Swinal Samant

Singapore has seen a phenomenal and an unprecedented transformation from a swampland to a high density urban environment since its independence in 1965, made possible largely and single-handedly by the sustained efforts of its government. Indeed, urban space is a key vehicle for achieving urban social, environmental, economic, and cultural sustainability. The dense urban context in Singapore has seen an emergence and increase in elevated spaces in the form of skygardens, sky-bridges and sky-courts in a range of building types, seemingly seeking to tie together the different horizontal and vertical components of the city. This paper, therefore, examines the effectiveness of elevated urban spaces and pedestrian networks in Singapore and their ability to contribute to the horizontal to vertical transitions, and consequently to the urban vitality and accessibility. It does this through the analysis of two key developments: Marina Bay Sands and the Jurong Gateway. In particular, it consi...

Urban waterfronts form part of cities’ critical intersection between the natural and man-made environment, linking the city and its inhabitants with water. In the context of high density urban environments, they are integral to the network of green and public spaces and have the potential to encompass a range of uses including residential, commercial, leisure, recreational, heritage and art offering a multitude of economic, social, environmental benefits. The cases of HafenCity Hamburg and Waterfront Toronto discussed in this paper demonstrate successful approaches to achieving social and environmental sustainability at the waterfronts, highlighting the importance of ensuring mixed uses, public access, sustainable design and construction of buildings and infrastructure including climate change adaptations. Integrated and incremental planning of waterfronts in conjunction with citywide planning alongside careful consideration for greening, urban ecology, biodiversity, and aquatic eco...

This paper considers the impact of increasing student numbers and decreasing resources on the teaching of design in schools of architecture. The provenance of these changes is considered and merits of studiobased learning are discussed. A specific pilot case study concerning the School of the Built Environment at the University of Nottingham is detailed, with regard to the formulation of practical strategies for managing increased numbers. A series of recommendations for managing expansion are outlined, developed from results of a questionnaire issued to staff. These set out criteria for minimum resource standards sufficient to enable effective learning and teaching based upon maintenance of the existing pedagogy. Preliminary outcomes of adopted strategies and their implications are interpreted with the view for these to form a basis for future monitoring and research in this area.

Atria have proliferated in a range of contemporary buildings and daylighting is perhaps their most valuable aspect. This thesis is an exploration of the effects of atrium facades on the daylight performance of an atrium and its adjoining spaces. It examines the effects of atrium wall surface reflectance distribution patterns, different surface types, and the location, size and proportion of fenestration and opaque areas in an atrium’s facade. The study seeks to provide knowledge that would be most useful at the early design stages of a project. The study uses Daylight Factor (DF) and Average Daylight Factor (ADF) to examine daylight levels in an atrium building. Chapters Two and Three develop an understanding of key daylighting concepts and consider specific daylight linked atrium parameters related to this study; atrium geometry and enclosing surfaces each of which is examined through an extensive literature review. Chapter Four demonstrates the effects of reflectance distributions and diffuse and specular surfaces on DFs across the atrium floor using physical scale models. Following this, in Chapter Five, the experiments are repeated using RADIANCE and results from the two methods are compared to establish their accuracies. ADF values, calculated using Littlefair’s (2002) algorithm, are also compared with those obtained from physical scale model and RADIANCE. Chapter Six establishes the range of atrium well indices in which surface reflectance distributions affect DFs. This then informs the experiments of Chapter Seven which ascertain the influence of different facade compositions (with variable and even fenestration from the atrium roof to its floor) on daylight availability in atrium buildings. To contextualise work undertaken in this thesis, the research findings are compared with data from real buildings. Finally, specific conclusions with regards to the effects of atrium facades on daylighting in atrium buildings are drawn before more wide-reaching inferences are made.

... compared to concrete, requires less than 1/50th of British thermal units in production.3 Straw was first used in medieval times for wattle-and-daub buildings and in cob structures; these involved straw mixed with clay, sand, mud, and ... By Nikki Desborough1 and Swinal Samant2 ...

The aim of this research was to examine the influence of atrium geometry and surface reflectance distributions on daylight factor (DF) at the base of the atrium. Ecotect and Radiance programmes were used to simulate square, four-sided, top-lit atria under overcast sky conditions. To achieve the variability in reflection distribution, surfaces were assigned alternating horizontal bands of white and black. For each of the experiments the widths of these bands were altered but the overall split between white and black bands was always maintained at 50% white and 50% black. Models were built for atriums with a well index of 0.5, 1 and 2. Results of the banded models were compared with models with a uniform reflectance of 0.43%; an average of the black and white bands to understand the influence of reflectance distribution patterns. It was concluded that the reflectance distributions had limited influence on daylight distribution on the atrium floor in the medium and shallow/wide atriums...

The aim of this research was to examine the influence of atrium geometry and surface reflectance distributions on Daylight Factor at the base of the atrium. Ecotect and Radiance programmes were used to simulate square, four-sided, top-lit atria under overcast sky ...

The atrium as a key building feature has seen a popular resurgence over the past thirty years (Saxon [1]). Atria simultaneously resolve social, economic and environmental issues, with one particular interest being their ability to draw daylight deep into the plan of a building. As ...