Case Study: The Bullitt Center | 2030 Palette Blog

Case Study: The Bullitt Center | 2030 Palette Blog:
The 2030 Palette is a set of distinct actions – or Swatches – for the planning and design of environmentally responsible and resilient buildings and communities worldwide. Our case studies illustrate how a unique palette of Swatches can be applied to create buildings and communities that consume fewer fossil fuels, compliment and preserve sensitive ecosystems, access site renewable energy resources, and can adapt to climatic changes.

The Bullitt Center, currently regarded as one of the greenest office buildings in the world, is an exemplary case study illustrating how a palette of design strategies can result in truly dramatic performance outcomes. Located in in the city of Seattle, this six-story office building is on track to be the largest certified Living Building in the world, achieving energy and water self-sufficiency while creating a healthy, net zero carbon, and beautiful built environment.  -- Written by Francesca Desmarais / Architecture 2030

BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group

BIG | Bjarke Ingels Group - HUM:
Just digging the diagonal sunshade detail, and the concept behind the slope.

Mookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon | ArchDaily

Mookdong Multi Housing / Moon Hoon | ArchDaily:
It's about the highlighting the outlines of the openings in the screening.

Sports Facility / Batlle i Roig Arquitectes | ArchDaily

Sports Facility / Batlle i Roig Arquitectes | ArchDaily:

Villa B / Schneider + Schumacher | ArchDaily

Villa B / Schneider + Schumacher | ArchDaily:

Mass Wall / Masonry for Passive Solar Design

from http://passivesolar.sustainablesources.com
A website with resources for designing and specifying for passive solar projects.

Masonry Walls: Links and Tips for Thermal Performance

Why:


The Energy Conservation Construction Code of New York State has 2 prescriptive paths for minimum thermal performance:  R value (continuous) or U factor (entire assembly).

If using COMcheck, the presets assume relative low R-value for CMU cavity inserts and fairly heavy reinforcement.  Select option for "other U factor" instead, and fill in the actual values.

ECCCNYS c.i. is defined in ASHRAE 90.1:  insulation that is continuous across all structural members without thermal bridges other than fasteners and service openings. It is installed on the interior, exterior, or is integral to any opaque surface of the building.

A catalog of reference assemblies by thermal performance can be found here:
http://www.ncma.org/resources/design/Documents/Thermal%20Catalog%20Phase%20I.pdf

References:
NCMA.org 
NYSCMA.org

Zion National Park Visitor Center - Passive down-draft cooltower

Zion National Park Visitor Center

http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/29315.pdf

NREL Passive Solar Homes Case Studies

A "passive" solar house keeps the home warm in the winter by storing and distributing the sun's heat and cool in the summer by blocking the sun's ray. A comfortable indoor temperature is maintained without the use of mechanical equipment. For passive heating and cooling, the plan of the house, careful site selection and planning, construction materials, building features and other aspects of the home must be carefully considered before design even begins. Passive solar houses can be built in any architectural style and in any part of the country.
More:  http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/passive_solar.html

Pioneering Solar Buildings | via wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_pioneering_solar_buildings

Trombe wall / solar chimney / passive heating

via Wikipedia - Common modifications to the Trombe wall include:

• Exhaust vent near the top that is opened to vent to the outside during the summer. Such venting makes the Trombe wall act as a solar chimney pumping fresh air through the house during the day, even if there is no breeze.
• Windows in the trombe wall. This lowers the efficiency but may be done for natural lighting or aesthetic reasons. If the outer glazing has high ultraviolet transmittance, and the window in the trombe wall is normal glass, this allows efficient use of the ultraviolet light for heating. At the same time, it protects people and furnishings from ultraviolet radiation more than do windows with high ultraviolet transmittance.
• Electric blowers controlled by thermostats, to improve air and heat flow.
• Fixed or movable shades, which can reduce night-time heat losses.
• Trellises to shade the solar collector during summer months.
• Insulating covering used at night on the glazing surface.
• Tubes or water tanks as part of a solar hot water system.
• Fish tanks as thermal mass.
• Using a selective surface to increase the absorption of solar radiation by the thermal mass.
• Also: Barra System

PVWatts Site Specific Data Calculator

NREL: PVWatts Site Specific Data Calculator:

13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence

from Inhabitat:
13-Year-Old Makes Solar Power Breakthrough by Harnessing the Fibonacci Sequence
While hiking through the Catskills, seventh grader Aidan Dwyer was not snapping and throwing tree branches but studying their tangled pattern high about his head. He came up with a theory for the way that tree branches grow based on the Fibonnacci sequence and tested it by building a miniature solar energy generating tree that produces 20% - 50% more power than a flat solar array. 

Aidan measured the angles at which branches spread out from trees using a home-made tool made of a plastic tube and two protractors. He then built a test model of an oak tree’s Fibinacci pattern using tiny solar panels instead of leaves. He set it outside next to flat solar panel and collected data for three months — and the results were incredible.
The solar tree made 20% more electricity and collected 2 and a half more hours of sunlight than the flat panel. Even more exciting, when tested in December, the darkest, shortest days of the year, the tree panel performed even better, producing 50% more electricity than the flat panel and collecting 50% more sunlight.

SRI

EPA summarizes SRI as “the relative steady-state surface temperature with respect to the standard white (SRI=100) and standard black (SRI=0) under the standard solar and ambient conditions.”

The Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC):  http://www.coolroofs.org

SRI Calculator (enter Reflectance and Emissivity):
http://www.arkema-inc.com/index.cfm?pag=986

A couple of major (German) PV manufacturers

Schott

Schuco

Cylindrical Solar Power Generation

They say the panels are light enough to sit right on a membrane roof, without a structural connection through the membrane, making installation faster and easier with the same power output as conventional PV panels.

http://www.solyndra.com/

Photovoltaic Pavers

http://inhabitat.com/photovoltaic-paving-tiles-coming-soon-a-sidewalk-near-you/

http://www.onyxsolar.com/  |  http://www.butech.es/