Sustainable Architecture in Office Buildings in Khartoum city

Abstract

In response to the worldwide deterioration of the environment and the increase in pollution levels, there has been a strong movement towards sustainable architecture across the globe. This movement has received attention and concern from governments as well as private sectors. In the past decades, Sudan has seen a huge surge in infrastructure and technology, which has led to many new and innovative building concepts, ideas and construction techniques. There is now a constant flow of new projects arising, thus leading to a new, transformed, modernised form of architecture. However, with this new transformation, comes many dangers to the environment. Many solutions have been considered, all with the aim of minimising the environmental risks – by making buildings sustainable. This research especially focuses on the issue of sustainable architecture in office buildings in Khartoum city. It aims to investigate the current state of a few chosen office buildings in the capital, and then perform both an analysis and assessment of how well they address the problem of sustainability. The research is primarily conducted in the form of site visits, with the objective of studying the methods adopted by each of the selected buildings, in order to improve their sustainability. Hence, a survey is conducted, gathering information on the efficiency of the new improvements and their success rates according to various, designers, contractors, and the buildings’ users. The buildings were then assessed and rated according to the (LEED) building sustainability Checklist. The study concludes that the sustainability of the buildings is directly proportional to how new the buildings were; the newer the building, the higher the level of sustainability. However, the progress of sustainability is still relatively slow. Therefore a huge effort is required to undertake more research in order to provide a more accurate picture of the steps needed to further improve sustainability in Khartoum city. Several recommendations can be put forward regarding various features and techniques which can be incorporated in building design, such as Optimizing energy performance, reducing demand harvesting site energy maximize efficiency. However, these recommendations must be accompanied by a strong will to improve sustainability, and protect the environment, in order to achieve the maximum benefit possible.