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 .
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