Papers by Author: Da Long Liu

Abstract: The main considerations of building some new-type rural houses in Yinchuan are to improve indoor thermal environment and to reduce heating energy consumption by passive solar use and high-insulation envelope. Two houses were measured, a traditional one with adobe walls and a wooden roof, and a newly-built one with straw-bale insulation. Results show: (1) the linear layout of the traditional house leads to a higher heating energy consumption than the new one with climatic buffers; (2) the new house with straw-bale bricks have better thermal insulation performance than the traditional one with adobe wall; (3) lacking thermal storage is one of the main causes of larger indoor temperature fluctuation in the new house; (4) as a traditional partial interval heating mode, the “Kang”(a bed-stove made of bricks or fired clay) in the bedroom uses energy efficiently and improves the indoor thermal comfort.

Abstract: Based on the recognition of original defective residential housing environment in Daping village, constructional measures were improved and updated. Objective test and subjective investigation on indoor thermal comfort were carried out and analyzed in the typically new and old residential houses to propose measures for further improvements. This paper aims to summarize experience and deficiencies in aspects of indoor thermal environment design and to provide reference to building design after disasters in future.

Abstract: In the rapid urbanization of rural western China, a variety of long-standing housing typologies are being replaced with energy consuming brick-concrete structures that have little connection to vernacular traditions. To improve this situation, this paper proposes an ecologically sensitive alternative, based on a case study of the design and construction of 44 new dwellings in Daping Village, Sichuan Province, after that area was devastated by the May 12, 2008 earthquake. We propose that this eco-approach may represent a generalizable approach for sustainable development of vernacular architecture in western China.