Outdoor thermal comfort assessment and environmental design scenario analysis for elderly building

Taiwan had become an aging society and its population ageing is increasing in recent years. It is estimated that Taiwan will become super-aged society by 2050. In view of demographic shift, raising temperature due to climate change, and elders are more sensitive to weather difference, elderly building is becoming a trend in building market and there are more researches focusing on elderly living environment and thermal comfort lately. Living environment should have good and comfortable space for the health of elderly. However, building design often lacks climate assessment. Previous studies have focused more on indoor spaces and less on outdoor thermal comfort. In this research, a new elderly housing was studied to explored the outdoor design suitable for elderly by analyzing outdoor thermal comfort.

The new elderly housing under study is being built in Tainan city, Taiwan for people aged 55 or older, and is estimated to be completed in 2023. This project is supported by Taiwan Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs. Tainan city is located in south of Taiwan and has a hot and humid subtropical climate. The average annual temperature is around 24℃, and the average daytime temperature in July is about 33℃. This study used ENVI-met and Typical Meteorological Year, version 3 (TMY3) to simulate the outdoor thermal comfort. In addition, this study established three temperature and humidity measurement points within a 500m radius of the building site to record long term data, and also monitored microclimate on site during each season, including temperature, humidity, wind speed, wind direction and global radiation. The measured data were compared with the data from the Tainan meteorological station located in the city center, and thereafter the effects of different scenarios on outdoor thermal comfort were analyzed by simulating and comparing the data. The results showed that the temperature trend in the region is close to that of the Tainan meteorological station, but the average temperature is higher than 1-2℃. Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET) is affected by the shadow of the building, and the result can be improved by 3-4℃ PET by adjusting the configuration. The result of this study suggested that outdoor space configuration should take building shading and climate into account during the design phase, and provide recommendations for outdoor thermal comfort for the elderly. In the future, user surveys could be conducted after the building is completed.