Amity School Of Architecture & PlanningAmity University, Uttar Pradesh

Sustainability – Masdar City, Abu Dhabi (U.A.E)

Jatin GargB.PLAN (2011-15)

Overview

Sustainability Principles of Sustainability Introduction to Masdar City Land Use Plan Design & Plan Energy Management Water Management Transportation Construction Landscaping Conclusion

Sustainability… capacity to endure

• The term describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time.

• Sustainable development, basically, refers to the development that takes place without effecting the needs of future generation.

• A sustainable city (eco-city) is a city designed with consideration of environmental impact, inhabited by people dedicated to minimization of required inputs of energy, water and food, and waste output of heat, air pollution - CO2, methane, and water pollution.

Sustainable Principles

Masdar (the source)• Masdar City is an arcology project in Abu Dhabi, in the U.A.E.• It is being built by Masdar (Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company)

& planned to be completed by 2030.• Designed by the British architectural firm Foster and

Partners and engineering and environmental consultancy Mott MacDonald, the city will rely entirely on solar energy and other renewable energy sources, with a zero waste ecology.

• The city is designed to be a hub for cleantech companies.

Location

Masdar City is being constructed 17 kilometres (11 mi) south-east of the city of Abu Dhabi, beside Abu Dhabi International Airport.

Land Use Plan

- Masdar Institute of Science and Technology- Commercial- Light Industry- Residential- Car parking- Entertainment- Green spaces

Design & Plan

• Planners recognised that the biggest environmental gains come from some of the most passive, and least expensive, tools: the city’s (and buildings’) orientation (with regards to the sun and prevailing winds) and its form.

• Next most effective is building performance optimisation, such as an efficient envelope and systems, and smart building management.

• Active controls, such as renewable energy, are the most expensive, while offering the lowest relative environment-impact returns. That’s why designers first concentrated on orientation and performance optimisation, thereby reducing a large amount of energy demand with little cost, and only subsequently looked at what active controls could be implemented.

Masdar City minimises energy consumption by deploying best commercially available international energy efficient techniques and setting stringent building efficiency guidelines in areas such as

• insulation, • low-energy lighting specifications, • the percentage of glazing (i.e., windows) • optimizing natural light, • installing smart appliances, ex: building management

systems • a citywide energy management system that interacts to

manage the electrical load on the grid – all along the system, from the utility to the consumer.

Energy Management

Savings• Energy efficient

design• Energy generation

from renewable resources

• Waste converted to energy

• Transportation• Sequestration

• 100% Powered by renewable energy

• 170 MW Photovoltaics

• <30 KW per capita per day energy use

• (9x less than USA)

WaterManagement

• Masdar city’s water needs are less than half of a city like Abu Dhabi i.e. 145 ltr/person/day as compared to 350 ltr/person/day BAU.

• However, this does not include water required for district cooling, which could double the amount of water required by the city.

• To achieve these lower consumption figures, the city is using highly efficient fittings, fixtures and appliances, smart water metres that inform consumers of their consumption, and smart metres to identify leakage across the system are already in use.

• Master plan was to desalinate groundwater with solar energy, but for now water is piped in from one of Abu Dhabi's gas-fired, high-energy, desalination plants.

Water Grid

Water Grid

Masdar City is piloting • pedestrian focused community• sustainable transportation solutions, • a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT)

(Level3)• a Freight/Light Rapid Transit

(FRT/LRT) system (Level1)

Masdar City also has initiated an electric car pilot with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to test a point-to-point transportation solution for the city that uses Mitsubishi Motor’s i-MiEV, five-door hatchbacks

Transportation

Circulation Map

Construction Material

• Water-based paints that have no volatile organic compound, which harm human health

• Reinforcing bars made of 100% recycled steel

• Green concrete that used ground granulated blasted slag to replace cement, resulting in a reduction of the concrete carbon footprint by 30-40% of CO2

• The houses and shops have thick walls made of dried coral and gypsum that absorb heat during the day, releasing it slowly at night.

• 100% sustainably sourced timber

• 90% recycled-content aluminium used for the inner façade

Landscaping

• Balanced land use with high density living,

• Vernacular based landscape strategy using local species for reduced irrigation demands,

• Consolidated open spaces and recreational areas

• Vegetation landscapes will create a habitat for endangered species and generate air movement to public areas

• Vertical farming is to minimize transport and food chilling emissions – fresh vegetables fruit and grains will be grown in specially designed greenhouses and attached farms.

• Entire project has been constructed on a north - east axis – which offers the best options for naturally utilizing shading and breezes.

• A diagonal orientation Narrow streets and shaded alleyways minimize solar gain and glare

Present Construction Scenario

Projected Views

• At the moment, it seems like a theme park for the rich. In order to be Sustainable, it should also justify itself financially.

• The result feels a bit like Disneyland. Mr. Foster acknowledged “Disneyland is attractive because all the service is below ground. We do the same here — it is literally a walled city. Traditional cars are stopped at the edges.”

Conclusion

• The new development, being built on the outskirts of Abu Dhabi city, will run almost entirely on energy from the sun and will use just 20 percent as much power as a conventional city of similar size.

• Masdar City will eventually be a base for international companies, academics and researchers and marketers.

• Planners predict that the development will attract 1,500 clean-tech businesses, ranging from large international corporations to startups, and eventually some 50,000 residents.

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