PERFORM 2016

Runner-Up
Seattle WA 2016

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project narrative + The Big Idea

"Design a net zero energy, mixed-use building in Seattle, Washington’s Rainier Beach neighborhood. The building should include residential spaces that are affordable to Rainier Beach residents. Its ground floor should accommodate a use that serves the neighborhood goals. These include, neighborhood's lifelong learning, healthy living, and/or equitable economic development." – PERFORM 2016
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The main idea for this project is enhancing the performance of the building in terms of energy use and social sustainability. By doing so, the building can be a good example of its kind for the community to draw more attention to sustainability.
According to the climate analysis, Seattle is considered a cold climate, heating demand is higher than cooling demand. Achieving maximum solar access is the main concept.

parti diagram

The altitude of the sun in December and January is close to 10 degrees and during this time, we need the most solar penetration. According to this angle, the distance of the blocks is defined while they don't create shade over each other during winter. Solar access was also considered for the underground level. Earth sheltering is also another advantage of this design.
The second concept is to enhance the performance of the building by designing a greenhouse area as a social hub space. This space is considered as a buffer layer to prevent dramatic temperature fluctuation and heat up the building during the winter. While the main consideration is the cold seasons, shading strategy during summer is not forgotten like PV panels on top of the roof, a solid wall on the east and west sides of the building, suspended structure over the outdoor spaces, overhang for windows, blinds for the greenhouse and deciduous ivy on the south facade.

East - West orientation to maximize the solar access of south facade
pushing the ground floor down to open up the view to Pedestrian
shifting the mass to provide the best physical and solar access based on block's distance
Public access to the program on ground floor and plaza. Residential program on Upper floors and the middle mass.
sloped plaza along the main street to draw pedestrian into the project. North side is considered for pop-up activities and connection to the neighbor parking lot.
The sloped site has the potential to harvesting the rain water for Irrigation and toilet's flush use. Fenestrations toward the south are utilized with blinds to enables solar penetration during winter and blocks it during summer.
Roof footprint is reserved for solar array. east and west facade are protected with Opaque surfaces. The shaded areas Beneath the main blocks enable public gathering during the summer.
The Operable stage under the southern block provide the flexibility for social Gathering. The open plaza Along the main avenue enable activity in micro scale. The connection ramps between the Blocks are great spots to have a overlook to next door Football Field.
The main Building mass is divided into the three layers of private, service and public zones. Fenestration Specifications is considered accordingly.

social hub idea

The main idea of the space below the housing is to create a communal performance area that can draw people into a sunken courtyard. The operable stage is able to be raised when not in use. Different surfaces such as sloped grasses, integrated stairs, or connecting ramps are used for public viewing of the performance space that lends to the unique urban quality at the base of the buildings.

The resident can share food that they had plant and learn the use of greenhouse in reality​​The greenhouse is acting as a buffer space in terms of energy use and play its role as social gathering space The combination of the ivy and shade control solar penetration during different seasons
Observation decks are great place to watch the game on next door football field
PV panels provide shade on roof during summer and generate energy. The 20 degree toward south considered as an optimum angle
The slope of sunken garden harvesting the whole rain water form building and site and store it in water thank for irrigation and toilet's flush
The distance between blocks and the height and depth of each block are considered carefully to provide solar penetration during cold seasons
The spaces underground use the earth sheltering benefits to reduce energy conception and skylight to enhance daylighting level
Dark brick wall to gather the most energy of the sun and store it for nights. All indoor spaces has the operable windows and shade to preventing trapping the heat during summer

Another major component in this project is the sunken garden to provide solar penetration into the underground level and to create a social gathering space. Also, all of the slopes of the sunken garden guide rainwater to the harvesting water tank underground for irrigation and toilet flush.
To improve social activity and engagement, the public activities are exposed from the main road and sidewalks around the site. According to The Rainier Beach Neighborhood plan, this site is considered a key intersection and there is a future pedestrian linkage to the eastside. As a result, a retail store and a coffee shop are placed on the east side and the rest of the construction is elevated to open up to the pedestrian view. The educational spaces and ESL classes are on the underground level and have access to the garden and the commercial spaces. There are two open spaces under the suspended geometry that can be used for pop-up activities and a performance stage. Finally, the residents can share food by planting local products in the greenhouse area.

building performance

The energy simulation was done with eQUEST by defining details about material specifications, HVAC system, occupancy, and lighting schedules. The total available footprint on the roof for PV arrays is used to calculate the capacity of the system to generate electricity and the offset of this number from the energy consumption number cleared that this design can be net zero energy building.

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