High-rise Residential Buildings Research Articles

Urban Agriculture: The Feasibility of Rooftop Farming in Penang Island, Malaysia

By 2050, over 60 percent of the global population will live in cities, the majority in high-rise residential buildings. Thus, rooftop farming as part of urban agriculture will be highly important in building sustainable cities. It brings plenty of benefits and opportunities to the environment and society, as well as food supply to urban residents. Singapore, as a land-scarce state, has been very successful in implementing rooftop farming. Even though having a similar geographical condition as Singapore, rooftop farming has yet to be popularized in Penang Island. Rapid development and industrialization are deteriorating air quality and occupying arable land on the island, while the population is highly dependent on imported food. Rooftop farming may be a good option to reduce these problems, seeing there are so many high-rise residential buildings on the island. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the likelihood of rooftop farming by island residents, and its determinants. Data collected from 323 Penangites that live in high-rise residential buildings revealed that 65 percent of respondents were likely to participate in rooftop farming. The ordered Probit model estimated that awareness of the potential benefits of rooftop farming, environmental knowledge and awareness, environmental consciousness and perception are important factors that determine the likelihood of participating in rooftop farming. The findings of this study may be important for Penang state policy makers, and may also be useful for similar economies globally, to promote, encourage and implement rooftop farming in urban areas, and achieve sustainable cities for future generations.

Evaluation of crowd evacuation in high-rise residential buildings with mixed-ability population: combining an architectural solution with management strategies

The increasing growth of high-rise residential buildings in recent years and the existence of hazards such as fires, earthquakes, and terrorist incidents have increased the importance of evacuating buildings to save lives. Meanwhile, statistics show that a significant percentage of the population and hence residents of buildings are permanently disabled. However, the study of the evacuation of a mixed-ability population is more complicated than a homogeneous population. This study examined phased evacuation, emplacement strategy, and ramp installation using a mixed-ability population simulation in a 26-story residential building. The study population includes 2% of people with mobility limitations and 98% without disabilities. Unlike previous studies, the results revealed that phased evacuation could not reduce evacuation time in a mixed-ability population. It was also found that emplacement strategies could shorten the evacuation time by up to 10%, though suffering from an ethical problem. Meanwhile, combining ramp installation with others strategies offered the best and broadest impact on a safe evacuation and could improve evacuation time by up to 30% and reduce congestion on exit routes.

Air infiltration rates in residential units of a public housing estate in Hong Kong

The air infiltration rate in a high-rise residential building can influence indoor air quality and building energy consumption. This study was carried out to estimate the air infiltration rates of all the residential units in Cheung Sha Wan Estate, a public housing estate in Hong Kong. Computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations were conducted for the neighborhood to obtain the wind pressures on the building envelopes through the use of annual weather data from the Hong Kong Observatory. Various cases with different wind speeds and directions were conducted to cover the majority of the possible scenarios. The resulting wind pressures were used as input data in the multizone airflow network model to calculate the infiltration rates of all the residential units. On-site measurements of infiltration rate were carried out in four residential units in Cheung Sha Wan Estate for estimation of the effective leakage areas for the multizone airflow calculations. Based on the calculated results and the probability of occurrence for each scenario, statistical measures of the estimated air infiltration rates were determined. The results show that the mean annual-average infiltration rate among the 596 residential units of Cheung Tai House was 0.26 h−1 with a standard deviation of 0.11 h−1. Furthermore, the infiltration rate was positively associated with the wind speed, negatively associated with the volume of the residential unit, and insensitive to the floor level. When the arrangement of the surrounding buildings provided a clear path for the wind, the infiltration rate was higher.

Impact of window and air-conditioner operation behaviour on cooling load in high-rise residential buildings

Impact of window and air-conditioner operation behaviour on cooling load in high-rise residential buildings

Impact of anthropogenic heat from air-conditioning on air temperature of naturally ventilated apartments at high-density tropical cities

Natural ventilation is an important resource to cool down indoor areas at sub/tropical areas. However, within the high density urban context, anthropogenic heat from mechanical cooling system could have significant impact on the thermal environment at naturally ventilated indoor areas. This study focuses on residential neighbourhood and aims to develop evidence-based strategies to improve residential building design to mitigate the negative impact of anthropogenic heat. A parametric study was conducted using validated Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models to investigate the impact of various design parameters, e.g., building typology, floor elevation, apartment location, and heat emission source location on the indoor air temperature increment (ΔT). First, the parametric study indicates that ΔT is generally lower at high-rise residential buildings than slab residential buildings. Secondly, lower ΔT at slab buildings with courtyards does not means better indoor thermal comfort because lower ΔT is caused by poor natural ventilation. Thirdly, the apartments located at the windward side of courtyard could have much higher ΔT than the ones at leeward side. When organizing hybrid ventilation for the buildings with courtyards, the ventilation direction is important to prevent heat entering the indoor areas from courtyard. Fourthly, significant increment of ΔT with increasing floor elevation is observed at slab buildings. Last but not least, changing heat source locations from the windward to leeward side could not help to decrease ΔT, but putting the heat sources at the façade parallel to the incoming wind could be very helpful. The above research outputs enable architects and planners to assess the current heat risk and take the necessary actions.

Determining HVAC system retrofit measures to improve cost-optimum energy efficiency level of high-rise residential buildings

The construction of high-rise residential buildings has increased dramatically in line with the expansion of cities. However, this type of buildings has relatively higher annual energy consumption and further relies on comprehensive use of fossil fuels. Furthermore, these buildings are rather expensive compared to other types of residential buildings by the global costs throughout their economic life cycle. The present study aims to contribute in improving the energy performance of high-rise residential buildings based on the cost-optimal framework methodology as provided in Recast Directive on Energy Performance of Buildings (EPBD 2010/31/EU). Recognized as an EU candidate and engaged in accession talks for full membership, Turkey is required to comply with the provisions stipulated in this Directive. In the scope of the present study, advanced retrofit measures aimed to improve the energy performance of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems are suggested based on a high-rise residential building, a representative case study in Turkey. The results indicated that use of decentralized heat recovery ventilator systems combined with demand-controlled ventilation strategy would decrease the energy consumption by an annual rate of 39% in high-rise residential buildings. Besides, it was concluded that use of photovoltaic and waste heat recovery systems was associated with significant superiority in improving the energy efficiency level of high-rise residential buildings at cost-optimum scenarios. In the present study, the aforementioned retrofit measures helped decrease the annual energy consumption and global cost by 50% and 23%, respectively. Accordingly, it was suggested that the utilization of photovoltaic and waste heat recovery systems in high-rise residential buildings should be mandatory through an increase in incentives intended for renewable energy systems and amendment of the building codes in Turkey.

Mathematical model and experiment analysis of pressure fluctuation inside dual-stack drainage system in residential buildings.

The final velocity was put forward to study the water flow characteristics inside the building drainage system; however, it is more suitable for low-rise and multi-storey buildings, not for high-rise buildings. This study revealed the drainage transient characteristics of a double stack drainage system in high-rise residential buildings. Based on the final velocity, the air-water interaction mechanism and two-phase flow conditions in high-rise residential drainage stacks were discussed. An influence model of drainage system flow rate on pressure fluctuation under the change of state parameters such as ventilation rate, pipe wall roughness and building height was established. The pressure limit and flow rate data were obtained through full-scale experiments. The pressure limit and flow rate model were simplified to Pn = A ċ Q2 + B ċ Q1:81 + C. After the data were verified, the fitting coefficients A, B and C were linear to the floor height.

CORRIDOR AS A SUSTAINABLE SOCIAL SPACE IN HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDING

The rapid population growth and limited land on earth make high-rise residential buildings, especially in urban areas, inevitable. However, from several studies and analyses, many of these vertical living did not / have not fulfilled social sustainability aspects, which are essential aspects of the three spheres of sustainability concepts, namely social sustainability, economic sustainability, and environmental sustainability. Therefore this study will emphasize creating sustainable social space in high-rise residential buildings but will focus more on Corridor.Corridor as a definite area and always exist in high-rise residential building, have a high frequency always to be used and passed by residents as the main circulation path from and to the unit of residence. Therefore Corridor has great potential to influence the lives and way of life of the residents. Therefore, if we as architects can propose a design intervention by including consideration of the rules of the social space parameters, the Corridor can be an ideal sustainable social space that is needed and can be positively beneficial for residents, so that in the long run, it can help achieve Sustainable Architecture.

Visual appraisal of designed landscapes in high-rise residential areas rendered by residents living at different heights

As residential buildings become higher and higher, people begin to pay more attention to the views they can see through windows. Currently, the studies on landscape are mostly conducted at the height of human eye level, and little has been done on visual impact assessment of landscapes from other height perspectives. This study divided the high-rise residential buildings into different height partitions and set landscape style, green area, number of colors, water features, and vertical structure as landscape features. Then the residents living in different height partitions were surveyed by photo stimulation experiments and the data were collected and analyzed. The results show that the five features mentioned above are the main influencing factors for the respondents’ visual impact assessment; residents living in different height partitions rendered different visual impact assessments of the landscapes in residential areas; different landscape features exert certain influence upon the residents living.

Numerical analysis on the hazards of open stairwell doors in high-rise residential buildings

High-rise buildings have unique risks associated with fire as egress is often limited to stairwells. Protecting these vertical paths from the infiltration of smoke is essential for safe evacuation. Passive fire safety strategies have addressed this by using fire-rated compartmentation. Fire-rated stairwell doors are commonly compromised in residential buildings, as observations have found them propped open or failing to close correctly. Many recent fire tragedies have demonstrated the spread of smoke into the stairwell can render egress paths untenable and carry smoke throughout the building. The consequence of stairwell door openings on smoke spread in high-rise multi-unit residential buildings is evaluated in this study. The smoke spread is predicted within a 10-storey multi-unit residential building using computational fluid dynamics. Tenability predictions in the stairwells determine available safe egress time for an array of leakage and door parameters. This illustrates the relative hazard to egress where stairwell doors are not properly closed.

Occupancy behaviour and patterns: Impact on energy consumption of high-rise households in southeast China

With the rapid urbanization in China, energy consumption and corresponding carbon emissions in residential buildings are growing. Because occupant behaviour plays a significant role in building energy performance and occupant comfort, understanding the crucial links between occupant lifestyles and energy use is the key. Most studies on the relationship between occupancy behaviour and energy usage have been conducted in public or commercial buildings. Because data is difficult to obtain and key information about existing houses is required, research on high rise residential buildings is limited. To acquire information on thermal satisfaction, residential equipment ownership and usage habits and attitude to smart meters, this paper conducted a comprehensive survey of 112 metropolitan families living in a typical booming city. A case study high-rise residential building is modelled in a building energy simulation tool. The results are compared with the actual energy bills acquired from occupants or smart meters to better understand the energy usage in this area. The results showed that a large variation in energy use could exist in different households, which is influenced by several factors such as occupancy patterns and habits, as observed in the survey. At the same time, it shows the challenge of predicting the energy use of such a building with varying internal heat gains, set points and window opening behaviours across the different households.

The Impact of Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) Towards Maintenance Performance for High-Rise Residential Lift System

Building maintenance has become an invaluable process in the field of the built environment with the purpose of retaining building value and quality. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is important in the maintenance field as it can reduce maintenance costs without affecting the performance of services. However, the application of LCC in this country is limited due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about LCC. This research intends to identify the components of LCC and its impact on the maintenance performance of lift systems in high-rise residential buildings. Lift systems are important for high-rise buildings to transport occupants from the ground floor to upper floors but most lift systems have not been effectively managed and maintained in Malaysia, which has resulted in severe injuries to users and even death. Yet, there is a lack of data regarding high-end high-rise residential buildings. Hence, this research will focus on lift systems in high-end high-rise residential buildings. A mixed-method approach has been adopted whereby questionnaires were distributed to building managers of high rise residential buildings in Klang Valley and interviews were conducted with building managers from the selected case studies. With the application of LCC, the maintenance team can consider all the LCC components of the lift system during the decision-making process and improve the maintenance performance of the lift system by having lower breakdown rates, fewer complaints received and quicker response times.

Generative design to reduce embodied GHG emissions of high-rise buildings

Although countries have reduced their total greenhouse gas emissions by improving energy and transportation policies, the contribution of the building sector has been widely overlooked. Embodied emissions (EE) are particularly important since they are released upfront rather than over building lifespans, making them critical for near-term emission reduction targets. Accordingly, this study developed a tool to reduce EE at the conceptual stage of high-rise residential buildings. The tool combines generative design with goals and constraints inherent to conceptual building design: maximizing site use, views, and building code compliance. In a case study, it was able to achieve a 7% reduction in EE compared to a sub-optimal solution. This research elucidated the potential of using generative design in early-stage design, proposed novel systems for the generation and evaluation of design alternatives, and delivered GenGHG, a ready-to-use, open-source tool for conceptual building design.

Techno-economic analysis of the transition towards the large-scale hybrid wind-tidal supported coastal zero-energy communities

In the current academic fields of zero-energy community, there is still limited knowledge on the integration of a coastal community with hybrid ocean-related energy systems. This study investigates the feasibility of a coastal community to reach zero-energy with the support of a hybrid offshore wind and tidal stream energy generation system, as well as an ocean and solar thermal energy supported district cooling and heating system. TRNSYS simulation was performed to demonstrate a proposed community that comprises 8 high-rise residential buildings and 2 mid-rise office buildings with a 9.86 MW community peak power demand. This study considered 21 hybrid renewable energy cases and investigated their performance in 2 scenarios – scenario 1 without battery and scenario 2 with battery. The system performance is assessed from the technical, economic, and emission perspectives by analysing the system load matching, net present value, discounted payback period, and equivalent CO2 emission. In scenario 1, the hybrid renewable energy case 5 with 6 offshore wind turbines (12 MW) and 117 tidal stream converters (29.25 MW) has the best annual load matching (56.68% “onsite energy matching” and 57.84% “onsite energy fraction”) mainly due to their complementary generation pattern during specific periods. In scenario 2, the community-scale electricity storage significantly increases the system technical performance by raising the “onsite energy matching” and “onsite energy fraction” of case 5 to 75.25% and 74.75%, respectively. In addition, the techno-economic analysis reveals the market competitiveness of the 21 RE cases and demonstrates the significant economic impact of the FiT policy. The comparison between scenario 1 and scenario 2 indicates that the community-scale battery diminishes the operation-cycle profits but reduces the equivalent CO2 emission. Furthermore, with the current price settings, tidal stream energy generation is considered less profitable than offshore wind energy generation. This study could provide important insights into the development of coastal zero-energy communities with hybrid offshore wind and tidal stream energy generation at other locations worldwide, especially densely populated coastal cities.

Analysis of solar chimney ventilation systems in high-rise residential buildings using parallel flow networks

Solar chimneys are passive ventilation systems that leverage solar energy to supplement or replace mechanical ventilation. Here we present a novel flow network analysis method for solar chimneys in high-rise buildings and use this method to develop insights into the design of these systems in high-rise multi-unit residential buildings (MURBs). The proposed method differs from others as it relies on a flow network that is less computationally intensive than computational fluid dynamics methods, but it can consider more complex system layouts than existing flow network methods, allowing for characterization of these systems in high-rise buildings. The method was validated by comparing results to other studies in the literature, showing that it can match the flow rates reported for single-floor systems within a 5% error, and qualitatively match the trends from studies of multi-floor systems. We use a case study to demonstrate how the model can be used to analyze the performance of a solar chimney in a high-rise MURB. The results indicate that the air flow rate to each floor induced by the solar chimney is proportional to collector width and solar flux, and inversely proportional to the inlet temperature and the number of floors. The method detailed in this study can be used by practitioners and researchers to develop simulation programs, and the case study results can be used to improve solar chimney design in high-rise MURBs.

Sustainability assessment in residential high-rise building design: state of the art

ABSTRACT Twenty-first-century population growth is raising the need for more land space in urban areas and this has led to the construction of high-rise buildings, reducing horizontal urban development and making construction of residential high-rise buildings (RHB) a necessity in major cities around the world. In this regard, urban density and high-rise construction are key factors when determining a city’s sustainability and the liveability of urban areas. Sustainability indicators were identified in previous research and quantification has proven to be a useful tool for RHB design. This paper provides an overview of the various sustainability factors applied to RHB design. The paper also compiles information on the sustainability strategy, description of RHB issues and how this type of building can affect urban design. Some strategies may improve the natural environment such as incorporating green spaces, combining living, working and leisure activities, providing facilities for children and the elderly such as playgrounds and reasonably natural settings, ease of access to public transport, road networks and shopping facilities and so forth. The research is based on a descriptive approach and it analyses previous studies. The findings show that the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development (SD) should be considered to implement sustainability in RHBs. Previous literature reviews on RHBs considered social aspects in less detail.

FORMATION FEATURES OF SPACE-PLANNING TECHNIQUES OF MULTY-STOREY AND HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

A multi-storey and high-rise single-section residential buildings designing world experience was reviewed and analyzed. It has been determined that placement of a residential building in a certain part of the urban environment requires use of space-planning techniques that contribute to the overall structure of the house diversity. The initial shaping elements of plans include simple geometric shapes: square, circle, ellipse, rectangle, triangle. According to the applied technique, construction features of the individual architectural elements of a residential building are revealed. The study identified three main space-planning techniques that can be used in a residential buildings design: static basis; movement integrity; compiling forms. Certain techniques make it possible to identify the typological features of residential buildings and, accordingly, to classify them according to their characteristic features.

Analysis of vertical movement of particulate matter due to the stack effect in high-rise buildings

Outdoor particulate matters (PM) enter the indoors with airflow due to wind pressure, temperature differences, and variable pressures from HVAC systems. PM introduced into the indoor space is deposited on the surface according to the indoor environmental conditions to reduce the indoor particle concentration. In particular, in high-rise buildings in winter, the stack-induced driving force, which is a function of the height of the building and the temperature difference between indoor and outdoor, is dominant. High-rise buildings have vertical pathways for the transport of PM between floors within the building, and eventually distribute it to households.This study aims to analyze the characteristics of PM transport in the vertical shaft in a high-rise building, and to propose a method to calculate penetration and deposition properties to predict indoor particle concentration. An optimization method was proposed to calibrate the multi-zone airflow and particle transport model using field measurement, multi-zone airflow/contaminant simulation, and genetic algorithm (GA)-based optimization techniques. The target building was a 43-story high-rise residential building, and CONTAM was used for multi-zone simulation. The results showed that the PM concentration in the vertical shaft decreased toward the upper floors due to wall deposition. The deposition rate in the vertical shaft was calculated to be less than 0.3 h−1, was the smallest at the Neutral Plane Level (NPL), and increased toward the upper and lower floors. In other words, the deposition rate in vertical space was inversely proportional to the airflow rate. The deposition rate of the vertical shaft was calculated to be smaller than that of the horizontal space. The reliability of the PM concentration prediction results calculated using the proposed method in this study was valid, and satisfied ASTM D5157.

Photovoltaic rooftop's contribution to improve building-level energy resilience during COVID-19 work-from-home arrangement

The COVID-19 pandemic has introduced opportunities for more research in resilience as globally cities experienced lock-down, causing change to conventional energy consumption pattern especially in the residential sector. This study aims to quantify the increased energy demand during work-from-home arrangement, using high-rise public residential buildings in Hong Kong, where its government announced work-from-home arrangement four times in 2020. Building energy modellings were conducted to compare the total energy demand of residential units during normal and work-from-home arrangements, followed by validation against peer models and empirical data. A 9% residential energy demand increase was demonstrated, hence additional energy supply became desirable for the sake of resilience. This study assesses the possibility to leverage photovoltaic rooftop to supplement the increased energy demand. The photovoltaics' potential contribution was estimated by solar energy simulation and evaluated in terms of the capability to utilize its generation output to supplement the additional energy demand. During the four work-from-home periods, it was shown that a photovoltaic system could have supplemented 6.8% - 11% of the increased energy demand, mainly subject to the air-conditioning operation and solar generation. These findings are valuable to safeguard energy resilience in upcoming grid planning and operation.

Analysis of Wind Load on High-Rise Residential Building According to BNBC

Analysis of Wind Load on High-Rise Residential Building According to BNBC