Due to the massive growth of population and enrolment rate of students, coupled with rapid economic improvements after the large-scale production of oil in the early 1960s, the government, of Saudi Arabia introduced prototypical school buildings design into the country to speed up construction without overspending allocated financial allowances for the Ministry of Education. Unfortunately, prototype school buildings were designed with little attention towards the impact of the local climate on indoor conditions. Environmental design principles were neglected during the design of the buildings. All school buildings in Saudi Arabia in general, and in Riyadh city in particular, rely on mechanical equipment to cool, heat and light indoor spaces. As a result, energy is wasted and air pollution is increased. A significant amount of energy could be saved and better indoor conditions achieved if prototype school buildings were designed in accordance with the local climate of the Riyadh region. Environmental design can also improve the educational environment, reduce air pollution and save the running cost of the buildings. The main aim of this research is to maximize the potential of the form and fabric of prototype school buildings in order to provide good comfort conditions with minimum use of energy. Literature review, on-site observation, field experiments and advanced computer simulation tools were used to achieve the main aims of this research and to find answers to the research questions. Field experiments were conducted in three prototype school buildings in Riyadh city, in order to assess their thermal performance, ventilation rate and daylighting levels. Throughout the findings of this research, it was found that the existing prototype school buildings. fail to cope with the local climate of the Riyadh region and have a high level of energy consumption. They also suffer from excessive air-leakage and visual discomfort. This research also investigated the effectiveness of a group of passive solar and energy conservation design strategies in improving the thermal performance of prototype school buildings. It was found that the selected design modifications were able to significantly improve indoor conditions and reduce cooling loads. If applied to the future school building programme, considerable reduction in carbon emission and fuel cost can be achieved in Saudi Arabia. The findings of this research are not only limited to the case study of the prototype school buildings in Riyadh. They can be applied to any school building design in other cities and/or countries that are located in hot, dry climates.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:537700 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | Abanomi, Waleed Mohammed |
| Publisher | Cardiff University |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
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