Green architecture

Green roofs, defined as roofs of buildings that are partially or completely covered with vegetation planted in a growing medium can provide multiple sustainability benefits. There is potential to increase the sustainability benefits of green roofs by using recycled construction materials for green roof construction.

This study investigates the viability of using recycled aggregates in the substrate mix for extensive green roofs where a ‘carpet’ of plants is supported by lightweight growing media (substrate) overlying a drainage layer. We investigated the adequacy of recycled inert construction waste as a growth medium, the drainage properties of the substrate mix containing recycled materials as well as its susceptibility to erosion and resistance to sliding when placed on a slope.

In this laboratory study we compared the establishment, development and performance of both grass and sedum model green roofs under simulated rainfall and found that the substrate mix containing recycled construction waste materials was adequate in supporting plant growth, was resistant to erosion and slippage and capable of providing good drainage. When vegetated, the ‘green roof’ can provide attenuation of the drainage water with magnitude depending on the type and percentage of vegetation cover.

We attempt to put the results of this small scale laboratory investigation on extensive green roofs into the wider perspective of sustainability benefits offered by the green roofs.

This book is designed to help you grasp the basics of Revit using real-world examples and techniques you’ll use in everyday design and documentation. We'll explain the Revit interface and help you find the tools you need as well as help you understand how the application is structured. From there we'll show you how to create and modify the
primary components in a building design. We'll show you how to take a preliminary model and add layers of intelligence to help analyze and augment your designs. We'll demonstrate how to create robust and accurate documentation, and then guide you through the construction process.
As you are already aware, BIM is more than just a change in software; it’s a change in architectural workflow and culture. To take full advantage of both BIM and Revit in your office structure, you’ll have to make some changes to your practice. We've designed the book around an ideal, integrated workflow to aid in this transition.
Once you've mastered the content in each chapter, we include a section called “The Essentials and Beyond” where you can continue to hone your skills by taking on more challenging exercises.

This paper presents a number of case studies from a hot arid environment, covering a range of building types and sizes, among them government, university residential buildings, educational and tourist facilities. It hopefully demonstrates how preconceived ideas and lip service have hindered the creation of healthy, responsive, comfortable indoor environments, whereas a basic understanding of the local conditions and the adaptive thermal comfort model could have yielded much better results – easily achieved when appropriate design is coupled with informed users.

This paper explores the origins of subterranean dwellings, their spatial and temporal dispersion and their suitability for different climatic regions. Monitoring results from historical and contemporary structures are presented and analyzed, illustrating their sustainability aspects. However, the scope of this paper is also to reexamine and reassess various architectonic hypotheses and concepts, which seem to be challenged by the essence of subterranean dwellings. Thus, accepted role models of architecture, strongly differentiating between inside and outside, open versus closed space, and man-made space as opposed to the natural one, will be assessed. Similarly, commonly accepted terms such as “space” and “place” will be reassessed within the context of subterranean dwellings.
Though this paper is not a polemic for a massive “underground migration”, it evaluates the virtues and advantages of underground construction, in specific cases and places, and especially in areas of specific geotopographic characteristics. Underground construction is also presented as a reverse of Le Corbusier’s attitude towards creating open spaces and combining built-up and natural environments.

Understanding the challenges of modern cites as resulting from complex and inter-related factors, the key innovation of Joburg's 2040 vision is to move away from a narrow sectoral approach toward a more thematic one, to which all targeted City interventions can aim. But high-level frameworks alone can never bring such a complex conceptual map into being. Enabling environments must be supported on a number of levels, as they filter knowledge both 'upwards' and 'downwards', build interdisciplinary capacity, and value creativity and spatial thinking.

Cape Town, like other cities in South Africa and globally, has begun speaking a discourse around 'sustainability'. The renewable energy industry in South Africa is already one of the fastest-growing in the world, but increasingly a balance will need to be struck between returns for the private sector investment required and the needs of the broader society. If left unchecked, 'green' ventures may well turn into a new kind of hegemony, justifying further investment in the wealthiest areas at the expense of the poorest.

Daylight guidance systems (DGS) deliver daylight into remote parts of buildings. However, they still lack market penetration. The primary difficulty lies within the installation process. DGS use light ducts to distribute daylight, which occupy significant amounts of space. The integration of light ducts and HVAC ducts is a promising solution. This study compares the differences and similarities of the two ducting systems; suggests an integrated system, and evaluates the potential of and challenges faced by the proposed dual ducting system. A schematic application is completed and demonstrates that the dual ducting system has the economic potential to reduce costs, avoid conflicts between building systems and simplify the DGS installation.

In  line  with  the  growing  global  trend  toward s  energy  efficiency  in  buildings,  this  paper  aims  to investigate the energy performance suitability of  double-glazed windows in different climates along with  analyzing and evaluating  occurred variations among their performances. A four-story building representing the conventional
type  of  residential  apartments  for  four  climates  of  cold,  temperate,  hot-arid  and  hot-humid  was  selected  for simulation.  10  variables  of  U-factor,  SHGC,  emissivity,  visible  transmittance,  monthly  average  dry  bulb temperature,  monthly  average  percent  humidity,  monthly  average  wind  speed,  monthly  average  direct  solar radiation, monthly average diffuse solar radiation and orientation constituted the parameters considered to be used in the calculation of cooling and heating loads in the residential building model . It was observed that in two climates of temperate  and  hot-arid, using double glazed windows were beneficial in both cold and hot months whereas in  cold
and hot-humid climates  which heating and cooling loads are dominant respectively, they were advantageous in only those dominant months. Also, two variables of U -factor and orientation were identified as the significant factors by having a non-linear second order logarithmic effect on the calculated total loads.  The results of this novel approach
provide  succinct  information  regarding  the  performance  of windows  and  promote  users'  conscience  in  terms  of selecting energy efficient windows for buildings.

The biggest threat of modernity is homogenization of the human cultures.
The visual experience of modern spaces all over the world is beginning to look alike- Architecture, artifacts, life style. About a century ago we had diverse cultures with distinct way of life and aesthetic sensibilities.
The real issue is to understand how culture is formed and how to retain cultural diversity.
Culture is the result of how aesthetic sensibilities of people get manifested in the things they make and how they live. But the aesthetic sensibilities were awakened naturally by engaging with their contexts.
In modern situation, education conditions and homogenizes the sensibility of people through various subjects like art, architecture, design etc.
All over the world the same syllabus is taught!
So if aesthetic education is treated as awakening the sense by creating situations for connecting to the natural context of the learners lives, do have the potential for making the learner authentic and original.
This authenticity will create diverse cultures.