Emad Mushtaha

Sustainable Design for the Residences in Gaza City

Abstract It has been understood that the environmental impact of housing design, construction and operation has lower priority in research studies as compared to the conventional interests in cost, size, form, location and aesthetics. Gaza′s climatic data indicates that both cold and warm percentages are in the extreme values such as finding a flexible design tool that can satisfy human comfort is an important requirement in a predominantly sustainable architecture concept. Using this new concept to improve the thermal environment and ventilation of buildings through identifying, developing, and testing innovative concepts that can have potential for achieving human satisfaction in homes. Herein, basic principles of Successive Integration Method have been utilized on some materials and varying passive elements to achieve an adequate module′s elements. An integrated design with floor cooling and heating, natural ventilation and some additional passive techniques found that indoor temperature could be properly maintained.

Architectural and Physical Characteristics of Indigenous Gaza′s Houses

Abstract Living and environmental studies of housing planning, construction and operation have low priority in studies as compared to the conventional interests in cost, size, form, location and aesthetics. In 1994, the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) was founded due to the implementation of the Oslo peace agreement. Consequently, many living units have been built to alleviate housing problems with absence of specific studies related to the cultural distributions and environmental comfort of indoor spaces. Therefore, this study focuses on finding proper architectural and physical characteristics of indigenous houses throughout analyzing Gaza′s historical house layout architecturally and environmentally. Investigations have obviously achieved a significant guidance for future planning and construction.

Impact of building forms on thermal performance and thermal comfort conditions in religious buildings in hot climates: a case study in Sharjah city

ABSTRACT The common system used for thermal regulation in mosques of United Arab Emirates (UAE) is the heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. This system increases demands on energy consumption and increases CO2 emission. A passive design approach is one of the measures to reduce these problems. This study involved an analytical examination of building forms, followed by testing the impact of these forms on its thermal performance and indoor thermal comfort. The tests were conducted using energy simulations software packages. Passive parameters such as shading devices, thermal insulation and natural ventilation were applied in six cases, including the baseline case within each form. The obtained results showed a significant effect of mosque forms as well as passive design techniques on the thermal comfort within the structures. The findings confirmed that the use of passive design alone would not help achieve thermal comfort, but reduce the annual energy consumption by10%. By integrating a hybrid air-conditioning system as another supporting approach, the annual energy consumption could be reduced by 67.5%, which allows for the designing of a much smaller HVAC system.

The Effect on Vandalism of Perception Factors Related to Housing Design, Case of U.A.E Cities

Abstract Current literature on vandalism recognises three main reasons for the increase in vandalism in certain housing areas: the design of the housing environment, social characteristics of the residents, and system of management. The physical design features such as the extent of available public spaces and the height of multi-storey blocks of flats are considered to be important. Some studies point to other factors related to the perceptions invoked by the design of public spaces in housing areas, in particular the perceptions of visibility through dwelling windows, the accessibility by the residents, and property ownership. However, there is a lack of research on the effect of perception factors on vandalism. This study attempts to overcome this deficiency in data regarding the problem of vandalism in U.A.E. cities. The study results showed that there is a relationship between vandalism and perception factors invoked by the design of public spaces in housing areas. The perception of visibility appeared to exert a robust effect on vandalism and the perception of accessibility was found to strengthen the effect of the perception of visibility. The study provides some insight into the possible effect of the perception of property ownership and density of youngsters on vandalism.

Effect of using different light pipe parameters on the daylight quality in buildings: The case of Jordan

ABSTRACT The primary objective of this study is to discuss the effect of using different light pipe parameters such as, light pipe’s shape, cross area, and height on indoor daylight quality. In descriptive approach, the integration of light pipes have been overviewed, whereas, a scale room model of 4mx8m introduced to measure the internal illuminance as an empirical approach. It has been evaluated through outcomes that daylight holds undeniable importance in human life. The experiment went through three phases, in order to find the best cross shape of light pipe with best building height. Light pipe with circular shape in first phase achieved an average of 267 Lux inside; within the second phase the circular shape with an average area of 0.44 m2 achieved an acceptable average of illuminance of 520 Lux, and within the last phase it is found that illuminance has an inverse proportion with pipe height. Furthermore, in this study Autodesk Revit tool was utilized for the designing of structure and components in the 3D environment. As a result, the daylight utilization has been observed to be beneficial, as it minimizes the utility costs and improves the well-being of building occupants in Jordan.

Acoustics Treatment for University Halls

This paper aims to solve one important problem while designing halls with domes in universities such as a central lobby of Architectural Engineering Department at the University of Sharjah. Most architects consider aspects/factors of esthetics, form, function, and to some extent sustainability besides illumination, but in general they drop issues of acoustics from their designing phases. The absence of sound quality and clarity of speech in the central hall of AE Department has led to non-comfortable sound environment for conducting some activities such as juries and exhibitions. Listening to a person giving his/her presentation or talk could be difficult due to the large volume of the space, finishing materials inside the building, and the effect of the dome that causes an excess amount of reverberation time (RT). This paper discusses various factors that affect sound environment such as building shape, volume, and materials. Using REVIT and ECOTECT model in the simulation, the study could suggest alternatives to the existing building scenario. Furthermore, an ideal combination of various techniques has been proposed to achieve economical and acoustical aspects.

Daylighting in Educational Buildings: Its Effects on Students and How to Maximize Its Performance in the Architectural Engineering Department of the University of Sharjah

The aim of this paper is to study the impact of daylighting in educational buildings and consequently, maximize the daylighting performance in the Architectural Engineering Department, (M8 Building), of the University of Sharjah. The academic, psychological, and physiological effects of daylighting on students in addition to the effects of decreasing the artificial light consumption on the environment and economy were intensively researched. Then, for a practical implementation, classrooms in AE Department were studied in terms of daylighting. To maximize the daylight intake in the best possible way, four scenarios were prepared for simulation using Revit and Ecotect, which propose different possible ways to bring in natural light. Accordingly, the four scenarios in Ecotect were analyzed and the best one was chosen in terms of daylight intake. After that, the authors calculated and compared the energy consumed (due to artificial light) in each case and chose the one with the least energy consumption.