PAM Public Lecture by Erik L’Heureux, HOT & WET DESIGN

Erik L’Heureux, AIA, LEED AP BD+C is an American architect and educator. He shift to tropical country (Singapore) from New York to explore the culture, environment, climate and architecture. Now, he is an Associate Professor at the National University of Singapore. He had the researches both the impact of hot and wet envelopes as well as the architecture of the Singapore Metropolitan Region.

Erik L’Heureux is a professional architect to tropical climate. So, he was invited to PAM Public Lecture to talk about the “Hot and Wet Design”, it was because the hot and wet design is important to the country which has the tropical climate.

In his professional speech, he talk about the “Hot and Wet: The Equatorial City and the Architecture of Atmosphere”, which is focuses on the architecture of five dense cities in the equatorial zone – Jakarta; Kuala Lumpur; Pondicherry; Lagos and São Paulo. He’ll examine the traditional and modern building strategies that mediate extreme climate condition while addressing the mounting pressures of rapid urbanization and climate change.

However, one of the important point that he mentioned was building envelope. Building envelop is a concept that related to design and construction of the exterior of the house. A good building envelop involves using exterior wall materials and design that are climate appropriate, structurally sound and aesthetically pleasing.

He also mentioned about the traditional Malay house design is a very good example in a hot climate and high humidity area which is tropical country. It was because Malay house has the good wind and stack effect. Lightning is one of the important passive design strategies for him to apply in his building design.

Intentionally, most of his project are concerned about the lightning and ventilation designs. During the seminar, he mentioned his project that focuses on lightning and ventilation which is Simple Factory Building.

The Simple Factory Building

done by Pencil Office

Simple Factory Building is a multi-storey structure, it is focusing on resolving site specific obstacles found in the tropical climate as well as the property’s limited leasehold. The center of the interior has been hollowed out to generate a volumetric subtraction at the core of the plans to facilitate natural ventilation as well as to maximize on natural lighting. The multi-storey courtyard extends to an open-air roof level which is partially covered in the continuous trellis system. In addition to lending a distinct visual identity to the factory, the porous pattern allows outward views of the neighborhood from the interior. To counteract the strong presence of the western sun, a service core is situated along the length of the building to act as a thermal mass.

Stack Effect

The movement of air into and out of buildings, chimneys, flue gas stacks, or other containers, resulting from air buoyancy. Buoyancy occurs due to a difference in indoor-to-outdoor air density resulting from temperature and moisture differences.

During the Q&A session, we wanted to know more about the design intention of Ar. Erik L’Heureux. So as a group, we have asked the question “who or what inspiring you in your lifetime.”

Question answer by Ar. Erik L’Heureux: "Elizabeth Diller of Diller Scofidio was inspired me, once. In 15 years, they grew from a small loft off with a handful of people trying to do challenging work, until now doing significant and public projects. Now, as I'm finding my own voice and direction, I'm not necessarily looking to people, but specific projects for inspiration. For instance, I look at the detailing of Louis Kahn or the formal virtuosity other architects. I seem to be going back to the masters."

Photo with Ar. Erik L’Heureux after the Q&A session.