A Study on Thermal Environment and the Design Methods to Save Energy in Small Glass-Skin Commercial Buildings

Abstract

To represent the expansion and mutual insertion of spaces by the innate transparency of glass and express new possibility of high technology, some architects apply glass to the outer skin of a building. Though glass-skin buildings economize in the lighting and heating energy in winter, these buildings which are often designed without considering solar gain in the summer and glass conduction in winter, there are many problems such as poor built environment, energy waste and so on. This study aims to provide architects with useful information by comparing with several alternatives, including double skin system etc., to save the energy as well as increase the quality of indoor environment without interfering with the expressed intention which an architect shows to the public by applying glass to the outer skin of building. As results of this study, 1) in the temperature measurements, the surface temperature of glass skin increase by 50°C in small glass-skin buildings. Therefore it makes occupants feel serious discomfort by MRT and cause the increase of cooling load. 2) It is difficult to reduce the cooling load in small glass-skin buildings with considering indoor environment and energy problems rather than heating load. To solve that problem, double skin system is applied to design method with enough intermediate space and shading devices. © 2004, Architectural Institute of Japan. All rights reserved.