Environmental performance of Abuja’s low-income housing : understanding the current state to inform future refinement

Abdulkareem, M; Al-Maiyah, SAM

Abstract

In times of global ecological challenges, understanding building performance to improve occupants’
comfort is becoming the norm in various climatic zones and locales. Any performance evaluation should account for occupants’ demands for thermal and visual comfort. However, seeking to analyse the impact of design on the two aspects of comfort simultaneously can be complicated especially when a series of parametric changes with varying impacts on either is necessary. In the Nigerian context, assessing the environmental behaviour of existing residential properties to inform future refinement is becoming far more critical due to the vulnerability of the region to the changing climate, the ongoing issue with the energy supply and the housing shortage. The method adapted in this paper following previous research can be useful for the coinciding evaluation of the thermal environment and visual comfort. The environmental behaviour of two of Abuja’s common housing types, in their current state and with the addition of multiple shading elements was assessed using such methodological procedures to examine their suitability for performing a comprehensive analysis. The paper discusses the simplicity of the graphical representation utilised in displaying the changes in the cases’ behaviour following the alteration. It also provides an insight into their current performance.
KEYWORDS: Housing, Comfort, Methodology, Nigeria

Citation

Abdulkareem, M., & Al-Maiyah, S. (2018, December). Environmental performance of Abuja’s low-income housing : understanding the current state to inform future refinement. Presented at PLEA (Passive Low Energy Architecture) : Smart and Healthy within the 2-degree Limit, Hong Kong

• Presentation Conference Type: Other
• Conference Name: PLEA (Passive Low Energy Architecture) : Smart and Healthy within the 2-degree Limit
• Conference Location: Hong Kong
• Start Date: Dec 10, 2018
• End Date: Dec 12, 2018
• Acceptance Date: Sep 3, 2018
• Online Publication Date: Jan 30, 2019
• Publication Date: Jan 30, 2019
• Deposit Date: Mar 14, 2019
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 19, 2019
• Publisher URL: http://www.plea2018.org/
• Related Public URLs: http://www.plea-arch.org/
• Additional Information: Additional Information : Proceedings ISBN: 978-962-8272-36-5; Event Type : Conference