The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) once again awarded the team from the Faculty of Engineering (FT) at Universitas Indonesia (UI) 1st place in the Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design category at the 2024 ASHRAE Design Competition, announced on August 1, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The six FTUI students, who formed the Archine team, outperformed 163 other teams with their green building design named the Bromeliad Library. For three consecutive years, UI students have consistently brought home victories from this competition.
The Archive team consists of six Mechanical Engineering and Architecture students from the 2020 cohort: Muflikh Kas Yudamaulana, Miguel Bintang Samuel Silitonga, Alfian Febrianto, Alya Widha Aurellia, Bimantyo Ganggas Fadhil Ihsani, and Risma Fitriyanti. Supervised by Dr. Miktha Farid Alkadri, Dr.-Ing. Ir. Ova Candra Dewi, Ardiyansyah, S.T., M.Eng., Ph.D., and Dr. Eng. Arnas Lubis, the project emphasizes a building concept that reduces CO2 emissions and meets net-zero emissions standards.
To achieve these goals, the building design incorporates both passive and active strategies. The passive strategies include optimizing natural light, reducing solar heat, and utilizing an innovative clay facade to control humidity. On the other hand, the active strategies focus on air quality, efficient water management, and energy-saving lighting.
“We designed the Bromeliad Library to face 356° north, allowing natural light penetration while avoiding direct sunlight on critical areas such as the book collections. Additionally, we allocated 61% of the building’s landscape area to green spaces, utilizing native plants like Bromelia and Jacaranda to help reduce heat effects and enhance CO2 absorption,” explained Muflikh, the team leader.
Biman, another team member, added that the Bromeliad Library features several key elements, including LED sunlight sensors, a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system with Heat Recovery (HR), and the use of rooftop space for vegetative terraces and solar photovoltaic panels. The building also has a Water and Fog Harvesting system capable of capturing up to 3.3 million litres of rainwater and dew annually.
With the implementation of these strategies and technologies, the building’s Energy Use Intensity (EUI) was significantly reduced from 211 kWh/m² to 87 kWh/m², resulting in a 59% decrease in energy consumption. This reduction was achieved through improvements in the facade (12.11%), window glazing (1.69%), advanced lighting and controls (9.25%), high-efficiency HVAC systems (35.45%), and PV solar panels (44.31%).
The Acting Dean of FTUI, Prof. Ir. Mahmud Sudibandriyo, MSc., Ph.D., stated, “This year, the FTUI student team once again secured first place in the 2024 ASHRAE Design Competition. In the previous two years, the FTUI team won third place in 2023 and first place in 2022 in the same category. The success of the UI Archine team is a testament to our students’ ability to present innovative and sustainable building solutions, in line with ASHRAE’s vision to create a sustainable future for the planet.”
ASHRAE is an organization with over 50,000 members across more than 132 countries, committed to advancing the science of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Refrigeration. The 2024 ASHRAE Design Competition focused on designing a new central public library in the heart of São Paulo, Brazil. The competition has three categories: HVAC Design Calculations, HVAC System Selection, and Setty Family Foundation Net Zero Energy Design Projects. The Archive team will receive their award at the 2025 ASHRAE Winter Conference in Orlando, Florida, in February 2025, where they will also have the opportunity to present their innovative Bromeliad Library design to an international community.
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Faculty of Engineering Universitas Indonesia
