The Impact of Building Mass Configuration Towards Wind-Driven Natural Ventilation in Apartment in Jakarta

Abstract

Recently, based on the data released by Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), housing is the second most energy-consuming sector after industry sector in Indonesia. Furthermore, the biggest energy consumption in housing is for air conditioner. Meanwhile, the rise of temperature cause people to use artificial ventilation more often, leaning to higher energy consumption. In order to reduce that, architects need to provide a design option, so people can achieve thermal comfort through natural ventilation by utilizing wind forces. Cilincing District is selected as case study for its microclimate characteristic. Since it is located in the coastal area of North Jakarta, the prevailing wind that comes from north-east can be utilized for wind-driven natural ventilation. There are some factors related to natural ventilation, one of them is building mass configuration. The aim of this paper is to find the optimum building mass configuration inside the given site area in order to achieve the optimum air movement around the buildings. The methodology in this research was design iteration using Ansys Fluent CFD simulator of 5 design models; each consisted of 6 building blocks. The results showed that model 5 with un-linear (zig-zag) building layout and combination of various building distances (wide-narrow-wide), which narrowed building distance in the middle of the site, provided optimum air movement around the buildings because it could create a kind-of tunnel/trap that strengthened the wind which produced a constant wind velocity along the site.