Pinecone Analogy Approach in Designing Low Energy Apartment

Abstract

Limited land available in big capital cities makes building development change from horizontal into vertical one. High demand for living space along with high-density population causes carbon emissions from electricity used for lighting and cooling increasing as well. This research is trying to invent vertical housing design concept that responsive into environment, especially Bengkulu City, as the solution and alternative for living space that low in energy used. Organic analogy was used as a method to conduct natural principles of Australian Pinecone into apartment design. Pinecone physical appearance and the structure of Pinecone transversal section were interpreted as an apartment plan configuration and exterior design of the building. First, the transversal section of Pinecone structure that consists of seed, wing, and axis, were interpret as an apartment plan configuration, which is the balcony area, apartment unit, and corridor. Next, the spike shape of Pinecone scale inspires angular shape on the outer side area of apartment floor plan and the façade as well. There are three alternatives from design process iteration that later being analyzed using Sefaira simulation to find energy use in the building. Result showed that apartment building design that use a lot of Pinecones principle analogy has lower energy consumption, which is 63 KWh/year/m2. This number is still under the average energy use intensity for apartment building in Indonesia. Nevertheless, there are still some limitations and minus point on the final design that can be further research in the future.