Design Strategies For The Climate Adaptability Of Multi-storied Convex Residential Balconies In Hot-summer And Cold-winter Zone

Hot-summer and cold-winter zone in China is a booming area with large population. It is self-evident that the improvement of the thermal environment of residential buildings in this area is of great importance. Simply applying the strategies practised in cold north or blazing south will inevitably be trapped in a dilemma and fail to solve the opposite requirements properly. Convex balcony is, for a long time, a kind of neglected open element in architectural design. Not only standard on the thermal environment of balcony space is left as vacuum, but also little characteristic in climate adaptability in the convex balcony design is demonstrated—a conclusion drawn from investigations on 5 cities in this area. Original aspect of the paper, however, lies in its findings of the limitations of the traditional shading devices by means of on-site experiments and relative theoretical analysis. Based on the climate features of this area, multiple updated shading modes are offered according to the corresponding balcony orientation. The paper tends to develop some basic principles in balcony design which is not only beneficial for energy saving but may also broaden the horizon of gestalt possibilities that is rational.With the help of Phoenics—a software specialized in fluid simulation, a series of comparison simulation concerning the possible layout of the convex balcony, length of the deck, open & enclosed modes of the lateral board, as well as multiple combination of window and door which bordering the balcony, are carried out. All these may readily be taken as reference for the architectural design. Furthermore, the paper made analysis and comparison of materials such as aluminum alloy, wood and bamboo in their economic and tectonic possibilities and pointed out the tremendous potential of thses materials exists on the design of climate adaptability of balconies. In addition, some thoughts on the forestation mode and the criterions on balconies are put forward in the paper. The idea of the "changeable skin" comes from the research topic—Eco-design Strategies in Hot-summer and Cold-winter Area, supported by National Natural Science Foundation in China and directed by my professor. The paper finds its origin in a responsible attention on the eco-issues in China and the evidence-based design ensures a reasonable conclusion with eco-significance and contributes, by all means, endless resources to the architectural design and its creation.