A bioclimatic approach to integrated design : form, technology, and architectural knowledge

Abstract

This thesis explores a holistic design process through which architectural elements can engage the dynamic forces of natural phenomena and integrate the spatial and temporal experience of building form with its physical environment. The framework for this exploration is a contextual mapping of dynamical systems and complexity theory to the processes of architectural design. By incorporating concepts and methods from the study of non-linear dynamics, a broad base of scientific knowledge aimed at understanding physical behavior in nature, this thesis proposes a synthetic relationship between architectural elements, their physical performance in the context of natural phenomena, and their contribution to a coherent spatial structure. Modern technological imperatives have rephrased the sensible relationships between architecture, climate, and inhabited space as a problem for "environmental controls". The contemporary urban office building, under economic pretenses, exhibits a particular over-dependence on external machinery for light, ventilation, and thermal comfort, often to the detriment of physical experience. This thesis emphasizes the use of scientific knowledge and computational tools in the early processes of design in an attempt to investigate the manifestations of physical energy -- light, air, and heat --in the building's final form. By addressing these physical performance criteria as spatial influences during preliminary design, this thesis supports an integrated framework for professional collaboration and examines a cultural context for the application of architectural knowledge. A bioclimatic approach to design, therefore, is a synthetic response to the dialectic between the tectonics of physical experience and the dynamics of the natural environment.