Evaluation of the energy performance of stilt houses (palafitos) of the Chiloé Island. The role of dynamic thermal simulation on heritage architecture.

Evaluation of the energy performance of stilt houses (palafitos) of the Chiloé Island. The role of dynamic thermal simulation on heritage architecture.

Manríquez, Carla; Sills, Pablo

Article:

The stilt houses on Chiloé Island, Chile, traditionally built in local timber, arecurrently in poor conditions and lack of maintenance that contributes on a verypoor thermal performance.To carry out interventions and inform decision makingto intervene on such unique pieces of cultural heritage in fragile conditions, acomputerized dynamic thermal simulation tool (software DesignBuilder®) is usedto understand and assess the energy performance of these typology of houses,identifying their annual energy losses, and determining their current annualheating demand of ten case studies.The current annual heating demand of the stilthouses is high, due to the thermal transmittance values of the building envelopes.They exceed in five times the value recommended by Chilean Building Code forthe climatic zone under study. Especially critical are heat losses through theventilated floor (external floor under DesignBuilder® template) and airinfiltration, which on average contributed to 30.5% and 28.85% of all energy loss,respectively. According to simulations for ventilated floor, walls, and roofs, theobtained performance could be improved to 65% with thermal reconditioning andmeasures to enhance airtightness, although the feasibility of such interventionswithout damaging the heritage houses needs to be carefully considered.

The stilt houses on Chiloé Island, Chile, traditionally built in local timber, arecurrently in poor conditions and lack of maintenance that contributes on a verypoor thermal performance.To carry out interventions and inform decision makingto intervene on such unique pieces of cultural heritage in fragile conditions, acomputerized dynamic thermal simulation tool (software DesignBuilder®) is usedto understand and assess the energy performance of these typology of houses,identifying their annual energy losses, and determining their current annualheating demand of ten case studies.The current annual heating demand of the stilthouses is high, due to the thermal transmittance values of the building envelopes.They exceed in five times the value recommended by Chilean Building Code forthe climatic zone under study. Especially critical are heat losses through theventilated floor (external floor under DesignBuilder® template) and airinfiltration, which on average contributed to 30.5% and 28.85% of all energy loss,respectively. According to simulations for ventilated floor, walls, and roofs, theobtained performance could be improved to 65% with thermal reconditioning andmeasures to enhance airtightness, although the feasibility of such interventionswithout damaging the heritage houses needs to be carefully considered.

Palavras-chave:

DOI: 10.5151/proceedings-ecaadesigradi2019_557

Referências bibliográficas

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Como citar:

Manríquez, Carla; Sills, Pablo; "Evaluation of the energy performance of stilt houses (palafitos) of the Chiloé Island. The role of dynamic thermal simulation on heritage architecture.", p-159-170. In: Proceedings of 37 eCAADe and XXIII SIGraDi Joint Conference, “Architecture in the Age of the 4Th Industrial Revolution”, Porto 2019, Sousa, José Pedro; Henriques, Gonçalo Castro; Xavier, João Pedro (eds.). São Paulo: Blucher, 2019.
ISSN 23186968, DOI 10.5151/proceedings-ecaadesigradi2019_557