urban morphology – AIE

Characterisation of Mediterranean Urban Morphology (2016-21)

Tue, 11 Apr 2017 15:18:07 +0000

Characterisation of Mediterranean urban morphology; impact of irregularities and exceptions in the plot on the energy efficiency of architecture.

COMPETITIVE PROJECT 2016-2020

BIA2016-77675-R

This project aims to advance the energy efficiency of Mediterranean cities, identifying the parameters of edificatory morphology that allow characterizing the irregularities and exceptions of different urban plots and their influence against energy demand. The objective is to provide knowledge and tools for decision-making in the planning and management of consolidated Mediterranean cities.

MINISTRY OF ECONOMY AND COMPETITIVENESS. State Program of Research, Development and Innovation Oriented to the Challenges of Society.
UNESCO Classification:
3305 – CONSTRUCTION TECHNOLOGY
6201 – ARCHITECTURE
Project type: Type B
Duration (in years): 4
Principal investigator: Helena Coch Roura
Principal Investigator 2: Antonio Isalgué Buxeda

Coch, H.; Isalgue, A.; Crespo, I.; Roset, J.; Pardal, C.

The growing displacement of the world population towards urban areas proposes alternatives that contemplate the consolidated city itself as a place of action to solve the accommodation of this population instead of continuing to occupy the surrounding territory with more building and invading the fertile land close to the original settlements.

To optimise existing urban planning, it will be essential to have a body of doctrine on environmental and social issues that takes into account aspects of energy consumption and resources, as well as those of comfort and personal well-being.

Previously, the incidence of urban morphology was studied as a modifier factor of local climatic conditions to evaluate the characteristics attributable to Mediterranean cities, as a compact city model (BIA2013-45597-R). The results showed new elements that opened the field of work in the following terms: On the one hand, the importance of the irregularities and exceptions of urban plots to improve the energy response according to irregularities at the scale of building, neighborhood or urban fabric.

On the other hand, the need to analyze the incidence of the various physical parameters that affect energy flows (thermal, light and acoustic) once the different residential typologies have been characterized. And finally, the focus on urban-scale rehabilitation as a system for filling existing cities in contrast to territorial expansion.

Consequently, having obtained systematic characterization parameters of the compact Mediterranean city, it is intended to deepen the irregularity of building and plots. Once the aspects of this city model in terms of its environmental behaviour have been analyzed, the constructive and energy parameters that affect the living conditions of its inhabitants must be defined with the aim of laying the foundations for establishing appropriate intervention criteria.

Publication in the ACE journal. THE IDEATION OF BARCELONA’S TERRITORY THROUGH ITS REPRESENTATION

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 17:11:15 +0000

Publication THE IDEATION OF BARCELONA’S TERRITORY THROUGH ITS REPRESENTATION in the journal ACE. Architecture, City and Environment.

This paper aims to describe what tools have been decisive so far in the urban planning of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area with the ultimate goal of understanding the current state of the art and anticipate future transformations. Unlike other papers describing the history of Barcelona (Solà-Morales, 2008 and Espuche and Watchkeeping, 1986) or drawing conclusions about the so-called “Barcelona model” (Montaner, Alvarez and Muxí 2012), this article is based on the hypothesis that representation tools condition the way we see the world and so the resulting project, as Corner states (1999). By means of analysis and comparison of various cartographies, this paper reviews some moments in the history of Barcelona Metropolitan Area when urban planning has been deeply influenced by design tools, from traditional surveys to Big Data.

Authors: Mar Santamaria , Pablo Martínez. Founders of www.300000kms.net

Font: Bcn Dynamics, 300.000 Km/s con el Àrea Metropolitana de Barcelona.

New publication in Energies journal. Solar Access Assessment in Dense Urban Environments: The Effect of Intersections in an Urban Canyon

Thu, 13 Oct 2016 16:48:59 +0000

Solar Access Assessment in Dense Urban Environments: The Effect of Intersections in an Urban Canyon

The urban canyon model has been recurrently used as a basis for many solar access studies. However, its conception as endless structures disregards the effect of street intersections, despite being characteristic elements of urban fabrics. This paper aims to evaluate the impact of street discontinuities on solar access over building façades. The potential of crossings to increase the available radiation has been assessed through computer simulations in dense urban environments in a Mediterranean location. For the cases studied, results show that local effects of an intersection almost disappear beyond a speciﬁc distance for each aspect ratio, which can be helpful to determine the suitable level of detail for solar analyses at an urban fabric scale.

Part of the Project MUM – Mediterranean Urban Morphology characterization.
Authors: Elena Garcia-Nevado , Anna Pages-Ramon and Helena Coch