Abstract
ABSTRACT Building performance simulation tools such as the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP) can be invaluable for improving energy-efficiency in housing design. However, achieving improved energy performance is also a sociotechnical issue, and how this is dealt with during the architectural design process seems less well studied. This collaborative design research project for a low-energy prefab house with an industry partner, a manufacturer of Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), is used as a case study to show that it is possible to achieve high energy performance while addressing specific socio-technical concerns within an Australian volume homebuilding market. A key issue that emerged in this project was the perceived tension between passive design expectations in Australia and those promoted through the Passive House software tool.
Highlights
Building performance simulation tools can be invaluable during the design process to improve the energy-efficiency of proposed buildings
How sociotechnical factors play a role in the design process itself, seems less well studied and understood
The project team needed to consider rR. Factors such as the context of the suburban volume housing market, user concerns and ev perceptions, technical properties of the Structural Insulated Panel (SIP) system, results from the PHPP to assess iew energy performance, as well as site, planning guidelines, orientation, and flexibility of future use. Conflicts between these factors had to be addressed in the design process and technical solutions had to be reconciled with perceptions and behaviour
Summary
Building performance simulation tools can be invaluable during the design process to improve the energy-efficiency of proposed buildings. The available body of literature on energy performance of buildings is extensive, exploring both technical aspects, such as the efficiency of building envelopes (De Boeck et al 2015), as well as social aspects, such as user evaluations and preferences How sociotechnical factors play a role in the design process itself, seems less well studied and understood. Fo factors interact during the design process. This could help shift the focus from prioritising energy-efficiency above all else, which has been criticised for example by. The focus of this paper is to highlight and discuss sociotechnical issues that iew emerged during a collaborative and industry-linked, government-funded design research project (LP13). The LP13 project was set up as a collaboration between an industry
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