BENV0154 Sustainable Buildings Challenges: Whole Life
Performance
- COURSEWORK 1: DESIGN TASK -
A: ASSESSMENT DETAILS
Project Title: Whole Life Cycle Analysis: Design Principles of a Pavilion in Central London
Weighting: 50% of your marks for this module
Deliverables: a. group report, 3,000 words limits, no more than 10 A3 pages (marked)
b. group presentation (unmarked)
Deadline: March 27th, 11:00 am
SECTION B: PROJECT INFORMATION
Aims: The aims of this project are for students to:
• develop an understanding of the fundamental principles of WLC analysis in the design process of buildings.
• develop the ability to use modelling and simulations software (OneClickLCA, the UCL tool, Arup & AHMM’s PDA) as analytical tools for aiding the design of buildings.
• develop critical thinking, the ability to analyse and prioritise conclusions into design, and coming up with a sensible, well-articulated design alternative.
Project brief:
What? In this group project you will be designing a small pavilion / café, trying to achieve the minimum Life Cycle Carbon Footprint (i.e., looking at both Embodied and Operational carbon emissions). Spaces/zones to be design are given in Table 1 (further spaces can be added if you wish). The main space in the cafe has distinct occupancy patterns and thermal comfort requirements due to the activities occupants that are involved in and the amount of time they spend in the space. You would need to consider these when simulating the energy consumption of your building.
Table 1: Project zones /spaces table
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Zone
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Name
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Size (m2)
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Internal gains (kWh)
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Occupancy pattern
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Notes
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1
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Café sitting area
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100
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|
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Please complete the
missing parts. Please use referenced sources (e.g., CIBSE guides /
NCM others).
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2
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Café serving area (counter)
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20
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|
|
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3
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Kitchen (cold / hot)
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20
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|
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Where? The pavilion is design to be designed anywhere at the Regent’s Park, as indicated in Figure 1
Figure 1: Regent’s park
Details: Groups should use the information in Table 1, for designing and modelling their pavilion. Fundamental environmental design strategies, which will be covered and taught in class, should be used in this project.
The design of the pavilion should consider the Embodied Carbon (i.e., construction materials) and their impact on the Operational Performance (i.e., the energy consumption in the building).
Weekly tutorials will be held (please see Moodle for exact location and timing) to guide you through this process. The weekly tutorials will be a mixture of:
• Design reviews – a 30-45 minute meeting with a design tutor, where groups will get the chance to present their work and discuss their progress with their tutor.
• Workshops – As computer based environmental simulation tools are increasingly playing a major role in aiding the design of buildings, for the purpose of evaluating their environmentalperformance, students will be learning and asked to use both OneClick LCA and tools for simple building energy modelling. These will be introduced during the tutorial sessions, as indicated below.
The table below details the aim of each tutorial and provides further details on each week:
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172/01/2025
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Site Visit
Activity + Data collection/site visit/impression
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24/01/2025
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Design tutorial 1:
Environmental Site Analysis
Design targets (operational, embodied, life cycle?) Inspirational images/precedents
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31/01/2025
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Design tutorial 2: Initial design
Hand sketches, precendents
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07/02/2025
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Design tutorial 3:
Hand calculated Embodied Carbon (Bath ICE) : Baseline Model 2 iterations
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14/02/2025
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Workshop A: One-click LCA
Learning how to use OneClick LCA
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28/02/2025
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Design tutorial 4:
Design review including Embodied Carbon Calculations (OneClickLCA) of further iterations
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07/03/2025
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Mid-Term presentation:
Hand + OneClick calcs, baseline + new design Plus operational energy benchmarks
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14/03/2025
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Design Tutorial 5:
Progress. Emphasise on operational energy consumption, operational carbon, and life cycle performance
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21/03/2025
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Design Tutorial 6:
Progress. Emphasise on LCA nature: Balancing embodied and operational performance.
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28/03/2025
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Final presentations
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SECTION C: DELIVERABLES
Report (marked): Each group will be asked to submit a detailed design report which will document their design process and the final design. This should include deliverables such as (but not limited to) the following: site analysis, design targets, documentation of internal gains and schedules, design strategies, modelling assumptions, simulation results & analysis, details about several design iterations, drawings (either hand drawings or computed ones) and anything else that the team thinks could describe their project and provide information of their project’s performance.
The report will be made of:
• Up to 10 pages of A3-sized paper
• Up to 3,000 words
Presentation (unmarked): At the end of the term, we will hold a ‘presentation day’, where students will be able to share their knowledge and present their work with colleagues, academic staff and invited guests from the industry. This is an opportunity for our students to share their learning and work with others and celebrate their achievements.
Each group will be asked to prepare a 7 minute presentation, describing the main details of their design process and final design. This will be followed by around 10 - 15 minutes Q&A by our guests. Further details about the presentations day will be given towards the end of the term.