October 14 2022

Climate Responsive Design

Lecture at NUST Faculty of Architecture, Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

In this lecture Felix Thumm and Mariana Liebman-Pelaez introduce Transsolar KlimaEngineering and the definition of comfort we use when developing comfort concepts in building. Using project examples they showcase the main passive and active strategies that we focus on and apply to insure comfort in buildings.
This lecture is part of the collaboration of the Transsolar World Academy and NUST Faculty of Architecture in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe on the topic of climate-responsive design. The Transsolar World Academy contribution complements the university's sustainable building course.

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Overview content:
Fundamentals Climate Responsive Design | What do we ask of buildings? | Defining visual comfort, air quality, and thermal comfort | What is a high-performance building? | Understanding energy in buildings | Building energy balance | Performance metrics | Apply what you’ve learned: Design a high performance building for climate responsive design | Sustainability can not stand independent from architectural quality! | Avasara Academy Lavale, India | Butaro Hospital, Rwanda | Winter Visual Arts Center, Lancaster, USA | School of design & Environment, Singapore | What is Net Zero Energy Building? | Thermal comfort | Net Energy Story

„This will greatly contribute to the diversification of the research areas that the department is currently involved in. It will give a sixth sense to the future focused architecture students to be able to identify challenges and opportunities, thereby responding to the needs of people and environment. This partnership will enhance the environmental design module. The students will continue to develop locally driven, climate-responsive architectural solutions and leadership qualities in solving the climate crisis using the built environment.”

Initiator: Inncocent Mhandu

Innocent is currently a Consultant - Climate and Susainabilty with a Singapore based company GreenA Consultants Pte Ltd. Based in Africa he works on the company projects around Africa. He is both, a NUST alumni and Transsolar Academy alumni. He started the collaboration between Transsolar World Academy and The Department of Architecture at NUST.