Energy and Buildings, 5 (1982) 55 - 61

55

Teaching and Research in Bioclimatic Architecture*

LEN WARSHAW and CLAUDE PARISEL

ITF Unit, Ecole d'Architecture, Universitd de Montrdal, Case Postale 6128, Montrdal, Qudbec (Canada)

For several years the ITF unit (Innovation Technique et Fonctionnelle), for which the authors are responsible, have been developing comprehensive teaching methods, tools and research facilities aimed at the design of buildings which rely on and respond to their microclimate. This work has taken several forms and resulted in the following program in the school. A basic course in climatic and architecture which has now become a required freshman cOurse for all undergraduate students. A studio-teaching unit (ITF) where students and staff work on design projects dealing with prototype development of energy efficient and climate-related buildings. Among the designs developed are earth-integrated schools, row housing incorporating passive and active solar components and an extensive vocabulary of subsolutions for regional response to climate, and prototypes for autonomous rural housing. At present we are working on designs for an Indian Reservation school which will be built beginning this fall and which incorporates bioclimatic principles. Research work in snow accumulation simulation using a newly calibrated wind-tunnel. Development of hardware subsystems such as windows incorporating insulating panels. Preparation of computer and calculator programs for solar energy performance in buildings. A new graduate level option in bioclimatic design to be given this year. This paper presents all this work in detail and will be illustrated by slides of all staff and student work.
*Paper presented by Len Warshaw at t h e International Symposium on the Impact of Climate on Planning and Building, Herzliya, Israel, November 1980. This paper describes the work of the ITF Unit at l'Ecole d'Architecture, Universit~ de Montreal. 0378-7788/82/0000-0000/$02.75

INTRODUCTION

There is a temptation, when presenting approaches to the teaching of architectural design, to define what we mean by architecture and we would have as many definitions as architects. Without prescribing architecture or its practice as such, we are concerned by the fact that, for many years, its c o m m o n l y accepted definitions have included such terms as 'commodity, firmness, and delight' and more recently such buzz-words as 'technological rationalization, cultural and social response, urban integration, historical contextuality, systemic optimisation' and the like. The latest preoccupation with formalism makes reference to a new renaissance of trendy aesthetic a kind of self-indulgent collagerie. Our concern is not with what is included in these d e f i n i t i o n s of architecture; they are all no doubt of some relevance, but rather with something that has not appeared very often -- that is, any reference to the essential condition of the architectural artifact as a means of modifying the conditions that prevail in a given climate and environment. One might argue that this is implicit but, in educational terms, that which is explicit and visible is that which directs and forms the student in his development. Our aim, therefore, is to reintroduce concerns for the relationship between a building (or group of buildings) and its microclimate as a fundamental principle of design and design philosophy. We will not try to justify this priority in this paper except to say that in the trilogy of man, environment, and technology which is our realm of endeavour, the former is both demanding and adaptable, the latter can be tool or terror, but the environment, its climate, and its resources have specific limits dictated by global realities that must be understood and respected.
-

Elsevier Sequoia/Printed in The Netherlands

56 We all know the obvious facts of life concerning energy that have been so forcefully brought to our attention recently -- so I will not restate them here. But what has been the architects reaction to all this? Having been brought kicking and screaming to this obligation to design more economically with respect to energy his response has been to modify his design by such compensations as adding more insulation, a second or third pane of glass, or even superposing new technology such as solar collectors for hot water or space heating. What has not changed, in most cases, is his basic approach to design and this cannot happen unless he is given the motivation, the comprehension and the tools. The rest of this paper will describe the activities of the ITF unit at l'Ecole d'Architecture of l'Universit~ de Montreal who have taken on this mandate and are achieving some success with this mission. At l'Ecole d'Architecture, studios are organized along thematic rather than chronological lines. They are part of 'Unit~s' which are staffed by groups of faculty who share interests and who are prepared to teach blocks of courses and seminars at all levels from second year to graduate, to offer studio projects related to these (sometimes for real client groups) and to carry out their own research and publication on an ongoing basis. At the present time there are ten active 'Unit~s' in the school and students are invited to enroll in one or other of them for a trimester or two. Most of the units offer programs and projects at various levels and allow the student to experience the design process through the classical studio-project method. What distinguishes them is their theme or approach. This may identify itself by a particular subject area as in the case of H.P.U., 'Habitation Populaire Urbaine', which is concerned with various forms of public, subsidized, cooperative or other social housing. On the other hand the unit~ may be organised around a particular approach or methodology. Examples of these are H.E., 'Homme-Environnement', where the emphasis is on user needs and particular attention is given to such things as post occupancy evaluation and programming and I.T.F., 'Innovation Technique et Fonctionnelle', which will be described in detail. These subjects or approaches reflect the interests of individuals or groups of teachers and this formula allows and encourages them to develop these interests and to continuously update their methods and material. They usually are involved in research in these areas and may work with senior or graduate students on breaking new ground, developing tools or serving real clients. There is often some overlapping between 'Unit~s' and this is completely normal and acceptable. No a t t e m p t is made by the 'Unit~s' to set up closed or exclusive domaines with respect to subject matter. What distinguishes them is the philosophy, current approaches, specific methodology or even the personality of the participating members of the group. It should be noted that this system is not completely original nor without precedent. Although we had little direct contact with the A.A. School in London we were influenced by its program which is also organised around interest-based studios identified with certain staff and specific issues. We were particularly attracted to their insistence on publication of ongoing research by staff and student work and this became an integral part of our unit5 program. One form of publication has been our annual 'Revue R~trospective' which summarizes the work of the 'Unit~s', has been instrumental in upgrading their content and presentation and has allowed us to gain some visibility in the academic, architectural and local communities. I.T.F.: THE UNITE FOR TECHNICAL AND FUNCTIONAL INNOVATION This somewhat pretentious title describes a studio-research unit that was initiated in 1976 by the author and Claude Parisel. At that time we were engaged in research in housing alternatives for the National Design Council and C.M.H.C. [1], and we were very concerned by the restrictions imposed by stereotyped approaches to the technical, functional and organisational aspects of housing production. We also had been working for some time in developing and experimenting with design methods that enhanced the innovative process. In addition Claude Parisel had put together a comprehensive course introducing the students to the fundamentals of

57 'bioclimatic architecture', an approach which is r o o t e d in an understanding of the climate and microclimate and their influence on the design o f buildings. These preoccupations and our own resources and experience seemed to indicate t h at we could offer students design situations and meth o d s and research opportunities that would constitute a useful learning experience. It would also allow us to pursue our own research interests in a c o h e r e n t way. The following translation from our 'Revue R~trospective', 1978 and 1979 [2] describes the Unit~ and its orientation as presented to students in the school of architecture: " T h e principal p r e o c c u p a t i o n of the 'Unit~' is architectural innovation, which we may describe as a different way of identifying a problem, defining a process of designing or producing an object that is related to our physical milieu; this in such a way as to enhance our living conditions while respecting our environmental conditions and our energy and resource limitations. Obviously innovation is n o t limited to our 'Unit~' but we place particular importance on it and the methods for achieving it and its achievement will be one criteria for evaluating student work. This preo c c u p a t i o n should not be seen as a desire to 'be different' but as a pedagogical m e t h o d to help the s tu dent to acquire a critical sense with respect to the programs, current solutions and techniques that perpetuate our mistakes and place undul y heavy demands on our resources. It is also a way of avoiding dreams, illusions and utopias by directing our creative capacities towards that which is exciting but possible. We believe t ha t in the face of the new restrictions that are being imposed on us with respect to energy limitations and environmental protection, these skills and this knowledge will be most relevant for the future a r c h i t e c t . " (3) F u n d a m e n t a l research into new methods and data. (4) Marketing of new tools and services for the profession. (Some of these activities are carried out under the name IN-AR which is our publication and marketing organisation.) There is a strong interaction between all of these activities. For example, in developing design solutions for housing we may identify a need for a new insulated window; this may be developed as a p r o t o t y p e and tested in our wind tunnel, one of our new tools. In ot her words each t y p e of activity either uses the facilities provided by another, identifies problems to be tackled, serves to test ideas or products or produces new information. Since I.T.F.'s inception in 1976 we have been engaged on all of these levels and can best describe our progress by citing some of the projects and products of our work.

1. Building design
We offer two streams in the studio; one is for second year students where the program is defined, the work is structured and the schedule includes seminars and laboratories aimed at providing the students with new methods and skills. The ot her gives advanced students the o p p o r t u n i t y of working on m ore ambitious design problems suggested by us or of their own choosing. The basic projects have dealt with housing form and over the past few years students have developed a convincing vocabulary and interesting solutions. The advanced studios have dealt with solutions for an earth integrated school, an a u t o n o m o u s house, a vocabulary of bioclimatic housing for Quebec, and currently buildings for the Kanawake Survival School [3], a campus in the Mohawk Indian Reservation South of Montreal. The latter building p r o t o t y p e s are based on a doubleshell principle which we applied having found a correlation between the energy considerations and the teaching functions. Several students were hired by the Kanawake School last summer to help t h e m get under way with the project.

ORIENTATION -- BIOCLIMATIC ARCHITECTURE The I.T.F. group have developed a particular interest in the field of bioclimatic architecture and m uch of our work, bot h teaching and research has been in this area. In operational terms we operate on four levels. (1) Building design. (2) P r o t o t y p e and p r o d u c t development.

2. Prototype and product development

Work is under way on the design and testing o f a new series of window designs incorporating insulating c o m p o n e n t s for night-

58

Fig. 1. Autonomous house proposal. Fig. 4. New window designs incorporating night insulation.

U
W

~.dTFL ~ L

Fig. 2. Autonomous house -- Computer generated drawing for orientation study.

Fig. 5. Installation of retro-fit insulating windows.

Fig. 3. Proposal for library -- Kanawake Survival School model.

Design. A design firm is n o w working with us to achieve a c o m m e r c i a l outlet. Several p r o t o t y p e s o f housing c o m p o n e n t s such as i n c o r p o r a t e d r e t r a c t a b l e snow shelters for cars, ' g r e e n h o u s e ' passive heating zones, and solar garage d o o r s have b e e n s k e t c h e d o u t and will be suggested t o s t u d e n t s for f u r t h e r exploration.

closing [ 4 ] . T h e retro-fit m o d e l will be tested in t h e labs and in situ this year. This w o r k was initiated by the t e a m and carried o u t b y t w o senior s t u d e n t s with the c o l l a b o r a t i o n of Bernard Shalinsky, a professor in Industrial

3. Fundamental research T h e r e are t w o m a j o r areas in which research is n o w u n d e r way: (a) c o m p u t e r programs for e n e r g y and sunlight calculations, (b) s n o w a c c u m u l a t i o n studies.

59

@
C...;I . -. .

. :.... ._....... . . . . . . .v.v.v.vv.v.'-.'.v.vv.v, buildings -- 2 Fig. 8. Model in wind tunnel snow accumulation simulation.

Fig. 6 . Prototype o f " d o u b l e - z o n e " levels of climate filtering.

The former includes: -- Adaptations of TRNSYS, the University of Wisconsin program for the simulation of the performance of active solar buildings. -- TRANSDEK [5] an interfacing program to allow students and architects to use the complex TRNSYS program more easily. Programs to identify o p t i m u m building form in terms of minimum sun blocking. Routines for small office calculators and mini-computers to allow architects to evaluate energy performance in passive solar buildings. All of this work has been done by Claude Parisel and two students Cuneyt Ornek and Henri Solar. Calibration has just been completed on our wind tunnel and we can now simulate snow accumulation with reasonable accuracy. Large models were constructed on a site at MacDonald College, where meteorological data was available and correlations were established with test models in the tunnel. This work was carried out by a team which included two graduate students, Greg Johnson and Ginette Mondou [6, 7].
-

Studio projects are now, as a matter of course, tested in the tunnel during the design stage and modified to achieve the preferred conditions.

4. Marketing of tools and services One of our goals is to aid professionals to design with more attention to climate and energy. In this regard we are offering materials, tools and services which include all those described previously. We have also published a 'Shadow Study Kit' [8] patterned after Pleijel's 'Little Sundial', a tool which allows the designer to rapidly and easily test his model for sun incidence or penetration at any time of year. Our lastest project is the setting up of an artificial sky laboratory for the study of daylighting.
CURRENT WORK IN ITF At present there are 26 undergraduates and four graduate students working in ITF on design, research and prototype development.

Fig. 7. Prototype

row

houses

designed

for

Quebec

climate.

60

Fig. 11. Proposal library Kanawake Survival School, south side.

Fig. 9. Shadow study kit.

Fig. 12. Proposal library Kanawake Survival School, cut-away view.

Fig. 10. Shadow study kit used with model.

Design projects include:

- - A m e d i u m d e n s i t y , m o d e r a t e c o s t housing p r o j e c t i n c o r p o r a t i n g principles o f bioclimatic a r c h i t e c t u r e . -- Design p r o p o s a l s f o r a l i b r a r y - a u d i o visual c e n t e r o n t h e K a n a w a k e Survival School c a m p u s . T h e p r o g r a m suggests t h e inc o r p o r a t i o n o f b o t h active and passive solar h e a t i n g in a largely e a r t h - i n t e g r a t e d building. T h e plans f o r this building will be p r e p a r e d in t h e second t e r m and c o n s t r u c t i o n m a y begin in t h e spring. - - T w o ' a u t o n o m o u s ' rural h o m e s are being designed for real clients w h o wish to live in close h a r m o n y w i t h t h e i r e n v i r o n m e n t w i t h ~elative i n d e p e n d e n c e f r o m outside sources o f ~nergy and f o o d .

Current prototype studies: - - An investigation into the p o t e n t i a l use o f r o o f spaces to gain n e w f u n c t i o n a l o p p o r t u nities while i m p r o v i n g t h e relation to climate and the e n e r g y balance. - - I d e n t i f i c a t i o n of e a r t h - i n t e g r a t e d building p r o t o t y p e s t h a t t a k e a c c o u n t o f the p r o b lems o f s n o w a c c u m u l a t i o n as well as its potential as an i n s u l a t o r and light r e f l e c t o r . This t e a m will m a k e extensive use o f o u r wind tunnel and will initiate w o r k on the setting up o f a r u d i m e n t a r y artificial sky to s t u d y t h e lighting aspects o f the p r o b l e m . Research labs
T w o s t u d e n t s in this section are p r e s e n t l y working on further development of computer s i m u l a t i o n s f o r active and passive solar building p e r f o r m a n c e . O t h e r s are pursuing studies in wall and w i n d o w design a i m e d at redressing t h e i m b a l a n c e s in o u r c u r r e n t s y s t e m s o f c o n s t r u c t i o n w i t h r e s p e c t to such things as

61

thermal retention and night losses through south facing openings. Another graduate student is completing a computer program to generate solar diagram overlays using various types of projection; equidistant, equivalent, stereographic and orthographic, for any given latitude. This pulling together of British, European and American material will hopefully be published and distributed as were our shadow study kits. In addition to the work described we are continuing our own research and practice in these fields and preparing new course offerings. This year, we will introduce an advanced course in the graduate program which will place emphasis on the quantitative aspects of bioclimatic design. We have also been asked to prepare a follow-up course to the basic one we now give to all undergraduate students which will serve to introduce all subsequent courses in environmental controls (lighting, heating and mechanical services) by situating them as extensions and modifiers of the components of the micro-climate. This represents a fundamental change in attitude which we hope will have a real effect on the students perception of his role in this area.

The students in such a system are guaranteed a basic grounding in bioclimatic architecture and are able to achieve varying levels of familiarisation or mastery depending on their particular interest. This may vary all the way from the student who incorporates bioclimatic principles into his professional makeup along with a multitude of other subjects and preoccupations -- through the one who develops a design sensitivity that becomes an important part of his approach -- to the occasional student who goes beyond the usual range of architectural practice to develop an expertise in one aspect or another of this critical field. This paper has attempted to present the work of one unit in one school in the area of bioclimatic architecture. It seems to be working for us and will hopefully continue to encourage our students and professional colleagues to place consideration for the climatic imperative among the primary influences in their design process and to acquire the tools and experience to deal seriously with its implications.
REFERENCES 1 C. Parisel and L. Warshaw, Options in Housing for Canadians, CMHC, Ottawa, 1975. 2 Revue Rdtrospective, Ecole d'Architecture, Universit~ de Montreal, 4 volumes: 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980. 3 L. Warshaw et al., Development Proposal -Kanawake Survival School, Universit~ de Montreal, 1980. 4 (a) Fen~tre Qudbdcoise, IN-AR, Universit~ de Montreal, 1980. (b) C. Parisel, L. Warshaw et al., Une fen6tre cananadienne, Proceedings of symposium Temperature without Heating o f Buildings, CSTC, Universit~ de Liege, May 1979. 5 C. Orneck et H. Solar, TRANSDEK - TRNSYS, 3 vol., IN-AR, Universit~ de Montreal, 1980. 6 C. Johson, G. Mondou, C. Parisel et al., Description et calibration de la soufflerie, Ecole d'Architecture, Universit~ de Montreal, IN-AR 1980. 7 Mem. Maitrise, G. Johnson and G. Mondou, Catalogue de r~ponses des formes architecturales types l'enneigement, Universit~ de Montreal, 1980. 8 Shadow Study Kit, IN-AR, Universit~ de Montreal, 1979.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, our experience tells us that: (1} Concern for the climate and energy as major basic ingredients of building design is fundamental to architectural education and practice. (2) A school's program must be comprehensive and offer various levels of courses and studios concerned with building and climate. (3) Studios and labs should offer a broad range of topics, tools and opportunities to work on many facets of the problems. Design, research, prototype studies, and practical work should take place in an integrated way with continuous interaction between them.