Cukurova International Airport Roof Design Decision Support

Location Adana, Turkey
Year 2016
Client Emre Arolat Architects
Job description Sustainable design consultancy: Decision making support for the green roof design, including the position and ratio of openings and design of lightwells. The work is done through use of custom-made evolutionary algorithms and several building physics simulation tools.
Function Airport building
Status Building under construction
Research presented in CAAD Futures 2017. Read here.

The perforation of the roof shell structure that accommodates the hotel, car park and two terminal masses were optimized according to their relation to sun. The project area is located in a very hot climate, therefore it was aimed to minimize the summer radiation while allowing as much winter sun as possible. Meanwhile, daylight was controlled for different functions (offices, waiting areas, car parks, transient spaces, commercial areas, etc.) to make sure glare was prevented and sufficient daylight levels were provided.

By manipulating the openings within a 16 x 16 m grid, different levels of porosity have been achieved and this variable composition is used to control the amount of sun allowed inside. To achieve required resolution of perforations, a variable grid of 1sqm. With multiple opening levels has been developed.

A grading scale for the ray falling over the interior surfaces at specific times have been developed to asses the efficiency of opening conditions. The harsh climate of Çukurova differs greatly though out the year. It has been crucial to provide direct sunlight in winter while blocking for the most part in summer.

A custom Python grid written within the Grasshopper environment of Rhino has been used to construct the geometry and Octopus –a genetic solver– has been used for optimization purposes while Honeybee plug-in provided the basic environmental and seasonal data. The optimization was run in multi-dimensions to control and assess the lighting conditions to opening percentages to light falling on the greenery.

The project has been presented in Bilgi Üniversity MSTAS2016 (Computational Technologies in Architectural Design Symposium) and CAADFutures conference series. For detailed information about the project, please follow the link to download the paper.

A detailed climate analysis, based on the data obtained from the nearest meteorological station.

Image showing the main terminal mass and VIP/CIP mass.

Functional zoning for both building complexes.

Concrete modules given by the designer. The green roof above the terminals and hotel building was to be designed using only these four modules.

Basecase studies in order to understand which parts of the roof should be opened in order to provide daylight and sunlight within the desired range, in desired space.

Basecase simulations (without the roof) were run for each floor level, for different periods of the year in order to understand the effect of the buildings on each other. The simulation results, in addition to mapping the functions level by level, resulted in zoning the buildings. The code was run for each zone separately.

Initial runs for solar radiation, generated roof pattern and control simulation. This procedure was carried out for all zones of the roof. In addition to solar radiation levels, natural daylight levels were also simulated.

Comparative simulations for CIP/VIP buildings, for basecase and two alternative roof patterns.

Light-well alternatives for the carpark roof. The light wells were designed in order to allow maximum daylight while considering overheating and prevent rain.

Controlling the daylight levels in section.