it by orienting the shortest elevation facing the north side and employing floor displacement and shade devices to block radiation.

Daylight & Radiation results :

With different floor orientation & displacement.

The results shows that the maximum factor that affect the day lighting is the windows numbers & sizes.

If the windows size increased , specially in the north elevation, louvers need to be added to control the UDI UP.

Important to define the occupied hours & thresholds.

In this study it’s from 8am-5pm with 100-3000 lux thresholds .

Ventilation:

Trees and vegetation help reduce overall urban Temperature by means of shadowing and evapotranspiration.

Wind Analysis

In wind analysis, the focus was on evaluating pedestrian-level comfort. High-speed winds in open garden areas causing discomfort could potentially be mitigated with vegetation. The building receives wind mainly from E, ENE, and NE, ranging from values of 3.4 to 4 m/s. Wind acceleration from 2-6 m/s, as observed in Figures 1 and 2, could be utilized for ventilation. The rectangular dimension of the floor plan encourages crossed ventilation.

Wind results :

W Speed

1500 iterations

Prevailing Wind direction: 100° SE

Average Speed: 6.5 m/s

Height studied: 0 to 30 mts

Observations:

Wind acceleration from values ranging from 2-6m/s is observed

Strategies:

Openings: Align Openings with Prevailing Winds / Align openings on opposite sides/Cross ventilation

Building Shape: Long and narrow buildings with openings on opposite sides

Trees and vegetation: Effect on air flow

Buenos Aires Environmental Analysis is a project of IAAC, Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia developed in the Master in Advanced Computation for Architecture and Design - 2023-2024 by the student(s) Paula De Simone, Abdulrahman Alhabib and Manolya Nielsen during the course MaCAD 23/24 Environmental Analysis & Structural Design with Angelos Chronis.