House of the Season אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel #132 February 2023 | | 24 One of the automatic connotations attached to the subject of insulation is derived from the Corona Pandemic. And not without reason; spatial insulation is actually the essence of architecture. As a discipline aiming for space organization in order to regulate social interactions, it separates, isolates and connects selected parts of space, among themselves and between them and their environment. This is done by either tangible boundaries such as walls and partitions or ones of sense, such as textures, colors and natural or artificial light. All are types of insolation, affecting social behavior, climate or acoustics one way or another. Recently, compulsory green building regulations advanced the efficiency of thermal insulation to center stage. To understand how such efficiency is achieved it is important to note that insulation must cope with three basic factors - transmission, heat travel and radiation. Transmission is the way heat passes between materials; for example, when a teaspoon is placed in a cup of tea it channels the heat of the liquid to the hand holding it. Food for work Insulation devices and their architectural effect Architect Dr Ami Ran Heat travel is the way heat moves within a material (usually via fluids or gases). Relevant to this is the fact that hot air tends to rise due to it being lighter than cold air, while cool air descends. However, since air also contains fluids, the higher the humidity, the higher its conductivity. The effectiveness of insulation depends on its mass (R, the thicker the insulation the better its resistance to heat transmission. In contrast to insulation materials dependent on the thickness of a material, radiation barriers and sealing depend on the layer that is in contact with the environment. For example, a thin nylon sheet contains a better sealing coefficient than concrete block, and aluminum foil radiates heat with great efficiency regardless of its thickness. Radiation blockers are reflective materials that deflect heat back to the environment, while the thickness of sealing materials made of water resistant materials is meaningless apart from their durability. Similar to osmosis in plant photosynthesis there is a natural mechanism of temperature balancing between adjacent areas. That is, heat flows from warmer areas to cooler ones or vice versa, until there is no difference whatsoever in temperature between them. The practical significance of this is that in winter, heat is transmitted outwards from heated living spaces, while in summer, outside heat flows inside to air-conditioned space. Hence, most common insulation methods are based on composite materials which effectively combine the three important insulating factors, namely, preventing heat flow between adjacent areas, slowing air travel inside the micro climate, and finally by placing radiation barriers at the macro level. It is important to note that insulation efficiency is considerably affected by its installation. For example, heat (or cold) bridges can sabotage thermal performance, a condition for which special solutions have been developed in the form of external hanging or glued or builtin insulating details such as autoclaved foam concrete, best known here as Ytong. This is where the subject of ventilation/air flow enters into the mix. That is, ensuring natural or artificial hot air evacuation from top spaces, while also ensuring that cold air is not traveling from air conditioned space to non-air conditioned space below. In light of all this, it is very important to be precise in choosing insulation type according to field data, such as weather, seasons, heating, cooling and shading relative to the faces of the structure, as well as other relevant considerations, such as durability, fire standards, and above all – budget. All thesehaveaprimal effect on the thermal and acoustic qualities of the structure, its maintenance costs, and current recycling factors to meet the obligatory Green Building Standards in Israel - IS 5282 to achieve an energetic rating of buildings, and IS 1045 for thermal insulation.
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