ISSUE NO.
18
WIND CONTROL FEATURES IN
BUILDING DESIGNHIDDEN GEMS
By Bill Waechter, C.E.T., Project Director / Associate
Introduction development concept was constructed of modeling
clay in order that the conceptual building masses
Pedestrians walking through a myriad of building could easily be modified and moved around on the
shapes and forms might wonder about the buildings site model. To account for the influence of
they pass. Why, for example, was that tower shaped or surrounding buildings on local wind patterns, a
positioned that way... why were the corners curved or massing model of the towers was included on a
stepped and not square... why were terraces built on model base with the surrounding buildings. The
only one side of the tower? model was placed in RWDIs Water Flume, which is a
1.2m (4 ft) wide channel that uses water to simulate
Examples of structures that have been designed with wind. With the entire model submerged under the
the wind in mind are all around us. The casual water flow, a dye trace
observer might not realize this, but certainly would if was used to visualize
high-rise developers, owners and architects did not do wind flows around the
their homework when designing new office and buildings in order to
residential towers. identify areas of relative
calm or accelerated wind.
Many examples of buildings that have benefited from
The circular model base
RWDIs Microclimate Studies are located throughout
was rotated to examine all
the world, with hundreds of such projects residing in
prevailing winds.
the Greater Toronto Area alone. This RWDI Technote
highlights a few buildings in Toronto that considered To dampen undesirable
pedestrian wind comfort during the design process wind effects, low-rise
and have incorporated wind control features in the terraces were incorporated
buildings seen today. along the northern site
limits. In addition, a
Inset floors above projecting
Case Studies floors collectively reduce combination of inset and
downwashing winds projecting floors were
150 and 200 King St. West incorporated in the
(27 and 24 Storeys) University Avenue
The design architect from facades. A glazed, free-
the Webb Zerafa Menkes standing canopy was
Housden Partnership
installed along King Street
(WZMH) had visited with
to control down-washing
RWDI at the schematic
winds. Coniferous trees
design stage of this project.
placed on the east terrace
The architect was involved
cut the cold winter winds.
in a hands-on process with Low-rise terraces, trees and
Once the design features
RWDI microclimate staff to canopies dampen wind
speeds along the sidewalks were finalized with the
examine the influence of
architect, wind speeds
the developments shape,
were measured in RWDIs wind tunnel to quantify
placement and tower
pedestrian wind comfort on and around the buildings
orientation on the local
wind environment. and to make final adjustments to the design. These
two towers represent one of RWDIs better examples of
Towers at King St. and a Toronto development that accounted for pedestrian
University Ave.,Toronto
The project was at a very
early design stage where wind comfort as early as the schematic/concept stage,
the architect had the freedom to shape these towers to and followed through by incorporating many wind
consider wind effects. A mock-up of the original control features in the final product constructed.
One Queen Street East (27 The architect (WZMH) and
Storeys) developer wished to retain
During the early design large open plazas on the
stages of this project, wind north and south sides of
flows around a conceptual the tower. Filling these
building mass were amenity spaces with
examined in the water
coniferous trees (to control
flume for several prevailing
wind directions. An initial winter winds), wind
building concept was Space frame canopy shelters
screens or shelters was,
formed out of modeling pedestrians on the north therefore, not an option.
clay. Through flow and south sides of the tower Water flume flow
visualization tests in the visualization and wind
water flume it was carved tunnel tests in fact
and massaged to consider confirmed that such
One Queen Street East wind impacts in the measures alone would be
Building at Queen and pedestrian realm. ineffective. The tests did
Yonge Streets, Toronto
demonstrate, however, that
During the design
a canopy placed well above
development process the
the plaza level would
building experienced
Canopy and landscaping provide the wind shelter
changes in form and the enhance pedestrian wind desired. Space frame
design team. Understanding comfort glazed canopies were
of the wind flow patterns at
incorporated near the fourth floor level on the north and
this site ultimately assisted south sides of the tower. These features promote
the architects (Page & enjoyment of the large open outdoor amenity spaces
Steele Architects) in seen in the building today.
Sawtooth corners on the
tower in lieu of square
developing a design that
corners reduce wind considered wind impacts
acceleration. Terraces and on pedestrians. Key Wind Comfort Criteria Refinement
canopies improve wind features of this building
comfort along Yonge Street RWDIs wind comfort criteria have been in use circa
that helped minimize 1990 and were recently fine tuned. Previously, only
undesirable wind impacts wind gusts were considered in the analysis; however,
include the sawtooth northeast and northwest corners the comfort criteria now account for both the mean and
of the tower. Also, the terraces incorporated along the gust winds in a Gust Equivalent Mean (GEM) wind
west elevation, on Yonge Street, proved effective in speed. Technically, the GEM wind speed is the greater
reducing the strength of the wind that flowed down of either the mean speed, or the gust speed divided by
the towers west face to the street below. 1.85, which is a gust factor typically used for wind
comfort. The wind speed ranges used to define the
Scotia Plaza (68 Storeys) comfort categories (e.g., sitting, standing, walking) also
The wind effects around changed to reflect the new analysis method.
this development were
assessed during a more During the criteria development process, dozens of past
advanced design stage, but projects were re-analyzed with the GEM criteria. The
the design allowed for the resultant comfort conditions were comparable to those
footprint to be flipped, if for the past criteria. This refinement places RWDIs
necessary for wind con- wind comfort criteria in-line with those applied in the
siderations. The beveled, United Kingdom and in Boston. These are progressive
sawtooth facades could locations where pedestrian wind comfort is placed in
high regard by municipal planning authorities. The
face northeast/southwest or
analysis of wind safety continues to assess gust winds
northwest/southeast. Water
only, but now considers the number of times gusts of 88
flume and wind tunnel
km/h (55 mph) are exceeded on a seasonal basis. The
tests of these two options
safety criterion allows for two events per season versus
were undertaken, which
Scotia Plaza Tower on King three per year.
indicated that the
Street, Toronto
northwest/southeast Thermal effects (e.g., temperature, humidity, sun/shade,
orientation of the towers beveled facades performed etc.) are not considered in these wind force comfort
best. The existing nearby buildings had a strong criteria. The combined effects of weather, sun/shade
influence on the local wind flows such that wind and pedestrian activity are important and accounted for
shelter for pedestrians was still necessary. in RWDIs thermal comfort analysis.
Rowan Williams Davies & Irwin Inc.
Consulting engineers specializing in assessing and solving design problems related to:
Wind Engineering Sun / Shade / Glare Acoustics, Noise & Vibration
Snow Impacts Pedestrian Comfort Industrial Process Optimization
Air Quality Emergency Planning Hazard & Risk Assessments
650 Woodlawn Road West, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1K 1B8
Tel: (519) 823-1311 Fax: (519) 823-1316 Email: info@rwdi.com Website:http://www.rwdi.com
