Recommendations for Improvement of the Building Design by Evaluating the Indoor Environmental Quality of the Pilot Floating House Project in Macabebe, the Philippines

Abstract

This thesis aims to provide passive design recommendations to improve the design quality of low income houses in the Philippines, by evaluating the indoor environmental quality of the pilot floating house project. The pilot project is the result of researches carried out by Pieter Ham and Joran Van Schaik to find a solution for the housing backlog, poor living conditions and the seasonal natural disasters in the low lying areas of the Philippines. The thesis focuses on the indoor environmental quality, the thermal comfort of the pilot house. Prior to the field visit, the significant parameters for the in situ measurement and the comfort standards for the region are chosen by literature studies. A systematic measurement plan is made in order to perform in situ measurements and field study. The measurements are done for a period of nine days. In addition to this, one of the objectives of the research is to develop an economical measuring and remotely accessible monitoring device for the thermal comfort parameters. It is achieved by programming Raspberry Pi and DHT22 temperature and humidity sensor. Hypotheses are formulated after the field visit. Then the measured data is sorted systematically and analysed. This analysed data is further studied and the comfort performance of the house is compared with the comfort standards of the region. It is found that the performance is quite satisfactory for all the spaces in the house except the attic space, which has higher temperatures than the upper comfort level. Moreover the usability of the existing doors needs improvement in terms of controlling privacy and air velocity. For the improvements, it is envisioned to have minimal interventions to the existing design and construction. For this two options are put forward. Both the options are compared with the existing design by making DesignBuilder models. The simulation results of the models are compared to find the better performing strategy. Final design is made with the inference from the comparison of the simulation results, and visits to the local architecture. From the final design, the following design improvement recommendations are put forward for the housing type: “openings for ventilation at sleeping height in the attic floor” “openings at top of the roof to enhance stack effect” “collapsible doors with louvered shutters for providing users with more option in controlling air velocity and privacy”