Residential building design : comprehensive comparative guidelines for building single-family dwellings in Hawaii

Abstract

Energy shortages, earthquakes, and hurricanes are environmental factors that challenge the home designers of Hawaii. The depletion of renewable natural resources and global warming trends foreshadow energy shortage and the increases of hurricane frequency. Thus, it is essential that future homes in Hawaii be energy efficient, earthquake resistant, and hurricane resistant. Energy efficient and climate responsive designs are important for the economic and environmental future of Hawaii. Solar protection, daylighting, solar energy, and natural ventilation are design strategies that can promote energy efficient design. This thesis addresses energy efficient strategies that can be applied to site planning, building orientation, building form, roof design, wall design, and foundation design. In addition to energy efficiency, homes in Hawaii must also provide protection from natural disasters. In the past, earthquakes and hurricanes have caused much destruction to Hawaii's homes, yet only within recent years have these damages been documented and analyzed. The building performance and structural assessment disasters has provided useful information on the survivability of certain structure types. This thesis identifies these structures and proposes suggestive strategies to increase the strength and integrity of homes. Hazard resistance strategies that can be applied to site planning, building orientation, building form, roof design, wall design, and foundation design are addressed. The Islands' climate and location also fosters termite infestation and salt corrosion. Design strategies to reduce damage from these problems are also presented. This thesis investigates energy, earthquake, and hurricane design approaches and their application to residential buildings in Hawaii. It establishes the need for each approach through the identification of problems with existing homes.