Strategic integration of vegetation to reduce heat gain and to improve environmental quality is i... more Strategic integration of vegetation to reduce heat gain and to improve environmental quality is increasingly being adopted by building designers. One option to reduce solar gain is to grow climbing plants on a supporting framework external to a building. This is a relatively recent design feature that has little data available to predict its shading performance. This issue is being investigated through a collaborative research project between University of Brighton (UK) and Kasetsart University (Thailand). A thermal model which integrates the shading effects of different leaf layers and their coverage has been developed and experimental investigation started at the University of Brighton. Experiments were set up to collect the environmental and physical growth data of a deciduous climbing plant canopy. The results enabled the development of dynamic shading coefficients which represent the shading efficiency of the plant canopy at different time of its growing cycle. Similar experimental studies were performed at Kasetsart University but with non-deciduous plants. This paper reports on the work carried out at Brighton. It summarises the development of the thermal model, the experimental measurements and analyses to establish a time series function representing the dynamic shading coefficient. The dynamic coefficients were applied to a computer simulation programme to predict the effect of different percentage areas of the climbing plant canopy to indoor thermal conditions.
There are many examples of integrating external climbing plants as shading devices to glazed buil... more There are many examples of integrating external climbing plants as shading devices to glazed building facades. Apart from providing solar shading, plants can improve the environmental quality such as noise reduction, better air quality and alleviating the urban ‘heat island’ effect. In temperate climates such as the UK, deciduous plants can be used to take the additional advantage of allowing beneficial solar penetration in the winter. There are very limited studies of the shading performance of plant canopies mainly due to the difficulties of measuring the dynamic growth behaviour of plants that influence the solar transmission. The research reported in this paper proposes methodologies and techniques to provide an assessment of the shading performance of a deciduous climbing plant canopy. The research involved the development of the methodologies, the measurement of area coverage of different leaf layers, the measurement of solar transmittances of leaf layers and the integration of experimental results to establish the proposed shading coefficient. The experimental canopy, on which Virginia Creeper was planted, was setup at the University of Brighton and monitored for two years. The research outcomes are reported and significance of the results, potential applications and future work are discussed.
Food and beverage industry is not just about eating and drinking. It is a matter of how we can de... more Food and beverage industry is not just about eating and drinking. It is a matter of how we can deliver “an experience” to the customers. A logical progression from one space to another; from exterior to entrance to dining room; and from kitchen to dining room are all part of the deal to create an aesthetic yet functional environment to staff and customers.
Strategic integration of vegetation to reduce heat gain and to improve environmental quality is i... more Strategic integration of vegetation to reduce heat gain and to improve environmental quality is increasingly being adopted by building designers. One option to reduce solar gain is to grow climbing plants on a supporting framework external to a building. This is a relatively recent design feature that has little data available to predict its shading performance. This issue is being investigated through a collaborative research project between University of Brighton (UK) and Kasetsart University (Thailand). A thermal model which integrates the shading effects of different leaf layers and their coverage has been developed and experimental investigation started at the University of Brighton. Experiments were set up to collect the environmental and physical growth data of a deciduous climbing plant canopy. The results enabled the development of dynamic shading coefficients which represent the shading efficiency of the plant canopy at different time of its growing cycle. Similar experimental studies were performed at Kasetsart University but with non-deciduous plants. This paper reports on the work carried out at Brighton. It summarises the development of the thermal model, the experimental measurements and analyses to establish a time series function representing the dynamic shading coefficient. The dynamic coefficients were applied to a computer simulation programme to predict the effect of different percentage areas of the climbing plant canopy to indoor thermal conditions.
There are many examples of integrating external climbing plants as shading devices to glazed buil... more There are many examples of integrating external climbing plants as shading devices to glazed building facades. Apart from providing solar shading, plants can improve the environmental quality such as noise reduction, better air quality and alleviating the urban ‘heat island’ effect. In temperate climates such as the UK, deciduous plants can be used to take the additional advantage of allowing beneficial solar penetration in the winter. There are very limited studies of the shading performance of plant canopies mainly due to the difficulties of measuring the dynamic growth behaviour of plants that influence the solar transmission. The research reported in this paper proposes methodologies and techniques to provide an assessment of the shading performance of a deciduous climbing plant canopy. The research involved the development of the methodologies, the measurement of area coverage of different leaf layers, the measurement of solar transmittances of leaf layers and the integration of experimental results to establish the proposed shading coefficient. The experimental canopy, on which Virginia Creeper was planted, was setup at the University of Brighton and monitored for two years. The research outcomes are reported and significance of the results, potential applications and future work are discussed.
Food and beverage industry is not just about eating and drinking. It is a matter of how we can de... more Food and beverage industry is not just about eating and drinking. It is a matter of how we can deliver “an experience” to the customers. A logical progression from one space to another; from exterior to entrance to dining room; and from kitchen to dining room are all part of the deal to create an aesthetic yet functional environment to staff and customers.
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Papers by Marta Lam