MY WORK

Environmental Architecture by Stefanos Papathanasopoulos

PASSIVE Solar HOUSE

This project is focused on the design of a passive house, aiming to provide adequate thermal comfort by only relying on solar gains and building
physics. There is zero reliance on mechanical cooling and heating, and comfort is secured by controlling annual solar gains. The house is situated in
a rural area, in Washington DC, USA. Modelling and assessment of energy performance was done in IES-VE.

FORM FOLLOWS ENERGY

The main strategy is to optimise the building design towards maximum winter solar gains. In order to achieve that, the south facade
was titled by 30o, facing the low winter sun. The control of solar gains
was achieved by installing a second skin of louvers. Additional heating
was facilitated by trombe walls and a greenhouse, which heated up
the air and distributed it to the bedrooms and living room. Cooling
was based on cross ventilation and stack ventilation through solar
chimneys. The control of openings was based on a set of temperature-related formulas, in order to secure optimum indoor conditions.

Greenhouse

74o

Living Room
Winter Heating (Trombe vents + greenhouse)
open if; ttrombe > troom & troom < 23 oC

54o
30

Summer Cooling (Cross vents + Chimney outlet)

CROSS VENTS DAY, open if; troom > 22 oC & tout < troom
CROSS VENTS NIGHT, open if; tout < troom & tout > 7 oC
CHIMNEY OUTLET, open only during night ventilation

Trombe Wall
Summer solstice 74o

Winter solstice 27o

Midseason (Cross vents)

open gradually if; tout < troom & troom > 21 oC

Air quality (trickle vents)

open if; CO2 > 1200 ppm

Solar control (electrochromic film, internal blinds)

FILM, shade if; troom > 22 oC
BLINDS, fully closed during night

Chimneys

Summer cooling strategy

Summer cooling strategy

Ventilation Grills

Bedroom
Winter Heating (Chimney-Trombe vents)
open if; ttrombe > troom & troom < 23 oC

Summer Cooling (Vents + Glazing cross ventilation)

External Shading

open if; troom > 23 oC & tout < troom

Midseason (Vents + Glazing cross ventilation)

open if; tout < troom & troom > 23 oC

Air quality (trickle vents)

open if; CO2 > 1200 ppm

Solar control (electrochromic film, internal blinds)

FILM, shade if; troom > 22 oC
BLINDS, close if; radiation = 0

Green Roof

Technologies

Plans

Formulas

Winter heating strategy

Interior images

NATURALLY
VENTILATEDventi
THEATRE
naturally
lated theatre

This
projectnew
revolves
around
the design
aidea
naturally
ventilated
and
passivelysmall
cooled/heated
building.
Being
specific,init
contains
a and
small
theatre (70 people occupancy) along with a small cafe-bar. It is situated in London, inside the
Thisisaproposalthatwasmadeforacompetition,thatposedthequestion
ofdesigning
andalternative
spaces
forwork.of
The
behindthe
design,isto
manufacture
prefabricatedmodular
boxes,
thatmore
canbeshipped
small
packages
assembled
Victoria
Gardens. During
whole
design process,
was kept
mind was that the
building
to rely onlyto
on natural
ventilation
with no help from mechanical sources. Indoor temperatures and relative humidity levels
wherever
around
the
globe.
These
boxes
can
beEmbankment
joined
together
and the
form
bigger
modules,what
and
be indisassembled
again
andhad shipped
another
location.
were kept at acceptable levels by implementing a plenum and a solar chimney which helped cool/heat the intake air.

SUBMERGING

The main environmental concept behind the design, is that the building is submerged underground, utilising the stable temperature of the ground, while being as less disrupting as possible to the surrounding landscape. The building intakes fresh air from outside, forcing it to pass
through an underfloor plenum, which according to the season, cools down or heats up the
air. It is then distributed in the space via displacement ventilation and successively exhausted
by chimney stacks, positioned on top of the auditorium and the cafe. All of the energy related
results were calculated through simulations that were facilitated in IES-VE.

Strategy and IES model

Section and CFD analysis

Interior images

SUSTAINABLE BUS STATION

This project revolves around the generation of an urban bus station, which will be designed according to sustainability principles. The process is backed up by a series
of evaluations and reviews of the design based on results from computer-based programs such as Autodesk Project Vasari, Autodesk Ecotect and Parasol. There is an
environmental analysis for the surrounding site and the bus station, while climatic factors are being taken into consideration in order to help create a station which
will be appropriate for its surrounding area.

DESIGN CONCEPT

The bus station designed, incorporates 5 features which contribute to an overall comfort for the user. Metallic tubes are installed on the stations roof which are exposed to the winter sun. This heats up the air inside
them, which is then distributed under the seats. A different intake, forces the air to travel in tubes buried
underground, cooling it during summer or heating it during winter, thanks to the grounds annual stable
temperature. The positioning of the louvers, permit sun rays during winter but block them during summer.
Translucent panels are being placed in front of the station, in order to protect the users from northern winter winds. Finally, solar panels are being placed on top, which provide electricity for the stations demands.

heating from the sun

Summer

distribution through grills

solar panels
insulation 2cm
wooden panels 2 cm
metal tubes 5x10 cm

tube with diameter 20 cm

ROOF SECTION A-A

Winter

cooling/heating
through ground travel
wind turbine
air intake

ROOF SECTION B-B

Roof section

Strategy

CFD and shading analysis

facade optimisation
This proposal was done for an academic building belonging to UCL, and it focuses on developing a parametric facade, which will be optimised towards securing low annual system loads and maximum daylight factor inside the building. The model was entirely developed
in Rhinoceros, parameterised in Grasshopper, DIVA was the energy simulation engine and Octopus the plugin used for performing the
multi-objective optimisation.

20%

MODULAR FACADE

40%

60%

80%

The idea was to design a module that would be parameterised according to values related with the suns position, since this would secure optimum results.
The final shape of the module was defined by the width of the facade, the angle from the south sun and the height of each floor. These values generated
the glazing and opaque area of the module and the shadings overhang depth. A set of dimensions were assigned as a pool of data, so that the software
could run iterative runs and determine which are the optimum solutions for the designer, considering annual system loads and daylight factor.

0%

91%

Daylight autonomy for 20,40,60 and 80% glazing ratio

20%

40%

60%

80%

Overhang / South protection

0%
Side Shading / West protection

29%

Daylight factor for 20,40,60 and 80% glazing ratio

Glazing

Daylight solution

Opaque

Y axis / Daylight Factor

(%)
Optimum solution for
system loads

Loads solution

Solutions populations
Optimum solution for
daylight and loads

Loads+Daylight solution
81

200

Solar Irradiation [kWh/m2]

Initial strategy and analysis

Optimum solution for

daylight factor
X axis / Annual total
loads (kWh/m2)

Final Results

thank you