Architectural Facade Design Proposal for Water Production via Air Content

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A B S T R A C T The main aim of this article is to analyse current facade techniques, water producing systems and possible profits from the application of adequate facade designs which could produce water with the consideration of the needs of inhabitants. Nowadays for certain countries lacking the financial power to provide adequate water resources, the need of water harvesting becomes more crucial. The proposed water harvesting systems aim to increase the water resources by the application on the building’s facade. On the other hand, existing double skin facades have only been used for shading, ventilation or decorative purposes. This investigation focuses specifically on the design of the facade in terms of the production of water. The case study has taken place in North Cyprus, Nicosia. A selected area will be evaluated and the need of the water will be calculated then the proposal of the new facade model will be introduced. Most importantly this proposed facade model will meet the needs of water consumption of the inhabitants. It produces 420 litre water per day by using solar energy. With this system the application uses the sun energy to extract water from the air, also the application has potential to use as multi-functional purposes since it collects water via humidity with turbine systems, it collects up to 396 litres at temperatures between 86 degrees to 104 degrees (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80% and 90% relative humidity.

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Architectural Facade Design Proposal for Water Production via Air Content Ph.D. Candidate DOGUS BODAMYALIZADE 1, * Dr. HALIL ZAFER ALIBABA 2 1 & 2 Eastern Mediterranean University, Department of Architecture, Famagusta, North Cyprus via Mersin10, Turkey E mail: dogusbodamyalizade@gmail.com E mail: halil.alibaba@gmail.com A B S T R A C T The main aim of this article is to analyse current facade techniques, water producing systems and possible profits from the application of adequate facade designs which could produce water with the consideration of the needs of inhabitants. Nowadays for certain countries lacking the financial power to provide adequate water resources, the need of water harvesting becomes more crucial. The proposed water harvesting systems aim to increase the water resources by the application on the building’s facade. On the other hand, existing double skin facades have only been used for shading, ventilation or decorative purposes. This investigation focuses specifically on the design of the facade in terms of the production of water. The case study has taken place in North Cyprus, Nicosia. A selected area will be evaluated and the need of the water will be calculated then the proposal of the new facade model will be introduced. Most importantly this proposed facade model will meet the needs of water consumption of the inhabitants. It produces 420 litre water per day by using solar energy. With this system the application uses the sun energy to extract water from the air, also the application has potential to use as multi-functional purposes since it collects water via humidity with turbine systems, it collects up to 396 litres at temperatures between 86 degrees to 104 degrees (30 to 40 degrees Celsius) and between 80% and 90% relative humidity. CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2018), 2(3), 49-59. https://doi.org/10.25034/ijcua.2018.4718 www.ijcua.com Copyright © 2018 Contemporary Urban Affairs. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Cyprus Island in the Mediterranean Sea has a major gap between water demand and water supply in the TRNC (Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus). The increase in water demand due to the economic growth is expected to result in a further increase in water supply due to climate change (Türkman, 2002). The economy of the island is mostly agricultural and tourism. In addition to 250,000 citizens there is also huge amount of students coming to the island every year. The city has highly intensive seasonal movement because of 26000 students (Muslu, 2003). The need of the water supply in the TRNC is provided entirely from underground water resources and 41 dams built on existing streams. The Dams purpose is to prevent these streams reaching to the sea and feeding the groundwater (Sıdal, 2006). The total underground water reserve in the T.R.N.C is 74.1 million m3/year (Alkaravli, 2002). According to the United Nations study for Northern Cyprus and the republic of south Cyprus the following scenario shows there will be a water shortage in 2025 and the country is going to suffer the water shortages (Türkman & Elkıran, 2008). It is clear that in the TRNC 74.1 million m of water provided sustainably by aquifers in 2001 with 126 million m3 of water consumption, this shows that there is a serious water shortage and negativity. It can be seen that the aquifers water level drops under Sea level and the sea water gets mixed in to the aquifers (Sago, 1999). There are two billion people and 40 Countries that is estimated to suffer from water scarcity in 2030. Moreover, %47 of the world’s population will be living in areas with high water stress (WWDT, 2012). Water scarcity may be the most underestimated resource issue facing the world today. This project’s goal is to create a facade design in order to make humidity be absorbed in the air. This system separates the water molecules and store water in a liquid form. This development is for higher quality of life and sustainable development. With this process the facade is not only used to increase the internal comfort or decrease energy consumption but also provides an effıcient living condition for the users. The percentage of water consumption for one person is about 3.7 liters for a man and 2.7 liters for a woman a day (Water: How much should you drink every day, 2017). Through this integrated system, the opportunities will be analysed. The case study building is selected in Nicosia, Cyprus, due to the higher population and the life conditions, it will be a residential hostel building. After the analysis of the building, the new facade proposal will be rendered with a simulation program and the result will be seen for further discussions. Water production from the facade has a high influence on economy and also it is environmental friendly and a sustainable resource. Secondly, the water that would be produced has great taste; no chemical contaminates such as pesticides, pharmaceutical drug residue or industrial or human waste, no bacterial contaminates. The AWG (An atmospheric water generator) eliminates all natural occurring contaminates and pathogens such as; bacteria, viruses, parasites, giardia, e-coli and other dangerous waterborne pathogens that kill 3 to 4 million people. (Air and Water: A Right or Privilege for all Citizens, 2017).The integration of this system has highly positive impact on the majority of human life’s and has an alternative solution for facade designs. 2. Literature Review To expose the importance of sustainability in humans` life can be perceived differently to every individual. As it can be seen with some scholars words, the understanding of sustainability is completely different and a huge topic to discuss (Graber, and Dailey, 2003: 11-12). The main approaches of sustainability are environmental, society focused and economical. Moreover it is important to mention the construction, process etc. (Hoşkara, 2009:3). Sustainability is a kind of environmental, economic and social comfort for the majority which means satisfaction of essential needs in order to have a better quality of life and without future concerns. So in this case the building should be environmental friendly, socially and economically sustainable (Graber and Dailey, 2003: 1-89). Due to the economic developments there are some changes in glass facade systems in terms of technological, energy performance as well as construction methods and materials. They call these facades double skin glass facades (DSGF) and they became very popular (Patterson, et al, 2008: 2-3). This kind of facades has an air space which mechanically ventilates the air in the cavity. All these devices are designed and integrated in order to improve the indoor climate with active or passive techniques and all of these devices could be controlled via remote control systems (Harrison and Boake, 2003). In general the tectonic of enviromental skins, which called double skin facade systems as esentially a pair of glass ‘skins’ that are seperated by an air corridor. The double skin facade is higly influencial to the highest temperatures and it has advantages as a wind and sound protector and a sun shading device are all located between the two skins.

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