Towards Environmental Retrofitting of Egyptian Transitional Spaces: Courtyard-Building in Alexandria University, Egypt

Amr A. Bayoumi, Tarek A. Farghaly, Zeyad T. El Sayad

Consuming huge amount of energy and emitting large amount of heat can be assumed as one of the main problems facing urban environment in the world today. These problems associated with current high urban density and less of vegetation within urban fabric. For instance, in Egypt, Universities are today facing rising problem of offering more educational spaces especially in large cities such as Cairo and Alexandria. The study thus focuses on Revival Egyptian buildings in Alexandria University based on hierarchical transitional spaces. As Egyptian transitional spaces, such as courtyards historically were essential outdoor spaces for multiple uses and purposes.

As part of retrofitting research project of existed transitional spaces in Alexandria University, this paper focused on one parameter which is building height. This is by targeting to find the maximum height of courtyard building with minimum negative effect on air and thermal flow. This simulation is done with consideration to the surrounding urban context in Alexandria University. The simulation approach is based on two years of field measurement of thermal conditions and air velocity in the University’s transitional spaces. The study is usingfield-measurement data for nurturing the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) model, and for validating the simulation results. The Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) study is done by introducing four cases of different building heights to investigating the changing air and thermal flow inside the existed courtyard.