Abstract
There has been a significant increase in opportunities to improve school environments in the UK. There has, however, been little study on the design of sheltered transitional spaces, despite growing architectural demand for this, examples of which can be easily found in most primary schools in the UK. Computer simulations (Rayman, Ecotect and Winair4) were performed to identify the influence of different parameters: that of having a canopy; the effect of the transmissivity of the canopy material (three transparencies 0%, 50% and 90% were considered); orientation (four orientations—north, east, south and west—were considered); and location (three cities: London, Manchester and Glasgow). The combined effects of canopy transparency and orientation were shown to be critical design considerations in affecting comfort conditions in outdoor spaces. It was found that outdoor comfort conditions in the transitional space can be enhanced by 41.5% in August by choosing a canopy of 0% transparency, compared with a canopy of 90% transparency in London. The fixed canopy with a higher transparency helped to increase outdoor thermal comfort in Glasgow, while one with a lower transparency showed better performance during summer in London. This research will help design environmentally sophisticated transitional spaces in schools.
Highlights
This research was conducted in the context of school buildings in the UK where the interest in outdoor education is growing, and architectural spaces are increasingly being created and used outdoors
Among various architectural elements of the sheltered transitional space that have an impact on environmental performance, the canopy has been chosen for exploration as it is the main architectural device that has frequently been used in schools in the UK
The environmental quality of a sheltered transitional space was estimated through a thermal comfort index, PET (Physiological Equivalent Temperature), which is one of the popular indices for outdoor spaces
Summary
Interest in improving school buildings, and school grounds, has recently grown considerably due to the important role played by school grounds within the school curriculum. Transitional spaces, one of the popular typologies of sheltered outdoor spaces, are formed by building elements such as an extended roof, awning, canopy, wall or tree covering or enclosing adjacent areas of the school buildings These architectural elements play a vital role in manipulating the environmental performance of the sheltered transitional spaces, such as improving outdoor thermal comfort and alleviating adjacent indoor energy demand. Some researchers have shown the advantages of using the transitional spaces attached to a building in order to improve energy consumption [8,9,10] These studies were only focused on the indoor environment and did not include the sheltered transitional space. Numerical studies were adopted according to different environmental parameters, and computer software packages were used for the numerical simulations
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