Earth coupling

Earth coupling uses the moderate and consistent temperature of the soil to act as a heat sink
to cool a building through conduction. This passive cooling strategy is most effective when
earth temperatures are cooler than ambient air temperature, such as hot climates.
Direct coupling - Direct coupling, or earth sheltering, occurs when a building uses earth
as a buffer for the walls. The earth is an endless heat sink and can effectively mitigate
temperature extremes. Earth sheltering improves the performance of building envelope
assemblies by reducing the magnitude of conductive and convective heat loss and gains
by reducing infiltration.
[13]

Indirect coupling. A building can be indirectly coupled with the earth by means of earth
ducts. An earth duct is a buried tube that acts as avenue for supply air to travel through
before entering the building. Supply air is cooled by way of conductive heat transfer
between the concrete tubes and soil. Therefore, earth ducts will not perform well as a
source of cooling unless the soil temperature is lower than the desired room air
temperature.
[13]
Earth ducts typically require long tubes to cool the supply air to an
appropriate temperature before entering the building. A fan is required to draw the cool air
from the earth duct into the building. Some of the factors that effect the performance of an
earth duct are: duct length, number of bends, thickness of duct, depth of duct, diameter of
the duct, and air velocity.

Ventilation

Ventilation as a natural cooling strategy uses the physical properties of air to remove heat or
provide cooling to occupants. In select cases, ventilation can be used to cool the building
structure, which subsequently may serve as a heat sink.
Cross ventilation - The strategy of cross ventilation relies on wind to pass through the
building for the purpose of cooling the occupants. Cross ventilation requires openings on
two sides of the space, called the inlet and outlet. The sizing and placement of the
ventilation inlets and outlets will determine the direction and velocity of cross ventilation
through the building. Generally, an equal (or greater) area of outlet openings must also be
provided to provide adequate cross ventilation.
[9]

Stack ventilation - Cross ventilation is an effective cooling strategy, however, wind is an
unreliable resource. Stack ventilation is an alternative design strategy that relies on the
buoyancy of warm air to rise and exit through openings located at ceiling height. Cooler
outside area replaces the rising warm air through carefully designed inlets placed near
the floor.
Night flush cooling The building structure acts as a sink through the day and absorbs
internal heat gains and solar radiation. Heat can be dissipated from the structure by
convective heat loss by allowing cooler air to pass through the building at night. The flow
of outdoor air can be induced naturally or mechanically. The next day, the building will
perform as a heat sink, maintaining indoor temperatures below the outdoor temperature.
This strategy is most effective in climates with a large diurnal swing so the typical
maximum indoor temperature is below the outdoor maximum temperature during the
hottest months.
[10]
Thermal mass is a necessary component to dissipate heat at night.




















Bordeaux Law Courts
The design concept involved
liberating the court-rooms
from the box. The timber-
clad solution employs a mix
of high technology, computer-
controlled machinery and
traditional craftsmanship.
www.rsh-p.com / 2010
Bordeaux Law Courts
Place/Date
Bordeaux, France 19921998
Client
Tribunal de Grande Instance
Cost
27 million
Gross Internal Area
25,000m
Architect
Richard Rogers Partnership
Structural Engineer
Ove Arup & Partners/OtH Sud-Ouest
Services Engineer
OtH Sud-Ouest/Ove Arup & Partners
Quantity Surveyor
Interfaces, Ingrop
Acoustic Consultant
Sound Research Laboratories
Cladding Consultant
Rice Francis Ritchie
Landscape Architect
Dan Kiley/Edward Hutchison/Branch Associates
Lighting Consultant
Lighting Design Partnership
Main Contractor
Spie Citra Midi Atlantique
Site Management
OtH Sud-Ouest
Richard Rogers Partnership (RRP) the
international competition to design new law
courts for the historic city of Bordeaux in
1992. The design was for a building that
would, through a feeling of transparency
and openness, create a positive perception
of the accessibility of the French judicial
system. The brief was complex, requiring
complete separation of public and judicial
circulation. By pulling the building into its
constituent parts, the resulting transparency
encourages a sense of orientation, rendering
an historically imposing institution more
accessible.
Key elements of the design include the
creation of public space and integration with
the existing urban landscape. Public entry
to the building is via a flight of stairs placed
to the side, leading to the Salle des Pas
Perdus at the core of the building, where
lawyers, their clients and the public meet.
The seven courtroom pods are clad in cedar,
raised on pilotis above the limestone plinth
within a great glass curtain wall under an
undulating copper roof. The administrative
offices are reached by bridges spanning
the atrium the clarity of the plan ensuring
that different secure routes across the
atrium are maintained both for the public
and for magistrates. With its use of irregular
forms and natural materials, the building
successfully complements its sensitive
environs, including a section of the citys
medieval wall. A strong emphasis is placed
on effective passive control systems. The
pods are shaded beneath the great roof
and manually-operated brise-soleil windows
along the western faade reduce solar gain.
The flask-like volumes allow daylight deep
into the court rooms and, through their
height, ensure temperature control through
stratification. The glazed box wrapping
around the chambers, with its sun-screening
and ventilation systems incorporated within
the roof, functions as a breathing container.
In addition, the podium and offices are built
in concrete a very effective passive heat
control system.
Radiative cooling

All objects constantly emit and absorb radiant energy. An object will cool by radiation if the net
flow is outward, which is the case during the night. At night, the long-wave radiation from the
clear sky is less than the long-wave infrared radiation emitted from a building, thus there is a
net flow to the sky. Since the roof provides the greatest surface visible to the night sky,
designing the roof to act as a radiator is an effective strategy. There are two types of radiative
cooling strategies that utilize the roof surface: direct and indirect.
[8]

Direct radiant cooling - In a building designed to optimize direct radiation cooling, the
building roof acts as a heat sink to absorb the daily internal loads. The roof acts as the
best heat sink because it is the greatest surface exposed to the night sky. Radiate heat
transfer with the night sky will remove heat from the building roof, thus cooling the
building structure. Roof ponds are an example of this strategy. The roof pond design
became popular with the development of the Sky thermal system designed by Harold Hay
in 1977. There are various designs and configurations for the roof pond system but the
concept is the same for all designs. The roof uses water, either plastic bags filled with
water or an open pond, as the heat sink while a system of movable insulation panels
regulate the mode of heating or cooling. During daytime in the summer, the water on the
roof is protected from the solar radiation and ambient air temperature by movable
insulation, which allows it to serve as a heat sink and absorb, though the ceiling, the heat
generated inside. At night, the panels are retracted to allow nocturnal radiation between
the roof pond and the night sky, thus removing the stored heat from the days internal
loads. In winter, the process is reversed so that the roof pond is allowed to absorb solar
radiation during the day and release it during the night into the space below.
[4]

Indirect radiant cooling - A heat transfer fluid removes heat from the building structure
through radiate heat transfer with the night sky. A common design for this strategy
involves a plenum between the building roof and the radiator surface. Air is drawn into the
building through the plenum, cooled from the radiator, and cools the mass of the building
structure. During the day, the building mass acts as a heat sink.



Evaporative cooling









Evaporative cooling. The design relies on the evaporative process of water to cool the
incoming air while simultaneously increasing the relative humidity. A saturated filter is placed
at the supply inlet so the natural process of evaporation can cool the supply air. Apart from the
energy to drive the fans, water is the only other resource required to provide conditioning to
indoor spaces. The effectiveness of evaporative cooling is largely dependent on the humidity
of the outside air; dryer air produces more cooling. A study of field performance results in
Kuwait revealed that power requirements for an evaporative cooler are approximately 75%
less than the power requirements for a conventional packaged unit air-conditioner.
[11]
As for
interior comfort, a study found that evaporative cooling reduced inside air temperature by
9.6C compared to outdoor temperature.





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