This thesis takes a step back to evaluate the architecture of the isolated Nordic home, where the exterior wall, or facade, stands out as the element with most potential for creating less isolated living conditions. As the physical threshold between domains of seemingly opposite social dynamics, the domestic- and the public; The façade serves as buildings most instrumental tool for establishing the relationship between the two. In their current state, however, as two-dimensional walls, facades have become limited in their ability to merge these two seamlessly. From having been a spatial composition of distinct elements –each with their own functions, facades of today have been reduced to only the outermost wrapping around buildings. However, when synthesizing research by architects R. Koolhaas, D. Leatherbarrow, M. Mostafavi and P. M. Martinelli, it becomes clear that contemporary facades are better understood as sealing systems that together with the rest of the buildings comprise the protective envelope around buildings. Therefore, in order to reverse the notion of facades only being superficial skins, and in hopes to create a more gradual separation between private homes and their public surroundings, this thesis speculates how facades could be distilled into distinct elements in order to be reintroduced as layers of a more spatial composition again. This new “Domestic Façade” then, as an assembly spanning between the interior and exterior, would compose an inhabitable threshold that facilitates free movement and living between the private unit and its public surroundings.

Many attempts have been made to design buildings that reduce the heat gain inside the building. In hot-humid region, architects deal with many forces of nature. These forces might be Rain, Humidity, and solar heat gain. Thermal mass was been used for centuries in hot-arid region as a way to limit the dry-bulb temperature swing inside the building. However, there are some architects who agree that thermal mass materials could be used in hot-humid climate. This thesis project suggests using ventilated envelope that incorporates thermal mass in the design of the ventilated envelope. The result of the experiment shows that using ventilated envelopes with thermal mass would allow the heat gained in the cladding and in the thermal mass to be released to the air cavity and therefore releasing the heat from the building to the exterior atmosphere. The ventilated facade could be improved by adding thermal insulation and by using reflective materials on the cladding.

<p>During the past few decades, the term intelligent building envelope has emerged as a building skin designed to meet increasingly varying and complex demands related to user comfort and energy and cost efficiency. The concept is described by a multitude of definitions that range from the use of innovative components and a high-tech visual expression to the rational design, use and maintenance of the building envelope.</p><p>Within the scope of this Ph.D., intelligent behaviour for a building envelope has been defined as adaptiveness to the environment by means of perception, reasoning and action, allowing the envelope to solve conflicts and deal with new situations that occur in its interaction with the environment, i.e., the local climate and site, and the individual user needs.</p><p>This definition is used to analyse the functions an intelligent building envelope can be expected to perform in the context of daylighting quality, or an optimisation of the indoor luminous environment to the requirements of the individual building occupant. Of particular importance is the co-operation between artificial intelligence and the material, form and composition of envelope elements, allowing the envelope to learn the occupant’s needs and preferences, to choose the most appropriate response in each situation, to make long-term strategies, to anticipate the development of environmental conditions, and to evaluate its own performance.</p><p>Simultaneously, it is found that adaptive envelope solutions in no manner reduce the need for envelope design meticulously adjusted to local climate and site and to individual user needs, developed in close co-operation between architects, engineers and manufacturers. All of the sources consulted during the course of this Ph.D. stress time and time again how difficult it is to control the operation of the envelope components according to the local environment, and, simultaneously, how important it is to do so.</p>

During the past few decades, the term intelligent building envelope has emerged as a building skin designed to meet increasingly varying and complex demands related to user comfort and energy and cost efficiency. The concept is described by a multitude of definitions that range from the use of innovative components and a high-tech visual expression to the rational design, use and maintenance of the building envelope. Within the scope of this Ph.D., intelligent behaviour for a building envelope has been defined as adaptiveness to the environment by means of perception, reasoning and action, allowing the envelope to solve conflicts and deal with new situations that occur in its interaction with the environment, i.e., the local climate and site, and the individual user needs. This definition is used to analyse the functions an intelligent building envelope can be expected to perform in the context of daylighting quality, or an optimisation of the indoor luminous environment to the requirements of the individual building occupant. Of particular importance is the co-operation between artificial intelligence and the material, form and composition of envelope elements, allowing the envelope to learn the occupant’s needs and preferences, to choose the most appropriate response in each situation, to make long-term strategies, to anticipate the development of environmental conditions, and to evaluate its own performance. Simultaneously, it is found that adaptive envelope solutions in no manner reduce the need for envelope design meticulously adjusted to local climate and site and to individual user needs, developed in close co-operation between architects, engineers and manufacturers. All of the sources consulted during the course of this Ph.D. stress time and time again how difficult it is to control the operation of the envelope components according to the local environment, and, simultaneously, how important it is to do so.

abstract: Thermal Energy Storage (TES) is of great significance for many engineering applications as it allows surplus thermal energy to be stored and reused later, bridging the gap between requirement and energy use. Phase change materials (PCMs) are latent heat-based TES which have the ability to store and release heat through phase transition processes over a relatively narrow temperature range. PCMs have a wide range of operating temperatures and therefore can be used in various applications such as stand-alone heat storage in a renewable energy system, thermal storage in buildings, water heating systems, etc. In this dissertation, various PCMs are incorporated and investigated numerically and experimentally with different applications namely a thermochemical metal hydride (MH) storage system and thermal storage in buildings. In the second chapter, a new design consisting of an MH reactor encircled by a cylindrical sandwich bed packed with PCM is proposed. The role of the PCM is to store the heat released by the MH reactor during the hydrogenation process and reuse it later in the subsequent dehydrogenation process. In such a system, the exothermic and endothermic processes of the MH reactor can be utilized effectively by enhancing the thermal exchange between the MH reactor and the PCM bed. Similarly, in the third chapter, a novel design that integrates the MH reactor with cascaded PCM beds is proposed. In this design, two different types of PCMs with different melting temperatures and enthalpies are arranged in series to improve the heat transfer rate and consequently shorten the time duration of the hydrogenation and dehydrogenation processes. The performance of the new designs (in chapters 2 and 3) is investigated numerically and compared with the conventional designs in the literature. The results indicate that the new designs can significantly enhance the time duration of MH reaction (up to 87%). In the fourth chapter, organic coconut oil PCM (co-oil PCM) is explored experimentally and numerically for the first time as a thermal management tool in building applications. The results show that co-oil PCM can be a promising solution to improve the indoor thermal environment in semi-arid regions. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Mechanical Engineering 2020

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The present investigation is focused on the thermal performance of building materials, specifically their thermal transmittance, and consequent impact on building envelope and building thermal performance. Thermal performance of building materials plays a crucial role in regulating indoor thermal comfort when suitably integrated as part of the building envelope. Studies into thermal performance of building materials are few, particularly in the context of designing building blocks to achieve a particular thermal transmittance in buildings. Such studies require both theoretical (numerical) investigations augmented with experimental investigation into material thermal performance. A unique contribution of this study has been assessing the temperature-dependent performance of building material and their influence on thermal conductivity. The thermal performance of conventional and alternative (low energy) building materials have also been investigated to assess their suitability for naturally ventilated building in salient climatic zones in India. The study has also investigated the impact of varying mix proportions in Cement Stabilized Soil Block on thermal performance. There is little evidence of such studies, involving both experimental and theoretical studies, tracing the thermal performance of building materials to building performance. The current study involves three parts: studying thermo-physical properties of building materials, building-envelope performance evaluation and case-study investigation on buildings in various climatic zones. The thermo-physical study involves understanding the role of materials mix-proportion, composition, and microstructure for its influence on building-envelope thermal performance. Studies into building envelope performance for conventional and alternative building materials, includes, steady and dynamic thermal performance parameters. As part of the study, a calibrated hot-box thermal testing facility has been tested to experimentally determine the thermal performance of building envelopes. Case-study investigation involves real-time monitoring and simulation based assessment of naturally ventilated buildings in three climatic zones of India. The study finds noticeable temperature-dependent performance for various building materials tested. However, their impact on overall thermal performance of buildings is limited for the climatic zones tested. Further, the study validates the hitherto unexplored possibility of customizing building materials for specific thermal performances.