COLD LANE AND FOUR CHIMNEYS

Environment-Friendly Library Design Inspired by Mechanism of Cold Lane.

Library

Sustainability

When

Feb 2019 - Apr 2019

Who

Instructed by Tong Zhang

Project Overview

This project involves designing a departmental library on the campus of a university in Fujian, with a primary focus on sustainable building practices. Drawing inspiration from Cold Lane, a traditional Chinese city planning method known for providing cooler indoor spaces in the summer, while reduce cold air circulation in winter, the design ensures a comfortable library environment with reduced HVAC system intervention.

The design features elements known as the Cold Lane and Four Chimneys. These elements not only act as a building elements serving a better pysical environment but also play a critical role in the spatial arrangement of the library. The architecture form was shaped using the computer simulation program, respecting physical performance of these elements, such as fresh air circulation facilitation. The library spaces are organized around the chimneys, with the Cold Lane acting as the main circulation path and public area.

Space Prototype -- Cold Lane

Traditional Chinese village in Fujian is known for their air circulation, which relies on a particular building element -- Cold Lane. Cold Lane is narrow void space between buildings, helping the whole village for a better ventilation, thermal and humid condition through manipulating wind pressure and thermal flows, without using any energy.

Climate in Fujian

Fujian is in southeast part of china, having relatively high humidity since it is next to sea. and a high average temperature overall, thus having a tough climate in summer.

Cold Lane -- Performance

Cold Lane improves building physical environment. It stablize temprature, humidity and wind intensity, giving a more comfotable inddor environmnet both in winter and summer.

Prototype Spacial Translation

While cold lane capturing wind with relative low temperature by leveraging appropriate directions and topographies, apperance of yards along cold lane is also very worth mentioning, helping cool air move from lane into each individual units, by absorbing heat inside yards.

Cold lane as a spcial prototype is replicated in the project, becoming the core space. Yards are tranformed into Four Chimneys to absorb heats in a even better way.

Simulation Driven Design

Shape matters a lot when it comes to physical performance. In order to achieve better physical environment, a full set of simulation have been conducted to help shaping the architecture form.

Cold Lane Form Calculation

Chimney Form Calculation

Crust Form Calculation

How the Project Work?

While traditional architecture is mostly static, modern architecture have a lot moving pieces, windows, skylights, and vents can be on and off.

According to the mechanism of cold lane and chimneys, as well as climate in Fuzhou, 'Cold Lane' is opened when temperature raised and closed in winter, and same as chimneys. And skylights on chimneys are turned on in window to provide extra heat capture.

Spacial Elements

The Cold Lane, Chimneys, and the Crust are key building elements, contributing to physical environments.

Cold lane -- Spine

Cold lane is enlarged at southeast side, in order to capture more fresh air, which matches the appearance of entrance. Since cold lane as spacial prototype, is one kind of corridor, and so do this project. And major functionalities are attached to cold lane to enjoy better air ventilation and accessibility.

Chimneys -- Core

Chinmeys provide a lot opportunities for visual connections, which bring rich spacial experience to the project. Thus chimneys defining spaces, while giving different spacial effects on different levels.

Within Chimneys

Next to Chimneys

Chimneys on the Crust

Crust -- Surface

Landscape Urbanism brings potential of activities to everywhere of the surface. With the appearance of chimneys and other building elements on top of the crust, more interaction are implied between indoor and outdoor.