Thesis Title «Introducing environmental principles, methodology and tools for bioclimatic urban open space design of Mediterranean cities»
Wednesday 13 March 2019, 13:15, Hall: Κ2.Α7
Supervisor: Theocharis Tsoutsos
Seven-membered Examination Committee:
- Theocharis Tsoutsosς, Professor EnvEng, TUC
- Mihalis Lazaridis, Professor EnvEng, TUC
- Nikolaos Papamanolis, Professor Arch, TUC
- Dionysia Kolokotsa, Associate Professor EnvEng, TUC
- Maria Mandalaki, Assistant Professor Arch, TUC
- Despina Dimelli, Assistant Professor Arch, TUC
- Ilias Zacharopoulos, Professor Arch, NTUA
Abstract:
Indoor environment has been extensively analysed during the last decades whereas increasing interest has been developed towards the influence of outdoor environment to the indoor spaces and the overall quality of life in the cities. The scope of this study is to introduce an integrated approach to urban open space design by following a different design process and to propose a new palette of design tools.
The study quantifies the effect of the most common parameters that affect urban open spaces in Mediterranean climates. The analysed parameters are addressed mostly on existing open spaces and can be easily adjusted through space regeneration. The studied parameters are height to width ratio of an urban canyon, sky view factor, greenery percentage and paving material properties. Each parameter is investigated individually and in relation to all the other parameters. The results indicate that there is a significant correlation between certain parameters which produce approximately the same amount of influence to the design. In the same time other parameters influence cumulatively the whole area. This study provides also a complete methodological tool which allows a simple, fast and easy area analysis that takes into consideration the most crucial microclimatic parameters as analysed and can provide the necessary information for the designer in order to to create “bioclimatic” outdoor urban spaces especially for the summer season in Mediterranean climates. The proposed tool provides to the designer with comparable data on certain bioclimatic indexes that will assist him to make his design more “bioclimatic” and take the necessary decisions on the basic issues concerning the new area.
A designer working on an urban area regeneration project following this process of making use of specific bioclimatic criteria as basic directions for the design concept will produce a successful result with better microclimate results for the space users. The study combines literature review, simulation of different case scenarios and methodology implementation on existing areas 0-of Crete, Greece. The proposed methodology for the bioclimatic design of Mediterranean urban open spaces has been already applied to new architectural projects in Greece and the results have already been evaluated by citizens and area visitors.
