04/03/2020 Louvain4Water Seminar - Real Cool - Research through Design for Cool Urban Water Environments

Wednesday 04 March 2020

14:00 - 18:00

Auditoire Gerty Cori
Tour Laennec, 57 - Woluwe

Registration

The objective of the Louvain4Water Seminars is to strengthen the network of researchers and other actors working in the water domain at UCLouvain and identify common actions in this domain.

For this meeting, we are pleased to receive Prof. Sanda Lenzholzer (Wageningen University and Research Centre WUR) who will give a keynote speech on the project "REALCOOL - Research through Design for Cool Urban Water Environments".

In addition to this, the Louvain4Water Seminar will offer its members the opportunity to pitch their research works on topics related to water (app. 3 minutes per presentation). Please do not hesitate to contact us through the registration form below if you wish to present your work. The presentation can equally be in French or English.

Keynote by Prof. Sanda Lenzholzer (Wageningen University and Research Centre WUR) REALCOOL - Research through Design for Cool Urban Water Environments

Urban design practitioners believed that urban water bodies (such as canals, ditches or ponds) can solve urban heat problems but recent research shows that the cooling effect of large water bodies during summer is limited over day and can actually induce a night-time warming effect. But what is the situation around small water bodies and how can they provide cooling for their environment? This was studied in the ‘Really cooling water bodies in cities’ (REALCOOL) project. In a Research Through Design process we explored the most effective combinations of shading, water vaporisation and natural ventilation to cool smaller water bodies. It showed that the water itself cannot be cooled effectively, but that the environment of the water bodies can be cooled: shading was the most important factor followed by openness to wind and evaporating water through fountains and sprays. We created virtual prototypes/ design guidelines that we tested according to criteria such as water-storage capacity, compatibility with other urban functions, costs, maintenance and effects on public health. Our user committee concluded that the final prototypes can be easily applied in design practice.

Pitches presentations

To be announced.

Location

Auditoire Gerty Cori

Tour Laennec, 57

1200 Woluwe-Saint-Lambert