Evaluating Elements of Facades as Solar Shading Strategies in Hot & Dry Climatic Zone in India: A Case of Ahmedabad

Abstract

While designing a building the most important aspect which needs to be considered is the Indoor Environmental quality. This depends on various factors such asform,Orientation, Location, Climate and materials used in constructing a building. Incoming solar radiation has strong implications on visual as well as thermal aspects. Solar Shading systems control the daylight levels in a structure while they also helps to minimise the heat gains. Variety of shading device have been proposed recently, taking into account the factors such as location and orientation of buildings. They may help to enhance or worsen the heat gains as well as the lighting performance from energy point of view. This research delves into the transformation of Facades as integral sun shading elements within Hot & Dry climatic Zone, with specific lens focused on the Hot & Dry climatic Zone in Indian Context particularly Ahmedabad. The study Engages in an Comprehensive exploration of Global as well as Indian Literature tracing the progression of Façade strategies in response to solar exposure and arid Climate.

Issues related to solar heat gains, rise in temperature increases the building energy demands. The passive shading design used in history is a key element to tackle these problems. The research uses observation of Contemporary buildings and experiment study as the method to achieve Objectives. This research intends to examine different types of shading elements of façade and their impact on Heat gains and lighting inside a building through simulation study in context of Ahmedabad. WWR andDistance of shading device from the Façade have been choosen as variables for experimental study. Design Builder Software is used to perfrom these Simulations. Results have been compared to a base case according to ECBC standards to highlight the reduction in Heat gains and differences in the UDI (Useful Daylight Illuminance) for 4 cases for each Façade. The results suggests the designers to choose from 3 best performing strategies out of 7 different strategies simulated for each façade which can be incorporated in their design based on the requirements as if they want to work on Heat Gain reduction or Increase the UDI or it also suggests options for each façade which focuses on both the Parameters.