Aedas R&D

Aedas led the design and sustainability coordination of eight urban blocks in this zero carbon, zero waste development in Abu Dhabi. The neighbourhood had strict carbon, water and waste targets, where the overall resources consumed had to be net positive in terms of carbon. Developed in collaboration with Max Fordham, the design approach made the most of seasonal and diurnal changes in temperature and humidity to decrease the reliance on energy-hungry cooling year round.

Design development was supported by parametric models that provided rapid feedback on the performance implications of design variations. This allowed the team to balance insulation levels, glazing performance, airtightness, percentage openings, wall to floor ratio, overshadowing and orientation against operational energy use targets. The embodied carbon footprint for each plot had to remain below 550 kg CO2e/m2. The team piloted the use of BIM for the rapid turnaround of embodied carbon calculations.