Holistic research methodology for investigating thermal, visual and IAQ performance in cargo container buildings

Abstract

Taiwan is located in a subtropical zone and the latitude range of the South and the North is only around three degrees and the weather is always in high temperature and humidity. Yet, the geographical environment and climate of Taiwan are always varied. All regions are faced with different environmental issues which need different solutions. The use of containers as a building material has grown in popularity over the past several years in Taiwan due to their inherent strength, wide availability and relatively low cost. The cargo container architecture has also been built with containers because they are seen as more eco-friendly than traditional building materials such as brick and concrete. However, the study into the indoor environment of cargo container buildings is still lacking to provide a more detailed technical support. We need to establish the methodology to reveal the spatial and environmental considerations to be applied in the design process of the cargo container building, and also to consider environmental benefits in terms of comfort and energy saving that can be brought into the cargo container building. We investigated the spatial delight, thermal and luminous environment of a selected cargo container building in Taiwan. Through fieldwork, which included onsite monitoring and interview of building occupants, first-hand information on environmental and comfort conditions inside the building and occupants’ subjective views on the comfort condition were obtained.1 These findings could provide the holistic research methodology for investigating thermal, visual and indoor air quality (IAQ) performance, to determine the feasibility for improving the comfort conditions for building the cargo container architecture. The following case study provides an illustrate feasibility of cargo container architecture in Taiwan.