title : effective self energy-sustainable design strategy ... web viewtitle : effective self...

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE (HONOURS) ARCHITECTURE

Asian Architecture [ARC 2234]

Project 1 Case Study Paper

TITLE : Effective self energy-sustainable design strategy in

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

KHOO CHEE MEI

0303125

TITLE : Effective self energy-sustainable design strategy in the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

Abstract:

The purpose of this case study paper is to study the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy. In assisting the validation of research, literature review based on various sources regarding effective self energy-sustainable design strategies and site visit were conducted to enhance the process. I had chosen Gardens by The Bay in Singapore as my case study. As we known, Singapore’s climate is hot and humid throughout the year, therefore, sustainable design strategy in Singapore commonly are related to source of sun, water and biomass which is renewable. Effective self energy-sustainable design strategy at Gardens by the Bay has various futuristic architectural designs such as Supertrees which act as cooling device by collecting and transferring the water to run the conservatory garden. Water harvesting and storage from the Supertrees also provide an alternative source for irrigation. Next, photovoltaic collectors which place at the canopy of Supertrees do produce electricity that used for lighting up the Supertrees at night and support partly of the electrical use at conservatory garden. Moreover, biomass energy is used for running Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine to produce electrical energy for cooling system in conservatory garden. The biomass energy will support the dehumidying system, slab cooling system, and centralized district cooling system. Besides, the sustainable design of nature landscape around the lake (reservoir) also acts as an eco-filter that would cleanse the lake water. Hence, it has come to a conclusion that effective self energy-sustainable design strategy are essential to produce electrical energy, support sustainable cooling system, irrigation system and eco-filter system.

KHOO CHEE MEI 0303125


Table of Contents Page

1. Introduction 3

2. An overview of Gardens by the Bay 4 - 5

3. The Layout 5 - 6

4. Responding to Questions 6-14

4.1How effective self energy-sustainable design strategy helps?

4.2 What are the criteria needed for effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

4.3 What are the benefits of effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

4.4 How the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy place at Gardens by The Bay?

5. Reflection 14

6. Conclusion 15

7. References/ Biblography 16

8. List of Figures 16



1.Introduction

This case study paper addressed to study the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy in the Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. There are various types of effective self energy-sustainable design strategies in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore which categorized in 5 main types which is Supertrees, De-humidifying Air Cooling System, Slab Cooling System, Biomass and Eco-filter Lake System. The effective results of those self energy-sustainable design strategies included filtration, cooling, dehumidifying, irrigation, power supply and release of exhaust air. Therefore, this paper will investigate on the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy in Gardens by the Bay, Singapore by responding to the following 4 question:

1. How effective self energy-sustainable design strategy helps?

2. What are the criteria needed for effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

3. What are the benefits of effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

4. How the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy place at Gardens by The Bay?

2. An overview of Gardens by the Bay

Gardens by the Bay is located at the reclaimed land in central of Singapore and spanning 101 hectares of land. Gardens by the Bay was planned starting from January 2006, start building in November 2007 and opens in October 2011. It has used up $1.035 billion and it do attracts 1 million of visitors within two months. The compound of Gardens by the Bay consists of 2 conservatories which is Flower Dome and Cloud Forest which fit inside the glass house. It was the largest climate-controlled glasshouses in the world. The two conservatories are under climate controlled, while the outdoor gardens is not under climate controlled and it is free entrance. The attraction of outdoor gardens is the futuristic design of the Supertrees and canopy walk. The local plants there attracts tourist too. The Flower Dome consists of plants which is suitable grows in mild, dry climate that can commonly found in the Mediterranean and other semi-arid tropical regions. Next, Cloud Forest consists of plants which is suitable grows in cool moist climate around mountain regions between 1,000 metres and 3,000 metres altitude that can commonly found in



South-East Asia, Middle- and South America. The main attraction of these two conservatories is the display of rare plants which is under climate controlled.

Figure 2.1: overview of Gardens by the Bay which consists of two large glass house, Supertress and reservoir lake.

3. The layout of Gardens by the Bay :

Gardens by the Bay are comprised with 3 main spaces which the is Bay South, Bay East and Bay Central. Bay Central is a 15 hectares area which acts as a connection to the Bay South and East. Bay Central’s 3 kilometer long walk way that provides a sceneric view of of Singapore city. While Bay South is the largest garden that span 54 hectares and Bay South consists of conservatories, Supertrees and horticultural themed garden. Bay East is sitting at the east bank of Singapore and it consists of food garden, water garden, themed buildings and water sports arena. There is also a stunning skyline to view from the east coastline of the gardens to the financial area of Singapore. Therefore, in this case study paper, Bay South garden are the main study because all the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy takes place here.



Figure 3.1: Bay South Garden. The water cooling system and irrigation system at Flower Dome and Cloud Forest is mostly generated by the Supertree mangrove and biomass energy. While the eco filter are taking place at the reservoir lakes.

4. Responding to questions:

4.1. How effective self energy-sustainable design strategy helps?

Each Supertree is made up of reinforcement concrete core, planting panels , trunk, and a canopy. While planting panels are covering the outside and a canopy in the shape of an inverted umbrella sits on top. Photovoltaic cells gain energy from the strong sun. Water is collected from the canopy for cooling and irrigation purpose. Biomass energy was contributed by horticultural waste from the Gardens and other parks around Singapore. The biomass energy was then used for running the chillers for dehumidifying, cooling and supply electrical energy to the conservatories. Next, water run-off from within the Gardens is captured by the lake system and cleansed by aquatic plants and livings at Kingfisher Lake and Dragonfly Lake before being discharged into the reservoir, Marina Reservoir. The self energy-sustainable design strategy helps a lot in running the gardens specially the conservatories to produce less-carbon gardens. Therefore, many awards winning such as Best Innovative Green Building on MIPIM Awards 2014 , Construction Excellence Award on BCA Awards 2014 , World building of the world on 2012 and etc.


Cloud Forest

Supertree Mangrove

Flower Dome

Dragonfly Lake

Kingfisher Lake


Figure 4.1.1 : 11 out of 12 of the Supertree trunks are covered by planting panels. It is called an vertical garden because the plants are growing vertically up to the tall trunk.

Figure 4.1.2 : Photovoltaic cells at the top part of Supertrees that used to collect solar energy to light up the Supertrees itself at night and serve as one of the energy source to run the Conservatories.



4.2 What are the criteria needed for effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

The criteria needed are final result in energy efficiency. Energy efficiency is "using less energy to provide the same service". Self energy-sustainable design strategy also called as a green design strategy .The philosophy of self energy-sustainable design strategies are to comply with the principles of social, economic and ecological sustainability. As in Gardens by the Bay, the effective self energy sustainable designs was fitting the criteria of reducing the electrical energy usage in running the conservatories. Part of the energy source come from solar energy collected from Supertrees and biomass energy that fed by horticultural waste at gardens. Next, water collected from the canopy of the Supertree is used for irrigation purpose and this is replacing the common irrigation method by using all new water for irrigation purpose. Then, the eco-filter lake system which the water are naturally cleanse by aquatic livings in the lake also replacing the mechanical filtration system at the opening of water flow at Marina Reservoir.

4.3 What are the benefits of effective self energy-sustainable design strategy?

At Gardens by the Bay, energy supply such as electrical energy reduced drastically as in the Supertrees collect solar energy and transfer to Conservatories to run the cooling system. The conservatories are not independently energy sustainable but the usage of electric is much more reduced. The solar energy collected from supertrees also used for lighting up the Supertrees itself at night. Next, the desiccant generator which is run by the biomass boiler to dehumidify the air before cooling system takes place. The biomass boiler also helps in cooling system by supplying chilled water. Moreover, biomass boiler also supplies electrical power to the conservatories. By the way, the biomass boiler is fed by the horticultural wastage from the gardens and other parks of Singapore. Then, the design strategy which having plants around a reservoir lake acts as an eco-filter before the water discharged into the lake is also beneficial. It helps to filter the run-off water, reducing the nutrient content of water and helps to maintain the aquatic ecosystem. Those design strategies are environmental friendly because no biological and chemical wastage produces.



4.4 How the effective self energy-sustainable design strategy place at Gardens by The Bay?

Figure 4.4.1 : Schematic diagram of self energy-sustainable design strategies at Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. It shows the energy collected and transmitted to serve different part of the gardens. All the system imposed are integral with one another.

Design Strategy 1 : Supertrees

The Supertrees is a contemporary vertical garden. Eleven out of twelve of the Supertrees are embedded with environmentally sustainable functions. Function of photovoltaic cells on canopies are gain solar energy for lighting up the Supertrees at night, it is also design to serve the conservatories and act as air exhaust receptacles. The air exhausts are results from the waste of desiccant regenerator. Then, water collected from Supertrees is used for cooling and irrigation purpose at the conservatories.



Figure 4.4.2 : The supertrees acts as a water collector, solar energy collector and exhaust air receptacles.

Design Strategy 2: De-humidifying Air Cooling System

De-humidifying the air before cooling

To reduce the amount of energy required in the cooling process, the air in the conservatories are de-humidified by liquid desiccant which is a drying agent before it is cooled. The dehumidify air would be using less energy to cool. Therefore, energy efficiency was achieved. Then, this desiccant is recycled using the waste heat from the burning of the biomass. The weak desiccant is recycled in the desiccant regenerator to produce a strong drying agent to dehumidify the air. The waste exhaust air produced are released through Supertrees.

Design Strategy 3: Slab Cooling System in Conservatory

Slab Cooling

The strategy of cooling the lower level would reduce the volume of air to be cooled because the priority of people thermal comfort zone is concentrated on the floor. This is achieved through thermal stratification by placing chilled water pipes cast within the floor slabs to perform ground cooling. This enable cool air to settle at the lower occupied zone while the warm air rises and is vented out at high levels. This self energy-sustainable cooling design was generated by the biomass energy which using Combined Heat Power (CHP) where the system would be briefly explained in design strategy 4. The slab cooling system also partly supported by solar energy collected from the photovoltaic cells at the canopies of Supertrees.



Figure 4.4.3 : The picture shows the slab cooling system takes place in Flower Dome. The cooling is concentrated at the lower level. Therefore, hot air rises and escape at higher levels.

Stem of Cool Conservatories

It replace the conventional air-conditioning system with centralised district cooling systems.

Figure 4.4.4 Crystal Mountain, world’s tallest indoor man-made mountain that stands 35 meters tall



(115 feet) covered in lush vegetation.

Figure 4.4.5 : It display plant life from tropical highlands up to 2,000-metres above sea level. There is an elevator brings visitors to the mountaintop, and two walkways are designed to get down to the bottom. The plants that can be found in the Cloud Forest are rare plants such as Wollemi Pines from Australia and carnivorous Pitcher Plants.

Design Strategy 4: Biomass

Figure 4.4.6: Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine schematic diagram



Generating electrical energy

Electricity is generated on-site to run the absorption chiller and electric chiller that cool the Conservatories. At the same time, waste heat is captured in the process to regenerate the liquid desiccant, drying agent. This co-generation of energy is achieved by the use of a Combined Heat Power (CHP) steam turbine that is fed by horticultural waste from the Gardens and other parks around Singapore. This reduce the usage on the electric grid.

Design Strategy 5: ECO-FILTER LAKE SYSTEM

The eco-filter lake system incorporates key ecological processes and functions as a living system. The Dragonfly Lake and Kingfisher Lake in the gardens are the extension of Marina Lake which is a reservoir. The plants on land, aquatic plants and aquatic livings play an important role in maintaining the water quality and lake ecosystem.

Function of Eco-Filter Lake System:

Filtering of water run-off

Filter beds around the lake and wetlands are located where water enters and discharges from the lake system. This results in filtration of sediment and reduce in water flow.

Reducing nutrient load

Aquatic plants and livings absorb nutrients such as nitrogen and phosphorus in the water. Low nitrogen level in the water will prevent alga bloom and ensures better water quality. While phosphorus in water may cause damage to the heart, liver and kidneys of human when it is excessively taken. Therefore, eco-filter lake system replaced mechanical water filtration before discharge to the Marina Reservoir.

Maintaining an aquatic ecosystem

The lake system had created a habitat for dragonflies and aquatic livings. The lake system actually does maintain a diversity of aquatic plants, good water circulation and aeration.



Figure 4.4.7 : The diagram shows the Dragonfly Lake. It was the habitat for fishes , dragonflies and aquatic livings.

5. Reflection

As we know, the intention of Singapore’s government to build this gigantic garden is to stimulate the tourism industry. However, in my opinion, there is another main intention of building this garden, which was to build a sustainable garden in a city. People would realize how important it is to perform self energy sustainable strategies as if nowadays shortage of non-renewable energy caused trouble to every country because population grows rapidly. Renewable energy such as solar energy, water energy, wind energy and biomass are slowly replacing the non renewable energy such as fossil fuels such as oil, gas and coal. Sustainable garden also makes people realize the green house effect is getting worse because of green house gaseous released from factories, electrical appliances, vehicles and etc. We shall impose more sustainable design strategies in our life to reduce and recycle energy. Next, the ecofilter lake system also shows the balanced ecosystem to bring out a harmony environment. It shows the importance of having living plants and livings to perform certain action. I hope that this kind of sustainable building would be more and more common because self energy-sustainable designs produce zero carbon and zero green house gaseous. We should be grateful and appreciate the building technology nowadays because it makes our Earth to be a better place to live. As a future architect, we are always taught to integrate with the context surroundings but not demolish and built a new



building at the site. Therefore, building should integrate with the nature surrounding to create a harmony living environment. Building are built to live, not to demolish. We shall try our best to maintain biodiversity of the livings organisms to create a balanced ecosystem.

6. Conclusion:

To wrap up this case study, I have to emphasize that the self energy-sustainable design strategies imposed at Gardens by the Bay are self energy-sustainable and effective. Those self energy-sustainable design strategies meet the requirement of green design strategy by reducing the production of green house gaseous and it is energy efficiency. There are a lot of benefits of using effective self energy-sustainable design strategy instead of the common one. The use of effective self energy-sustainable design strategy in Gardens by The Bay is effective and organized. The systems are all integrated with one another. In a nutshell, effective self energy-sustainable design strategies at Gardens by the Bay are essential to produce electrical energy, support sustainable cooling system, irrigation system, eco-filter system and release of exhausted air.

7. List of Figures



Figure 2.1 Overview of Gardens by the Bay, Singapore.

Figure 3.1 Basic map of Bay South Garden, showing the lakes, Supertrees and conservatories.

Figure 4.1.1 Close up image of Supertrees’ trunk that covered with planting panels.

Figure 4.1.2 Close up image of canopy of Supertrees.

Figure 4.4.2 Supertrees at night view

Figure 4.4.3 Image of cooling inside the conservatory

Figure 4.4.4 Image of stem of cool conservatory

Figure 4.4.5 Diagram that shows different levels of man made mountain in the cloud forest.

Figure 4.4.6 Schematic Diagram of Combined Heat Power (CHP)

8. References

Gardens By The Bay: The garden life. Retrived June 2, 2014 fromhttp://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/travel/gardens-bay-garden-life?page=1 Laetitia Wong (2014, May 31)

Brief sustainablility of Gardens by the Bay, Singapore. (2013, March 1). Gardens by the Bay Singapore. Retrieved June 11, 2014 from HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=6N6ET2PDCXI

Racheal Morris & James Lui(2013). Living in the Garden : The Living of Singapore. Tienwah Press PTE LTD (2013). National Parks Board.Breaking new Ground, Discovering NewRoots, 56(1), 56-85. ISBN : 978-981-4385-24-4

Gardens by the Bay.(2011).Sustainability efforts. Retrived fromhttps://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-the- gardens.html#!/sustainability-efforts

Archdaily. (2012). Gardens by the Bay / Grant Associates. [Website] Retrieved from http://www.archdaily.com/254471/gardens-by-the-bay-grant-associates/


http://www.archdaily.com/254471/gardens-by-the-bay-grant-associates/

https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-the-%20gardens.html#!/sustainability-efforts

https://www.gardensbythebay.com.sg/en/the-gardens/about-the-%20gardens.html#!/sustainability-efforts

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6n6et2pDcXI

http://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/travel/gardens-bay-garden-life?page=1

http://www.todayonline.com/lifestyle/travel/gardens-bay-garden-life?page=1

title : effective self energy-sustainable design strategy ... web viewtitle : effective self...

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