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Architecture
Contemporary living habits is now entirely focused on living pattern is fully air
conditioned internal spaces and divorced itself from the responsive dialogue with the
outdoor environment and lost the diurnal biorhythmic cycles. The design concept of
this sustainable project house is to address the local climatic environment constrains
through: massing configuration for mutual shading, maximizing natural ventilation at
required periods, interacting PV panels with the shading panels, and the use of plants
for improving the microclimate.
Architecture typology
Omani architecture typology is reflected on the design by the solidity of the house mass
and small openings with traditional village limited color palette of natural earth tone
with modifications required by Muscat municipality regulations. It also utilizes the
features of long vertical windows with lower inlets and upper outlets. Regular rhythm
surrounding of colonnades with contrast of main entrance, and profile of roof edges.
Social habits are clearly manifested by separating male from female living patterns.
Eco-house Identity
The Eco-house identity is rooted in the context climatically and culturally. The family
room is a central hub connects all rooms and strongly relate to the north and south
courtyards. Its double volume design gives feeling of and perform main passive
ventilation feature as explained later. Large interior flexible partition connects it to
Majlis, and it can be opened when no guess is present in order to give feeling of
spaciousness and to improve natural ventilation.
Eco-house Form
Eco house responded to Omani traditional dwelling by introducing a unique design
innovation of combining traditional courtyard with the traditional air scope. The ecohouse form was given H-form with the north and south courtyard which are in direct
contact with central family living room. Thus enhancing the interaction between the
indoor and outdoor environment. This is an innovative design that combines traditional
courtyard with the traditional air scope.
1. Materials
1.1.
ACC Thermalite Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks
The envelope of the building is constructed from a cavity wall compromising two layers
of Thermalite Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (AAC) blocks. The construction of
external walls is composed of (200 mm) inner wall, (50 mm) thermal insulation, and
(100 mm) outer wall. These blocks provide a high insulation value, which is further
increased by the use of additional cavity insulation.
Fig. The ACC Blocks
1.2.
Shading Panels
Oman Eco-House’s secondary light-shell is placed outside the main building shell
to intercept and dissipate most of the solar heat impact before it reaches the
main shell of the building. The outer shell is constructed to host date palm tree
wood Lattice panels, GRC screens, Vertical and horizontal of canvas strips, and Bio
Skin Green walls which vary the amount of sunlight and heat entering the home,
significantly lowering cooling costs.
Fig 2. Shows the date palm screen
Fig 3. Shows the Canvas Strips
Fig 4. Shows the GRC Screens
Fig 5. Shows the Bio Skin Green Walls
1.3.
Windows
all windows are composed of thermal break aluminum sections and double glazed
windows to minimize thermal bridging among the external envelope.
Fig 6. Shows the Thermal Break
2. Water conversation
Numerous limited resources are used in our daily lives, from the gas that runs our cars
to the water we use for drinking, bathing, cooking and more. Certainly a life without
water is impossible, but there are ways to limit our consumption as to preserve this
resource. With many appliances and amenities in the modern home hooked up to a
water line, most of these tips surround those uses of water: showering, cleaning dishes,
laundry and more. Below are some suggestions; not to stop drinking so much, but to
save it for that!
Bathrooms
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About 40% of all water consumed in the home is used in the bathroom. A quarter of
that water is flushed down the toilet. New fixtures that are installed at SQU Eco-house
to decrease water usage include:
Low-flow shower heads
Dual flush toilets
Faucet aerators; aerators for taps are inexpensive and can reduce water flow by 50%
Kitchen
The kitchen is a major consumer of water in the home, using around 10% of total
household water consumption for cooking, cleaning, washing, or drinking. Using
dishwashers and aerators will reduce water consumption in kitchens.
Laundry
15-20% of all water consumed in the home is used in the laundry, making this room a
high consumer of not only water but also energy and detergents. Conventional washing
machines use between 35 to 50 gallons per load (gpl). The newer front-loading
machines are more efficient and use between 18 to 20 gpl.
Wastewater Treatment
Using compact treatment unit from Kingspan Klargester which is one of the leading
organization in developing wastewater treatment units for residential buildings
worldwide. The compact unit selected to treat wastewater produced by the house is the
Klargester BioDisc®. This unit will provide a reliable, efficient and
environmentally safe solution to the sewage disposal needs of the house and
will enable safe reuse of the produced effluents. For the Eco-House, the water
from the treatment unit will be sent to a storage tank where the water will be pumped
to the irrigation system. Both the treatment unit and the storage tank are placed
underground.
Fig 7. Shows the Wastewater Treatment unit
Irrigation System
The Eco-House has two irrigation systems. The system irrigation line which provides
treated effluents to the all landscaping areas of the Eco-House. The second system is
through the produced treated effluents from the in-situ treatment for the landscaping
north, west and east of the Eco-House. The irrigation lines are controlled through
manual valves. The arrangement is made to allow the utilization of the in-situ produced
treated effluents first and then use house main irrigation line to cover the remaining
irrigation requirements.
Solar Energy
Photovoltaic System
The Eco house is equipped with a 20KW Photovoltaic system which generates free
electricity by converting sunlight into electricity. The generated energy provides
pollution-free power source that is expected to meet the energy demand of the house.
To achieve this, two types of modules were installed and tilted at 23.5 for maximum
annual yield from solar radiation. The rated power is 250W and 255W for the first and
the second type. Every 20 modules are connected in series to form a PV array and each
two arrays are connected in parallel in the combiner box.
PV Array Layout
A 3 phase inverter is used to convert DC to AC power compatible to local grid. The
inverter is equipped with two maximum power point trackers. Each tracker is
optimizing the output of two arrays. During the day some of the collected power is
consumed in the house, and the surplus is exported to the grid, while at night it is
imported from the grid. A bidirectional meter calculates the export-import quantities
according to an agreement with Muscat Electricity Distribution Company that is being
experimented for the first time.
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Solar Water Heater
Solar water heater supplies all the necessary hot water for the all house activities
including washing, bathing, and cocking.
Comfort System
Passive systems include building form and geometry, courtyards on south and north sides,
small and large windows opening for natural ventilation, mechanically assisted fans for hybrid
ventilation, water fountain in the south courtyard for evaporation effect, double-shell wall and
roof systems, shading systems that use canvas, date palm tree shading screens, bio-green wall,
and the greenery landscape that modifies the microclimate of the house. The passive systems
have largely helped in reducing the impact of the outside aggressive and harsh hot climate on
indoor environment. Since they consume energy and require continuous maintenance,
installations of complementary active systems were minimized at the SQU Eco-house. Minisplit air conditioning systems are provided in each space for extreme control flexibility.
1. Thermal
1.1.
Mist Spray System
Evaporative cooling using mist spray has been known for reducing the ambient air
in hot climates. Although Muscat’s climate is known to be humid in summer,
evaporative cooling can potentially be used in some summer months. Mist
spray system is proposed and installed in the east and west cavity areas
inside the double shell wall and in the south and north courtyards. This system is
intended to reduce the ambient air temperature through evaporation process.
1.2.
AC System
The Eco-house is divided into 10 thermal zones based on many factors such as the
occupant’s activity, orientation, the level of system control. Each zone is
equipped with 1.0 Ton split system except the family room at ground floor
where 1.5 tons of air conditioning is used.
1.3.
Natural Ventilation
Using the free outside cooled air has an impact on thermal comfort, energy
consumption and indoor air quality. The SQU Eco-house provides a variety of
passive and active means for full harvesting of outside cooled air for cooling
purposes, maintaining the thermal comfort and providing an acceptable indoor air
quality.
The Eco-house, natural ventilation can be achieved using windows and
doors that are located in strategic locations. Cross natural ventilation is promoted
due to differential pressure between windward and leeward sides that can be created
by closing and opening windows and doors at ground and first floor. Lessons are
learned from traditional Omani architecture in which natural ventilation was
achieved by long vertical windows that contained lower openings to inlet.
Comfort is achieved by natural ventilation alone for four months of the year, this
could be achieved through:
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Thermal and pressure differential was utilized by locating lower opening to inlet
cool breeze, and upper opening expel hot air outlets.
Wind pressure differential was utilized by flexible windows locations that respond
to day and night variations in Muscat prevailing wind and sea breeze from NE/SW
during the day and to SW/NE during night.
Mechanical exhaust fans are located next to upper outlet windows to be used when
wind breeze is very low.
The family room is a central hub that connects all rooms and strongly relate to the
North and South courtyards. It is a main passive design ventilation feature. Its
double volume height is utilized to increase length of thermal stack effect to
accelerate air buoyancy from lower inlets opening to upper outlet openings.
Accelerated stack effect will suck air from adjacent rooms and improve their
ventilation.
1.4.
Mechanically Assisted Ventilation
When the outside air can’t be driven naturally using passive means, the Eco-house
has 5 ventilation fans on the first floor to promote air flow. These fans are mainly
installed to drive the air flow in the family area located in the ground floor.
1.5.
Water Fountain Heat Exchanger
Heat exchanger water has a deep water reservoir that dissipates heat from water to
deep soil. The cooled water is pumped up to the fountain to cool air that flows into
lower inlets of the house.
1.6.
Shading System
External surfaces of buildings get heated due to the combination of air temperature
and solar radiation. Conventional design concepts are to shade window to prevent
sun rays from penetration through glass, while the concept double-shell system is
to shade all the building. A secondary light shell wraps around the house providing
full shade of all external surfaces (i.e., roof and walls). It intercepts solar radiation
and removes its thermal load before it reaches the building. The outer shell must be
of light weight material, and air currents in the interim space are maximized to avoid
stagnation of hot air.
Sustainable Landscape
Landscaping is utilized to improve site microclimatic and the thermal performance of the EcoHouse by providing shading, controlling and cooling wind currents. It was designed to response
to constrains of local environment fulfill the following criteria: Fast growing, Low water
requirements, Water salinity, Drought and heat tolerance, and Low root invasiveness.
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