Insights based on a sustainable green solar building design competition – Documenting the Delta Cup solar competition

Abstract

With the increasing tension of energy resources in society, the research and development of green and energy-efficient buildings has been given more and more attention at home and abroad, and many green and ecological design competitions have been held at home and abroad in recent years. In recent years, the green building designers of Yunnan Design Institute Group have established a good disciplinary exchange and cooperation with the teachers and students of Kunming College of Architecture. This paper takes an entry of the Delta Cup International Solar Energy Architectural Design Competition, in which the teachers and students of the College of Architecture participated, as an example, to analyses how to link solar energy design with architectural design at the beginning of the design, how to respond to the climate by using the technology of architectural space creation, and how to make the “response to climate” through the strategy of space creation. The project also analyses how passive green building elements (natural light, natural ventilation, heat insulation, sun shading, etc.) can be integrated into the building form and space through spatial creation strategies to enhance the overall quality of the building. This study will inspire contemporary higher education institutions in the field of green building education, and how to teach design towards “basic” green building design? How can we address the creation of green building spaces?