A Study on the Evaluation Method for the Degree of Integration towards Office Towers in Different Climate Zones

Abstract

High rise office buildings represent one of the most energy-intensive architectural typologies. The growth of urban population necessitates sustainable high rise towers that lessen environmental impacts and energy consumption. Among various sustainable strategies, the integrated design is long known to be an important process that has great impact on building's sustainability. The framework for this paper is based on the case study of integrated towers that are located in different climate zones. The paper specifically addresses to what extent climate conditions influence the design of a high rise building and what kinds of the climate integrated design has been implemented. Qualitative case studies were carried out using published data and architectural drawing set. The technical work presented in the paper is based on computer simulation that examines the insolation analysis using hourly recorded weather data. The analysis results revealed that the site and building envelope integration and the site and building service systems have shown the most frequently employed in the integrated towers through the implementation of renewable resource integration, high performance envelopes and sustainable building service systems. Internal comfort and further energy saving in the integrated towers are offered through an automatic building management system. Due to the dynamic climate conditions, integration of building systems requires a sophisticated approach to building sustainability.