Just to get this going :)
My name is John-Paul Frazer
I'm a designer-maker - have been all my 41 years.
I want to dump a load of stuff here! Probably better than just sitting on my laptop... probably.
Would also like to get some dicussions and experiments going on design.
The first project is a building that aims to have a net positive impact on the environment.
The following description is work in progress - so lots of loose ends... for the moment. But I'll tie them up over the next weeks.
Mrittikalaya 'Abode of Earth'
A bio-inspired positive impact building proposal
Background
About ten years ago I was travelling in Rajasthan India, visiting the Ranthambhore National Park. where I met a hotelier /conservationist couple who expressed their desire to build an eco-hotel.
I spent the next five or six years on R&D but eventually project was shelved for various reasons, many cash flow! However I am keen to share what was learnt and hope to apply some of the work to a different site, which I am currently on the lookout for (and would welcome any suggestions in this regard). I have lectured extensively on this and similar projects, and biomimetic design for sustainable architecture in general, and have a keen interest in dissemination – I also keep being contacted by various researchers internationally - hence the reason for making my work accessible here.
Methodology
A biomimetic design methodology was selected and many months were spent mapping the site, monitoring the local climate, surveying the local flora, fauna and vernacular.
To really get to grips with the problem a wide range of survey methods were employed including weather stations, dozens of temperature dataloggers, hundreds of hours of video tape of e.g. stone masons and weaverbirds at work, soil testing, interviews with the locals etc...
The definition of 'biomimicry' that I work with perhaps needs a little explanation, as well as the design methodology. 'Bio' I take to include life at all scales from DNA to Gaia. As well as physical processes, materials and morphologies, I would also include e.g. systems and behaviour. It also includes man-made artifacts such as vernacular architecture, these being evolved solutions no different in essence to the termite's nest, and possibly other technologies (although as Janine mentions we need ask if they are adapted to long-term survival i.e. are ecologically sustainable). It might also include geological patterns that have been formed as part of the action of Life's processes. It does not include 'biomorphic' forms as aesthetic statements – although I do believe that well-designed function solutions solutions are often, as in nature, beautiful.
The methodology was, and is, a rough and ready one – I am not a scientist but rather a designer – and as such more interested in strategies rather than, say, specific details of biochemistry. So, as well as the more direct 'copying', some of the inspiration, the 'mimesis', is indirect – from 'co-opting', to simply 'being inspired by-'...
It is also important to note that many of the solutions have multiple sources of inspiration; and also that in finding solutions, the importance of correctly stating the brief cannot be overemphasized. For example, rather than the problem here being to 'keep cool' it is perhaps better stated as 'work with energy flow'. This resulted in a wide search of natural adaptations from a wide range of extreme climate zones, but strangely some of the inspiration, as will be seen, came from apparently unrelated sources. Of course 'work with energy flow' is very general but the risk of starting with too tight a problem definition is possibly missing solutions outside the 'normal' search space; the brief can and should be restated as design iterations progress and converge on solutions.
We quickly realised that much of what was proposed was untested and so the main focus of the project became developing a proof of concept prototype building that would be tested empirically over a couple of years. It was decided that this kind of analysis would be more useful and cheaper that modeling with e.g. CFD, partly because the design is holistic - employing a wide range of interconnected technologies - but also because it requires a new relationship between the building and its occupants. This is the key idea that the building should be 'sailed', that is, actively tuned in response to what is a very dynamic environment. Some of this could eventually be 'auto-dynamic' like the sunflower solar tracking, but occupant interaction is also vital and thus the ergonomics need exploring.
The Brief
1.To design and build a two person house that provides year-round thermal comfort for a site in the extreme climate of Eastern Rajasthan (Climate type ). This climate is typified by extremely hot-dry summers and a significant hot and humid rainy season (when there is no drought);
2.The building should be 'positive impact' :that is sustainable in the way that a rainforest might be – rather than simply 'not reducing the ability of future generations to meet their needs' it seeks to 'improve...';
3.The building should also be water and energy autonomous, and ideally also, among other things, recycle its waste and provide food for its occupants;
4.The building will, on the whole, use materials found on site or within a short camel ride;
5.Nothing more technologically complex than a hinge or a pulley should be employed to meet the requirements.
In this description I will focus on thermal comfort. Strategies for energy, food, water etc will be discussed separately – but just to say that I have worked with Tohn Todd, Ken Yeang, various permaculture designers etc and am well aware of most of the issues - I'm not ignoring them :)
There are several interlinked cooling strategies:
Orientation
The larger part of the exposed building faces South – this is the easiest direction to control insolation from as the sun is high so relatively small shades can achieve a lot. Hot dry winds and dust storms are are also avoided (SW-NW).
Form
1.Gross morphology – projection, cactus and openings
2.Surface Morphology (also re cracks and rain)
Earth Shelter
Albedo
Reflectance (V emissivity) sails as reflective
Insulation
1.Plastic waste is scavenged from the local tourist industry and used as loose fill around the entire submerged parts of the building.
2.Whole bottles are used – tied together for roof insulation.
3.Oriented straw channels in the render allow mini-convective currents to help cool the fabric.
4.Deployable insulation panels 'petals' made from plastic bottles cover the master bedroom roof.
5.Eco-orifice.
Night Radiative Cooling
1.Insulated roof petals open at night over the master bedroom to reveal a network of water pipes. These circulate cooled water to storage tanks in the basement and building fabric. Various qualities are accepted.
2.The roof of the main living space opens allowing some radiative cooling and night ventilation.
3.Various other shading devices retract to expose the thermal mass of the building and its systems to the night sky.
4.A system of rotating thermal masses rotate essentially turning sections of the walls inside out ('Eco-orifice')
Ventilation via earth pipe and (interseasonal) coolth stores
Passive Downdraft Cooling
Evaporative Cooling
Monsoon Terrace – behavioral issues
Surface Morphologies
Windows and lighting
Lansdscaping
The ventilation system needs further explanation and can operate in various modes
Suction Tower
Scoop Tower
Wing Shades
