The sun analysis was taken from the summer solstice, spring equinox, fall equinox, and winter solstice in three key moments of the day. The Core of the building faces the east and west, to create exposure to the existing church and Pennsylvania street. The west and east façade have extreme exposure from the sun, as found from Cove.tool. For this reason, overhangs and a shading device were employed. The analysis from Cove.tool shows us where the building's extreme heat and glare are.
[Sun study exported from Revit & Heat/Light exposure study screenshotted from Cove.tool]
The building aims to attack thermal comfort by using passive and active systems. The obvious system is the translucent metal panel shading device that wraps the core. The active solution lies in the HVAC system itself. By using ground source heat pumps, a network of water pipes buried in the ground, a mixture of water and anti-freeze is pumped around the ground loop and absorbed through the naturally occurring heat stored in the ground. The mixture is compressed, travels through a heat exchanger, which extracts the heat and transfers it to the heat pump. The heat is then transferred to the heating system. This system can also store hot water which can be used at any time.
[Sun study exported from Revit & Ground Source Heat pump from manufacturer]
The curve numbers in our water conservation analysis represent the ability of a surface to transfer water run-off into the soil. A curve number of 100 means the material is completely impervious, which means the water will never be returned to the soil. A lower curve number means a better and slower absorption of water run-off into the soil. Our soil group for the project's site is D, and our grass a mean curve number of 80.
[Water Conservation Diagrammed by AE student]
Our predicted post development curve number is 87.4. By making all paving out of pervious concrete and adding 2,100 square feet as a vegetation buffer, it would result in a curve number of 77.8. This is acceptable for water run-off!
[Water Conservation & Hydrology Analysis by AE student]
