Energy rehabilitation of existing buildings: Design studio

Abstract

This paper presents the methodology and results of design studio whose main topic is sustainability, specifically relating to existing building energy refurbishment, at the postgraduate level - specialist academic studies – Energy efficient and green architecture at the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Architecture. Weaknesses and opportunities in teaching sustainability in a design studio are discussed. It points to concrete challenges that the theme of building energy conservation and refurbishment present, and to ways in which they might be integrated in education. This paper considers how the design studio pedagogy could encourage deep and active learning for sustainable design in an attempt to expand the role of the architect to be more responsive to the environmental needs of contemporary society. Methodology of this studio uses the approach of project-oriented learning by simulating a real-life multidisciplinary project development environment. Three phases of design development are described as: research phase, refurbishment phase and redesign phase. It starts with the research phase, which is developed in parallel with the refurbishment phase. This is because the refurbishment process in this studio is not just limited to the technical aspects of energy efficiency improvement, verified through calculations and simulations. Several design scenarios are developed, examining the minimal, optimal and maximal range of energy efficiency improvements in technical systems and building thermal envelope. Analysis of these scenarios, but also analysis of a much wider spectre of aspects influencing the refurbishment design, results in a final redesign proposal which is a comprehensive, deep refurbishment proposal, tackling not only energy (under)performance, but also possibilities for upgrade of functional, technical and aesthetical aspects of existing building.

U ovom radu je predstavljena studija slučaja dizajn studija sa temom energetske sanacije postojećih zgrada, na postdiplomskim studijama – Specijalističke akademske studije – Energetski efikasna i zelena arhitektura, na Univerzitetu u Beogradu – Arhitektonskom fakultetu. Metodologija ovog studija koristi pristup projektno orijentisanom učenju, simulirajući realno multidisciplinarno okruženje za razvoj projekata. Opisane su tri faze razvoja dizajna: faza istraživanja, faza renoviranja i faza redizajna. Počinje sa fazom istraživanja, koja se razvija paralelno sa fazom obnove. To je zato što proces renoviranja u ovom studiju nije ograničen samo na tehničke aspekte poboljšanja energetske efikasnosti, verifikovane proračunima i simulacijama. Razvijeno je nekoliko scenarija projektovanja koji ispituju minimalni, optimalni i maksimalni opseg poboljšanja energetske efikasnosti u tehničkim sistemima i toplotnom omotaču zgrade. Analiza ovih scenarija, ali i analiza mnogo šireg spektra aspekata koji utiču na dizajn rekonstrukcije, rezultiraju konačnim predlogom redizajna koji je sveobuhvatan, duboki predlog renoviranja, koji se bavi, ne samo energetskim (pod)performansama, već i mogućnostima za nadogradnju. funkcionalnih, tehničkih i estetskih aspekata postojećeg objekta.