Solis Hotel, Education City

IES Consulting performed LEED energy and daylight modelling for this 5 star hotel development.

Key Facts

• 25.4% energy cost savings
• 7 LEED credits for EAc1
• Wraparound organic shading form
• ~82,000 m2 floor area
• 400+ guestrooms

IES Consulting performed the LEED energy and daylight modelling for this 5 star hotel development at Education City in Qatar at both early and final design stages. The final energy modelling indicated a 25.4% cost saving which demonstrated the pre-requisite for EAp2 and a total of 7 credits for EAc1.

Solis Doha will be located next to the Qatar National Convention Center in the renowned Education City which is home to some of the leading international universities in the world. Solis Doha will offer state-of-the-art meeting space, luxurious accommodation, a spa, outstanding restaurants plus an indoor recreational area including ballroom.

The multi-storey hotel development is dominated by its unique and distinctive organic shading form which was inspired by sand dunes. It completely wraps around the hotel and offers substantial protection from the high solar gains experienced in a Middle East climate. The design of the shading still allows occupants to view out through the slatted tiers.

Such a large high profile project with unique geometry created specific demands on the modelling process. To achieve this IES utilised key features of the Virtual Environment as noted below:

• IES worked with the client to streamline the model building stage and reduce time pressures by utilising BIM capabilities to share and import aspects of the building geometry, in particular the shading structure as much as possible. This was achieved through file imports staged from Rhino3D to SketchUP and then the plug-in connection to the Virtual Environment.
• IES then completed the model build phase within the ModelIT interface and produced rendered 3D visualisations to facilitate model checking. In addition to visual checks, IES utilised tabular room data to export schedules on room grouping, floor area, room volumes, glazing area and much more.
• IES used cloud computing to calculate the Suncast solar shading impression due to the complex relationship of the wraparound shading and protected glass and stone facade. This high performance computing was the perfect solution for expediting the calculation and meeting the client's design schedule.
• Prior to energy simulations IES produced 3D rendered data visualisations of the model layered to display fabric, room activity and system assignments across the multiple floor plates. This provided IES the ability to reduce the model checking stage by ensuring the client had rich visual access to the complex model setup. With this integrated data sharing approach it ensured a substantial risk reduction when managing the high levels of data and built confidence in the accuracy of the simulation results.
• IES used the ApacheHVAC module to define the hotel's HVAC setup which included a mixture of FAHU's, fan coils, VAV and CAV systems. With the large number of guestrooms IES employed the 'Multiplexing' feature within ApacheHVAC to specifically replicate common zones and speed up the modelling as a whole. In addition the networks modelled the hotel's connection to the Education City district cooling network and the hotel's own ~1,100m2 solar collector array which was linked to the domestic hot water loop.
• IES used the VE Navigator for ASHRAE 90.1 PRM 2007 modelling to complete all steps required for the LEED energy model credit. The energy simulation process included integration of the following stages within the ApacheSim; utilising IES-Radiance to model the daylight sensors for room daylight dimming, as mentioned previously the Suncast solar shading and then the ApacheHVAC network integration.
• Lastly IES used VistaPro to interrogate the model results and produce tables and charts highlighting the energy breakdown and informing where the building's dominant loads existed and hence where opportunity for savings existed. With the power VistaPro capability it allowed IES to drill into energy use profiles for the floor, network and zone levels. This meant no data was hidden on the building performance and design optimisation issues could be easily targeted. VistaPro clarity on the results completed a rewarding project achievable only within the Virtual Environment.