T E AC H I N G W I T H

SUN, WIND, & LIGHT

2 0 0 1 S B S E S U M M E R R E T R E AT

Mark DeKay, assistant professor College of Architecture and Design University of Tennessee Knoxville, TN 37966 314.935.6282, mdekay@utk.edu
SUN, WIND, AND LIGHT is a 400 page book for designers who want to consider the form-generating potential of climatic forces in the earliest stages of the design process. The second edition was recently published in January of 2001. The second edition project expands the original, increasing its scope by 40%, providing more recent architectural examples, updating the methods, and incorporating more than a decade of research in the field. The Idea of the Book Sun, Wind, and Light is designed to fit with the rapid, conceptual, exploratory, and synthetic thinking that characterizes the beginning of the design process. It stresses the energy implications of sun, wind, and light, however, it is organized by the architectural elements designers manipulate streets, open spaces and buildings, rooms and courtyards, walls, roofs, floors, and windows. These elements are discussed in terms of their organization and their attributes. The second edition of Sun, Wind, and Light represents one of the only sources to fundamentally integrate the formal language of preliminary architectural design with the discipline of building science. Climatic forces are important in architecture because a buildings response to climate is directly related to its energy consumption, and because climate is a powerful local context giving designers a means of regional expression and placemaking. The books audience is practicing architects and architecture students. Its purpose is to help architects integrate architectural design and energy, to design more energy efficient buildings, while also making humane, sustainable, aesthetic buildings. Organization The book is organized into three parts: 1) Analysis Techniques, which give tools for understanding the climatic context of the design problem, along with the pre-design implications of program and form; 2) Design Strategies, which give strategies for shaping architectural form to achieve low energy consumption, user thermal comfort, and effective lighting; and 3) Supplemental Strategies, which give mechanical/ electrical-assisted strategies for supplementing the architecturally-based (passive) strategies. Each design strategy is intended to support designers at making important schematic-level design decisions about the form or organization of building groups, sites, buildings, or building elements. Each gives a short statement of the strategy, and explanation of its energy-related phenomenon, an example of how the strategy has been used in an elegant way by another architect in buildings of high design quality, and very importantly, offers a tool that helps to make a design decision such as size, shape, organization, color, material, etc. (see diagram on following page). Making Patterns Visual, Translating Science for Designers The book is graphics-intensive, with one or more handdrawn architectural illustrations on every page. It is graphic for three reasons: 1) to communicate in the language of architects; 2) to simplify the methods and reduce calculation, such as with nomographs; and 3) to make the connection between patterns of form and their
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associated energy processes. Patterns must be drawn and mapped. The illustrations take several forms. First, there are charts and graphs that make the patterns of phenomena and their relationship to architectural elements visible. Second, there are analytical and interpretive diagrams that show how a building works, such as how air moves through a plan, or explore the interactions of important variables, such as the effect of latitude and building height on light in an atrium. Finally, there are illustrative architectural drawings, such as plans, sections, and perspectives that show the formal implication or application of an idea. The book is also a long series of small, well-defined research projects. There is a wealth of literature and research on these topics, increasing at a rapid rate. Unfortunately, this knowledge explosion has not penetrated very deeply into either education or practice. Much of the knowledge is inaccessibly stored in engineering studies, doctoral dissertations, and obscure journals.

What is available is often presented in the language of engineering and science. Each design strategy and technique in Sun, Wind, and Light required either assembling and translating existing research into a form useful to designers or developing a novel technique for designers to use. Techniques and Strategies The matrix on the following page shows all of the 109 analysis techniques and design strategies categorized by both their part and section within the books structure (horizontal axis) and by their role in building environmental controls issues of daylighting, heating, and cooling (vertical axis).

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D E S I G N Analysis Techniques
8. sky cover 9. daylight availability 10. daylight obstruction

S T R A T E G I E S Building Parts
78. reflecting surfaces 84. low contrast 85. skylight wells 92. reflected sunlight 94. daylight apertures 77. mass absorptance 82. solar reflectors 87. breathing walls 91. well-placed window 93. solar apertures 97. movable insulation 81. double skin matls 90. ventilation openings arrangement 99. external shading 100. internal shading & inbetween shading 105. mech. mass vent. 106. mech. space vent.

Building Groups
32. glazed streets 35. daylight envelope

Buildings
51. thin plan 54. borrowed daylight 58. daylight zones 70. atrium 71. daylit rm. depth 52. E-W plan 53. deep sun 60. direct gain 61. sunspaces 62. thermal stor. wall 64. thermal collectors 48. layer of shades 50. permeable bldgs. 65. cross-ventilation 66 stack-ventilation 67. wind catchers 68. night-cooled mass 69. evap. cool towers 73. water edges 75. shady courts 46. migration 47. outdoor rooms 49. clustered rooms 55. heat prod. zones 56. stratify zones 57. buffer zones 59. rms. facing sun & wind 63. roof ponds 72. earth edges 74. breezy/calm courts

Mech/Elec. Supplement
102. task lighting 103. electric light zones

Daylighting

3. solar radiation 21. heat losses

Heating

30. tall buildings 34. gradual height transitions 38. E-W bldg. groups 41. winter outdoor rms. 42. neighborhood sun 26. vent. corridors 27. shared shade 36. breezy streets 37. dispersed bldgs. 39. bldgs. + plants 40. bldgs. + water 44. green edges 45. overhead shades 28. topo. microclimate 33. loose & dense urban patterns 43. windbreaks

16. window solar gain 20. shading calendar 21. heat gains

Cooling

Heating & Cooling

1. sundial 2. sun path diagram 4. wind rose 5. wind square 6. air movement prin. 7. site microclimate 11. bioclimatic chart 15. skin heat flow 17. infil/vent gain & loss 18. bldg. bioclimatic cht. 19. earth contact 22. balance point temp. 23. balance pt. profiles

76. skin thickness 79. ext. surface color 83. thermal mass 88. insulation outside 95. air-flow windows

104. rock beds 107. ducts & plenums 108. buffer zones & air/air x-changers 109. earth/air heat x-changers

Heating & Daylighting Daylighting & Cooling Heating, Cooling & Daylighting Power
24. eletric loads 25. hot water loads

29. solar envelopes

96. light shelves 98. daylight-enhancing shades 31. balanced urban patterns 89. separated/combo openings 101. glass types

80. PV walls & roofs 86. solar hot water

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Use in Different Classes SWL is really a design process resource manual, not a conventional textbook. It has been used in seminars, large lecture courses, architectural design studio courses, and by professional architects in practice. The diagrams below show how the content of SWL can be used to support teaching different types of classes. Linking Strategies by Topic Many of the techniques and strategies in SWL are linked to each other logically. In some cases, one technique is required as data input for another technique or strategy. The four matrices on the following pages show the SWL analysis techniques and design strategies separated out

by the energy topics of daylighting, cooling, heating, and power. The techniques and strategies in bold show one possible suggestion for which sections to address first in a typical design problem for a daylighted building design, a solar heated building design, or a natural ventilation building design. A set of individual techniques and strategies can be built up to form a network of concepts and tools that form a larger integrated system in the students design process. For instance, as shown in the matrix for heating, a solar heated building design requires assessing the potential for solar heating in the climate (#7) and on the site (#18), configuring groups of buildings for solar access in the site plan (#38), organizing the rooms to get sun (#52 & 53) and shaping the rooms and their enclosure to collect sun (#60 & 61), sizing the windows and thermal mass (#83 & 93), and moving heat from where it is collected and stored to where it is needed (#107). Depending on the architectural question asked, or the pedagogical approach of the instructor or particular class, techniques and strategies can be combined to form class exercises or design methods in a variety of ways. For instance, instead of the multi-scalar, singe-issue approach given above, an instructor could ask students to engage a multi-issue, single-scale question, such as window design. A window design exercise (or class!) might include a range of parts-scale strategies such as reflection, sizing, positioning, orientation, shading, insulation, and type strategies integrating issues of heating, cooling, and daylighting, along with other architectural window issues if desired. Digital Image Library A full library of the 700 illustrations and tables in the book has been developed for use by instructors who adopt the book in their classes. This library is available on CD from Mark DeKay. Instructors will soon be able to order full or partial sets of slides of these same illustrations for use in lectures. Contact Mark DeKay if you are interested in purchasing slides. Additional Climate Data Resources for SWL The print edition of SWL has data for five climates. Through a grant from the Hay Fund of the Renewable Energy Institute at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, data for an additional 19 climates are being developed in format similar to that in the SWL appendix. The new data and analyses will be keyed to SWL techniques. The new climate reports will include additional data, graphics, and analyses not found in the print edition.

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D E S I G N Analysis Techniques
8. sky cover 9. daylight availability 10. daylight obstruction

S T R A T E G I E S Building Parts
78. reflecting surfaces 84. low contrast 85. skylight wells 89. separated/combo openings 92. reflected sunlight 94. daylight apertures 96. light shelves 98. daylight-enhancing shades 101. glass types

Building Groups
29. solar envelopes 32. glazed streets 31. balanced urban patterns 35. daylight envelope

Buildings
51. thin plan 54. borrowed daylight 58. daylight zones 70. atrium 71. daylit rm. depth

Mech/Elec. Supplement
102. task lighting 103. electric light zones

Daylighting

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D E S I G N Analysis Techniques
1. sundial 2. sun path diagram 3. solar radiation 4. wind rose 5. wind square 6. air movement prin. 7. site microclimate 11. bioclimatic chart 15. skin heat flow 17. infil/vent gain & loss 18. bldg. bioclimatic chart 19. earth contact 21. heat losses 22. balance point temp. 23. balance pt. profiles

S T R A T E G I E S Building Parts
76. skin thickness 77. mass absorptance 79. ext. surface color 82. solar reflectors 83. thermal mass 87. breathing walls 88. insulation outside 89. separated/combo openings 91. well-placed window 93. solar apertures 95. air-flow windows 97. movable insulation 101. glass types

Building Groups
28. topo. microclimate 29. solar envelopes 30. tall buildings 31. balanced urban patterns 33. loose & dense urban patterns 34. gradual height transitions 38. E-W bldg. groups 41. winter outdoor rms. 42. neighborhood sun 43. windbreaks

Buildings
46. migration 47. outdoor rooms 49. clustered rooms 52. E-W plan 53. deep sun 55. heat prod. zones 56. stratify zones 57. buffer zones 59. rms. facing sun & wind 60. direct gain 61. sunspaces 62. thermal stor. wall 63. roof ponds 64. thermal collectors 72. earth edges 74. breezy/calm courts

Mech/Elec. Supplement
104. rock beds 107. ducts & plenums 108. buffer zones & air/air x-changers 109. earth/air heat x-changers

Heating

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq H ~ Preliminary graphic and tabular data are available for download from the Climatic Design Resources web site at http://dell2002.cap.utk.edu/ecodesign/cdr/. Data currently available are preliminary sets of climate calendars, in the form of Microsoft Excel workbooks, giving mean hourly data for several variables, derived from TMY2 files. Additional data will be posted by summers end and final products should be posted by late fall 2001. Instructors teaching fall 2001 classes can be provided with prerelease data and climatic analyses as available. Contact Mark DeKay for more information. End The second edition of Sun, Wind, and Light is a large and complex resource with 382 pages and 700 illustrations and tables. It has the potential to bridge the two worlds of design and performance: to make energy a relevant concern of any designer by revealing both the great design potential latent in buildings that tap site-based energy, and the great consequences for resource consumption (and thus the future) of differing design alternatives. Check the new SWL web site (appearing late summer <http://dell2002.cap.utk.edu/ecodesign>) for more instructor resources!

D E S I G N Analysis Techniques
1. sundial 2. sun path diagram 4. wind rose 5. wind square 6. air movement prin. 7. site microclimate 11. bioclimatic chart 15. skin heat flow 16. window solar gain 17. infil/vent gain & loss 18. bldg. bioclimatic chart 19. earth contact 20. shading calendar 21. heat gains 22. balance point temp. 23. balance pt. profiles

S T R A T E G I E S Building Parts
76. skin thickness 79. ext. surface color 81. double skin matls 83. thermal mass 88. insulation outside 89. separated/combo openings 90. ventilation openings arrangement 95. air-flow windows 96. light shelves 98. daylight-enhancing shades 99. external shading 100. internal shading & in-between shading 101. glass types

Building Groups
26. vent. corridors 27. shared shade 28. topo. microclimate 31. balanced urban patterns 33. loose & dense urban patterns 36. breezy streets 37. dispersed bldgs. 39. bldgs. + plants 40. bldgs. + water 43. windbreaks 44. green edges 45. overhead shades

Buildings
46. migration 47. outdoor rooms 48. layer of shades 49. clustered rooms 50. permeable bldgs. 55. heat prod. zones 56. stratify zones 57. buffer zones 59. rms. facing sun & wind 63. roof ponds 65. cross-ventilation 66. stack-ventilation 67. wind catchers 68. night-cooled mass 69. evap. cool towers 72. earth edges 73. water edges 74. breezy/calm courts 75. shady courts

Mech/Elec. Supplement
104. rock beds 105. mech. mass ventilation 106. mech. space ventilation 107. ducts & plenums 108. buffer zones & air/air x-changers 109. earth/air heat x-changers

Cooling

A ~ T ` D S ~ enq C

D E S I G N Analysis Techniques Power

24. eletric loads 25. hot water loads

S T R A T E G I E S Building Parts
80. PV walls & roofs 86. solar hot water

Building Groups

Buildings

Mech/Elec. Supplement

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