Reputation Resources Results

CONSULTING ENGINEERS & SCIENTISTS

ISSUE NO. 18

WIND CONTROL FEATURES IN BUILDING DESIGNHIDDEN GEMS

By Bill Waechter, C.E.T., Project Director / Associate
INTRODUCTION
Pedestrians walking through a myriad of building shapes and forms might wonder about the buildings they pass. Why, for example, was that tower shaped or positioned that way... why were the corners curved or stepped and not square... why were terraces built on only one side of the tower? Examples of structures that have been designed with the wind in mind are all around us. The casual observer might not realize this, but certainly would if high-rise developers, owners and architects did not do their homework when designing new office and residential towers.

Many examples of buildings that have benefited from RWDIs Microclimate Studies are University Ave.,Toronto located throughout the world, with hundreds of such projects residing in the Greater Toronto Area alone. This RWDI Technote highlights a few buildings in Toronto that considered pedestrian wind comfort during the design process and have incorporated wind control features in the buildings seen today.

Towers at King St. and

CASE STUDIES 150 and 200 King St. West (27 and 24 Storeys)
The design architect from the Webb Zerafa Menkes Housden Partnership (WZMH) had visited with RWDI at the schematic design stage of this project. The architect was involved in a hands-on process with RWDI microclimate staff to examine the influence of the developments shape, placement and tower orientation on the local wind environment. The project was at a very early design stage where the architect had the freedom to shape these towers to consider wind effects. A mock-up of the original development concept was constructed of modeling clay in order that the conceptual building masses could easily be modified and moved around on the site model. To account for the influence of surrounding buildings on local wind patterns, a massing model of the towers was included on a model base with the surrounding buildings. The model was placed in RWDIs Water Flume, which is a 1.2m (4 ft) wide channel that uses water to simulate wind. With the entire model submerged under the water flow, a dye trace was used to visualize wind flows around the buildings in order to identify areas of relative calm or accelerated wind. The circular model base was rotated to examine all prevailing winds. To dampen undesirable wind effects, low-rise terraces were incorporated along the northern site limits. In addition, a combination of inset and projecting floors were incorporated in the University Avenue facades. A glazed, free-standing canopy was installed along King Street to control down-washing winds. Coniferous trees placed on the east terrace cut the cold winter winds. Once the design features were finalized with the architect, wind speeds were measured in RWDIs wind tunnel to quantify pedestrian wind comfort on and around the buildings and to make final adjustments to the design. These two towers represent one of RWDIs better examples of a Toronto development that accounted for pedestrian wind comfort as early as the schematic/concept stage, and followed through by incorporating many wind control features in the final product constructed.

Inset floors above projecting floors collectively reduce downwashing winds

Low-rise terraces, trees and canopies dampen wind speeds along the sidewalks

One Queen Street East (27 Storeys)

During the early design stages of this project, wind flows around a conceptual building mass were examined in the water flume for several prevailing wind directions. An initial building concept was formed out of modeling clay. Through flow visualization tests in the water flume it was carved and massaged to consider wind impacts in the pedestrian realm. During the design development process the building experienced changes in form and the design team. Understanding of the wind flow patterns at this site ultimately assisted the architects (Page & Steele Architects) in developing a design that considered wind impacts on pedestrians. Key features of this building that helped minimize Sawtooth corners on the undesirable wind impacts include tower in lieu of square corners reduce wind the sawtooth northeast and acceleration. Terraces and northwest corners of the tower. canopies improve wind Also, the terraces incorporated comfort along Yonge Street along the west elevation, on Yonge Street, proved effective in reducing the strength of the wind that flowed down the towers west face to the street below.
One Queen Street East Building at Queen and Yonge Streets, Toronto

Space frame canopy shelters pedestrians on the north and south sides of the tower

Canopy and landscaping enhance pedestrian wind comfort

developer wished to retain large open plazas on the north and south sides of the tower. Filling these amenity spaces with coniferous trees (to control winter winds), wind screens or shelters was, therefore, not an option. Water flume flow visualization and wind tunnel tests in fact confirmed that such measures alone would be ineffective. The tests did demonstrate, however, that a canopy placed well above the plaza level would provide the wind shelter desired. Space frame glazed canopies were incorporated near the fourth floor level on the north and south sides of the tower. These features promote enjoyment of the large open outdoor amenity spaces seen in the building today.

WIND COMFORT CRITERIA REFINEMENT

RWDIs wind comfort criteria have been in use circa 1990 and were recently fine tuned. Previously, only wind gusts were considered in the analysis; however, the comfort criteria now account for both the mean and gust winds in a Gust Equivalent Mean (GEM) wind speed. Technically, the GEM wind speed is the greater of either the mean speed, or the gust speed divided by 1.85, which is a gust factor typically used for wind comfort. The wind speed ranges used to define the comfort categories (e.g., sitting, standing, walking) also changed to reflect the new analysis method. During the criteria development process, dozens of past projects were re-analyzed with the GEM criteria. The resultant comfort conditions were comparable to those for the past criteria. This refinement places RWDIs wind comfort criteria inline with those applied in the United Kingdom and in Boston. These are progressive locations where pedestrian wind comfort is placed in high regard by municipal planning authorities. The analysis of wind safety continues to assess gust winds only, but now considers the number of times gusts of 88 km/h (55 mph) are exceeded on a seasonal basis. The safety criterion allows for two events per season versus three per year. Thermal effects (e.g., temperature, humidity, sun/shade, etc.) are not considered in these wind force comfort criteria. The combined effects of weather, sun/shade and pedestrian activity are important and accounted for in RWDIs thermal comfort analysis.

Scotia Plaza (68 Storeys)

The wind effects around this development were assessed during a more advanced design stage, but the design allowed for the footprint to be flipped, if necessary for wind considerations. The beveled, sawtooth facades could face northeast/southwest or northwest/southeast. Water flume and wind tunnel tests of these two options were undertaken, which indicated that the northwest/southeast orientation of the towers beveled facades performed best. The existing nearby buildings had a strong influence on the local wind flows such that wind shelter for pedestrians was still necessary. Scotia Plaza Tower on King Street, Toronto The architect (WZMH) and

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