ENVIRONMENTAL COMFORT ASSESSMENT OF SEMI-OUTDOOR SPACES IN A NET ZERO ENERGY BUILDING - SDE4

Abstract

Located in National University of Singapore, the School of Design of Environment 4 (SDE4) is the first building in Southeast Asia to achieve the Zero Energy Certification and the first building in Singapore to attain the WELL certification. With sustainability design features and strategic building optimization, the building has demonstrated impressive results to achieve net positive energy outcomes all year around. While the building strived to optimise energy efficiency during its operation stage, environmental comfort provided to building occupants remains questionable as naturally-ventilated space can be largely influenced by outdoor conditions. Hence, this study was proposed to evaluate the environmental comfort performances in terms of thermal, acoustical as well as visual comfort in the semi-outdoor spaces through a case study of SDE4. In this study, results from the objective measurements revealed that most of the semi-outdoor spaces have rooms for improvements for at least one of the environmental comfort performances while subjective measurements drew a different conclusion due to the difference in individuals’ perceived comfort level. It was found that occupants in the tropics would be acclimatized to the warm thermal conditions based on their experience and expectation. The study also emphasized that occupants in the tropics are more likely to find themselves comfortable when there is an elevated air speed in the environment under hot weather. Relevant recommendations have been made based on the design of the selected semi-outdoor spaces to enhance environmental comfort. Limitations were addressed to further improve the study in future.