Design of energy efficient pilot buildings in the Hou Ji Village, Pingyao, China

The main topic of the thesis concerns the project development of an area located inside the Hou Ji village, about 5 kilometers southwest of the Ancient City of Pingyao (that is the nearest big urban agglomeration), in the Shanxi region, central-east part of China. Hou Ji village (or Houjicun in the local language) is the perfect example of the internal contrast that China has been experiencing in recent decades, due to which there is a strong dualism between modernity, represented by the advancement and development of the cities, as in this case Pingyao, and the maintenance of historical memory that is likely to be lost, represented by the historical buildings and villages, as in this case Hou Ji. In fact the village is located in a kind of boundary position, placed between a high speed train line (on the north) and a highway (on the south), and being situated at the edge of what will be the future urban expansion of the city of Pingyao, as stated in the Pingyao’s Master Planning for years 2013-2030. The local administration is moving rapidly in this direction, having already accomplished the main arteries of the new area, in anticipation of the building development of the next few years. In addition Houjicun besides being very close both to the Ancient City of Pingyao and Shuanglin Temple, which are on the UNESCO Heritage List and consequently can guarantee a significant influx of tourists to the surrounding areas, it is an important example of a typical Chinese rural village, witness of the Chinese cultural and architectural tradition and of the region in where it is, the Shanxi. Starting from these considerations, the concrete project objective focused on the design of new energy efficient buildings based on one pilot building typology, able to be replicated with small modifications, in rural contexts similar to that of Houjicun. The project started from the analysis carried out on the Hou Ji village thanks to the collaboration between South East University (SEU) of Nanjing, China and the NTNU, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) of Trondheim, Norway, focusing at the same time on the guidelines dictated by the Chinese design, the vernacular architecture and the use of local materials. The aforementioned were then combined with a modern, integrated design, which foreseen the use of efficient and intelligent energy systems combined with passive strategies in order to reach the comfort conditions with the least possible consumption of resources. In relation to this last observation, elements of anthropic nature, such as the orientation of buildings, the design of performing and sustainable enclosures, etc. and natural elements, such as solar radiation, soil energy, rainwater collection and reuse, etc. are extremely important to achieve the best possible result. The use of an integrated approach to the design, that considered at the same time the building itself and the natural elements through the use of passive strategies suited on the local climate, allowed the creation of buildings that had very low energy consumption. The passive strategies, identified in the use of shading systems (fixed and movable), walls and roofs with a high thermal mass and performing assemblies, low heat losses, wider windows on the sunnier sides and an adequate arrangement of the functions of the buildings have made it possible to greatly reduce the energy syste