Riyadh - School of Architecture

Climatic StrategyVegetation- Vegetation mainly placed outside the exteriorwall with opening. They can help to cooldown wind and shade part of the low anglesun light.Vent Chamber- This is a gap between the ceiling and thrroof. This can avoid the sun heat directly onthe roof and reduce the amount of heat gainofthe ceiling.YU Ka Hang 1155016050Exterior Wall- Thermal mass: The exterior wall thickness is600mm. This thickness can help block the heat andrelease it at the night time. In this building, doublelayer brick wall with air cavity would be used. Withthe same principal with the vent chamber, the cavitycan help insulate the building.- Material: Adobe brick is the facade material as it canbe found locally. And with this material, we can employlocal labour, which can save construction cost.- Colour: the wall will be painted in white as this colourcan better reflect away the sun light.Double Height for sunshading-Considered the high temperature in Riyadh, sunshading can be a way to reduce air temperature.The design of the 1/F not only for separating staffsand student, it can also provide more sun shadingfor tbe courtyard, which make the outdoor space isalso pleasant to stay.Openings- To exterior: In Saudi Arabia, storm dustoccur frequently so the size of the windowfacing out should be minimized.and also the small size window helped toshade the high angle sun and admit low anglesun to improve interior lighting.- To interior: The openings are larger causethey are less likely to be affected by the stormdust. The mirco-climate of the courtyard ispleasant to enjoy.Earth-air Tunnel- Because the openings are kept to smallto avoid the storm dust, the ventilation ofindoor is not enough. With the aid of earthair tunnel system, the situation could beimproved. The ground temperature is alwaysfavourable, so this system can cool down thewind by the use of ground temperture. Detailwill be explained in later page.Courtyard-Narrow: Unlike those ordinary courtyard,this courtyard is relatively narrow(4500mm)when compared to others. This is also dueto the reason of sun shading. The higher thedepth-width ratio, the more sun light can beshaded.-Mirco-Climate: Trees and water feature inthe courtyard to cool down air and circulatearound the building.Additionally, those trees can shade those highangle sun which cannot be shaded by thehigher building height.