ARCH6003 – BUILDING PHYSICS

EVEN SEMESTER 2020/2021

AYU DIAH PRAMESWARI

2440106850
LB44

BINA NUSANTARA UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHITECTURE
ACADEMIC YEAR 2020/2021
1. The picture below shows one of the phenomena of sound nature. Here, you have to
explain the picture and how it could influence the audial comfort. (LO2 and LO3) (25%).

2. What do you know about Reverberation time? What are the variables in determining
the Reverberation Time? Give two examples of Reverberation Time that relate to a
function of the room. (LO2 and LO3) (25 %)
3. What aspects in sustainable architecture? Explain with cases (min 2 cases). (LO2 and
LO3), (25%)
4. What are the challenges in sustainable architecture, and how an architect addresses
those challenges? Give 2 cases to explain your answers. (LO2 and LO3), (25%)

1. What is shown in the picture is how the nature of sound.

Sound is occurred by the movement of air particles around a certain source. When an
object vibrates, it releases energy. This energy makes the air particles around the
object also have energy, move and vibrate, thus emitting sound. So, the sound we
hear is the movement and vibration of air particles that are and are produced by an
object.
Sound consists of two important elements, namely frequency and intensity.
Frequency states the number of vibrations or waves that occur per second and is
expressed in units of Hertz. In practice, frequency is also often referred to as "how loud
a sound occurs". The higher the value, the louder the sound will be heard. Frequency
is related to the value of the wavelength.
Meanwhile, intensity represents the amplitude value or the farthest deviation of the
resulting wave (the distance between the trough and the crest of the wave). In practice,
intensity is often defined as "how loud a sound is". Therefore, the intensity is expressed
in units of dB SPL (decibel sound pressure level). The greater the dB SPL value, the
louder the sound will be.
 A balanced composition between frequency and intensity will produce a sound that is
comfortable for humans to hear. This composition is expressed in the form of phon
curves, which states that sound has several levels, namely:

a. Threshold level hearing: The sound level that is comfortable for humans to
hear. The limit is 10 phon.
b. Uncomfortable level hearing (UCL): The sound level that is uncomfortable for
humans to hear, is on the threshold of 120 phons.
c. Most comfortable hearing level (MCL): The most comfortable sound level for
humans to hear, at the threshold of 60 phones

The graph shows that the frequency and intensity of the sound is high so it may be
uncomfortable to hear because it is loud and loud.
The conclusion is, to create a sound that is comfortable to hear, the independent
variable that must be considered is the frequency of the sound.

2. Reverberation Time is the time needed by a voice or a sound to be reduced or decay

by a certain amount of decibel by the time the sound from the source is ceased. For
instance, a source may release a sound at 100 dB. By 5 seconds, the sound would be
reduced by 70 dB to 30 dB. That 5 seconds is called Reverberation Time.
The variables in determining Reverberation Times are:
• RT = Reverberation Time → Dependent variable
• K = constant value, 0.16 if the volume used is in m3 → Control variable
• V = Room volume in m3 → Control variable
• A = Areas that needed to be covered with diffuser or absorber in m2 →
Independent variable
• α = Material absorption coefficient (the value may vary) → Independent variable

𝐾 ×𝑉
𝑅𝑇 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑) =
𝐴 × 𝛂

EXAMPLE 1

A school needed a music studio for its extracurricular activities. An architect is

ordered to design the room with the following data:

• Room Function: A music studio

 • V = Room volume (L x W x H): 5 m x 3 m x 3 m = 45 m3
• A = Areas
a. [1] 15 m2 wall, and
b. [2] 15 m2 floor

• α = Absorption coefficient = carpet = 0.3 to 0.6

• Lastly, RT for Music Studio = 0.6

0.16 × 45
𝑅𝑇 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ) = = 0.6
30 × 0.4

Therefore, to produce an ideal music studio, 30m2 of its total area must be covered
in carpet to prevent the sound leak.

A classroom.
I. CALCULATION I
• Room function: A regular classroom.
• V = Roome volume (L x W x H) = 10 m x 10 m x 3 m
• A = Areas
a. (10 m x 10 m) = 100 SQM (flooring)
• α = Absorption coefficient = hardwood = 0.3
• RT for Concert Hall = 0,5

0.16 × 300
𝑅𝑇 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ) = = 1.6
100 × 0.3

The result is still far beyond the expectation, therefore we should add more areas that needed
to be covered with hardwood and change the materials into acoustic tiles

II. CALCULATION II
• Existed Area → Flooring → 100 SQM
• Additional Area → Half-wall → 10 x 1.5 = 15 SQM
• Total Area → 100 + 15 = 115 SQM
 0.16 × 300
𝑅𝑇 (𝑠𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑑 ) = = 0.52
115 × 0.3

Since the toleration percentage is 20% (or 0.2), then we can conclude that the measurement
is already correct by adding only 0.02.

3. There are various aspects of sustainable architecture. The following are the examples
according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) goals on
sustainable architecture:
a. Water efficiency
As in architecture, we've been introduced to the terms portable water, clear water,
gray water, black water, and rainwater. What water efficiency means basically is
how we maximize all provided water to gain benefits as much as we can while
minimizing the amount of water itself.
On smaller scale, one of the examples is re-using greywater for residential needs
in one of the residences in Gading Serpong, Tangerang.
As we know, every house has household waste that must be disposed of, but it
can also be treated. Therefore, to maximize the use of this water, this housing
uses the STP or Sewage Treatment Plant method, which works in the following
ways:
o Wastewater from bathrooms and other rooms is channeled to the mechanical
room by a dirty water pipe.
o Wastewater enters the holding tank, before being channeled into the STP.
o Wastewater that does not enter the STP or cannot be treated will be discharged
into the city canal.
o In STP (or in Indonesia generally called biotech), the germs in the waste will be
oxidized and compacted by aerobic bacteria to reduce methane production.
o After that, the effluent or water suitable for disposal resulting from the oxidation
and aeration processes will be recycled again for cleaning, and then discharged
into city drains to be processed into water for watering plants.
 An example of schematic diagram of how greywater is treated.
Source:
https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fsmpldsign.blogspot.com%2F2018%2F08
%2Fgrey-water-treatment-plant-
design.html&psig=AOvVaw09y5MSzXE6UWD3k2ePoDyO&ust=1627614142811000&source=imag
es&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQjRxqFwoTCND-vIylh_ICFQAAAAAdAAAAABAD

The point is that we can reduce the use of clean water and replace it with the use
of graywater.

b. Innovation and Design Process

Another example of sustainable aspects on a bigger scale, which covers a lot of
aspects is Amager Bakke or CopenHill in Copenhagen, Denmark. One of the
aspects that are highlighted in the building is the Innovation and Design Process
aspect. CopenHill itself is declared to be all in one sustainable-hedonistic building
as it provides power plants and recreational facilities at the same time. It is said to
be the cleanest power plant in the world.

Source: shorturl.at/awyVX
 Even though the Innovation and Design Process aspect didn’t cover specific sub-
aspect, but CopenHill, in my opinion, also covers the closed-loop building system.
From the design itself, CopenHill is made to look like stacked bricks made out of
alumunium, which reflects the progressive vision of the waste-to-energy company.
The 10 floors power plant integrates the latest technology to turn waste into energy
by producing zero-emission smoke. Instead, the smoke itself was believed to be
as refreshing as mountain air. To cover the sustainable-hedonistic aspect,
Amager Bakke took advantage of the building model – specifically its slope and
made it into an artificial ski mountain. People can hike into the mountain through
the hill nearby and glide down the building slope, or try the wall-climbing on the
other side of the building. Amager Bakke also has 9000 SQM of study-tour area
for those who wanted to see the process of energy making.
As for the closed-building system, the energy Amager Bakke used almost
completely comes from its waste. One of the features is a green roof to harvest
the rainwater to provide electricity for 60.000 households a year. The plant
incinerator took 400 tones of residual waste per year just from household waste
but can burn 70 tones of waste per day to produce 2.7 MWh heat and 0.8 MWh of
electricity.
What is highlighted here is; Amager Bakke is a project with hedonistic sustainability
– create a non-painful, but rather be fun future – with the zero-waste principle. This
principle can be seen from what they were doing throughout the year, remaking
brand new products from waste but at the same time provide facilities for humans.

4. Nowadays, the architecture world is facing a serious problem. The definition of

sustainable is becoming blurry and non-relatable as it keeps going on. The following
cases are showing how the concept of sustainable architecture is needed to change –
or even better, be revised.
a. Greenness and Productive Architecture
The word greenness means the state of being green, youthfulness, but also lack
of maturity. Sustainable is not only about the trees that provides natural air. Adding
green walls or using locally made materials become irrelevant (such as brick).
While these features reduce the embodied energy in buildings, turns out the
building itself can only last for 10 years and the impact of its failure lasts for 20
years, respectively. This needed to be addressed by dig deep the essence of
sustainable itself, which is the role of building towards its surrounding
environment.
Instead of focusing on trees or adding vertical garden as a source of oxygen – or
worst, an ornament – green or sustainable architecture should be more focused on
what a building can do or provide (by facilities) by not neglecting the nature
itself through some process that is environmentally responsible, from the site,
construction, to maintenance and renovation (Based on US Environmental
Protection Agency). For example, the K2 Apartment Complex in Australia.

Source: https://aquacell.com.au/v2/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/K2-Project-2.jpg

The apartment is predicted to have 200 years of life span by counting on renewable
energy only, with the following facilities:
o Rainwater harvesting
o Using recycled timber as its main material.
o Using recyclable timber
o SPT or recyclable greywater plant
o Solar water heating
o Photovoltaic panel (similar to the solar panel)

State Government in Australia reported that the K2 Apartment complex uses 55%
less electricity and 53% less water than common apartments for its 96 units which
are good to reduce emission The notion of the apartment is to built healthy
homes, minimize water, and energy consumption, and maximize recycled
materials. Therefore, these objectives are needed to be achieved by providing
adequate openings both for sunlight and air, an adequate plumbing system for
water and waste, and advanced solar panel technology to turns sunlight into
 electricity directly. The big point here is that the K2 Apartment has broadened the
eye of sustainable architecture by providing more and more facilities that could be
beneficial as well for nature, and not taking all the trees down for granted.

b. Socio-cultural and Technology gap

Take an example from Tanzania. One of the challenges in sustainable

architecture in Tanzania is that the pretty broad gap between the socio-cultural
aspect (specifically economy) and technologies. Sophisticated technologies
might be the answer to all sustainability concepts as mentioned in the previous
number, which is to work with nature and providing building longevity through a
series of cycles – materials, energy, and maintenance system.

A healthy and environment-friendly plumbing system in Keko Machungwa.

Source: https://welovewaste.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/img_8216.jpg

The solution can be done by starting to consider the essence of sustainability

and the right urgency for Tanzania. When compared to the concept of
sustainability, which must be sustainable, efficient and technologically
advanced, Tanzania with such conditions is more concerned with the
sanitation, hygiene and health aspects of buildings and their people. Several
studies have also stated that in the last few decades, half of Tanzania's citizens
will begin to experience a major clean water crisis, so the sustainability goal of
providing clean water becomes a more important aspect to consider. Sustainability
in Tanzania will not be achieved if there is no political and regulatory agreement.
An example is the Pilot Toilet project.
 Source: Architecture Meet Sanitation – Alto University School of Art

The Pilot Toilet project in Keko Machungwa, Tanzania, took some months just to
lower the high cost of toilet system. The idea is to create a healthy and
productive sanitation system in densely populated urban borders, poor areas,
and uncontrolled environments. A PU survey several years ago showed that 50%
of the population of Keko Machungwa do not have access to clean water because
the soil structure does not support the construction of a clean water network.

This pilot toilet carries the concept of ecological sanitation which does not require
a lot of water consumption, and can store and process human feces to become
natural fertilizer for soil and agricultural activities. The results obtained are that
with minimal water, human waste becomes reused and does not damage the
environment and spreading out the bacteria. Instead, it becomes beneficial
to farming activities.

The system is called UUDT (Urine Diverting Dry Toilet). The concept is simple;
Human urine and feces must be separated. Reusing urine as a natural fertilizer
can minimize the need for phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium from the soil,
which is then sold to local farmers for their gardens. With the separation of urine
and feces, the capacity of the urine collection used in the toilet will become smaller,
as will the water used. The Pilot Toilet (also known as EcoSan / Ecological
Sanitation) will also have 2 toilet faces, considering the culture of the people in
Keko Machungwa who prefer to wipe rather than rinse. One toilet can be used for
at least 1 year, and people could replace it with a new one to avoid bacteria spread
for people.