The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) 2022, awarded honorable mentions to Nadhira Izzatur (Architecture 2018), Sutan Azhari (Architecture 2018), Harrys Argaditya (Architecture 2019), Bagus Rangin (Mechanical Engineering 2018), Edward Joshua (Mechanical Engineering 2018), and Rizki Ramadhan (Mechanical Engineering 2018) who represented Indonesia at the ASHRAE 2022 competition. The team from Universitas Indonesia (UI) under the guidance of Ardiyansyah Yatim ST, M.Eng., Ph.D., lecturer at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Dr.-Ing. Ova Candra Dewi, S.T., M.Sc., lecturer at the Department of Architecture FEng, won 1st place in the ASHRAE 2022 ISBD category, beating thirteen other teams.
The UI team participated in the Integrated Sustainable Building Design (ISBD) branch which includes architecture, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering. Competition participants were asked to design a building located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, that meets ASHRAE standards. In addition, the building design must also be able to significantly reduce carbon dioxide emissions to realize an environmentally friendly building or Zero Net Energy Building (ZEB).
“Zero Net Energy Building literally means No Energy building. In this case, buildings that are able to reduce energy demand efficiently and balance the resources used with the resources generated through renewable energy sources. Buildings with the ZEB concept will generate their operational energy needs from renewable energy sources, such as wind, water, sun, and others,” said Dr. Ova Chandra, who is also the Head of the FEng UI Urban Regional Planning Multidisciplinary Master Program.
In response to this challenge, the UI team proposed a project design for the UTS Art Center, University of Technology Sydney. The team created a two-story building design for the 23,000-square-meter arts center by harnessing energy from the sun and wind. There are five energy-saving strategies initiated by the UI team: bicycle parking lots, performative building facades, solar panel placement, roof gardens, and vertical green placement on building facades.
“To add aesthetics to the building, the team adopted the rounded roof shape of Australian Aboriginal houses to enhance the curved facade. In addition, we also utilize Australian native grasses in the roof garden. With a green roof area of 7400 m2, the building has the potential to absorb 13.8 tons of CO2 per year and release up to 10.6 tons of O2 per year. For the green roof, we use Australian native grasses,” says Nadhira.
“Team members from FEng UI Mechanical Engineering contributed ideas in the form of calculating the energy needed to cool the building during the summer and the energy needed to heat the building during cold weather. Calculations were also made of the design elements used and their impact on the building’s energy efficiency. The goal is to minimize heat from the outside air and light so that the temperature inside the building is maintained. This strategy is proven to reduce the cost of using air conditioning machines and fans, which account for 64 percent of the building’s total energy needs,” said Dr. Ardiyansyah.
“With the different scientific backgrounds of the students, architecture and mechanical engineering, the important value that was grown to win this competition was the value of collaboration. How can each other apply each other’s ideas and ideas. FEng UI fosters and encourages the spirit of cooperation and collaboration between students both in research activities and competitions to produce superior innovations and have an impact on society,” said the Dean of FEng UI, Prof. Dr. Heri Hermansyah, ST., M.Eng., IPU.
After winning the competition, the UI team will participate in the ASHRAE 2023 winter meeting which is planned to be held in February 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. ASHRAE International is a global professional society committed to serving society by advancing the art and science of heating ventilation, air conditioning, refrigeration, and related fields. It was founded in 1894 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
