Hi,
I have a query related to baseline modeling for a hotel project in oman. This hotel is built on a hillside with the building recessed into the hill completely on one side. The eastern periphery of hotel is completely fit into the hill without any exterior exposure, and the west side is exposed to ambient conditions.
My question is, can I model the baseline building without considering the hill side shading (considering the hill slope as an external shading, so not to be modelled in baseline) and so with exposure on all sides? I believe the LEED baseline model cannot consider any sort of external shadings (by other buildings, trees etc). In this case, would it be acceptable to neglect the hill slope shading and hill contact?
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5909 thumbs up
October 8, 2012 - 10:18 am
It would definitely not be considered shading. Shading is related to external projections that shade windows. You can't use a tree for shading so you can't use a natural feature like the ground.
The question is can you claim credit for below grade vs above grade walls. This would be similar to earth berming. It that case the ground level is brought up on the lower level and is often accomplished by grading. I think there is some precedence for claiming savings as an exceptional calculation for this strategy.
Appendix G does prohibit the comparison you want to make (See Table G3.1-5 Baseline). The area of above and below grade walls must be identical to the Proposed.
In your situation it sounds like the hill is already there and just another site constraint. In order to claim savings you would need to make a strong case that excluding the hill all together was actually a viable alternative and that building into the hill was a chosen design option.