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Guest Editor

Department of Civil and Architectural Engineering, Aarhus University, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
Interests: sustainable built environment; sustainable building design; sustainable buildings; sustainable architecture; sustainable neighborhood; sustainable renovation; sustainability certification systems; sustainability rating systems; integrated building design project (IBDP); integrated design process (IDP); life cycle sustainability assessment (LCSA); life cycle assessment (LCA); building information modeling (BIM); integrated digital design (IDD)
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Dr. Stina Rask Jensen

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Assistant Guest Editor

AART architects, 8000 Aarhus, Denmark
Interests: sustainable renovation and building design; building performance simulation and evaluation; social value creation; well-being; user experience and behavior; life cycle assessment (LCA) and social life cycle assessment (S-LCA); integrated design processes; applied research

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Rates within the next ten years (European Commission, 2021) to reduce the consequences of climate change. Increasing average temperatures, as observed since the pre-industrial period (European Environment Agency, 2021), provide the potential of decreasing heating demand for buildings during cold periods. In contrast, the cooling demand will increase to satisfy occupants' need for adequate thermal comfort. An approach that offers the possibility of fully exploiting the energy-saving potential to align with the new requirements for heating and cooling demands for buildings is related to applying bioclimatic architecture strategies featuring passive heating and cooling strategies in the development of sustainable design scenarios. The application of bioclimatic architecture strategies for newly built buildings has proven to bring satisfactory indoor climates for centuries as well as saving energy. Thus, extending their application for building renovation can be a massive potential and significant focus in the coming years towards developing sustainable renovation design scenarios, given the sustainable nature of architecture passive design strategies. To this end, this Special Issue is dedicated to bringing together the recent efforts in both research and/or practice of concepts, opportunities, challenges, and application of bioclimatic approaches in building renovation or sustainable renovation.

Dr. Aliakbar Kamari
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

building renovation
sustainability
bioclimatic architecture
passive design
climate change

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

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Open AccessArticle

Sustainable Vernacular Architecture: The Renovation of a Traditional House on Stara Planina Mountain in Serbia

and

Buildings 2023, 13(4), 1093; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13041093 - 21 Apr 2023

Viewed by 922

Abstract

In the last few years, Stara planina (the Balkan Mountains) and its surroundings have been improving their tourist offer. The area is protected by law, as a nature park, and the construction of new buildings requires a complex administrative procedure. Renovation of country houses is part of the usual construction procedures and is easier to carry out. Typical renovation solutions involve application of industrial materials with significant impact on the environment from the process of their production and further on. The traditional houses found in many mountains across Serbia and the Balkans are constructed using natural materials. Hence, this paper tackles the problem of renovating such dwellings by application of natural materials to improve their usability and reduce their energy and carbon footprint. An analysis is performed on a case study model of a typical house from Stara planina. The advantages of using natural materials in the process of renovating a traditional house are analysed. By using TRNSYS software, the total amount of energy demands of the house during a typical meteorological year with four scenarios (current state, walls isolated with sheep and hemp wool panels and EPS) was simulated. These materials were further analysed for their environmental impact by means of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA). In the synthesis of the research, the best results were brought into connection with the sustainable development of the architectural heritage. The results prove that natural products provide the necessary thermal comfort and have a significantly more positive impact on the environment than artificial materials. Based on this study, recommendations were created for the sustainable renovation of vernacular architecture in Serbia. The goal of the paper is to create scientific and professional evidence that local and natural materials must be used to reduce the impact of climate change and that such sustainable renovation is in accordance with modern architectural design and thermal comfort. The goal is also to fill the gap in renovation methods in Serbia, according to the principles of sustainable design. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioclimatic Architecture for Building Renovation)

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Review

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Open AccessFeature PaperReview

Bioclimatic Architecture Strategies in Denmark: A Review of Current and Future Directions

Laura Annabelle Bugenings

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Aliakbar Kamari

Buildings 2022, 12(2), 224; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12020224 - 16 Feb 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6250

Abstract

Due to climate change, the rise in global temperature causes an increased need for cooling to satisfy occupants’ thermal comfort. Application of architecture passive design strategies, so-called bioclimatic architecture strategies, based on the local climate to forego active cooling measures to decrease the conventional heating need and ensure thermal comfort are, thus, becoming highly relevant and vitally important. In an effort to adapt and promote passive architecture design strategies in the new design or renovation of building projects, this literature review fills the gap by identifying suitable bioclimatic architecture strategies in the Danish setting. The literature review adopts the PRISMA flowchart (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses), and the outcome is supplemented by screening 25 actual bioclimatic architecture-based building design projects in Denmark. The study shows that a wide range of passive strategies are being researched and practiced in Denmark, whereby the focus for passive heating strategies lies on solar gains, thermal insulation and thermal mass. Among passive cooling strategies, natural ventilation and solar shading are the main strategies investigated. Based on the analysis, it is expected that the use and research of those measures will continue, whereby the passive cooling measures will be of particular future interest in light of increasing outdoor temperatures. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Bioclimatic Architecture for Building Renovation)

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