An Attempt to Design a Naturally Ventilated Tower in Subtropical Climate of the Developing Country; Pakistan

• Main Author: Sohail Maha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sciendo 2017-12-01
• Series: Environmental and Climate Technologies
• Subjects: climate; developing countries; design builder; global warming; karachi; natural ventilation; pakistan; residential living; subtropical cities; tropical
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.1515/rtuect-2017-0015

A large proportion of the world’s population resides in developing countries where there is a lack of rigorous studies in designing energy efficient buildings. This study is a step in designing a naturally ventilated high rise residential building in a tropical climatic context of the developing country, Pakistan. Karachi, the largest city of Pakistan, lies in the subtropical hot desert region with constant high temperature of average 32 °C throughout the summer and no particular winter season. The Design Builder software package is used to design a 25 storey high rise residential building relying primarily on natural ventilation. A final conceptual design is proposed after optimization of massing, geometry, orientation, and improved building envelope design including extensive shading devices in the form of trees. It has been observed that a reduction of 8 °C in indoor ambient temperature is possible to achieve with passive measures and use of night time ventilation. A fully naturally ventilated building can reduce the energy consumption for cooling and heating by 96 % compared to a building using air conditioning systems.