MIGRANT CENTRE AND PRIMARY SCHOOL IN LAMPEDUSA (IT)

Transcription

1 MIGRANT CENTRE AND PRIMARY SCHOOL IN LAMPEDUSA (IT) Andrea Rossi Pierluigi Turco Simos Yannas Architectural Association, Sustainable Environmental Design Architectural Association, Sustainable Environmental Design Architectural Association, Sustainable Environmental Design Fig 1: Migrant centre and primary school - main entrance WHICH ARE YOUR ARCHITECTURAL (R)SOLUTIONS TO THE SOCIAL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC CHALLENGES OF TODAY? Research summary The island of Lampedusa has been the main gateway to Europe for thousands of African and Middle- East migrants seeking asylum. Current national and international policies have aimed to deal with this phenomenon by containing the refugees in detention centres that are separated from the local community. This has led to social tension. The research project presented in this paper was driven by humanitarian considerations and informed by the seasonality of migrant arrivals and the climate of the island. The proposal is for a new migrant centre and primary school offering facilities that can be shared with the local community. The design draws upon on-site fieldwork and is informed by extensive use of computational tools for solar, thermal, daylight and airflow simulation to ensure that comfortable environmental conditions can be achieved indoors and outdoors. The accommodation is organised under an adjustable linear canopy that is open to the sky and runs along the full length of the scheme. Adjustments to the sky view of the canopy allows control of incoming solar radiation over the daily cycle as well as seasonally and offers wind protection when needed. The spaces under the canopy can host a range of outdoor and semi-outdoor activities. The construction of the scheme relies on local materials: the timber recycled from the migrants abandoned boats together with local stone and the posidonia collected on the island s beaches that can be compressed to provide thermal insulation for external walls and roofs. Construction costs are estimated to be reduced by over 60% and the scheme offers opportunities to employ traditional local craftsmanship. Keywords: migration, passive cooling, solar control, adaptive architecture, local resources.

2 1. Introduction 1.1 Immigration Lampedusa has been a regular destination for African and Middle-East migrants coming to Europe (Fig. 2). According to Frontex (2014) some 219,000 refugees and migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2014 (Fig. 3). Current national and international policies have aimed to deal with this phenomenon by containing the refugees in detention centres that are separated from the local community. This takes away resources from the community creating local tension as the island lacks basic infrastructure such as adequate educational facilities. While receiving and welcoming people from around the world is deeply rooted in the culture of the island, the management of the migration emergency has raised a wall between the Lampedusani and the migrants. The island of Lampedusa (35 34 N E) has a Mediterranean climate characterised by mild winters and warm summers which are accompanied by high solar intensity with daily values of global radiation on the horizontal rising to some 8kWh/m 2 in July (Fig. 4). The influence of the sea mitigates temperatures with monthly means no higher than 27.4 C in summer and peak temperatures rarely exceeding 33 C. In the cool period temperatures are quite mild averaging monthly values around 15 C. However, wind velocities are high throughout the year, with daytime averages above 4m/s on all months and prevailing wind direction mainly from the northwest (Fig. 5). Fig 2: Main migrant routes in the Mediterranean (source: Frontex) Fig 4: Mean monthly air temperature and daily values of solar radiation on the horizontal in Lampedusa (source: Meteonorm) Fig 3: Annual arrival on migrants by sea (source: Frontex) 1.2 Climate analysis Fig 5: Mean monthly daytime and night-time win speed in Lampedusa (source: Meteonorm)

3 1.3 Local Resources Being located far from the Italian mainland the island incurs some 30% extra costs in having construction materials shipped. Use of local materials is therefore an economic as well as environmental choice. The local calcareous stone has been the main traditional construction material on the island. A source of timber is offered by what is known as the boat cemetery, the open dump where the abandoned boats that brought successive waves of migrants are dropped. Despite their poor appearance, the structural beams that make-up the boats frames can be re-used. Each boat can provide some 5.5 tonnes of structural wood (Fig. 6). With about 120 boats counted on-site in the course of fieldwork on the island, approximately 660 tonnes of wood can be available for construction purposes. Another consistent resource is the Posidonia algae. Some 122 tonnes of posidonia algae are deposited by the sea on the island s shores every year. Properly dried and pressed, the posidonia has a thermal conductivity of 0.45 W/mK and density of 70 kg/m 3 and can provide the raw natural material for thermal insulation panels. 2. Research objectives The paper presents design proposals for a new migrant centre for the island of Lampedusa; this will include educational facilities that can be shared with the local community. The proposals were developed as part of two complementary research projects based on field studies carried out on the island (Rossi 2015, Turco 2015). A key objective was to create a direct contact between locals and migrants fostering the beginning of a process of social integration. Other important objectives were to provide low-cost accommodation that can achieve thermal and visual comfort conditions throughout the year thus eliminating the need for mechanical heating or cooling. 3. Predesign studies Study of migration trends showed a seasonal pattern peaking during summer when meteorological conditions are more favourable (Fig. 7). Fig 7: Monthly arrivals of migrants by sea (source: Frontex) Fig 6: Migrants leftover boats-different timber pieces to be recovered for building Field studies were undertaken on the island in July Spot measurements of air temperature, relative humidity and wind speed were taken with hand-held instruments and subsequently corroborated with hourly weather data obtained from Wunderground (The Weather Channel, 2014).

4 Measurements and interviews with locals underlined the importance of effective solar protection in the summer period. The strong northwest winds are the main cause of discomfort in winter. Thermal simulation studies were carried out using the TAS simulation software (EDSL, 2014) to inform the design of the core spaces: the classrooms for the primary school wing and the accommodation for the migrants centre. Initial runs were applied to a base case model constructed following national and international standards. Classrooms were sized according to European standards (Dudek, 2008), providing 1.9 m 2 per pupil and a total of 45 m 2 for a classroom of 24 pupils. Bedrooms for the migrant centre were sized according to ICRC standards (ICRC, 2013) for a minimum of 3m 2 per person at peak occupancy in the summer period, but able to provide double that amount at other times. The thermal simulations were aimed at identifying the respective roles of four key environmental design strategies: solar protection to protect occupants from glare and overheating; heat storage in the building structure to control temperature fluctuations; natural ventilation for fresh air supply during occupation; comfort cooling and structural cooling by natural ventilation whenever required. Results of these simulations are summarised in Figs. 8 and 9 comparing these strategies and a base case in terms of the number of occupied hours that experience indoor temperatures above certain thresholds (27, 29, 31 and 33 o C). From Fig. 8 it can be seen that classroom temperatures rise above 27 o C for close to 50% of occupied hours for the base case, but can be reduced to half that by continuous ventilation which further reduces the hours above 31 o C to 3%. The design provision is that a strong coupling can be achieved with the outdoor environment so that learning activities can spill into the outdoor and semi-outdoor spaces adjacent to the classrooms when ambient temperatures are lower than indoors. The combination of the best strategies including solar protection can eliminate overheating. In winter solar and internal gains are sufficient to maintain comfort temperatures throughout the complex. Fig 8: Thermal simulation results for classrooms showing the proportions of annual occupied hours that indoor temperatures exceed certain thresholds as a function of five different environmental design scenarios (Source: EDSL Tas) Fig 9: Thermal simulation results for migrants bedrooms showing the proportions of annual occupied hours that indoor temperatures exceed certain thresholds as a function of five different environmental design scenarios (Source: EDSL Tas) 4. Design proposal The proposed new hub (Fig. 11) is designed for a site on the outskirts of the city near the

5 island s hospital and clinic. The school wing runs parallel to the road along the existing urban tissue with the migrant centre placed on a separate wing away from the street with openings toward the countryside. All the spaces open to a central street that provides access as well as offering spaces for open air and semi-outdoor activities. An adjustable canopy above the central street protects spaces from the strong prevailing winds that come from the North West and provides solar protection (Fig. 10). Each of the learning units clustered on either side of the central street comprise two classrooms with a shared workshop space between them. The protection offered by the canopy allows extending learning activities to the outside. Partitions between the classrooms and workshop spaces Fig 10: Main design concepts are movable thus providing flexibility in the arrangement and size of indoor spaces to suit different learning activities at different times of the day and year. The migrants centre is organized around four courtyards that are accessible from a linear spine that runs along a northeast-southwest direction from the entrance of the complex. The two wings of the complex merge at a central core where all the public functions are located sharing an open green area that is assigned to agriculture and sport activities (Fig. 10). The migrant centre can provide spaces for the local community during the cold period, while the school can provide additional spaces for migrants activities during the warm period. Wind and solar simulations were carried out to assess occupant thermal sensation under the canopy by means of sky view factors and thermal comfort indices. Figs. 11 and 12 show that the canopy s adjustable range can regulate the amount of incident radiation reaching ground level allowing sunshine admission in the cold season while offering protection during the warm sunny periods. Fig 11: General view of the scheme

6 Additional shading devices were designed for the different facades (Fig. 13). Fig. 14 illustrates the results of wind simulations across different sections of the scheme. It can be observed that the canopy drives the wind upward, reducing the wind velocity at ground level. Fig 14: Airflow simulations across typical sections (Source: Winair) Daylight studies showed that the combination of the outdoor canopy with adjustable louvers on the classroom windows brought illuminance levels on the work plane to the required range of lux with good uniformity and freedom from glare (Figs ). Fig 12: Distribution of incident solar radiation in winter and summer showing protective effect of canopy (Source: Ecotect) Fig 15: Internal view of classroom Fig 13: View of migrants centre from south-east showing the design of the elevations Fig 16: Classroom daylight analysis, typical sunny day (Source: Radiance)

7 Fig 17: Shared social areas of migrants centre (top) oms in either side (bottom). The data included with conditions at the indicated spots using the PET and Physiologically Equivalent Temperature (PET) and PMV/PPD values were calculated with the RayMan software (Matzarakis, 2009) for 12:00 noon in summer (Fig. 17). The classroom module has two load-bearing walls of local stone holding the timber framed structure of the roof. Each classroom module requires 48 wooden beams (acquired from the boats) and 260 posidonia insulation panels of and main axis through primary school with classrothe images describe the predicted thermal comfort PMV/PPD thermal indices. (Source: RayMan) 120cm by 60cm. A preliminary calculation suggests that some 100 boats and 45 tonnes of posidonia will be needed for the whole scheme. The construction costs of the proposed complex compares favourably with current practice which relies on reinforced concrete structure and walls of concrete blocks. Use of local materials reduces the costs by 63% from 739 /m 2 to 278 /m 2 and avoids

8 extra-costs and carbon emissions generated by the shipment of the building materials from the mainland. 5. Future implementations The achievement of a free-running scenario for space heating and cooling together with the potential for exploiting solar radiation and wind to produce energy, offers very promising prospects. The research is continued with detailed assessment of the integration of renewable energy technologies with the proposed architectural scheme. This could form part of a sustainable strategy for the island. 6. Conclusions The research presented proposes an alternative for the problem of migration in Lampedusa. The proposed new complex was inspired by the seasonality of migrant arrivals and the climate and geography of the island. The new migrant centre is combined with a learning environment providing facilities for both migrants and local population. The building programmes are brought together in a protected compound within which indoor and outdoor spaces and transitional areas provide a rich functional potential and adaptive microclimatic range shaping places for learning, recreation, encounter and participation aiming to encourage integration. By introducing an adjustable canopy designed to protect from the strong prevailing winds from the North- West while acting for solar control, simulations show that the physiological equivalent temperatures in the outdoors spaces can be maintained within the comfort range throughout the year. Using simple passive techniques the proposal eliminates the need for mechanical heating and cooling. In classrooms the design measures can satisfy lighting requirements providing daylight uniformity and avoiding glare. The scheme makes use of local construction materials to reduce construction cost by 63%, contributing to the local economy of the island and its future development. Further studies will address energy production from renewable sources. 7. Acknowledgments We acknowledge the support of teaching staff of the MArch programme in Sustainable Environmental Design at the AA School of Architecture. We would also like to thank the people of Lampedusa for enriching this research with their active contribution. 8. References Rossi, A. (2015), Rethinking Migration: primary school in Lampedusa (IT), MArch Dissertation Sustainable Envrironmental Design, Architectural Association, London; Turco, P.L. (2015), Rethinking Migration: migrant centre in Lampedusa (IT), MArch Dissertation Sustainable Envrironmental Design, Architectural Association, London; Dudek M. (2008), Schools and kindergartens: a design manual, Birkhauser, Besel; Frontex (2014), Annual risk analysis 2014, Warsaw; ICRC (2013), Water, sanitation, hygiene and habitat in prisons: supplementary guidance, Geneva; Autodesk (2011), Ecotect Analysis EDSL (2014), TAS Thermal Analysis Simulation (Version 9.3.2) Environmental Design Solutions Limited. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratiory (2014), Radiance v4.2 Synthetic Imaging System Matzarakis A. (2009), RayMan v1.2 Meteotest (2013), Meteonorm v7.1 The Weather Channel (2014), Wunderground Weather Undergound