ZEMCH 2015 - International Conference Proceedings | Page 724

1. Introduction
Understanding passive design and its applications leads to blending with nature and makes better solutions that sustains for longer time efficiently. It raises the sense of responsibility, and lets
the viewer appreciate the architecture of the space. Passive design considers site context as the
highest priority in design. Those factors from sun path, wind direction, topography, location and
other factors which are made by man like the surroundings, infrastructure, culture and user and
the sensory observations. Passive design contributes in designing a building that integrates with
the surrounding environment and it meets the human comfort zone, and helps reducing consumptions in either cooling or heating cases. Using the proper strategies according to the project
context is important; because the way of thinking in passive design refers to the natural resources and criteria. Such applications reduce energy usage consistently, and this automatically cuts
down the carbon footprint to help enhancing the environment.
Thinking passively can be tackled when applied on the elements of the building. To determine
the best methods, many factors should be taken into account such as follow:
-Orientation of the building decides the amount of incident solar radiation hitting the mass along
the day time. It depends on the region and the sun angle which varies from a cold country to
another.
-Openings -as windows- are the most important elements which provide lighting and ventilation
for the indoor space. Openings design – size, location and shape- will effect dramatically on the
solar radiation penetration.
-Thermal mass helps to know what material will be chosen according to every project need. Layering material depends on the location of the project and the function of the certain building.
-Shading devices attached to the building mass is integrated with the building openings. It decreases the heat of the sun rays with a cooler indoor space.
-Selecting the p roper insulating materials for the building is considered as one of the highest
priorities when attempting to lessen the heat exchange between indoor and outdoor. Insulation
materials can reduce the external noise, heat gain and heat loss, and it helps achieving good energy conservation.
-Shape of the building plays an important role where compactness is one of the solutions to reduce the heat loss, and the volume of the building exposed to the sun should reach the least S/V
ratio; to insure a minimum heat gain.

2. Methodology
This paper aims to explore the passive cooling strategies applied in architectural projects, either
inspired from laboratory experiments, or supported by a literature review. Integrated Environmental Solutions (IES) Virtual Environment (VE) software is used to simulate many factors and
constrains related to the design performance. For architects, the designed building model can be
simulated through the IES VE software.
Thus, the steps start by modeling the building, calculating the results as the base case, and after
that applying the passive cooling strategies in the building and calculating again; to check the
variations obtained and the changes occurred in the building after the passive status has been
applied. Therefore, the simulation outcomes will be compared before and after the passive cooling strategies accordingly. An imaginary model was created to assess the parameters desired in
this region. With reference to the climatic conditions of Dubai, the model was improved through

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ZEMCH 2015 | International Conference | Bari - Lecce, Italy