Urban Comfort - ABT | Ingenieurs in bouwtechniek

We design places, not spaces. A healthier, more comfortable and more productive urban environment is key to the creation of future-proof cities.

Public spaces are often designed only for aesthetics and functionality; the design of outdoor comfort and sensorial experiences is very often disregarded. In our view, public spaces can be tailored for improving the sensorial experience of people, increasing their health, productivity, happiness and stimulating outdoor activities.

At ABT, we design public spaces optimising the wind flow, access to sun light and noise level, reducing the risk of heat/cold stress locally and the urban heat island effect. We do this working with:

urban massing
building form and orientation
surfaces finishing, colours and thermal properties of materials
trees, greenery and landscape elements
water bodies in public spaces

More life in outdoor public spaces in all seasons also mean a more active local economy, lower energy consumption in buildings, more opportunities for social interactions and, overall, more successful cities.

Approach

We use advanced computational tools (e.g. computational fluid dynamics and outdoor acoustics simulations) for assessing:

wind nuisance and danger risk
noise level
air quality
solar access
heat and cold stress risk

Our multicriteria method allows us to evaluate different design solutions - for single buildings and groups of buildings - and their influence on the local microclimate. Based on the results of simulations, we propose design alternatives.