This study evaluated the potential of toplighting systems in the hot and humid tropics by using Bangkok, Thailand (latitude 13.7°N) as a test location. The analysis tested both the thermal and lighting performance of three toplighting systems. Toplighting, designed for use in one-story buildings or on the top floor of taller buildings, yields a uniformly distributed light throughout a space. However, in lower latitude locations, where there is no heating period, heat gain is a critical design issue since it significantly affects the annual energy consumption of the building. Accordingly, the decision to use toplighting in these locations needs to be carefully examined before any design considerations occur. In this study, the thermal and lighting performance of three toplighting systems were compared. For the thermal performance, total cooling loads, heat gains and losses, and interior temperature were evaluated. The lighting performance parameters examined were daylight factor, illuminance level, light distribution, and uniformity. EnergyPlus was used as the thermal analysis tool, and RADIANCE, along with a physical scale model, was used as the lighting performance analysis tool. The sky conditions tested were overcast, clear sky, and intermediate sky. Results have shown that, for locations with hot and humid climates with variable sky conditions such as Bangkok, Thailand, the roof monitors perform better than the other two systems in terms of the thermal and lighting performance. With similar cooling loads, the roof monitor provides better illuminance uniformity than the skylights and lightscoops, with adequate illuminance level (at mostly higher than 500 lux).

This research investigates the effects of daylighting in an existing elementary school in College Station, Texas. The conclusions are generalizable to similar school designs in hot and humid climates. This study focuses on the trends observed in the building??s heating, cooling, and lighting energy consumption due to daylighting, and the overall effect on total energy consumption. Skylights with 1% to 10% glazing surface to floor area and clerestories from 2 ft to 8 ft glazing height were analyzed to formulate balanced daylighting designs that could provide for decreased electricity and gas energy consumption and increased daylight illuminance levels and energy cost savings. Classroom and Library areas inside the case study school building were analyzed using walk-throughs and daylight factor measurements to understand existing lighting conditions and the potential for daylighting. Physical scale models of the study spaces with and without daylighting alternatives were built for daylight factor and daylight penetration analysis. Computer simulation models were created for the base case and all proposed daylighting designs for building energy performance evaluation using the DOE-2 building energy simulation program. Daylight factors from the actual spaces, physical model measurements, and computer simulation outputs were studied for trendsin interior daylight illuminance levels. Annual energy consumption analyses were performed using DOE-2 and involved heating, cooling, and electrical energy use comparisons of all proposed designs with the base case. One design each from the skylight and clerestory cases, and an overall design based upon the performance criteria are proposed for the existing school building. The building energy analyses suggested that a considerable reduction in artificial lighting and total electricity use could be achieved through proper sizing of skylights and clerestories. Heating energy use stayed almost constant in all cases. Considering all different trends in energy use, all the proposed cases perform better than the base case in terms of total energy savings. The spaces analyzed constituted 15% of total school area, and projected savings would be much higher if daylighting could be applied to the entire school building.

This study evaluated the potential of toplighting systems in the hot and humid tropics by using Bangkok, Thailand (latitude 13.7°N) as a test location. The analysis tested both the thermal and lighting performance of three toplighting systems. Toplighting, designed for use in one-story buildings or on the top floor of taller buildings, yields a uniformly distributed light throughout a space. However, in lower latitude locations, where there is no heating period, heat gain is a critical design issue since it significantly affects the annual energy consumption of the building. Accordingly, the decision to use toplighting in these locations needs to be carefully examined before any design considerations occur. In this study, the thermal and lighting performance of three toplighting systems were compared. For the thermal performance, total cooling loads, heat gains and losses, and interior temperature were evaluated. The lighting performance parameters examined were daylight factor, illuminance level, light distribution, and uniformity. EnergyPlus was used as the thermal analysis tool, and RADIANCE, along with a physical scale model, was used as the lighting performance analysis tool. The sky conditions tested were overcast, clear sky, and intermediate sky. Results have shown that, for locations with hot and humid climates with variable sky conditions such as Bangkok, Thailand, the roof monitors perform better than the other two systems in terms of the thermal and lighting performance. With similar cooling loads, the roof monitor provides better illuminance uniformity than the skylights and lightscoops, with adequate illuminance level (at mostly higher than 500 lux).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Hong Kong, 2009. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 325-335). Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Arch.)--University of Detroit Mercy, 2008. / Includes bibliographical references (p. [17]).

This thesis explores the opportunities and limitations of steel construction and connection to the outdoors through a sports facility for the city of Blacksburg, Virginia. The program being that of an indoor soccer facility allows for the steel to express its ability to span great distances with a very fine and visually delicate structure. Cables express the steel's strength in tension. The structure is clearly expressed and easily understood by anyone who enters the facility. The building's indoor connection to the outdoor environment is achieved through the study and implementation of several strategies that not only enhance the visual and thermal comfort levels of those people in the facility but will also reduce the building's operating costs. One of the main strategies utilized to achieve this enhanced comfort level is that of natural ventilation. This will contribute to the overall air quality of the interior space and bring a refreshing breeze to the athletes and spectators of the facility. A second important design strategy is the utilization of natural light brought through and interacting with the translucent roof and steel structure. / Master of Architecture

How can architecture connect us to our environments? Is architecture responsible for connecting its user to their surrounding context? Can our spaces inform us about the world around us? There are numerous ways that humans can feel a connection to nature. But, what ways are more universal than others? What aspects of the natural world cross geographical and cultural boundaries? Perhaps, architecture can connect us to our environments by revealing the universal passing of time through natural daylighting by way of structure, materiality, and texture. As the primary instrument, daylighting will be used in this body of work to explore time on an hourly and seasonal basis. It will do this by housing two light-sensitive programs, a painting conservatory and gallery space. By pairing these programs together, the architecture will investigate time by comparing and contrasting two user types and their corresponding needs from each program. Finally, by setting the architecture in the center of a urban block, the thesis can draw upon this high contrast to reinforce the connections it has constructed and made between the user and the natural environment. / Master of Architecture

This project is an addition to Cowgill Hall, the building that houses the College of Architecture on the Virginia Tech campus. Cowgill Hall is located on the north edge of campus, on a direct northern axis with the centerline of the campus drill field, which is the heart and center of the Va Tech Blacksburg campus. Cowgill Hall is a 4 story concrete and glass structure, built in 1969, with a dry moat-like hardscape on three sides around it and a wide bridge connecting the building at the second level to the campus via a large plaza. My solution was to use the bridge as the way to connect an addition to the existing Cowgill Hall building. By extending the bridge the axis is also extended, and the addition can become a terminus to the axis. I wanted the addition itself to promote and enhance the Va Tech School of Architecture methodology of design education, which is that of constructive exploration and student collaboration. Being able to observe the design process of other students seems to be fundamental to design education. Therefore, I sought to provide a design that would enhance the student's experience of a daily architectural education. The student experiences the building through a variety of pathways vertically through it, that path being a progression also of daylight to darkness, openness to closed, public to private. The path begins at the plaza, where the bridge takes the student from the campus into Cowgill Hall. My design extends the path out the other side of the building, creating another bridge. The addition is a semicircular four story form with a radial pattern of stair towers, with a slight skew and offset which serves to enhances a tension between the original Cowgill Hall building and the addition and thus become a dynamic large-occupancy gathering space and open lecture hall. The building structure is concrete and waffle slab. The exterior is two layers; the outer one comprised of stone and concrete, the inner one comprised of glass and steel. The building in plan is surrounded by ramps rising up and to the east, and the outer layer of the exterior supports a series of stacked and parallel ramps, which serves as one method of navigating the building vertically; one path. Always above the ramp is the inner layer, which consists of a slim-profile steel curtainwall glazing system. As the ramp moves towards ground level, the stone and concrete cladding peel away and the curtainwall expands, allowing more daylight and views in the desirable direction towards the mountains. The stone cladding is topped by precast concrete panels, the stone rising to the underside of the highest perimeter ramp on the building. which peels away as the building rises from the ground. The cladding consists of precast concrete and Virginia Bluestone, which is the stone most buildings on campus are built with. The bluestone is rough cut and heavy, and anchors the building to the site. Precast concrete tops the bluestone, aligning with the ramp, and easily allowing punched-openings to align squarely with the slope of the interior ramp system. The outer layer being heavy masonry grounds the building while giving it the mass and distinction that the surrounding Virginia Tech campus requires. The project's vertical structure is comprised of radial concrete walls which are in pairs. They support the waffle slab floor and roof structure, while housing the stairs. Movement inside the building vertically may be accomplished through any one of these radially located stair towers, which differ in their degree of solidity. Depending on the mood of the student or the educator, the path vertically can be chosen by the personal desire to be seen or to see others. One can sneak quietly or strut through the building openly. One can look through the stair walls to the student desks below and observe while being observed, or observe discreetly and without being intrusive. The path through the building is experiential, while the progression of spaces in the building provide unique and appropriate arenas for private introspection, collaboration and group learning. The spaces in tension create gathering spaces for education and reflection. The whole promote movement, observation and interaction. / Master of Architecture

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Hong Kong Polytechnic University, 2005. / Adviser: Tse Ming Chung. Includes bibliographical references (p. 311-323)