Integrating renewable energy into the biophilic design of public open space: Masdar city, Abu Dhabi

Semester

Spring

Date of Graduation

2019

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Type

MLA

College

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design

Department

Landscape Architecture

Committee Chair

Shan Jiang

Committee Co-Chair

Peter Butler

Committee Member

Peter Butler

Committee Member

Chris Haddox

Committee Member

Sven Verlinden

Abstract

Urbanization and modern built environment design approach has caused transformation and degradation of natural ecosystem services and increasing humans disengagement from the natural environment ( Kellert et al.2008). Human’s separation from nature has caused degeneration of biodiversity and ecosystem services, global warming of 1.5 C ( Delmote et al, 2018), unsustainable, nonrenewable energy and resource consumption, and hazardous effects on the human’s public health. According to (Kellert et al. 2008) impacts on the natural environment can be minimized by ‘’ restorative environmental design’’ or Biophilic design approach that represents beneficial interaction between humans and nature in modern buildings and landscapes.

This design project aims to create a biophilic open space in the North-west part of Masdar City, that will integrate renewable energy with public space and provide not only pleasant but educational value to the visitors.

This design will provide therapeutic, sculptural, biophilic, historic-cultural, transitional, gathering, arboretum, educational gardens and spaces that will create its own small-scale conditions(microclimate) inside and outside of the public space structure, that can promote cooling down the desert heat.

The main goal of this design is to integrate and connect outdoor and indoor green structures and provide the spaces that generate life force and inspire distinct ethnic or different age of visitor groups for social, cultural interaction into space and engagement with nature.

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