5-2. VISUAL QUALITATIVE DIAGNOSTICS
1.BUILDING FACADE
2.LAYOUT AND SIGNS
3.FENESTRATION &GLAZING
4.SHADING AND LIGHTING
South Facade East Facade
Figure 1,Figure 2 (source:Pearl River Tower Guangzhou, China AEI Professional Project Awards January 2014 )
2.Layout and Signs
The elevators are located in the centre of the building which is easy to find and the office area is around the elevators which is divided in 8 areas in each floor. Four corners of each floors is equipped with the direct drinking , tea room, fire equipment and fire escape. (Fig.6)There are signs of guiding around the corner and the elevator which can show people the way. Besides ,the building is full of surveillance controls to guarantee the security of the occupants.(Fig.7)
(Psychological and sociological: perfect equipment and simple layout offer an high utility rate of the space and security . The signs in the building is provided for people’s easy way finding.)
1.Building Facade
The pearl river tower has 71stories in total. With the photovoltaic system integrated in the building envelope, the thermal performance,daylighting performance and solar gain of the building has been improved with the double skin facade. The unitised fit glass is fit with the shading nicely in east and west facade, which can capture the solar energy for the building. In the north and south facade,the doubleskin facade shows an outstanding performance.The space between the double skin is 240mm for the natural or mechanical airflow to low the solar heat, which can maintain the temperature in the surface close to indoor.（Fig.4）
Figure 3 LEED Scordcard of Pearl River Tower in visual performance.(source:（U.S. Green Building Council，2013）)
Fig.4 Double-skin facade in north and south (sourcesource:Pearl River Tower Guangzhou, China AEI Professional Project Awards January 2014 )
Fig.6 basic equipment of the floor plan (sourcesource:Pearl River Tower Guangzhou, China AEI Professional Project Awards January 2014 )
Fig.7 Scene shooting of the building signs and surveillance(by group)
3.Fenestration & Glazing
As we can see from the pictures , the fenestration of the building is the large curtain wall.In the perspective of the fenestration, the curtain wall offer the occupants an open view which can meet the human preference and increase the natural lighting level indoor(physiological and psychological: the curtain wall offer the occupants an open view and provide the indoor environment with sufficient natural light. )(figure 5)
In terms of the glazing , with the double - skin facade,the internal glazing is single pane ,while the external glazing is double silver lowe high performance glass,which do help to balance the heat gain and transparency of the glass(Fig.4(psychological and economical: the glazing material is beneficial to the occupants’ visual comfort and thermal comfort, especially in the indoor environment with curtain wall. Also, the large area window can make sure the natural light penetration which do good to the visual comfort and low the energy consumption )
4.Shading and Lighting
Withthe double skin facade, there is a shading device,which is smart blinds, that can respond the daylight andcontrol the daylight penetration automatically. In summer, the blinds is helpful to avoid the glare and remove most of the radiant heat, while in winter,the blinds is beneficial to keep warm indoor.This technology adopted by this shading system can reduce the artificial light and maximise the use of the natural light from the window,also maintain the indoor comfort in different seasons. What’s more, the window can be opened to control the shading manually ,which have consider the real need of the occupants.(Fig.5) For the east and west facade, the photovoltaic systems are integrated in the external shading to help the building collect the solar energy and avoid the excessive solar heat.(Fig.9)
In the building , the ceiling is used to be a reflector to diffuse the artificial light, in order to achieve the uniform illumination for the occupants(Fig.10, Figure 11).(psychological ,physiological and economical: the shading :the automatic shading system can guarantee the visual comfort by avoiding the glare and control the daylight effectively,also it can reduce the energy consumption by maximise the use of natural light. )
Figure 5 Double skin glazing type (by group)
Fig.8The scene shooting of smart shading device of the daylight responsive control in the window(by group)
Fig.9 Scene shooting of the photovoltaic panels in the east facade(by group)
Fig.10 ceiling and lighting （by group）
Fig. 11light diffusion technology of the lobby(\(\(\(by group)