PLEA, initially standing for ‘Passive and Low Energy Architecture’, is committed to the development, documentation and diffusion of the principles of bioclimatic design and the application of natural and innovative techniques for sustainable architecture and urban design through annual international conferences, workshops and publications. Participation in PLEA activities is open to all whose work deals with architecture and the built environment, who share PLEA’s objectives and who attend PLEA events. For many years PLEA has organized highly ranked international conferences and events across the globe. PLEA 2016 was the 32nd of these and was held in Los Angeles, the United States, organized by Cal Poly Pomona University, the University of Southern California and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo University. The theme of PLEA 2016 was Cities, Buildings, People: Towards Regenerative Environments. Authors from more than 40 countries in all continents presented 285 technical papers in 42 sessions and 5 conference tracks: Strategies, Tools and Simulation Methods, Passive Strategies for Resilient Cities, Carbon Neutral Design, Sustainable Design Education and Regenerative Design. Keynotes provide insight into the implementation of the concepts discussed in the technical sessions.
Out of 285 submissions, 16 papers were selected for this special edition of Architectural Science Review. Their authors were invited to further develop their papers, which were rigorously double blind peer reviewed. Eight of these 16 papers are included in this special edition and represent practical applications and unique approaches to the issues discussed in the PLEA 2016 conference, organized according to the theme ‘Effects of Envelope and Materiality in the Built Environment’.
The first paper in this edition, by Jae Yong Suk, Marc Schiler and Karen Kensek describes, through human subject tests and the analysis of High Dynamic Range Photography, the effect of reflectivity and specularity of building façades and envelopes on human visual comfort. The second paper by Navid Hatefnia, Amir Barakatib, Marjan Ghobadc and Azar Eslam Panahb proposes a technique, named numerous vectors, to calculate mean radiant temperature, even in the presence of complex geometries and specular surfaces, improving the precision of thermal comfort calculations in architectural design. In the third paper, Rajat Gupta and Matt Gregg use a building simulation approach to demonstrate the magnitude of projected summertime overheating and the effects of a warming climate on the elderly in care and extra-care facilities in the UK and potential adaptive responses. Juan Montoliu-Hernández and Jorge Rodríguez-Álvarez propose low-cost, high performance solutions for the temporary colonization of unfinished buildings that would provide affordable accommodation for evicted families in Spanish suburbs after the real estate collapse in Spain. The proposed solution takes advantage of thermal mass of the existing abandoned concrete structures to help minimizing cooling loads. Md Mohataz Hossain, Benson Lau, Robin Wilson and Brian Ford present two practical solutions to improve the indoor thermal environment of the workspaces in existing garment factories in Bangladesh. Simulation studies indicate that implementation of these strategies improve workers’ thermal comfort and well-being during work hours. Ihab Elzeyadi measured actual performance of dynamic façade shading systems using full-scale prototypes to determine their impacts on building energy savings, daylighting distribution, glare control and solar insolation. His paper concludes with guidelines for the parametric design of dynamic shade systems for the eight main ASHRAE climate zones. Claude M.H. Demers and André Potvin explored the physical and poetic relation between architecture and climate by introducing a combined tactile and numerical approach to the creation of ideas in a graduate design studio. This studio innovated by its unique combination of erosion typologies, its combined analogical and numerical simulation methodology, and the representation of the dynamic nature of erosion into architectural morphology. Sergio Altomonte, Sara Saadounia, Michael G. Kenta and Stefano Schiavon compare the satisfaction with Indoor Environmental Quality in BREEAM and non-BREEAM Certified Office Buildings in the UK. Their research indicated that BREEAM certification per se did not seem to substantively influence building and workspace satisfaction and that pairing of occupants’ responses with physical measurements led to infer that lower satisfaction in BREEAM buildings, particularly in open workspaces, might be associated with a perceived lack of control over the luminous, aural and thermal environments.
Through the presentation of 285 unique papers in the PLEA 2016 conference and with the further development of the 8 papers presented in this special edition of Architectural Science Review we hope to have embraced PLEA’s tradition of scholarship, but more importantly, as Arthur Bowen one of PLEA’s founder stated 35 years ago, we hope to continue with that of social responsibility with a profound sense of urgency.