Abstract
In urban cities, buildings are getting denser and taller, which then consumes more energy and absorb more thermal heat. This contributes to higher Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect, which can cause thermal discomfort for indoor and outdoor spaces. In this situation, bringing more natural airflow will help to cool down the urban cities and improve thermal comfort. Based on the CFD analysis conducted on the selected site in Singapore, weaker wind speed are observed at lower floors and stronger wind speed are observed at higher floors. With the main focus on improving thermal comfort at the pedestrian level, there is a potential to distribute air from higher to lower floors by shaping the overall building mass. The final form is developed based on the theory of venturi effect by creating pressure differences to distribute air. A canopy structure is formed using Kangaroo2, a plugin in Rhinoceros Grasshopper for form optimization. With the canopy structure, there is a significant improvement in air movement at the pedestrian level from all prevailing wind direction. Different types of activity spaces are designed based on the different wind speed.