Locating the building

Global context
The BCA academy is in Singapore which is an East Asian, island nation that
sits just 1.1degrees north of the equator and 103.8 degrees east. The
following maps are provided from various sources to show the location of
the building in a global, national and local scale. The building is marked in
Red and the image sources are shown beneath.

FIGURE 1, wikepedia user Strebe,(2011), Winkel triple projection SW,

[MAP], At:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Winkel_triple_projecti
on_SW.jpg, (accessed on 3/11/2015)
Citywide context
The BCA academy is in between two residential areas and in the heart of
the urban landscape. Singapore is an island city. Below the BCA academy
is marked on an Arial photograph of Singapore.

FIGURE 2, Blogger Mogness, (2011), full-size Singapore, [Arial

Photography MAP], At: http://blog.mogness.com/, (accessed on:
3/11/2015)
Campus context
Two major roads, bound the BCA academy each of 6 lanes, to the east and
south, a rail depot to the north, and a canal to the west beyond these are
combinations of light industrial and residential buildings including a school
to the south west.
Within the Campus the building for which we are concerned forms part of
one side to a U shaped courtyard. It is east-west orientated and has similar
scale buildings close to it to the north and to the south. The orientation of
the building is not such that it makes the most of the prevailing winds for
ventilation as the prevailing winds are from northeast and southwest.

FIGURE 3, Google, (2014), digital globe, [Arial photography MAP], At:

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@1.3449295,103.8584678,1875m/data=!
3m1!1e3, (accessed on: 3/11/2015)

local environmental design strategies

The importance of designing sustainable in Singapore is fostered by it
being devoid of natural resources {1} and energy scarce {1}. It
seems that these influences were involved in the IMCSD (inter-ministerial
Committee on sustainable development) setting a stringent target of 80%
Green Mark Certification for all buildings by 2030. This challenge will mean
many existing buildings will have to be greened. {1}
Historic vernacular design strategies

left: FIGURE 5, Sengkang, (2006), Armenian church Singapore,

[photograph], accessed at

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armenian_Church,_Singapore (accessed on:

7/12/14)
Right: FIGURE 6, Mayang, unknown creation year, bright old shops
Singapore, [photograph], Accessed at:
www.mayang.com/textures/Buildings/images/Old%20Commercial
%20Buildings/bright_old_shops_singapore_050532.JPG (accessed
on: 7/12/14)

Left: FIGURE 7, Wardsan, 2008, Old commercial buildings in Hoi an,

[photograph], Accessed at: wardsan.travellerspoint.com/112/
(accessed on 7/9/14)
Right: FIGURE 8, Kevin Lee, 2005, Khatib Bongsu, [photograph], accessed
at: http://remembersingapore.org/2012/04/04/from-villages-to-flats-part-1/
(accessed on:7/12/2014)

In Singapore traditional architecture was heavily influenced by the

climate. To achieve a comfortable space in a hot humid climate the
older homes were built on stilts as in other south East Asian
countries. This meant that the house could be more thoroughly
ventilated right to its core. In the instance of the particular building
shown above the building is built over water as well improving the
cooling effect.
As the architecture developed from the traditional Mayan house
Verandas and porticoes along with large roof overhangs were used
to shelter the buildings from excessive solar gains. Further
traditional solar protection systems that were used a lot in
Singapore are shutters and recessed windows. Shutters, as active
systems, give the user control however the combination of these
systems often results in poor indoor lighting conditions.
Modern vernacular design strategies
Examples of low energy solutions to improving the built environment that
are used locally are as follows: solar shading, high thermal mass, Solar

assisted stack ventilation, various types of smart glass that reflect or

absorb solar radiation reducing heat gains.

Solar shading

Left: FIGURE 9, Michael Nicholson,2012, Cliff face house parasol roof,

[photograph], accessed at: http://architectureau.com/articles/cliff-facehouse-by-fergus-scott-architects-and-peter-stutchbury-architecture/
(accessed on:7/12/2014)
Right: FIGURE 10, Shannon McGrath, 2014,Walmajarri Community Centre,
[photograph], accessed at: http://www.earchitect.co.uk/australia/walmajarri-community-centre (accessed on
7/12/2014)

A parasol roof is a form of solar shading. It is a secondary roof that does

not form part of the envelope of the building. It protects the roof from
solar radiation and reflects/absorbs the radiation itself. They are especially
useful in equatorial areas where the sun path is high in the sky and light is
intense. In the context of the BCA academy building solar gains will be the
greatest contributor to cooling load so a parasol roof would be beneficial
to protect from that.
Movable shutters take many forms in modern architecture. As well as
repeat uses of the traditional style one can also find movable external
louvers, tilt blinds and others in use. They all provide adaptive solar
shading enabling provision of good lighting levels and protection as the
solar position changes through the day. The key difference to be
mentioned is that blinds when used internally do not protect fully from
solar gains as while they reflect much of the light out of the room they do
absorb some of the solar radiation and therefore there are solar gains.
Similarly to parasol roofs these could be used to mitigate the high solar
gains especially during morning and evening when the solar altitude is
shallow. Adaptability is especially useful as it allows windows to provide

good lighting when not under direct sunlight and protect from intense
sunlight when under direct sunlight.
Immobile solar shading also continues to be used. In addition to the
traditional porticoes overhanging roofs and verandas immobile louvers,
balconies and solid planar window shades are used to protect from solar
gains. These are useful for protecting windows against solar gains. There
is already an access corridor and stairwell on each floor on the east side of
the building which protects from some of the morning sun. In the BCA
building it may be useful to install static shading over all vertical windows.
This is all that would be necessary on north and south facing windows to
prevent any direct solar radiation from penetrating them.
Ventilation
Solar assisted stack ventilation uses a double skin roof the outer layer
of which transforms solar radiation into thermal energy to heat air and
drive a stack effect ventilation system. It is enables use of stack
ventilation where the external temperature is higher than internal as it
creates an intermediary zone where internal extract air is heated beyond
the external air temperature which creates a suction effect drawing up
more of the cooled internal air. The upper roof is either made of highly
absorbent material or can be made of solar panels, which generate a
sufficient amount of thermal energy.
In the case of the BCA academy this could be used to drive some degree
of natural ventilation however air conditioning would still be required due
to the high humidity of air in Singapore therefore it may not be
appropriate to use natural ventilation strategies at all.

FIGURE 10, Singapore Governament,2010, Solar assisted stack ventilation,

[Diagram], accessed at: https://www.bca.gov.sg/zeb/daylightsystems.html
(accessed on:7/12/2014)

Smart glazing
Electrochromic glass protects from solar gains by changing opacity in
reaction to the intensity of solar radiation upon it. It provides an
alternative to shutters that requires no external control. It is however a
comparably expensive so may or may not be appropriate to use in a
building of the BCA academys scale.

FIGURE 11, Singapore Governament,2010, electrochromic glass,

[Photograph], accessed at:
https://www.bca.gov.sg/zeb/daylightsystems.html (accessed on:7/12/2014)

photovoltaic glass has semi-transparent photovoltaic panels embedded

within the glass. These small panels work both to create electricity and to
protect from solar radiation. However as with internal blinds a lot of the
solar radiation is being converted into heat within the fabric of the building
and therefore it does not provide the best protection from solar gains.

FIGURE 12, Singapore Governament,2010, photovoltaic glass,

[Photograph], accessed at:
https://www.bca.gov.sg/zeb/daylightsystems.html (accessed on:7/12/2014)
Windows with internal blinds protect from solar radiation in much the
same way as normal blinds but there is a small benefit in that the blinds
are protected from damage by the glass and the thermal gains on the
blinds are further towards the outer edge of the fabric reducing the
amount of solar energy absorbed by the building.

FIGURE 13, Singapore Governament,2010, Double Glazed Unit (DGU)

with internal operable glass, [Detail drawing], accessed at:
https://www.bca.gov.sg/zeb/daylightsystems.html (accessed on:7/12/2014)
Building fabric strategies
In Singapore there is not a great tradition in modern architecture of
building with particularly well-considered building fabric. Rather they often
end up using intense air conditioning systems to cool their buildings.
However there are examples internationally and in older tropical buildings
of using high thermal mass, which in the day absorbs thermal energy, and
in the night under heavy night cooling releases thermal energy. It is
particularly useful in countries with a high temperature difference between
day and night. However even in countries like Singapore where there is
less variation it can still be used to further flatten the buildings
temperature through the day and to slow down its response to daytime
gains.
Double skin facades c0nsist of an external glazed screen then a
ventilated void before the envelope of the building whether fully or
partially glazed. It can be used to increase convective heat losses of the
building fabric to outside air in the cooling period. Shading devices
installed between the skins can also be cooled and used to filter direct
light before it enters the envelope of the building.
Thermal mass is a property that enables building materials to absorb,
store, and later release significant amounts of heat.(concretethinker.
2014. Benefits- Thermal mass. [ONLINE] Available
at:http://www.concretethinker.com/solutions/Thermal-Mass.aspx.
[Accessed 08 December 14]) It is a system that would be appropriate for
the BCA academy because it is effective at reducing both the cooling loads
on buildings and especially good for flattening the cooling loads through
the day thus increasing cooling hours but reducing the peak load and
therefore system requirements. In office buildings in hot climates this is
especially useful as the peak solar internal and ventilation gains all
coincide in the mid afternoon.
Low solar absorption facades are fairly self-explanatory. The principle
is that to reduce solar gains to the fabric of the building minimising the
fraction of solar radiation incident on the building that is absorbed is
useful. These facades have higher reflectivity than others and one must be

careful where the reflected light Is headed. This is appropriate to the BCA
academy building due to the high intensity of solar radiation in Singapore.
Wind catchers are a component used in hot climates to provide natural
ventilation. They are roof/ tower mounted collectors that draw fresh air
from above into the building via ducts into the building. The system is
driven by wind pressure and is therefore limited on still hot days. The
system can be combined with a heat exchanger/ thermally massive air
intake or shallow water pools at the supply location to passively cool the
air. However the latter of these is not useful in a hot humid climate such
as Singapore.
Wind catchers can be enhanced with solar driven fans and can be
combined if needed with stack/solar chimney systems. All of these
enhance the effectiveness of such systems.
Solar shading protects buildings from one of the most architecturally
predictable and counter able sources of building heat gains- solar
radiation. By shading windows from the direct light of the sun one can
significantly reduce the solar radiation heat gains permitted by a window.
This strategy is appropriate in offices even in temperate climates so in the
hot humid and sunny Singaporean climate where minimising gains are an
even greater concern.

FIGURE 14, GBTech, (2007), Solar Shading Devices [ONLINE]. Available

at:http://gbtech.emsd.gov.hk/english/minimize/images/green_image001.jpg [Accessed 08
December 14]