Integrated Design Process for High-Performance Buildings; a Case Study from Dubai

Amna Shibeika,Nouf Alzahmi,Maatouk Khoukhi,Shamma Tahnoon,Omar Al Khatib,Maryam Al Dhahri,Nouf Alshamsi

doi:10.3390/su13158529

Abstract

Due to the scarcity of water and the harsh desert climate of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), water and energy are two of the main challenges for the design of sustainable buildings in the UAE. Relevant literature calls for the consideration of building systems and materials at the design stage to achieve high-performing buildings and to save on the operational costs of the building. The aim of this research was to design a high-performance building that meets the environmental sustainability requirements for water and energy, in the city of Dubai to reflect the technological advancements of the UAE Mars mission. This has been achieved through following an integrated design process, which was mainly focused on the evaluation and specification of the building engineering systems based on performance, besides the goal of achieving visually appealing building with advanced structural design. The performance verification of the final building design, which considered engineering systems design from conception and through the design and detailed design stages, revealed a 15% reduction in water consumption and a 60% reduction in energy consumption. This provides a valuable contribution to architectural engineering practice, by demonstrating a case study for enhancing energy and water efficiency via building design, which consequently contributes to the environmental sustainability of the built environment.

Highlights

Climate change presents a pressing and complex global challenge
Relevant research has found that decisions made early in the design stage affect the building’s performance during operation [1], and integration of design, engineering and construction is key for the development and delivery of sustainable, high-performance buildings [2]
The paper is organized as follows; Section 2 provides an overview of the integrated design process for the Hope Pavilion project as well as the details of the different systems of the building, which is followed by the analysis of the building performance in Section 3, which shows that the final building design revealed a 15% reduction in water consumption and a 60% reduction in energy consumption; lighting performance has improved as a result of the focus on the external envelope

Summary

Introduction

The built environment consumes large amounts of energy and water, and produces pollution and waste during construction and operation. Against this background, environmentallydriven development approaches need to be adopted to improve the planning, designing and operating of buildings which are adaptive to changes brought about by the climate and the everyday needs of occupants while being sustainable over the long term. Research and practice concerned with sustainability of the built environment are required to focus on investigating the role of design and integration in the environmental impacts across the life cycle of a building

Objectives

Methods

Findings

Conclusion