1.

SYNOPSIS
1.1 INTRODUCTION:
A facade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front.
The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face".1
Faade Oxford Dictionary meaning:

the principal front of a building, that faces on to a street or open space:

a deceptive outward appearance:

In architecture, the faade of a building is often the most important from a design
standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. Many faades are historic, and
local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.
In modern high rise buildings, the exterior walls are often suspended from the concrete
floor slabs. Examples include curtain walls and precast concrete walls.
In general, the faade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs
will be made from aluminum or stainless steel. In recent years more lavish materials such
as titanium have sometimes been used, but due to their cost and susceptibility to panel
edge staining these have not been popular.

1.2 NEED FOR THE STUDY:

Buildings are typically responsible for a major contribution of any nations energy
requirements and carbon dioxide production. Facades are crucial to energy consumption
and comfort in buildings. In World, more than 40% of the overall energy consumption

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facade
1

and 36% of the overall CO2 emissions are produced in/by buildings.2 As the main
interface between interior and exterior, the type of faade system used significantly
impacts energy consumption in buildings. Energy efficient facades are one way to solve
this complex problem.

1.3 AIM OF THE STUDY

To acquire in depth knowledge about energy efficient facade concepts that helps to
overcome the problem of high energy usage and to maintain a comfortable interior
environment in office buildings.

1.4 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY:

To study various the various techniques and strategies towards energy efficient
facades.
To know the working principle of different faade concept.
To understand the advantages and shortcomings of each faade concept.
To learn the construction techniques employed and its energy performance.
To study building examples that has integrated energy conserving approaches in a
sustainable manner and to know the extent to which it has been implemented.

1.5 SCOPE OF STUDY:

An overview of the energy efficient facades and study in detail about various
passive and active faade concepts.
To know about the degree of energy efficiency possible in each concept.
Case examples and their understanding.
2

Multifunctional faade systems by Martin Treberspurg, Mariam Djalili, BOKU

2

1.6 METHODOLOGY:
Studying effects of facades on energy consumption and interior environment of the
building.
Detailing out the different kinds of active and passive faade systems.
Studying of existing facade systems in office buildings at Chennai and their impact
in energy consumption and interior environment.
In Case examples what are the faade system used and its impact in energy
efficiency.
Design considerations for energy efficient facades

1.7 ANTICIPATED FINDINGS:

To find out the different kinds of energy efficient faade systems and to analyze the
advantages and disadvantages of each.

1.8 LIMITATIONS:
It will deal with the detail study of only existing energy efficient faade systems.
The study will not discuss all the faade systems and it is restricted to only energy
efficient faade systems.

1.9 RESEARCH QUESTIONS:

What is a faade and its function?
How facades contribute to energy efficiency in buildings?
What are the different kinds of energy efficient faade systems?
3

 What are the materials used in the construction of each faade system?
What is the amount of energy saved by energy efficient faade system over the
conventional faade system?
What are the different parameters which had to be taken into account in designing
an energy efficient faade system?
What are the different kinds of faade systems used in existing office buildings?

2. LITERATURE STUDY
2.1 FAADE DEFINITION
A facade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front.
The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face".
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faade
Faade Oxford Dictionary meaning:
the principal front of a building, that faces on to a street or open space:
a deceptive outward appearance:
In architecture, the faade of a building is often the most important from a design
standpoint, as it sets the tone for the rest of the building. Many faades are historic, and
local zoning regulations or other laws greatly restrict or even forbid their alteration.
In general, the faade systems that are suspended or attached to the precast concrete slabs
will be made from aluminum (powder coated or anodized) or stainless steel. In recent
years more lavish materials such as titanium have sometimes been used, but due to their
cost and susceptibility to panel edge staining these have not been popular.

2.2 FUNCTIONS OF THE FAADE

Fig 1: Functions of the facade

2.3 TYPES OF ENERGY EFFICIENT FACADES
Energy efficient facades can b broadly classified into active and passive
facades.
2.3.1 PASSIVE FACADES
TROMBE WALL - Trombe wall is the most simple collector wall .Short-wave sunlight
penetrates the glass panes on a south-facing wall and hits on a dark absorbent layer the
so-called Trombe wall. It is absorbed and transformed into long-wave heat radiation. The
heat in the gap between the faade layers is transmitted through the wall into the room
behind it. Depending on the structure of the wall and its storage capacity, the heat gained
can be discharged quickly or over a long period of time, well into the evening hours.
A typical unvented Trombe wall consists of a 4- to 16-in (10- to 41-cm)-thick, south
facing masonry wall with a dark, heat-absorbing material on the exterior surface and
faced with a single or double layer of glass. The glass is placed from to 2 in. (2 to 5
cm) from the masonry wall to create a small airspace. Heat from sunlight passing through
the glass is absorbed by the dark surface, stored in the wall, and conducted slowly inward
through the masonry. High transmission glass maximizes solar gains to the masonry wall.
Trombe walls work on the basic greenhouse principle that heat from the sun in the form
of near-visible shorter-wavelength higher-energy ultraviolet radiation passes through
glass largely unimpeded. When this radiation strikes high mass objects the energy is
absorbed and then re-emitted in the form of longer-wavelength infra-red radiation that
does not pass through glass as readily. Hence heat becomes trapped and builds up in an
enclosed structure with high internal mass and glass surfaces that face the sun.

Fig 2: Trombe wall - section

GREEN FAADE - Green facades are a type of green wall system in which climbing
plants or cascading groundcovers are trained to cover specially designed supporting
structures. Rooted at the base of these structures, in the ground, in intermediate planters
or even on rooftops, the plants typically take 3-5 years before achieving full coverage.
Green facades can be anchored to existing walls or built as freestanding structures, such
as fences or columns. Self-clinging plants such as English Ivy have commonly been used
to create green walls. Their sucker root structure enables them to attach directly to a
wall, covering entire surfaces. These aggressive plants can damage unsuitable walls
and/or pose difficulties when the time comes for building maintenance and plant removal.
Construction methods are Modular Trellis Panel System and Cable and Wire-Rope Net
Systems. Modular systems consist of square or rectangular panels that hold growing
media to support plant material. The composition of the growing medium may be
tailored to the unique combination of plants selected, and to other design objectives. Most
7

of the nutrient requirements for the plants can be found in the growing media within the
modules. Irrigation is provided with these systems at different levels along the wall, using
gravity to move water through the growing media. Modular systems are often pre-grown,
providing an instant green effect upon completion of the installation.
The Mur Vegetal is a unique form of green wall pioneered by Patrick Blanc. It is
composed of two layers of synthetic fabric with pockets that physically support plants
and growing media. The fabric walls are supported by a frame and backed by a
waterproof membrane against the building wall because of its high moisture content.
Nutrients are primarily distributed through an irrigation system that cycles water from the
top of the system down.
Attachment to building envelope how the system will be secured to the building
or free standing structure. Calculation of structural loads for larger systems, resulting
from loads such as snow, plants, and wind. Plant selection for wind and light exposure,
hardiness zones, and amenity context. Plant maintenance and/or long term maintenance
plan to secure the health of these living systems, including proper soil and irrigation
considerations. Correct plant spacing for desired coverage, and release from the
temporary support structure used by the nursery.
Green walls are found most often in urban environments where the plants reduce
overall temperatures of the building. "The primary cause of heat build-up in cities
is insulation, the absorption of solar radiation by roads and buildings in the city and the
storage of this heat in the building material and its subsequent re-radiation. Plant surfaces
however, as a result of transpiration, do not rise more than 45 C above the ambient and
are sometimes cooler. Living walls are particularly suitable for cities, as they allow good
use of available vertical surface areas. They are also suitable in arid areas, as the
circulating water on a vertical wall is less likely to evaporate than in horizontal gardens.
8

Fig 3: Green Facade

CAVITY WALLS - Cavity walls consist of two 'skins' separated by a hollow space
(cavity). The skins are commonly masonry such as brick or concrete block. Masonry is an
absorbent material, and therefore will slowly draw rainwater or even humidity into the
wall. The cavity serves as a way to drain this water back out through weep holes in the
base of the wall system. A cavity wall with masonry as both inner and outer skins more
commonly referred to as a double skin. The reason cavity insulation keeps heat in, is that
air in the cavity are bad conductors and good insulators. This is because the distance
between the particles in the air is greater than that in a solid. Other benefits of cavity
walls are their resistance to moisture from the outer side to the inner wall and the increase
of sound proofing.

Fig 4: Cavity wall

2.3.2 ACTIVE FACADES
INTEGRATED PHOTOVOLTAIC FACADES - Facades offer a large area for PV
modules. Besides generating electricity PV facades must look appealing and protect the
building from weather. They can be integrated with windows, day lighting, and shading
schemes to provide multiple benefits. Although compared with surfaces sloping at an
optimum tilt angle, the expected yields are lower, facades offer other advantages. To
overcome these problems facades can be sloped using a saw tooth design. They can be
retrofitted onto existing buildings or integrated into a new building's design. PV shade
screens provide a large area for generating electricity and also reduce solar heating in the
summer, which cuts cooling loads and glare. Shade screens cost less than other BIPV
systems because extra ventilation of the PV modules is not needed.
Curtain walls often contain opaque surfaces (spandrel areas), where nontransparent modules can be used. Vision glass areas will require highly transparent PVs
with good optical properties; no such modules exist yet, but they may be developed in the
future. Semitransparent PVs with medium optical quality might be used in parts of

10

curtain wall glazing, such as high glazing in tall spaces, where day lighting is the primary
criterion and view is secondary.
Modules provide enormous design possibilities. They can be manufactured in any
form and size and furnished with all the visual and functional attributes of normal
glazing. The photovoltaic elements are also fixed like conventional glazing. Not only is
one or multi-sided support possible, but also point fixing or adhesive bonding in
structural glazing systems.

Fig 5: Photovoltaic Facades

DYNAMIC FACADES - Dynamic building envelopes include advanced window
technologies, innovative fenestration systems and automated shading control, all of which
characterize the new intelligent buildings generation (together with efficient HVAC
control systems). Each building requires a different design approach, depending on the
type of use, climate, orientation and transparency. An average size building (10-15
stories, 50,000 sq. ft) with glazed facades, the energy savings for cooling due to
automated shading and lighting control could reach 40%, while the lighting energy
consumption can be reduced by more than 60%, compared to a passive envelope design.
Peak cooling load can also be reduced by 20-40%. Smart windows and shading systems
11

have optical and thermal properties that can be dynamically changed in response to
climate, occupant preferences and building energy management control system (EMCS)
requirements. These include motorized shades, switch able electro chromic or gas
chromic window coatings, and double-envelope macroscopic window-wall systems.
"Smart windows" could reduce peak electric loads by 20-30% in many commercial
buildings and increase day lighting benefits as well as improve comfort and potentially
enhance productivity in our homes and offices. These technologies will provide
maximum flexibility in aggressively managing demand and energy use in buildings in the
emerging deregulated utility environment.

Fig 6: Dynamic facades

DOUBLE SKINNED FACADES - Double skin facades consist of an external faade, an
intermediate air space and an inner faade. The outer layer provides protection against

12

weather and acoustic insulation. The faade allows ventilation of intermediate space and
also provides thermal insulation. An adjustable shading device is usually incorporated in
the air cavity. The layers of the faade are described below:
Exterior Glazing: Usually it is a hardened single glazing. This exterior faade can be
fully glazed.
Interior glazing: Insulating double glazing unit (clear, low E coating, solar control
glazing, etc can be used). Almost always this layer is not completely glazed.
The air cavity between the two planes can be totally natural, fan supported or
mechanically ventilated. The width of the cavity can vary as a function of the applied
concept between 200 mm to more than 2m. This width influence the way that the faade
is maintained.
The interior window can be opened by the user. This may allow natural ventilation of the
offices. Automatically controlled solar shading is integrated inside the air cavity. As a
function of the faade concept and of the glazing type, heating radiators can be installed
next to the faade.
Energy savings are achieved by minimizing solar loads at the perimeter of the buildings.
Providing a low solar factor and low U-value minimizes the load of adjacent spaces. It is
claimed that double-skin facades (DSF) save natural resources by reducing energy
consumption during the operational life of the building.
DSF is a common solution for allowing windows to be operable in a windy zone because
of the buffering effect of placing a fixed plane of glass outside the operable window.
However, this is not a very appropriate solution for very hot climates, where it would not
be desirable to allow hot air inside. But these operable windows could be used for night
time ventilation.
13

DSFs are more expensive to install than conventional curtain wall systems considering
only the cost of the installed faade. Additional costs have ranged significantly from
20%-300%. Facades that may come pre-assembled to the site will tend to be more cost
effective than facades that require site assembly. DSFs with inner skins being something
other than glass may be less costly like fabric, flexible metallic screens.
One should look at costs and benefits on a project-wide capital basis and also on a lifecycle basis besides looking at capital costs of the faade alone. Also operational and
maintenance costs need to be looked at. By reducing the heating and cooling loads of the
envelope at the source, the overall size of the HVAC systems can be reduced.
DSFs are now specifically being used for reduction of noise in urban settings. The degree
of noise reduction increases with use of glazing that reflects sound and varies with
specific details and operation of the facades. The temperature of the inside surface of
glazing systems needs to be taken into consideration, as this plays a major role in heat
transfer to the interior spaces.
DSFs can solve this problem, as the surface temperature of the inner pane is levelled
with the room temperature, improving the thermal comfort near the window. However,
this may not be always true especially when the faade is not inside ventilated, or when
the glass temperature rises due to the reradiated heat absorbed by the shading devices.
User comfort is also linked with the aspect of being able to control the light with
louvers/shades and the ability to control air movement with operable windows.
The additional skin of the faade makes it almost a transparent physical barrier increasing
the feeling of security psychologically. Also it allows the windows being open in the
inner skin, which also improves the security of the building in comparison to directly
exposed operable windows.

14

The double skin facades offer tremendous opportunity to designers as it enhances the
qualities of transparency, depth, layering and movement in a building, in comparison to
conventional masonry facades, which appear as massive and bulky. The systems can be
categorized by the type of construction, the origin, destination and type of the air flow in
the cavity, etc.

Fig 7: Double skin facades

2.4 OCCUPANCY COMFORT STANDARDS
Sustainable facades should provide a comfortable occupancy with minimum usage of
HVAC and artificial lighting which are the maximum energy consumers in a modern
office building. For comfort and efficiency, the human body requires a fairly narrow
range of environmental conditions compared with the full scope of those found in nature.
The factors that affect humans pleasantly or adversely include:
1. Temperature of the surrounding air
2. Radiant temperatures of the surrounding surfaces

15

3. Humidity of the air

4. Air motion
5. Acoustics
6. Lighting

2.4.1 THERMAL COMFORTS

The CSA Standard CAN/CSA Z412-00 (R2011) - "Office Ergonomics" gives acceptable
ranges of temperature and relative humidity for offices. These values are
the same as recommended by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air
Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Standard 55 - 2010 "Thermal Environmental
Conditions for Human Occupancy".
If temperature and humidity levels in the office are too high or too low, occupants can
be dissatisfied with the environment, uncomfortable and less effective in their tasks.
Comfortable conditions in mechanically ventilated buildings depend on six variables:
air temperature, air velocity, relative humidity, radiant temperature, occupant's clothing
insulation and occupant's activity level.
The higher density of occupants and equipment in most open-plan offices increases the
amount of heat released (and thereby the cooling requirements) in the space. Thus the
heating/cooling system must have the capacity to handle the occupant density, and be
operated appropriately to meet thermal requirements.
ASHRAE recommends that relative humidity be maintained below 60%. There is no
recommended lower level of humidity for achieving thermal comfort, but the relative
humidity should be greater than 30%. ASHRAE's acceptable ranges of operative
temperature (a combination of air and radiant temperatures) for relative humidity levels
of 30% and 60%

16

2.4.2 LIGHTING LEVELS

Proper workplace lighting is essential to any good business:
1. It allows employees to comfortably see what theyre doing, without straining their
eyes or their bodies
2. It makes work easier and more productive
3. It draws attention to hazardous operations and equipment
4. It helps prevent costly errors and accidents

TASK/AREA

RECOMMENDED RANGE OF
ILLUMINANCE (LUX)

Simple visual tasks

lobby area
washrooms

30-100

loading into trucks

Medium visual tasks
bookkeeping

17

 filing

300-1,000

receiving and packing

More visually demanding tasks
color inspection
difficult assembly
proofreading

3,000-10,000

fine bench or
machine work

3. CASE STUDY
Totally five buildings for the case study has been identified on the basis of the evolution
of facades for the office buildings in Chennai. All the buildings were designed by
architects and the facades reflect the architecture style and the technology available
during that period. The office buildings facades which are initially constructed have
passive techniques to counter the harsh tropical heat. They office buildings constructed
after 1980s relied primarily on air-conditioning for spatial comfort and the functions of
the faade are reduced to an aesthetic element.

3.1 INDIAN OVERSEAS BANK HEAD QUARTERS

Indian overseas bank head quarters was designed and built in late 1960s by architect
Pithavadian. The front facade of the building is facing south east direction. The building
is oriented such that the longer side is parallel to the road. The south east side of the
building has a faade which is made up of jali which filters the sunlight entering the
building. The south east and north east side has no windows and is constructed as a brick
masonry wall. The north east side has vertical louvers and the windows are placed behind
18

the louvers. The cavity in the south east side runs for the entire height of the building.
The windows are operable and are made up of transparent white glass. The windows can
be opened for natural ventilation and lighting.
The faades around the building were designed to tackle hot and humid climate of
Chennai. The building has cross ventilation with windows being placed on south east and
North West directions. The window extends along for the entire length of the building
with a typical bay length of 4 meters.
Introduction of the air-conditioning in the building reduced the impact of faade on the
interior environment of the building.

Fig 8: Facade -North West

Fig 9: Facade South East

19

Fig 10: Workspace

Fig 11: Daily sun path

20

Fig 12: Annual sun path

Fig 13: Solar radiation for a year

21

Fig 14: Thermal Analysis for a day

The jali work filtered the sunlight and reduces the impact of glare. The large windows on
the front faade bring in most of the filtered the sunlight. Jali work also provides privacy
for the occupants since white transparent glass is used for windows. The addition of
blinds and air conditioning of the building makes the building to consume large amounts
of electrical load for cooling and artificial lighting.

3.2 SIET OFFICE BUILDING

SIET office building was designed and built in late 1970s by architects Johnson and
Mustafa. The front facade of the building is facing west direction. The building is
oriented such that the longer side is parallel to the road. The west, north and south side of
the building had a faade which is made up of horizontal and vertical fins which filters
the sunlight entering the building. The south east and north east side has no windows and
is constructed as a brick masonry wall. The east side has vertical louvers alone. Windows
are placed behind the louvers. The windows are operable and are made up of transparent
22

white glass. The windows in the ground floor alone are laminated with blue film for
privacy. The windows can be opened for natural ventilation and lighting.

Fig 15: West Faade

Fig 16: East Faade

Fig 17: South faade

Fig 18: North faade

The architectural elements used in the construction of faade are louvers. The materials
used in the glass are brick masanory wall and single glazed windows.

23

Fig 19: Daily sun path

Fig 20: Annual sun path

24

Fig 21: Total radiation

The building has vertical and horizontal louvers on three sides. The west side of the
faade has broader horizontal louvers to reduce the impact of sun and to improve the
thermal efficiency of the building.
The building has windows on all the sides which is protected bu louvers which acts as
their sun shades. The amount of natural light entering the building is reduced by this
louvers and there is a need for artificial lighting. The building is in north - south axis and
the longer portions face the east and west directions. The facades were primarily designed
to reduce the impact of heat on the building. As the north and south sides are shorter the
amount of sunlight entering the building is reduced and the horizontal louvers also
reduces the natural light. The horizontal louvers in north and south direction are reduced
in height in comparision to the height.

25

3.3 KARUMUTTU CENTRE

Indian overseas bank head quarters was designed and built in late 1989 by architect
Ravikumar Nair. The front facade of the building is facing south east direction. The
building is oriented such that the longer side is parallel to the road. The south east side of
the building has a faade which is made up of single glazing and vertical feature walls.
The south east and north east side has windows and is constructed as a brick masonry
wall. The north east side has jali and the windows are placed behind the louvers. The
entire building is cladded with red colored concrete tiles. This is one of the first buildings
in Chennai to use glass faade. Gold coloured film was stuck on glass panels to reflect
the sunlight because tinted glasses were expensive at that time. From inside the space
have masonry walls to the regular sill level and above lintel level.
For every two consecutive floors the next floor is cantilevered to provide shade to the
lower floors and this has given the building an interesting form with the front faade
stepping out every two floors.Upper floor were occupied by corporate offices

Fig 22: Front faade of the building

26

Fig 23: Faade South East

Fig 24: Faade North West

27

Fig 25: Daily sun path

Fig 26: Annual sun path

28

Fig 27: Lighting Analysis

Fig 28: Incident solar Radiation

29

Fig 29: Thermal Analysis

Fig 30: Hourly solar exposure

The faade was not designed to protect the building from heat gain because during this
period air conditioning of the office buildings became common and need for the natural
lighting and ventilation reduced.
30

3.4 OLYMPIA TECH PARK

Olympia Technology Park was built in 2006. it was designed by RSP Architects. The
front facade of the building is facing east direction. The east side of the building had a
faade which is made up of Double Glazing with horizontal shades, ACP and
Architectural elements. Olympia Technology Park, Chennai is the largest certified LEED
gold-rated green building in the world under the CS category. Total area =1.8 million
square feet. Occupancy planned at 80Sq.Ft/Person. The building consist two levels of
basement, two stilt floors and eight upper floors. ASHRAE is the code followed for
building comfort levels. The following chart shows the comparison between a typical
office building and the Olympia tech park.

Olympia Technology Park depends on the latest technology to make it energy efficient
and sustainable. The facades were made up of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks,
Reflective Glass with Nano Coating and Thermal Insulation Glass SGG Planitherm.
Faade had played an important role in bringing down the energy consumption of the
building. This reflective glass provides optimum light transmission, thus allowing natural
daylight into the interiors and reducing glare. Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks have
low embedded energy and do not have significant impact on the thermal insulation of the
building.
31

FACADE: EAST
1) Thermal Insulation Glass SGG Planitherm
2) Reflective Glass with Nano Coating

Fig 31: Faade East

Fig 32: Faade West

32

Fig 33: Workspace 1

Fig 34: Workspace 2

33

Fig 35: Workspace 3

Fig 36: Workspace 4

34

Fig 37: Daily sun path

Fig 38: Annual sun path

35

Fig 39: Lighting analysis

Fig 40: Thermal comfort

36

Fig 41: Hourly temperature

Fig 42: Hourly solar exposure

Latest materials were used in the faade like Reflective Glass with Nano Coating and
Thermal Insulation Glass SGG Planitherm for maximum penetration of the natural
37

light, still the light cannot spread to all portions of the building this is mainly due to the
large scale of the building. There are no light wells in the interior parts of the building.
The faade effectively reflects most of the light and reduces the air conditioning load. By
using a combination of latest materials they were able to reduce the electricity
consumption of the building by 40%.
The facades were designed simple without much sun shades. The thin linear sun shades
on the east provide shade to front faade. The west side of the faade is mainly made up
of Autoclaved Aerated Concrete Blocks with window openings. This reduces the intense
heat from the west side. The faade considerably reduces the heat gain by the building
but natural lighting is poor deeper inside the building.

3.5 AKDR TOWERS

AKDR Tower was built in 2009. The front facade of the building is facing east direction.
The north and south side of the building faade is made up of single glazing with no
shades. In east direction the faade is made up of single glazing and brick work. The west
faade is made up of only brick work. The glazed faade on the north and south side
allows ample amount of natural sunlight enter the building. The building is in east west
orientation such that the longer side faces north and south. Because of single glazing the
amount of heat entering the building is relatively high and it has direct impact on the
energy consumption of the building. The east side of the faade has a combination of
single glazing and brick work. The minimum amount of glazing on this side reduces the
heat gain. The walls are colored in white which reflects most of the light incident on it
and thus reduces the heat gain of the building. The western faade has no glazing and is
completely made up of brick work with operable windows.

38

Fig 43: Faade - East

Fig 36: Faade North

39

Fig 45: Daily sun path

Fig 46: Annual sun path

40

Fig 47: Hourly temperature

Fig 48: Hourly solar exposure

41

Fig 49: Incident solar radiation

The building performs better in terms of lighting because it has enough glazing on the
south and north directions. Because the building is linear the natural light reaches almost
all parts of the building. There is no shading structure on the east and west side and this
contributes to the heat gain by the building. The building performs better in terms of
lighting and poor in terms of thermal comfort. Due to the air conditioning of the building
thermal comfort inside the building is achieved. Single glazing contributes to the
additional heat gain of the building. The west faade is building up of brick masonry and
has good thermal lag.

3.6 COMPARITIVE ANALYSIS

The following table compares the facades of the building and their impact on the interior
of the building. Work space temperature, lighting levels, energy consumed and the
tonnage of HVAC required were analyzed and compared to find out the impact of facades
on their internal environment.
42

Building

IOB

SIET Office

Karumuttu

Name

Headquarters

Building

Centre

West:

South East :

Vertical &

Glazing and

Horizontal

vertical fin

Fins

walls

South East :
Perforated
screen

North West :
Vertical
Louvers
Facade

South West :
Solid Brick
wall

North East :
Solid Brick
wall

Materials
used

North :
Vertical &

North West :

Horizontal

Jali

Fins

South :
Vertical &
Horizontal
Fins

East: Vertical
Fins

Olympia
Technology
Park
East : Double
Glazing with
horizontal
Shades and
ACP

West :
Double
Glazing with

AKDR
Towers

East :
Single
glazing and
Brick work

West :
Brick work

horizontal

South West :

South :

South :

Solid Brick

Double

Single

wall

Glazing

glazing

North East :

North:

North :

Solid Brick

Double

Single

wall

Glazing

glazing

Brick

Brick

Brick

Autoclaved

Brick

masonry with

masonry with

masonry

Aerated

masonry

jali and

horizontal &

cladded with

Concrete

with jali and

43

transparent

vertical

red colored

Blocks,

glass

louvers and

cement tiles

Reflective

transparent

and glass

Glass with

glass

with gold

Nano

colored films

Coating and

tinted glass

Thermal
Insulation
Glass
Operable
Windows

transparent

Operable

Operable and Operable and

Operable
and fixed

glass

fixed glass

fixed glass

windows

windows

windows

22 C

22 C

22 C

24 C

24 C

1.1watts per

1.2 watts per

1.0 watts per

0.8 watts per

0.7 watts

Sq. Ft

Sq. Ft

Sq. Ft

Sq. Ft

per Sq. Ft

HVAC

150 per

150 per

350 per

350 per

120 per

tonnage

100Sq. Ft

100Sq. Ft

100Sq. Ft

100Sq. Ft

100Sq. Ft

1kWA

0.9kWA

1.1kWA

0.6kWA

1.2kWA

glass
windows

glass
windows

Workspace
temperature
with
HVAC
Lighting
power
density

kWA per
100 Sq. Ft.

44

5. CONCLUSION
The facades which were designed before the introduction of centrally air conditioned
office buildings performed well in terms of thermal comfort. Architectural elements
which also act as shading elements like jali and louvers were used extensively.
Architecture elements which are used as functional element also forms the identity of the
building. In SIET office building the louvers increased the thermal comfort of the
building but reduced the amount of light entering the building. The amount of technology
and materials available before globalization is limited and it looks very evident in the
design of the facades.
In karumuttu centre aesthetic appearance of the faade was given more importance than
the functionality of the faade. Introduction of central air conditioning in this building
reduced the need for shading elements like jali and louvers. Red concrete tiles were
cladded on the faade for aesthetic purpose but this increases the thermal insulation of the
building. The amount of natural light entering the building is relatively poor because of
the golden color film on the glazing and the walls till sill level in every floor.
Olympia Technology Park was rated as green building in core and shell category so
faade plays an important role in the performance of the building and sustainability.
Horizontal shades were used on the eastern side and the west side was insulated without
large openings and service corridors act as a buffer space. Latest materials and
technology were used to harness the maximum amount of natural sunlight and to protect
the building from hot tropical sun. In terms of energy consumption the building is 40%
more efficient than the conventional office building.
AKDR tower performed least in comparison to all other buildings because here faade
was only treated as an aesthetical element. Single glazing on the faade adds to the
increase heat gain by the buildings. The building has good natural lighting. The faade
makes the building to gain more heat and it leads to increase use of energy to cool the
building. This faade is the least sustainable of all the buildings studied.
Among all the building facades studied Olympia Technology Park facades performs well
when we consider the building is centrally air conditioned. The faade reduces the
significant amount of energy consumed for cooling.

45

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Intelligent skins by Micheal Wigginton and Jude Harris
Double skin facades for office buildings.
Faade principles of construction by Ulrich Knaack, Tillmann Kleln, Marcel
Billow and Thomas Auer
New technologies for energy efficiency by Miachel F Hordeski
www.bestfacade.com
www.glassonweb.com
www.builditsolar.com
www.lowenergyfacades.lbl.gov
www.gla.lbl.gov
www.wikipedia.org
www.oxforddictionaries.com
www.sci-network.eu

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47