Heating with Wolves, Cooling with Cacti: Thermo-bio-architectural Framework (ThBA)

259 Pages·2021·13.544 MB·English

by  Negin Imani, Brenda Vale

HeatwiinWtgoh l ves,
CoolwiinCtgah c ti
Thermo-bio-aFrrcahmietweocrtku r(aTlh BA}
Neglimna ni
BrenVdaal e
Heating with Wolves, Cooling

with Cacti

Thermo-bio-architectural Framework (ThBA)

Negin Imani
School of Architecture

Victoria University of Wellington

Wellington, New Zealand

Brenda Vale
School of Architecture

Victoria University of Wellington

Wellington, New Zealand

p,
p,
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
A SCIENCE PUBLISHERS BOOK
Cover illustration by Sarah Wilson of Wilson Ink Art (https://www.wilsoninkart.com/).
First edition published 2022
by CRC Press
6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742
and by CRC Press
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
© 2022 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the
author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or
the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace
the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to
copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any
copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we
may rectify in any future reprint.
Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted,
reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying,
microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without written permission from the publishers.
For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access
www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222
Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. For works that are not available
on CCC please contact [email protected]
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trade­
marks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
ISBN: 978-0-367-53438-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-0-367-53440-0 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-08193-7 (ebk)
DOI: 10.1201/9781003081937
Typeset in Palatino
by Radiant Productions
Preface

This book was developed from the PhD work of Negin Imani, which was
partly supervised by Brenda Vale. However, this book is a substantial
reworking of the thesis with additional chapters to make it accessible
for many readers. Inspiration for the topic came from seeing how many
modern buildings are poorly adapted to the climates and situations
where they are located, unlike the local flora and fauna. Would it be
possible to learn from how animals and plants thermo-regulate and find
a way of transferring this knowledge to building designers? This was the
underlying question that led to this book.
The big challenge came from trying to find a way to link two
seemingly disparate bodies of knowledge—biology and architecture. The
structure of the book to an extent follows the path taken by the research
investigation. Having examined why there is a need for energy-efficient
buildings in Chapter 1 and whether buildings have ever been better
adapted to location in the way of the local flora and fauna in Chapter 2,
Chapters 3 and 4 look at what has already been happening in the field of
buildings that draw inspiration from nature, especially when it comes to
energy efficiency. The starting point of any research is to build on what has
gone before, just as this book will hopefully be a stepping stone for those
with a fascination for bio-mimicry. The biggest challenge in developing
the ThBA was to find a way of structuring existing information on
how animals and plants thermo-regulate. This process is described in
Chapter 5, and in turn structures how the types of thermo-regulation are
presented in Chapter 6. The next step was to try and find a way of making
this biological information both useful and accessible for designers. As
a first step parallels were drawn between what happens in nature and
what happens in buildings when it comes to thermo-regulation, as set out
in Chapter 7. This preparatory knowledge led to the creation of the first
version of the ThBA. We were privileged to have had the help of a panel
of biologists from Victoria University of Wellington in evaluating this first
version and we are eternally grateful for the time they gave to this project.
The next step in the research was to test the ThBA to see if it were helpful
for designers. This led to a number of revisions as described in Chapter 8,
iv Heating with Wolves, Cooling with Cacti: Thermo-bio-architectural Framework (ThBA)
which also deals with using it for the first time to try and find solutions
for the thermal challenges of two case study buildings in New Zealand.
What the research revealed, as discussed in the final chapter, is that
building designers already use many of the thermo-regulatory strategies
found in nature but not in the complex hierarchical way that they occur
there. This is an area that yet remains to be explored.
Negin Imani
Brenda Vale
Contents

Preface iii

1. Building Energy Use and Climate Change 1

1.1 Climate change 1

1.2 Sustainability and climate change 2

1.2.1 Ecologically Sustainable Design (ESD) 3

1.3 Biomimicry 4

2. Thermal Issues and Building Design 8

2.1 Design and climate 8

2.1.1 Cold winters, cool summers 9

2.1.2 Hot summers, cold winters 11

2.1.3 Hot, wet climates 12

2.1.4 Traditional building 13

2.2 Modern buildings 14

2.2.1 Passive solar design 15

2.2.2 Active solar design 16

2.2.3 Passive and active comparisons 16

2.3 Zero energy buildings 17

3. Biomimicry and Its Approaches to Energy-Efficient 21

Building Design

3.1 Architecture and nature: an unending dialogue 21

3.1.1 Design inspired by nature: its origins 22

and background

3.1.2 Biomimicry in architecture 23

3.1.3 Biomimicry and innovative solutions for 24

building design

4. Linking Biology and Buildings 43

4.1 The search for a link between biomimetic design and 43

building energy efficiency

4.2 Extraction of useful data 49
vi Heating with Wolves, Cooling with Cacti: Thermo-bio-architectural Framework (ThBA)
4.2.1 Animals and insects 49

4.2.2 Plants 53

4.2.3 Human beings 55

4.2.4 Other relevant examples 57

4.3 A systematic way of accessing natural examples 58

of thermoregulation

4.3.1 BioGen (a biomimetic framework for design 60

concept generation)

4.4 Assessment 65

4.4.1 The examples of biomimetic design 65

4.4.2 Badarnah’s approach to biomimetic design 67

4.4.3 The next step 67

5. Developing a Structure for the ThBA 71

5.1 Environmental adaptation: a leap forward for 71

energy efficiency

5.2 Literature review 73

5.2.1 Step 1: basics of bio-heat transfer 74

5.2.2 Step 2: classification measures of biological 75

thermal regulation strategies

5.2.3 Step 3: thermal physiology of heat regulation 78

in nature

5.2.4 Similar patterns of thermoregulation in organisms 86

and buildings

5.2.5 Endothermy and ectothermy as a means 89

of classification

6. Thermoregulation in Nature 96

6.1 Introduction 96

6.2 Controlling heat: passive methods of thermal 98

adaptation in animals

6.2.1 Generating heat 98

6.2.2 Controlling heat gain 99

6.2.3 Controlling heat loss 106

6.3 Controlling heat: active methods of thermal 109

adaptation in animals

6.3.1 Generating heat 109

6.3.2 Controlling heat gain 111

6.3.3 Controlling heat loss 111

6.4 Controlling heat: thermal adaptation in plants 115

6.4.1 Generating heat 117

6.4.2 Controlling heat gain 118

6.4.3 Controlling heat loss 126

6.5 Generating the ThBA 133
Contents vii
7. Parallels in Building Design 143

7.1 Introduction 143

7.2 Passive methods of thermal regulation in buildings 148

7.2.1 Generating heat 148

7.2.2 Controlling heat gain 150

7.2.3 Controlling heat loss 153

7.3 Active methods of thermal regulation in buildings 154

7.3.1 Generating heat 155

7.3.2 Controlling heat gain 155

7.3.3 Controlling heat loss 160

7.4 Active and passive methods of thermal regulation 161

in buildings (Plants)

7.4.1 Generating heat 161

7.4.2 Controlling heat gain 168

7.4.3 Controlling heat loss 172

7.5 The hierarchical structure of the first draft of the ThBA 174

7.6 Biology to architecture transfer 175

7.7 The complementary aspects of thermoregulation 177

7.7.1 Systems in organisms 177

7.7.2 Interconnection of systems 179

7.7.3 HVAC in buildings and circulatory and 179

respiratory systems in organisms

8. Testing the ThBA 186

8.1 Introduction 186

8.2 Focus group 187

8.3 Identification of thermal issues 188

8.4 Building A in Dunedin (using the ThBA Version 01, 190

Test 01): the need to redesign the ThBA

8.4.1 The process of redesigning the ThBA Version 01 191

8.5 Building A in Dunedin (using the ThBA Version 04, 220

Test 01)

8.5.1 Inappropriate solutions 220

8.5.2 Appropriate solutions 225

8.6 Building A in Auckland (using the ThBA version 04, 225

Test 02)

8.6.1 Action one: decreasing heat gain 226

8.6.2 Action two: avoiding heat gain and action 227

three: increasing heat loss

8.7 Architects know biomimicry by instinct 227

8.7.1 Controlling conductive and convective heat 227

gain through temperature gradient

8.7.2 Controlling convective and conductive heat loss 228

through temperature gradient
viii Heating with Wolves, Cooling with Cacti: Thermo-bio-architectural Framework (ThBA)
8.7.3 Controlling solar heat gain through transmission 228

and absorption

8.7.4 Controlling solar heat gain through surface area 229

8.7.5 Controlling evaporation through surface area 229

8.7.6 Controlling evaporation through air flow 229

8.7.7 Controlling conductive and convective heat gain 230

through surface area

8.7.8 Controlling convective and conductive heat loss 230

and heat gain through heat transfer coefficient

9. Developing a Framework for Bio-Inspired 233

Energy-Efficient Building Design

9.1 Introduction 233

9.2 The usefulness of the ThBA 234

9.2.1 Possible links revealed by the ThBA 235

9.3 Does nature hold the answer? 236

9.3.1 Trade-offs 237

9.3.2 Unknown nature 238

9.4 Waiting for new technology 238

9.5 What was learned from developing the ThBA 242

Index 245
Chapter 1
Building Energy Use and
Climate Change
1.1 Climate change
Global warming and consequent climate change is a universal issue that for
many people is hard to appreciate as a problem because the link between
everyday behaviour and its effect on climate is difficult to see. Only
recently have a number of extreme weather events begun to be linked with
the effect of changes to the climate, caused by increased concentrations of
greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. The problem in part stems
from the fact that many buildings, especially those in the developed world
are powered by energy that comes from fossil fuels, and it is the burning
of these that has been linked to climate change.
Research has shown that global warming will continue to increase if
appropriate measures and policies are not set in place and adhered to by
influential industries (Chen 2015). Many countries have set out policies
and initiated research for controlling and mitigating the potentially
excruciating effects of climate change on human lives. An example is
CarbonWatchNZ, a New Zealand (NZ) programme that focuses on the
carbon balance of the whole country through measuring greenhouse gasses
in the atmosphere (NIWA 2019). The NZ Ministry of Business, Innovation
and Employment (MBIE 2019) states, “Approximately 20% of all energy
in NZ is consumed in the operation of buildings and around 65–70% of
the energy consumed in buildings is in the form of electricity. Buildings
use slightly more than half of the electricity produced in NZ.” Because
NZ energy has a significant renewable component of total primary energy
supply in 2019 (39.5%) (MBIE 2020) and 82.4% of electricity generated that
same year (MBIE 2020), this does not seem a great problem. However,
globally in 2015, “82% of final energy consumption in buildings was