Enhancing the skin performance of hospital buildings in the UAE

Abstract This piece of research is an analysis of the refurbishment of a hospital building in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, focusing on building envelope renovation. It considers a portion of a building and August, the month with the most cooling demand, for the study. The selected zone was on the fourth floor and has the advantage of a north and south axis with a roof and a reasonable amount of glazing on both the north and south sections. A detailed analysis of annual energy performance for the case study was performed through the use of a computerised simulation to explore energy performance shortcomings and it was defined as the ‘base case’. The energy consumption of the base case was then compared with that resulting from a new proposed building skin. New strategies included sunshade, exterior wall retrofitting, cool roof, new glazing and green roofs. These strategies were obtained from ASHRAE guidelines for hospital buildings, and the new results were defined as the ‘efficient case’. Future recommendations were drawn including the suggestion that a green roof is the most suitable strategy as it can achieve a significant reduction in energy consumption. This was highlighted by external conduction gain, which changed from 29 kW in the base case to 21 kW with a green roof. The results will inform both architects and designers of the savings potential from a variety of strategies.

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