EUI of Building Clusters

Large master planned developments such as Battery Park City in Manhattan, Mission Bay in San Francisco, and Playa Vista in Los Angeles were built over several decades and were guided by urban design guidelines that focus on built form, architectural styles, and elements of the public realm. These guidelines were generally written by architect-planners and urban designers. Envelope performance is governed by building codes and client goals. The goals are often focused on getting certified by a reputed rating agency such as the US Green Building Council. While more holistic rating systems for large developments such as the Ecodistricts Protocol and Star Communities exist, the adherence to multiple regulatory or appraisal systems can get very complex. Thus, there is an increasing need for urban design guidelines to step up and include sophisticated building envelope performance criteria while controlling built form and the public realm.

A Master Plan for a 230-acre mixed-use urban redevelopment in New Delhi, India was prepared along with Urban Design Guidelines (UDG). In addition to conventional development guidelines, performance standards were included as part of the Urban Design Guidelines. One of the key criteria was energy performance. Computer analysis of buildings as clusters rather than discrete structures showed over 6% reduction in Energy Use Intensity (EUI). A 9.8% reduction in EUI was achieved when radiant heat gain was reduced using interventions at the cluster level such as a strategically place canopy over a space between buildings. Preliminary modeling showed a 21.9% reduction in EUI when 4-storied bridges were added between pairs of buildings. Results showed strong evidence that clustered approach to energy modelling can influence building planning and development strategy to achieve EUI goals.