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Student Competition
Environmental and Sustainability Modelling Competition
On Thursday, 12 November, a student competition was announced, that will see university teams from English-speaking Africa, compete to improve the performance of a small building located in South Africa’s most famous street, and home to two Nobel Laureates, Bishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela.
The launch of the competition took place at the TIPSASA exhibition space at the annual SAEEC at Emperors Palace.
The building is based on the original 1944 design that was used for houses in Vilakazi Street, Orlando West, many of which are still occupied today. This house is similar to the original Mandela home.
The aim of the competition is to provide a competitive forum for student members of the Southern and East African Architectural and Engineering Community. It is expected that several tutors of relevant courses in universities in Africa could use this as part of their teaching material or as a case study in environmental and sustainability building designs.
Entries will be judged by a Panel of judges headed up by Dr Dru Crawley and members of IBPSA and the CIBSE Building Simulation Group. The awards will be made in September 2016 and announced at the IBPSA-England Building Simulation and Optimisation Conference that will take place on 12 September. The final results will be posed on the SAEE, IBPSA, SAIEE and CIBSE websites.
Key factors influencing the judges’ decision :
- accurate and intelligent use of building simulation
- most important are the thermal and visual comfort of the occupants
- indoor air quality criteria must be met
- the simultaneous demand and production of on-site energy (load matching)
Drawings and partially completed models will be made available to teams to speed the simulation process and lighten the load. Prizes will be awarded for a range of achievements.
“This is an extraordinary project to be involved in. Many traditional building materials, such as timber, concrete and brick, have lower scale embodied energy than modern materials such as glass, steel or aluminium. Students will have to apply their minds to conceive a project of significance and value.
“Careful investigation of all possible options, based on a wealth of academic information available, should be considered before deciding on an appropriate solution. I am delighted that the SAEE is involved in this project and look forward to innovative submissions from students. Students should therefore not delay and get going should they want to participate.,” commented Karel Steyn, President of the SAEE.
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