Objective of the project

To test this hypothesis we cooperated with several companies including Integrated Environmental Solutions Limited (IES) from Glasgow, Scotland, the leading global innovator in integrated performance-based analysis technology, and now home to the largest building analytics team in the world, with a presence in 13 countries.

The architects passed IES a Building Information Model (BIM Revit file) of Protiotype 2021-S, from which IES consultants created a digital twin of the building using their Virtual Environment software: 'VE'.



The digital twin enabled IES to perform scientific simulations testing the building’s design performance.

For comparative purposes, IES ran VE analyses on three different city locations: Pune (India), Singapore (Singapore), and Darwin (Australia).

The analyses performed were:

1. Solar Shading
2. Daylight & Glare
3. Artificial Light
4. HVAC and Thermal System
5. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

This is what was found -

Solar shading analysis

Solar shading analysis measures the impact of the sun on a building and assesses how to minimise or maximise the effect of solar gains.

For Singapore:
- The roof receives 1100kWh/m2 solar insolation or solar radiation. This shows that placement of PV on the roof will generate sufficient electricity throughout the year, to meet up to 40% of the building’s internal power needs.
- Design of shading devices as per the solar insolation and sun angles will result in reducing the solar gains from windows during summer months which will help in reducing the overall energy consumption and enhancing the thermal comfort.

Daylight & Glare

The six metre wide site demanded a long narrow building making it difficult for natural light to enter. To address this, the architects split the building into two towers with a central light well, and added skylights in the court yard, all at the cost of floor space.

The daylighting of a space can ensure adequate admission of natural light into a building to reduce artificial heating and cooling requirements.

For Singapore, Pune and Darwin:
- It was recommended that the architects consider shading devices at the sky lit area above the retail floor because of glare.

Artificial light.

The analysis of artificial light can be used to work out required electric light fittings based on user defined lighting conditions criteria.

For Singapore, Pune and Darwin:
- It was established that Level 1, 2 and 5 service areas in retail were inadequately lit (150 lux). This is easily fixed by amending the lighting design.

Air-conditioning

In tropical urban environments, air-conditioning is typically responsible for 60 - 70% of a building's energy use and cost.

For Singapore and Darwin:
Due to the sustainable design airconditioning consumes only 43% of the building's estimated energy.

43%

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD)

CFD is concerned with the numerical simulation of fluid flow and heat transfer processes. The objective of CFD applied to buildings is to provide the designer with a tool that enables them to gain greater understanding of the likely air flow and heat transfer processes occurring within and around building spaces given specified boundary conditions which may include the effects of climate, internal energy sources and HVAC systems.

For Singapore:
The simulation result showed that the building's interior temperature was observed to be in the range of 22-23 degC. As depicted from velocity vector contour figure, the velocity of air in the room ranges between 0.1-0.8 m/s, implying that there is proper air circulation in the room. Predicted Mean Vote (PMV) analysis showed that the room is slightly cool.

This is an excellent outcome in tropical climates, demonstrating the thermal advantages of timber, which was used extensively for both the interior and exterior of the building, and through the introduction of the Ecoline Solar Thermal Air Conditioning system, along with Lumani, to address energy efficiency of lighting and air-conditioning.