International Conference | Bari- Lecce, Italy Session IX
CLAM LIFE MECHANISM: INSPIRED DESIGN STRATEGIES FOR BETTER BUILDING PERFORMANCE
Asma Al Ansari1 & Hasim Altan1
1 Sustainable Design of the Built Environment, Faculty of Engineering & IT, British University in Dubai, UAE, 2014117153 @ student. buid. ac. ae / hasim. altan @ buid. ac. ae
Abstract
The paper aims at attaining the optimum comfort level for an existing project by employing several design strategies gained from a natural living concept. These strategies are imitated from a natural concept through a process called biomimicry. For this study, the ideas and strategies are derived from the giant clam( Tridacna Gigas) life mechanism. The Tridacna Gigas( TG) was assigned as the natural concept including features, functions and anatomical parts, imitating to solve thermal design problems arising in a building space. TG is a large living bivalve mollusk, consisting of shell, mantle tissue and the zooxanthellae colonies. The clam mantle tissue consist of Iridophores Cells that acts as solar reflector; non Photosynthetic pigments that acts as sunscreen and UV shields to block the excessive amount of UV radiation; and Photosynthetic pigments that absorbs the solar energy and converts to chemical energy to feed the clam. All of these lessons were imitated and implemented as design strategies in Al Manahil cafe restaurant located in Dubai, UAE. The cafe restaurant is oriented toward the east, consisting of 19 outdoor and 28 indoor seating, 2 washrooms, 2 dishwasher areas, a preparation area, and 2 entrances. It was redesigned in order to achieve the maximum thermal comfort levels inside the space. This was possible by implementing strategies derived from the clam life mechanism lessons, i. e. through iridophores cells reducing the amount of light entering the space by 48 % with the use of light shelves; through non-photosynthetic pigments achieving reduction on the amount of heat entering the building by 53 % with the use of double glazing; and through photosynthesis pigments reducing the electrical energy by 4.25 % with the use of photovoltaic cells. Moreover, the use of computer simulation helped to carry out analysis for evaluating thermal performance before and after these strategies were adopted in the building refurbishment, which has been also presented in this paper. The design strategies gave rise to light shelves, double glazing, and photovoltaic cells, which resulted in improving the indoor environmental quality of the space.
Keywords
Biomimicry, Tridacna Clam, Thermal Performance, Design Strategies, Building Simulation, Sustainable Refurbishment.
623