ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 409

Cultural values are embedded within each villa. The initial design was to create a sustainable city
of its own and to incorporate all the techniques and strategies. The villas have two artificial design
concepts that could have been categorized under sustainability. Each villa has a central courtyard
that allows air movement, which becomes as a ventilation system. It has also function as a private
open space for the family to gather. The second feature is a non-functional wind tower above the
stairs known as Burjeel. It is located on top of the stairways. What is unique about the site that it
has an Eastern cool wind velocity coming from the Persian Gulf. This is considered strength when
it comes to develop and make use of the non-functional wind tower to capture and act as natural
ventilation throughout the villa. The photos below in Figures 11 and 12 show the house exterior
and interior structure.

Figure 11: Compound Villas (left); lost open spaces between villas (middle); walkways (Sikkas) (right)

Figure 12: The house exterior (left); the central courtyard (middle); non-functional wind tower (right)
In order to come up with an environmentally efficient design, several analyses were undertaken considering the sites strength and weaknesses. As mentioned before (Fig13), each villa/house
has a central exposed open courtyard that supposed to allow air movement, which becomes
as ventilation system and function as a private open space for the families to gather. It also has
a non-functional wind tower to promote cultural values. The area totals (Fig.14) 12,585 m2, the
central courtyard is 1,710 m2, and the surface coverage of the prototype villa is 480 m2. The design
objectives were to redesign the block by using all the possible techniques used by the termites
to construct their colony.

Sustainability in nature: lessons for yas island housing community in Abu Dhabi

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