Fast Company Features KPF’s Resilient Design for HKUST(GZ)

How can cities and urban areas stay cool in a warming world? One solution might be the wind. That’s according to a recent article in Fast Company, titled “London, Singapore, and Hong Kong are redesigning their wind to cool off.” The article looks at how architects are designing cities and buildings around the world to capture breezes and keep extreme heat at bay. A prime example is KPF’s design for the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) in the hot, humid Pearl River Delta region where it’s uncomfortable to be outside for much of the year. Here, the firm’s extensive research into thermal microclimates helped inform a design that provides more than 40% of the core campus with optimal average wind speeds of five to seven miles per hour.

To achieve a consistent level of outdoor thermal comfort within the campus core, KPF modeled the project with a software we co-developed with Simscale to analyze how buildings affect wind flows and thermal conditions. Carlos Cerezo Davila, KPF’s Sustainable Design Director says, “In this project, we’re looking at every district of the campus and running every wind direction, understanding which corridors are working, which corridors are not, and how do we create openings in the buildings and change the height of the buildings so we make sure that wind is getting through.”

Using a mix of computational fluid dynamics modeling and artificial intelligence, the software can simulate how a slight adjustment to a building’s curvature or location can optimize the flow of the prevailing winds. Then the design can be adjusted to ensure optimal air flow, creating cooling or preventing harmful wind-tunnel effects. Solutions that harness natural forces, the article posits, will become even more important as the planet warms.

Read the full story here.