A healthy living community within an old vacant building: The implementation of a double-skinned façade and its influence on health and well-being in intergenerational residential buildings

This project aims to transform an old vacant office former tax building in Leeuwarden into a healthy living community, enhancing the health and well-being of its residents. By creating a welcoming environment with green spaces and amenities, the project promotes physical and mental well-being, community engagement, and high quality of life. The...

Reviving the hospital building: A sustainable renovation of the Academisch Medisch Centrum (AMC) in Amsterdam

In the Netherlands, there is a large amount of buildings that are outdated according to today’s standards. Those existing buildings represent about 70% of the building stock in 2050. Updating these buildings in terms of functionality but mostly in terms of sustainability is therefore a highly relevant task at hand. To quote Prof. Mauro Overend...

Energy Implications of Vertically Integrated Greenhouses on Office buildings

The global greenhouse gas emissions from energy use in buildings and agriculture accounts for 17% and 18% respectively, which has a significant impact on climate change. Therefore, both the sectors are actively looking at energy-efficient methods to reduce their carbon emission by shifting to more sustainable solutions. One such solution is...

The impact of using Closed Cavity Façades (CCF) on buildings' thermal and visual performance

Glazing is a critical buildings element as it is the most vulnerable envelope part to heat gain and heat loss accounting for around 50% of a building's energy consumption. However, conventional glazing technologies have relatively low-performance characteristics which cause significant heat losses during winter and undesired heat gain in...

Performance assessment of a “do it yourself” double skin green façade for an existing office building

This project is based on two sustainable construction methods, namely up-cycling (reuse of materials) and vertical farming (green facades). These two concepts are combined to form a ‘Do It Yourself’ double skin façade, a double skin façade made with re-used sliding doors, which is aimed to be capable of developing ‘Edible Green’, which refers to...

Evaluating the potential of mechanically ventilated double-skin façades to enhance energy efficiency and thermal comfort of office buildings in different climate zones of India through numerical modelling

The air-conditioning of commercial buildings accounts for approximately 50% of the total energy consumed in India’s commercial sector. Reducing this load is a key step towards minimizing India's greenhouse gas emissions. One culprit is the routine use of fully glazed façades which are chosen for aesthetics but are neither energy efficient nor...

Facade design for noise attenuation and thermal comfort through natural ventilation for high-rise office buildings in the Netherlands

High-rises are usually ventilated mechanically in order to ensure thermal and acoustic comfort in the indoor environment. Consequently, the energy consumption in summer months is increased while the indoor air quality is usually deteriorated due to poor maintenance of mechanical ventilation systems. The topic of the current thesis is the design...

Energetic performance of a combined double skinfaçade with photovoltaic modules placed atvarious locations

There is a 95% certainty that human activity is the dominant cause of observed warming since the mid-20thcentury [1]. Burning fossil fuels for energy is the dominant cause of greenhouse gas emissions. 32% of the Dutch energy supply is consumed by the built environment. The façade is the largest area of the building envelope. Consequently, the...

Adaptive Facade System based on phase change materials

In order to limit the exorbitant energy consumption by the use of mechanical heating and cooling systems, several buildings are trying to adopt a heat storage<br/>system as a part of the energy system of the building. However, there are also passive systems that perform independently from the building’s energy system and store heat in...

Double-Skin Façades in Egypt between Parametric and Climatic Approaches

Daylight is a crucial element for indoor environment quality. Office buildings commonly use fully glazed façades to reflect a luxurious appearance and to maximize natural light at the expenses of high energy consumption due to cooling/heating. Double-skin façades are one of the solutions that improve the building efficiency while maintaining...

Art & Technology Center

Experimental testing of the Closed Cavity Façade for a hot desert climate

Shorted thesis on testing a new kind of double skin facade for a hot desert climate. The facade is tested on the performance, in a real scale test setup. This thesis is a shorted version because of confidentiality of the contents.

Symbiosis of double skin facade and indoor climate installation

The demands of a better indoor air quality at lower energy consumption and lower investments cost push scientist and designers towards new technical solutions in the building industry. This thesis defines potential practical benefits of applying the double skin fae (DSF) in office buildings. The main question is to what extent the double skin...