Karen Munro Mres Dissertation

Designing Out the
Urban Heat Island Effect

Karen Munro
201094938
Department of Architecture
The University of Strathclyde
MRes Building Design and Management for Sustainability
2012
Designing Out the Urban Heat Island Effect
Declaration
This thesis is the result of the author’s original

research. It has been composed by the author and
has not been previously submitted for examination
which has led to the award of a degree.
The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author

under the terms of the United Kingdom Copyrights
Acts as qualified by University of Strathclyde
Regulation 3.50. Due acknowledgement must always
be made of the use of any material contained in, or
derived from, this thesis.
Signed:
Date:
Page 2
Abstract
The world’s population has reached an all time

high and more people are living in cities than in
the countryside for the first time in human history.
The social, economic and environmental issues
faced by urban places and the people living in them
are an ever changing and ever more concerning
set of problems. The urban heat island effect can
have a detrimental effect on many aspects of an
urban dweller’s life, and as a key contributor to the
materiality of the urban landscape and therefore
the urban heat island effect, architecture has a role
to play. This research takes the first steps towards
understanding the role of architecture in urban heat
island mitigation by beginning to explore the effect
existing buildings have on urban heat, through
experiments on five of the most common cladding
materials found in Glasgow, Scotland.
Page 3
Acknowledgements
Dr David Grierson
Stancliffe Stone
Supaseal Glass Ltd.
Hanson-Heidelberg Cement Group
Family and friends
Page 4
Contents
Figures ...7
Summary ...10
1. Introduction ...17
1.1 Project Description ...20
2. Urban Heat Islands ...22

2.1 Urban Heat Island Causes ...22
2.2 Urban Heat Island Intensity ...25
2.3 Urban Heat Islands and Urban Population ...27
Growth
2.4 Urban Heat Islands and Weather ...28
2.5 Urban Heat Islands and Health ...31
2.5.1 Heat Waves ...31
2.5.2 Air Quality ...33
2.6 Urban Heat Islands and Climate Change...34
3. The Role of Architecture in Urban Heat Islands ...37

3.1 Cool Roofs ...37
3.2 Vegetation ...41
3.2.1 Green Roofs ...41
3.2.2 Living Walls ...47
3.2.3 Street Level Planting ...50
3.3 Innovation ...51
4. Next Steps ...53
5. The Urban Heat Island in Glasgow ...55

5.1 1977 ...55
5.2 2011 ...55
6. Experiments ...57
6.1 Ingram Street ...57
Page 5
6.2 Materials ...59
6.3 Heat Source ...60
6.4 Frame ...60
6.5 Experiment Methodology ...61
6.6 Expected Outcomes ...62
7. Results ...64
7.1 Concrete ...65
7.2 Red Brick ...66
7.3 Red Sandstone ...67
7.4 Blonde Sandstone ...69
7.5 Toughened Glass ...70
8. Limitations ...73
9. Discussion ...75
9.1 Implications on Glasgow’s Urban Heat ...79
Island
9.2 Future Research Routes ...83
References ...88
Appendix ...96
Page 6
Figures
1.1 New York City, USA ...17

1.2 Dubai, United Arab Emirates ...17
1.3 Hong Kong, China ...18
1.4 Toronto, Canada ...18
1.5 London, United Kingdom ...19
1.6 Berlin, Germany ...19
1.7 Nairobi, Kenya ...20
1.8 Rio de Janiero, Brazil ...20
1.9 Sydney, Australia ...21
1.10 Stockholm, Sweden ...21
2.1 Profile of a typical urban heat island ...22

2.2 Urban heat island causes ...22
2.3 Typical urban albedos ...23
2.4 Earth Observatory images of New York ...24
2.5 Sky view images: Wall Street, Flatiron, ...25
suburb
2.6 Air movement and temperature in typical ...26
built environment
2.7 Projected urban population growth ...27
2.8 Recent UK flooding ...28
2.9 Lightning striking Burj Dubai, Dubai ...29
2.10 Tornado in Miami ...29
2.11 New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina ...30
2.12 Graph showing increases in mortality rates ...32
during 2003 heat waves
2.13 Los Angeles skyline showing “dust dome” ...34
2.14 Predicted impact of climate change globally ...35
3.1 Thermal representation of a cool roof ...37

3.2 Albedos of American Rooftile Cool Coatings ...39
3.3 American Rooftile coatings in application ...40
3.4 Typical green roof construction ...41
3.5 The High Line, New York ...41
Page 7
3.6 Brooklyn Grange, Queens, New York ...42
3.7 Ford Dearborn Truck Assembly Plant, ...43
Michigan, USA
3.8 The Wedge, Pollok, Glasgow ...44
3.9 Glasgow Harbour Roof Garden, Glasgow ...44
3.10 Stuttgart’s urban heat island ...45
3.11 Toyota Roof Tile ...46
3.12 Chicago City Hall Roof ...46
3.13 Semiahmoo Public Library, before and after ...47
3.14 “Europe in Bloom” ...48
3.15 Balcony detail of “Europe in Bloom” ...48
3.16 Bionictile and Lifewall tiles ...49
3.17 Street planting on Las Ramblas, Barcelona ...50
3.18 An example of a thermochromic material ...51
3.19 Diffuse reflection and retroreflection ...52
5.1 Results of 1977 Glasgow urban heat island ...55

study
study – average diurnal results
study – average nocturnal results
6.1 Diagram of Ingram Street building use ...57

6.2 Ingram Street, Merchant City, Glasgow ...58
6.3 Diagram of Ingram Street cladding materials ...59
6.4 Heat source ...60
6.5 Frame ...60
6.6 Experiment set up ...61
6.7 Thermometers T2 and T3 ...61
6.8 Heat source switched on ...62
7.1 Experiment results for all materials ...64

7.2 Concrete ...65
7.3 Concrete results ...66
7.4 Red brick ...67
7.5 Red brick results ...67
7.6 Red sandstone ...68
Page 8
7.7 Red sandstone results ...68
7.8 Blonde sandstone ...69
7.9 Blonde sandstone results ...69
7.10 Toughened glass ...70
7.11 Toughened glass results ...71
9.1 Surface temperature (T2) results for all ...75

materials
9.2 Near surface air temperature (T3) results for ...77
all materials
9.3 Predicted microclimate of Ingram Street ...83
Page 9
Summary
i. Introduction
• The rising population of both the world as a whole

and its urban places is causing increased prevalence
of social, economic and environmental problems
unique to cities, including the urban heat island
effect.
• Architecture as a profession has a role to play
in the mitigation of the urban heat island effect,
understanding how the buildings and spaces created
affect a city’s urban heat.
• Architecture’s first step towards involving itself
more in urban heat island mitigation should be to
understand the behaviour of existing buildings with
relation to the urban heat island effect.
ii. Urban Heat Islands
• Urban heat islands are caused when the natural

environment is removed and replaced with the built
environment, created warmer temperatures in urban
areas when compared to their rural surroundings.
• They are caused by removal of vegetation; the ability
of materials such as concrete, asphalt, steel and
brick to absorb and store heat; the energy used by a
building’s services including heating, air conditioning
and ventilation; vehicular movement through a city;
and lack of green spaces.
• Urban heat islands are described by their intensity;
the difference in temperature between the rural and
the urban areas. Urban heat island intensities can
be anywhere from 2oC to over 10oC and have been
linked to a city’s size and population.
• The weather in and around a city has been
proven to be affected by urban heat. The urban
heat island effect has been linked with increased
Page 10
rainfall, dangerous wind speeds, increased flooding,
altered growing seasons, and even hurricanes and
tornadoes.
• Urban heat islands have a detrimental effect on
people’s health; they are thought to increase the risk
of fatalities during heat waves, as well as increasing
levels of pollution thus reducing the quality of the air
in the city.
• The relationship between urban heat islands and
climate change remains somewhat cloudy; urban
heat islands form part of climate change scepticism
while others dismiss the urban heat island’s
contribution to global warming as minimal and
therefore insignificant.
iii. The Role of Architecture in Urban Heat Islands
• There have been a number of building materials and

techniques developed in recent years which begin to
address the urban heat island effect.
• Cool roofs replace the traditionally dark tar and
asphalt roofs, accounting for 25% of a city’s surface
area, with lighter coloured roofs designed to prevent
the building from absorbing heat, thus reducing
air conditioning requirements, while also reflecting
sunlight and heat away from the surface, keeping
surface temperatures cooler.
• Green roofs involve the installation of vegetation
on top of a building and can insulate a building,
reducing heating and air conditioning costs and
energy use, while cooling and cleaning the air around
the roof. They are also more aesthetically pleasing
than traditional roofs and can attract more wildlife.
• While green roofs are common in mainland Europe,
with many European cities having legislation
concerning green roofs, the United Kingdom
generally lags behind with the City of London being
the only part of the UK with green roof guidelines.
• Living walls can be installed to the facade of a
building. They give many of the same benefits as
Page 11
green roofs and additionally can provide shade to the
interior of the building while creating a constantly
changing facade.
• Where a building is not able to have a green roof or
living wall installed, street level planting can provide
shading for a building’s facade, reducing surface
temperatures and preventing over heating of the
interior’s temperature, thus reducing the need for air
conditioning.
• Finally, in the past few years research groups
have begun to develop new materials which could
mitigate the urban heat island effect, including
thermochromic materials and coatings which change
colour to reflect or absorb sunlight as required
depending on the time of day, and retroreflective
materials which reflect sunlight and heat away from
the building without dispersing the reflected heat
back into the air.
iv. Next Steps
• Architecture’s response to urban heat island

mitigation needs to be separate from its
environmental response thus far; sustainable
building design has been concerned with the internal
environment of the building where designing out
urban heat islands will require consideration of the
external ramifications of designs.
• Architecture’s next step must be to understand what
impact their decisions have on the urban heat island
effect in a city; external cladding choice, construction
material choice, placement and size of glazing,
building form and geometry.
• Additionally, research should be done into existing
buildings to examine and understand how the
buildings we already have influence the city’s urban
heat island.
v. The Urban Heat Island in Glasgow
Page 12
• The two urban heat island studies carried out in
Glasgow in 1977 and 2011 returned similar results
with regards to the size of Glasgow’s urban heat
island intensity and its key areas.
• The diurnal urban heat island intensity was an
average of 4oC with the nocturnal intensity slightly
higher, as expected, at 6oC.
• Both studies highlighted the Merchant City area
of Glasgow’s city centre as a key warm area thus
informing the location on which to base the next
stage of study.
vi. Experiments
• From the key areas of research identified in Chapter

4: Next Steps the decision was taken to carry out
experiments exploring the effect of common cladding
materials to urban heat in Glasgow City Centre.
• From the previous Glasgow urban heat island
studies, Ingram Street in the Merchant City was
selected to represent the materiality of the area and
the city.
• Building use studies were carried out to consolidate
the appropriateness of Ingram Street to represent
the mixed use nature of Glasgow’s buildings,
with the study showing commercial, residential,
entertainment and office buildings were all situated
on Ingram Street.
• Building cladding material studies were carried out
to inform the materials used in the experiment.
There were five materials chosen: concrete, red brick,
red sandstone, blonde sandstone and toughened
glass.
• Each material was placed in turn into a specially
constructed adjustable frame and exposed to infrared
heat for 3 hours before being allowed to cool for
another 3 hours. The ambient air temperature of
the room (T1), the surface temperature (T2) and
near surface air temperature (T3) of the material
were monitored and recorded at 20 minute intervals
Page 13
throughout the heating and cooling periods.
vii. Results
• The heat lamp proved to contribute to the surface

temperatures and near surface air temperatures
being recorded, characterised by the sudden increase
in temperature seen in all graphs at the point the
heat lamp was turned on, and the sudden drop when
the heat lamp was turned off; the average heat lamp
contribution was calculated to be 14oC and was
taken into account during analysis.
• Concrete recorded the highest surface temperature
by the end of the heating period, at 49.3oC. The near
surface air temperature was relatively low at 35.6oC.
Both temperatures cooled slowly and did not return
to room temperature by the end of the experiment.
• Red brick had one of the lowest surface temperatures
recorded at 42.5oC but the highest near surface air
temperature 38.3oC.
• Both the red sandstone’s surface temperature and
near surface air temperature fell in the middle of the
temperature extremities recorded for concrete and
toughened glass; the surface temperature peaked
at 46.2oC while the air temperature reached 36.8oC
after 120 minutes and remained there until the end
of the heating period.
• The blonde sandstone very quickly recorded high
surface temperatures, reaching over 46oC in the first
hour before levelling and only increasing by another
0.8oC by the end of the heating period. The near
surface air temperature rose much more steadily and
peaked at 38.3oC, the joint highest recorded in the
experiments.
• Finally, the toughened glass registered very little
increase in either surface temperature or near
surface air temperature, with both rising by less than
2oC and falling almost immediately after the heat
lamp was switched off.
Page 14
viii. Limitations
• The basic nature of the experiments meant some

conditions were not ideal, such as no control of the
ambient air temperature and being unable to ensure
all materials were the same dimensions.
• The experiments were still considered to accurately
depict how the materials react when exposed to
heat as the limitations were deemed to have a minor
possible influence on the results.
ix. Discussion
• The concrete behaved as expected, absorbing

and storing heat during the heating period thus
explaining the high surface temperature yet low
near surface air temperature. During the cooling
period the heat stored was released hence the near
surface air temperatures during cooling remaining
high and not returning to ambient air temperature.
Both the surface temperature and the near surface
air temperature were still rising steadily at the end
of the heating period, thus suggesting the concrete
would have continued to heat up had the heat lamp
not been switched off.
• The red brick proved surprising: instead of behaving
like the concrete and absorbing heat, as it was
thought it would due to its relatively dark colour and
mass, it actually recorded low surface temperatures
and high near surface air temperatures, thus
suggesting the red brick was actually reflecting a
significant amount of heat.
• The red sandstone was expected to reach higher
temperatures than the blonde sandstone as the
latter was a lighter colour and therefore more like to
reflect heat; in reality the blonde sandstone reached
high surface temperatures very quickly, suggesting
it was in fact absorbing heat instead of reflecting it.
Contrastingly, the surface temperature of the red
sandstone remained cooler.
Page 15
• The blonde sandstone recorded both high
surface temperatures and high near surface air
temperatures, with an interesting trend: the surface
temperature rises very quickly before levelling out,
where the near surface air temperature experienced
a sort of plateau in the initial stages of the heating
period before rising again towards the end. This was
taken to suggest that the blonde sandstone reached
a sort of saturation point of heat absorption before
beginning to reflect excess heat, explaining the near
surface air temperature’s increase towards the end.
• The toughened glass was barely influenced by
the heat lamp, heating up a very small amount
before cooling very quickly – in many ways the
ideal material to combat urban heat. However the
material would not work as a mass cladding material
in Glasgow’s climate as it would allow too much heat
in during the warmer months, and would let too
much heat out during the winter.
• With regards to Glasgow’s urban heat island, the
results suggest blonde sandstone and red brick are
two highly reflective materials, helping to explain
why the Merchant City appears as a hotspot as these
two materials are very common in the area.
Page 16
1. Introduction
In October 2011, the world’s population reached an

all time high of 7 billion people - and then kept rising.
On average the planet’s population increases by
nearly half a million people every day, meaning that
th next landmark population figure of 8 billion is
the
only
on 5 or 6 years away.
As the planet’s population continues to increase,

mo and more people are leaving traditional rural
more
li
lifestyles behind, instead opting to flock to the world’s
cities,
ci attracted by the promises of better employment
Fig. 1.1 New York City, USA opportunities,
op better access to services and an easier,
more convenient way of living. Cities are seen to
contain everything a person needs, instantly and
locally available - jobs, health care, leisure, culture,
entertainment; they are a centre for opportunity. This
mass migration to our urban centres means that for
the first time in human history, the urban population
- people living in cities - exceeds the rural population.
With this worldwide shift towards urbanism comes a
new age of social, economic and environmental issues
faced
fa by the planet.
The
Th explosion in urban population has given birth
to the “mega city”, defined as cities which have a
population
po of more than 10 million people. In 2011
there
th was 27 mega cities on the planet, together
Fig. 1.2 Dubai, United Arab
Emirates
accounting for nearly 10% of the world’s population.
[CNN, 2010] The overwhelming majority of mega
cities are in the developing regions Asia and Africa,
often in areas which do not have - and cannot afford
to build - the infrastructure and established society
necessary to cope with the urban expansion caused
by the sheer number of people flocking to the cities.
With the arrival of mega cities, particularly in these
developing nations, comes the arrival of a new scale
Page 17
of urban concerns and problems. Many of the people
relocating to the mega cities in Asia and Africa are
poor people, driven out of rural areas by drought,
war and unfarmable land, seeking the employment
opportunities and better life that the city seems to
promise. Instead, many of them will end up living in
slums, with inadequate housing and no sanitation.
Statistics from 2007 state that 1 billion people
wo
worldwide live in slums, equating to every 3rd person
li
living in a city. 44% of India’s urban population live
in slums; 39% of China’s; and 99% of people living in
ci
cities in Ethiopia live in slums. [Grierson, 2009] City
li
life for some of the people living in the world’s mega
ci
cities in Asia and Africa is unrecognisable compared
Fig. 1.3 Hong Kong, China to the urban population of the mega cities in Europe
and the USA - London, Paris and New York. The
social problems people in slums face - homelessness,
disease, no education, extreme poverty - are a far cry
from the opportunities envisioned by life in a city.
In addition to these social and economic urban

issues, the increasing urban population means
increasing prevalence of the urban heat island
effect, a phenomena which sees urban areas reach
hi
higher ambivalent air temperatures than their rural
su
surroundings. While the concern and urgency to
ad
address the social problems created by cities is of
ut
utmost importance, the environmental impact of the
ur
urban environment is also of high concern. While
me
mega cities in Europe and North America may not
Fig. 1.4 Toronto, Canada fa
face the same scale of social problems as the mega
cities in the developing world, urban heat islands
bring with them a range of problems which could
have serious impacts on the lives of the people living
in them. They affect air quality, increasing pollution
which in turn affects health; they greatly influence
the quality of indoor air thus making offices and
workplaces uncomfortable or unhealthy to work in;
they alter natural weather systems, creating more
rain and more seriously, increasing the likeliness of
Page 18
tornadoes or hurricanes hitting the city.
Since the urban heat island effect was first recorded

in 1833, there has been a great deal of study into
it. Climatologists, geographers and meteorologists
worldwide have worked to investigate the existence of
urban heat islands in countless cities and they have
established what it is about the urban environment
th
that creates the phenomena. There has also been a
gr
great deal of research into the effects of urban heat,
su
such as its impacts on health and the weather. In
th
the past 20 years, the research has altered slightly
in focus and has increasingly been focussed on
es
establishing measures to combat urban heat islands.
Fig. 1.5 London, United Kingdom Ur
Urban heat islands have produced a marketable field;
companies have begun to develop and sell products
which can have a positive impact on urban heat,
such as roof tile coatings which reflect more heat, and
facade claddings which use the pollutants in the hot
urban air to their benefit.
Architecture has a definite role to play in the

mitigation of the urban heat island effect: cities are
defined by their buildings and make up a large part
of the built environment. The choices that architects
an
and planners make can have a huge impact on the
si
size of a city’s urban heat island; their choice of
cl
cladding materials or roof coverings impact the heat
th
their building will absorb, their placement of street
pl
planting affects the levels of shade and exposure
Fig. 1.6 Berlin, Germany
to the building, their choice of window size and
orientation alters the solar gain to the building.
Arguably, the ability to design out the urban heat
island effect, and indeed the responsibility to do
so, lies with architects and planners; they have a
responsibility to the urban environment and the
people living in it to understand the impact of their
designs on people’s health and lives.
Page 19
1.1 Project Description
The project aimed to explore the relationship between

urban heat islands and architecture, beginning by
researching the characteristics and known causes
of the urban heat island and how these relate to the
built environment. The initial research focussed
on understanding the urban heat island effect and
its
it associated issues, such as pollution and its
influences on weather and health. It also explored
in
the effect of the increasing global population and
th
increasing urban population, as well as the urban
in
heat island effect’s relationship with other climatic
he
Fig. 1.7 Nairobi, Kenya concerns – heat waves, global warming and climate
co
change.
The research focus then shifted to investigate the role

architecture has played in mitigation of the urban
heat island effect to date, establishing opinions on
the key areas in which progress has been made or
needs to be made. This stage of the research looked
at issues such as which countries have addressed
the urban heat island effect in their legislation;
new materials which have been developed aimed
ne
at reducing urban heat; new cladding options and
building techniques available to architects, planners
bu
and designers. This stage of the research aimed
an
to identify the areas in which architecture was
lacking with regards to its role in urban heat island
la
mitigation, understanding the gaps in the research
mi
Fig. 1.8 Rio de Janiero, Brazil done to date thus helping to inform the area the next
stage of this project would focus on.
The background research showed that, while a heat

island had been established in Glasgow, there had
been very little research focussed on the mitigation
of the effect in the city. Two previous studies carried
out in Glasgow City Centre had returned similar
results as to the presence of a heat island in the
Page 20
city, and the areas in which the temperature rises
were most significant. One street was selected from
within this hotspot to represent the architecture of
Glasgow. A number of potential research focuses
were identified from this one street: due to the time
constraints of the project, the focus selected for the
lab experiments was to explore how five cladding
materials identified as being common to Glasgow
reacted when exposed to heat, thus aiming to better
understand the effect of each material on Glasgow’s
urban heat island.
Basic lab experiments were designed to explore what

would happen to the surface and near surface air
Fig. 1.9 Sydney, Australia temperatures of each material if they were exposed to
heat from an infrared source for a prolonged period of
time. The materials were then monitored throughout
a cooling period, thus recreating in basic form the day
and night time stages of the urban heat island effect.
The lab experiments hoped to provide information
which could allow architects, designers and planners
to begin to understand how their cladding material
choice could be affecting not just their building’s
appearance and internal air quality, but the external
air quality of the immediate area and the entire
city. Many modern Glasgow buildings are clad in
sandstone to pay respect to their context among the
old sandstone buildings - but do these buildings,
both old and new, actually worsen Glasgow urban
heat island effect, or is the alternative modern move
to glass fronted steel structures more damaging?
Fig. 1.10 Stockholm, Sweden How significant is the difference in the effect of red
sandstone compared to blonde sandstone? The
experiments were designed to begin to answer these
questions. The results could be used to provide
architects, planners and designers with a better
understanding of how their cladding material choices
are affecting both the indoor and outdoor air qualities
of their buildings, and the city as a whole.
Page 21
2. Urban Heat Islands
The
Th urban heat island effect is a phenomenon
witnessed
wi in cities worldwide, and refers
to the significantly higher ambient air
temperatures found in a city when compared
te
with
wi those found in its rural surroundings.
The
Th phenomenon was first identified in Luke
Fig. 2.1 Profile of a typical urban Howard’s 1833 book “The Climate of London”,
Ho
heat island [Met Office, 2011]
when Howard discovered inner city temperatures of
50.5°F (10.3 °C) compared to 48.5°F (9.1 °C) in the
rural areas.
2.1 Urban Heat Island Causes
Urban heat islands are essentially caused when

a change in land use occurs and the natural
environment is replaced by the built environment.
The natural surfaces such as soil, vegetation, grass
and
an trees are replaced with
da
dark, impermeable surfaces
such
su as asphalt, concrete,
brick
br and steel, disrupting
na
natural cooling processes
thus
th altering ambient air
temperatures.
te
The
Th ability of a material
to reflect heat is called its
albedo.
al Materials with an
albedo
al of close to 0 are the
most
mo absorbent - and therefore
Fig. 2.2 Urban Heat Island will absorb and store a lot of heat, resulting in high
Causes [Surat City Climate
Change, 2010]
surface temperatures - while those closer to 1 are the
most reflective, thus will stay much cooler. When the
land use change from natural environment to built
environment occurs through cities being built, the low
albedo materials of grass and soil are replaced with
Page 22
the high albedos of tarmac, concrete, and brick. Fig.
2.3 shows some examples of the albedos seen in a
built environment. During the day, these man made
surfaces cause heat from the sun to be absorbed and
stored instead of allowing the heat to go through the
natural evaporation process that the vegetation would
allow. When the materials reach a maximum
heat - a heat saturation point of sorts - the air
around the surfaces begins to heat up. The
geometry of the buildings and roads of the city
also affect the wind paths throughout the city,
preventing the hot air from being dissipated by
the wind. Instead the hot air is trapped and
stored in the gaps between the buildings. As
Fi 2.3 T
Fig. Typical
ical urban
rb albedos
lbed
[NASA, 2006] the city cools in the evening, the heat stored in
the buildings and road surfaces is released back into
the air, preventing the hot air temperatures reached
from cooling properly, therefore causing ambient air
temperatures across the city to remain high.
In addition to the heat absorbed due to the

materiality of buildings and surfaces, the urban heat
island effect is also caused by building services such
as air conditioning, ventilation and heating, and the
building’s energy use in general. The energy used in
a building has an impact on how much ventilation
and air conditioning is required. Offices with a lot of
electrical equipment such as computers and printers
can become very warm as these devices give off
enough heat that, when many of them are in a room
together, they can affect the temperature of the room
thus requiring more ventilation or air conditioning to
keep the room at a comfortable working temperature.
The ventilation systems dispel excess warm air from
inside the building into the external air, causing the
air temperature to rise.
Offices are just one of the many examples of function

that city buildings fulfil - and the need for ventilation
Page 23
seen in the offices remains true for other functions:
for example, elaborate lighting displays in shops,
designed to enhance the appearance of their clothes
and goods in order to encourage sales, often cause
the store to be very warm; kitchens, cafes and
bakeries overheat due to the ovens and other high
temperature cooking equipment. Buildings which
are home to pubs, bars, nightclubs and restaurants
require ventilation into the night and early hours of
the morning. The end result is that across every city
the majority of buildings will be constantly ventilating
their internal spaces, maintaining a pleasant and
healthy indoor air quality, all the while affecting the
external air quality in the city by worsening the urban
heat island effect.
Aside from a city’s buildings, the urban heat island

is also aggravated by other unavoidable aspects of
city life. The level of vehicular movements in the
city centre makes a difference to the ambient air
temperatures. The combined effect from hundreds
of hot engines and the fumes emitted from the high
number of cars constantly moving through the city
contribute to the heating of the ambient air, as does
the significant presence of many larger vehicles such
as buses and delivery lorries. Unlike suburban and
rural areas which become quieter in the evening and
night, many areas of the city streets get less of a night
time reprieve from high levels of traffic, thus keeping
night time street level temperatures higher.
Finally, the urban heat island effect is worsened by

the complete removal of vegetation and green spaces
that all too often occurs when a city is developing.
Fig 2.4 Earth Observatory
Often the original natural landscape is completely
images from NASA showing the removed and what is built in its place is solely
relationship between vegetation
and temperature. The large constructed of the types of materials which cause
rectangle of Central Park is clear
as being both high in vegetation
the urban heat island effect. If some of the natural
and low in temperature [NASA, surfaces were to be maintained, or other natural
2006]
surfaces were to be introduced in a development, the
Page 24
vegetation would reduce the increased temperatures
caused by buildings, roads and transport through
evaporation. Unfortunately in reality as cities develop
very little of the removed vegetation is replaced, and
so the ability of the city to naturally regulate its own
temperature is lost.
2.2 Urban Heat Island Intensity
Ur
Urban heat islands are described by their intensity:
th
the temperature difference between the highest
te
temperature recorded in the city and the lowest
te
temperature recorded in the rural area surround
th
the city. In 2000, BRE carried out an in depth
mi
microclimate study of London with Brunel University
an
and found that the average midday temperature in
Lo
London city centre was 2 °C warmer than the city’s
ru
rural surroundings; therefore London’s urban heat
is
island intensity is 2 °C.
Th urban heat island intensity in the majority of

The
ca
cases reaches a peak at night time, due to a reduced
sk view factor in the city. The sky view factor
sky
de
describes the amount of sky visible from a surface
an
and is affected by the height and density of buildings,
th
therefore obviously reduced in the city. The greater
th
the sky view factor of a surface, the greater that
su
surfaces ability to cool down during the night. Some
ex
examples of sky view factors in areas of various
de
density can be seen in Fig. 2.5. The low density
an
and low height of buildings in rural areas means
th sky is more exposed and therefore there is more
the
op
opportunity for the heat to dissipate; contrastingly,
th
the air in the city is trapped amongst the high density
Fig. 2.5 Fish eye lens showing
sky views of (from top to bottom)
bu
buildings in something called the “canyon effect”.
the dense area of Wall Street, New The spaces in between city buildings - from alleys to
York, a less dense area of New
York at the Flatiron Building, and actual streets - tend to be extremely small in relation
a suburban street.
to their height. The subtle differences in building
height and the narrow spaces in between result in the
air pocketing in the gaps. These pockets of air begin
Page 25
to circulate almost in their own microclimate, as the
wind
wi is prevented by the differing heights of buildings
fr
from mingling with the trapped air. This prevents
ne fresh, cool air from being introduced to the
new,
sp
space during the night therefore keeping the ambient
ai
air in that space high in temperature. The behaviour
of the air in this situation reflects the behaviour seen
in nature: buildings become comparable to the high
Fig. 2.6 Air movement and
temperature in a typical built walls of a canyon; the alleys and streets are compared
environment - the canyon effect to the ravines formed between them; hence the
canyon effect.
The sky view factor and the canyon effect, combined

with the heat being emitted from surfaces which have
absorbed and stored it during the day, mean the
difference in diurnal and nocturnal temperatures in
cities is smaller than the difference in rural areas,
thus usually producing a more pronounced urban
heat island intensity at night. This has been seen
in a number of urban heat island studies worldwide;
the BRE study into the London urban heat island
showed an average intensity of 2°C at midday, which
rose to an average intensity of 8°C at midnight. A
2011 study of Glasgow’s urban heat island showed a
daytime intensity of only 1.5°C, while the night time
intensity reached nearly 5°C. [Emmanuel et al, 2011]
The same night time intensity is noted for cities
outwith the United Kingdom. A 1996 study carried
out by the Nanyang Technological University in
Singapore explored the urban heat island in the city
and showed that the diurnal temperature difference
between an urban weather station and a rural
weather station averaged 1.5°C while the nocturnal
temperature difference rose to 2.4°C. [Tso, 1996]
However, there have been some noted exceptions

to the rule, and it is not always the case that the
highest urban heat island intensity occurs at night.
A study in Shanghai showed that the urban heat
island intensity during the night was, on average,
Page 26
0.9°C while the average intensity in day time could be
slightly higher, reaching up to 2°C. [Tan et al, 2010]
The study offered no suggestion as to why the results
differed from the norm; the explanation could be
anything from the materiality of the buildings, to the
levels of traffic flow during the day and night.
2.3 Urban Heat Islands and Urban Population

Growth
Urban heat island intensities can range from

2 or 3°C to over 10°C, and a relationship has
been proven to exist between the size and
population of a city and its intensity; the larger
and more populated a city, the higher the
intensity. [BRE, 2000] Cities in the United
States of America are more likely to reach
Fig. 2.7 Projected Urban Population intensities of over 10°C when compared with
Growth [Skyscrapercity.com, 2007]
cities in Europe; this trend is thought to be
due to the higher number of tall buildings
and therefore higher densities common in US cities.
[BRE, 2000] This theory can be seen in practice
as some of the cities in Asia and Africa continue
to expand and grow towards mega city status. In
Shanghai the urban heat island intensity was barely
noticeable in the 1970’s, recorded as being around
0.2°C to 0.4°C. However by the mid 2000’s, as the
city had begun to go through its current population
and infrastructure growth, the intensity had risen to
average 1.6°C, thus consolidating the link between
population, city size and the presence of an urban
heat island. [Tan, 2010]
The proven link between population and high urban

heat island intensity is an increasingly relevant issue.
The world’s urban population recently reached 50%;
that is, half of all the people in the world live in a city.
In Britain, 90% of the population already live in cities.
The worldwide urban population is projected to rise to
70% by 2030, meaning more cities with more people
Page 27
and higher densities, resulting in worsening urban
heat island intensities. [Leake, 2009]
2.4 Urban Heat Islands and the Weather
In an often cold and wet country like the UK,

the concept of a phenomenon which increases
temperatures by up to 10 °C is very easy to welcome.
However, the urban heat island effect is in reality
a serious man made problem which manipulates
and alters the natural environment and the natural
systems of Earth.
There have been reports of increased rainfall

downwind of cities, due to the urban heat island
effect. The heat in the air rises as moisture and
eventually forms clouds which move with the wind
direction before producing rainfall. A 2002 NASA
study found that monthly rainfall rates up to 40 miles
downwind of cities including Atlanta and Dallas were,
on average, 28% higher than rainfall rates upwind of
the cities – and in some cases, up to 51% higher.
Perhaps surprisingly, this increase in rainfall has

been used positively a number of times. In 2005 the
Spanish government used the information published
by NASA to artificially create a heat island, in the
hope of encouraging increased rainfall on areas
ho
badly affected by drought, [Fuchs, 2005] while in
ba
2004 NASA published data which showed the urban
20
heat and increased rainfall was allowing extended
he
growing seasons in rural areas. NASA showed that
gr
when
wh closer to a city, crops and plants were able to
grow earlier in the spring and later in the autumn,
gr
extending the growing season for a year by up to 15
ex
days – a great benefit to the farmers making their
da
living from these crops.
li
Regardless, the manipulation of the rain in a region

Re
Fig. 2.8 Recent UK flooding
more often than not presents a cause for concern
Page 28
and can have a series of knock on effects. For one,
cities and towns are more susceptible to flooding than
rural areas. Naturally, any ground water caused by
rain would be absorbed by the vegetation and the
soil. This doesn’t happen in urban areas; the solid
asphalt roads cannot absorb the water and so often
high precipitation results in overflowing drains and
flooding. In recent years the devastating effects
of flooding has been apparent worldwide just by
wa
watching news coverage: floods have taken thousands
of lives in Bangladesh, Thailand, China, and central
Eu
Europe and the UK. In 2007 alone 8000 people died
wo
worldwide as a direct result of flooding [Met Office,
20
2010], not to mention the thousands more who died
or were ill after contracting associated diseases such
Fig. 2.9 Lightning striking the as typhoid and cholera. While there’s nothing to
top of the Burj Dubai, Dubai
suggest all or indeed any of these floods were due
to increased rainfall or were otherwise a by product
of the urban heat island effect, they highlight the
potential devastation of floods. Flooding can be
extremely deadly therefore, as an identified cause
of flooding, the urban heat island effect must be
addressed.
Th UK as a country is used to a lot of rain, and

The
is infamous for it worldwide. For this reason, it is
ea
easy to be blasé about the prospect of a “bit of rain”.
Ho
However, urban heat islands have been linked to
mo
more serious weather extremities. The humidity and
Fig. 2.10 Tornado in Miami he
heat in the air has been proven to cause thunder and
lightning storms. The combination of tall buildings,
long straight roads and narrow width to height street
ratios create the canyon effect mentioned previously.
The majority of the time the canyon effect produces
the sort of situation described previous: the air in
the spaces formed by the high buildings and narrow
streets remains warm as it is not possible for the
wind to travel down into the space to introduce fresh,
cool air. However when the canyons created by the
buildings and streets line up with the wind direction,
Page 29
the canyon effect creates a very different problem.
The void left between the buildings by the street
acts almost like a wind tunnel, and when lined up
with the wind direction it focuses and channels the
wind straight down the street, accelerating the wind
speed. This is common to every city - everyone has
experienced reaching the end of a city block with no
wind and feeling a sudden gush of wind as they meet
the street perpendicular to that which is orientated
the same as the wind direction. The problem with
this aspect of the canyon effect occurs when the city
is already experiencing extreme weather causing high
winds in general - such as storms or hurricanes.
The city-wide increase in wind speed becomes
ev
even more pronounced down these streets and can
ca
cause damage to the city’s buildings and endanger
pe
people’s lives. In 2006, members of the Shanghai
Ar
Architecture Association expressed concerns that the
ci
city’s skyscrapers could become dangerous due to
th
the strong wind gusts generated around them, with
hi
high placed advert boards, decorations and even
Fi
Fig. 2.11 Ne
New Orle
Orleans afte
after
Hurricane Katrina [Wordpress, glass curtain walling at risk from being shaken loose
2011] and falling to the street. While temporary measures
have been put into place, such as extra fixtures to
the at risk objects, and warning signs at ground
level, a representative of the Shanghai Architecture
Association stated that in the long term the only real
solution to the problem would be to limit the height of
skyscrapers, and increase the distance between them.
[Simeng, 2006]
Worryingly, urban heat islands have even been

linked to extreme weather such as tornadoes and
hurricanes. In 2010 the University of Shanghai
published research which shows that hurricanes and
tornadoes are attracted to cities, and can be diverted
off their naturally intended path by the presence of a
city. [Lucibella, 2010] The research likens the city
to a rugged landscape not dissimilar to a forest: the
buildings of different designs, shapes and heights
Page 30
are as irregular as hundreds of individually unique
trees; different areas of the city can have subtle
differences in temperature dependent on material
choice, building form, building height. The slight
differences in height and temperature result in
hundreds of air pockets forming in the gaps between
buildings, which store energy and are constantly in a
state of delicate balance. These small volatile spaces
amount to a wealth of potential energy constantly
available in the air around a city. Weather storms
such as hurricanes and tornados seek out potential
energy in order to feed themselves and keep them
“alive” therefore cities, with their wealth of energy
just hanging in the air, are ideal targets for a weather
storm. The Shanghai research states that storms
can be moved up to 20 miles from their predicted
path [Lucibella, 2010] which could make a massive
difference to the damage, both to property and lives, a
storm will cause – a far more daunting prospect than
a rainy day.
2.5 Urban Heat Islands and Health
In addition to the effects an urban heat island can

have on weather conditions in and around a city,
there are proven links between the urban heat island
effect and a number of health problems.
2.5.1 Heat Waves
In the summer of 2003 London experienced a ten day

heat wave, with temperatures in the city reaching
highs of 35 °C, 6 °C higher than the surrounding
rural areas. [Leake, 2009] The urban heat island
effect not only causes maximum diurnal temperatures
to be significantly higher, but the higher heat island
intensity during the night means that the city does
not have an opportunity to cool down; Leake (2009)
writes that during the August 2003 heat wave,
night time temperatures in London were 9 °C higher
Page 31
than rural temperatures. The high
th
nocturnal temperatures in the city
no
ca
can have devastating results; without
th cool night time reprieve, deaths
the
du
during heat waves have been proven
to rise, with over 2000 more deaths
th
than normal reported during the
Au
August 2003 heat wave. [Leake,
20
2009] In the whole of Europe that
su
summer, 35, 000 people died as a
re
result of the heat waves. Publications
by the Met Office in 2010 indicate
th
that by 2040 the temperatures and
Fig. 2.12 Graph showing
du
duration of the 2003 heat wave will be
increases in mortalities during considered average, and by 2060 the 2003 heat wave
2003 heat waves
will be considered a cool summer. Therefore there
is a need to address the high urban temperatures
and reduce the urban heat island intensities, before
increasing global temperatures mean they literally
become a matter of life or death.
While the temperatures in 2003 were unusual for

a city in a cool climate like London, heat waves are
much more common in hotter climates therefore
the addition of urban heat to these areas is a very
regular and very real concern. A 2010 study carried
out by Tan, Zheung et al of the Shanghai Urban
Environmental Meteorology Center examined the
relationship between the urban heat island and heat
waves in Shanghai. It found that the urban centre of
Shanghai was significantly more likely to experience
a heat wave of a prolonged length than the suburban
and rural areas of the city. Between 1975 and 2004
there were 39 heat waves lasting more than 3 days
in the urban area, and only 14 in the rural area; 18
urban heat waves lasting more than 5 days compared
to 5 in rural areas; and 9 heat waves lasting more
than 7 days recorded in the urban area, compared
with only 3 in the rural. Additionally, 5 heat waves
lasting more than 10 days were recorded within
Page 32
the city centre, while the rural areas recorded no
heat waves of this duration at all. The study also
examined excess mortality rates during the heat wave
periods - the rate of deaths above the average for that
time of year - and found that during the 1998 heat
waves, there was an excess mortality rate of 27.3 per
100,000 population in the urban area of Shanghai,
compared to only 8.01 per 100,000 in the rural area.
2.5.2 Air Quality
It’s no secret that cities are polluted places: the

modern city has long since been associated with
images of endless queues of cars and buses,
congested streets filled with vehicles pumping out
fumes; and many cities are closely associated with
industry, with factory funnels dispersing their waste
into the air. Pollution is an unavoidable side effect of
city living, the reduction in air quality and our health
being traded off against the benefits of living in the
city. What is less well known is how the urban heat
island can effect pollution; both by creating it, and by
trapping it.
Ozone is a molecule which has shown to be

hazardous to health. It is produced when certain
compounds react with radiation from ultraviolet
light and heat. Cities are closely linked with the
production of ozone. The high numbers of vehicles
present in every city produce high levels of these
compounds, while high temperatures and humidity,
caused by the urban heat island effect, cause levels
of infrared radiation to increase thus causing higher
levels of ozone to be produced. Urban ozone can
irritate respiratory systems, affecting breathing and
causing illnesses such as asthma and bronchitis,
as well as being linked with heart attacks and even
shortened life expectancies. [Cheung, 2010]
As well as being breeding grounds for ozone, the city

Page 33
itself creates additional pollution through vehicle
fumes, waste heat and waste energy from buildings,
which constantly hangs in the air. As with ozone,
this pollution can cause serious respiratory problems.
The urban heat island’s role is played out at night
time, when the intensity is at its highest. The
ground level hot air from the day time rises, lifting
the pollution with it. As the polluted air rises and
cools, it will meet cooler air above the city; when the
higher air and the rising polluted air reach the same
temperature and neutralise, the air stops rising. The
pollution which has been lifted from
ground level stays suspended above
the city, creating what is referred to
as a “dust dome” over the city, more
commonly known as smog. [Ritter,
2009] The effect of the “dust dome”
is that the occupants of the city
are never breathing in fresh, clean
unpolluted air at street level as it
Fig. 2.13 Los Angeles skyline cannot move through the thick polluted air. Figure
showing “dust dome” [UCLA,
2008] 2.13 is of Los Angeles, California, USA and illustrates
the “dust dome”, seen in stark contrast with the clear
blue sky above.
2.6 Urban Heat Islands and Climate Change
The existence of the urban heat island effect is long

established; the conditions in which the effect occurs
are also widely recognised and accepted, as are the
detrimental effects on weather and health associated
with the urban heat island. There are widely
accepted methods of mitigating the urban heat island
effect, as will be discussed in the following chapter.
However one area which still remains unclear is the
relationship, if any, between urban heat islands,
global warming and climate change.
The official scientific opinion on climate change

is generally taken from the reports by the
Page 34
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the most
recent of which was published in 2007. With regards
to urban heat islands, it stated that “the global
land warming trend discussed is very unlikely to be
influenced significantly by increasing urbanisation”
and concluded that the urban heat island effect only
affects localised climate, not global climate. [IPCC,
2007] This position is supported from a number
of other sources. David E Parker of the Met Office
stated in 2005 that urban heat was responsible for
between 0.01°C and 0.05°C of the 0.1°C per decade
rise in global temperatures witnessed between
1950 and 1998, and was therefore insignificant as
a stand-alone cause of climate change. This view
was reiterated in June 2011, when Rohintol
Emmanuel and Eduardo Kruger of Glasgow
Caledonian University’s Centre for Energy and
the Built Environment, part of the School of
the Built and Natural Environment, stated
in a presentation that, as cities covered only
3% of the Earth’s surface, the presence of
worldwide global warming trends could not be
Fig. 2.14 Predicted impact of climate
change globally attributed to the urban heat island effect: hot
spots accounting for only 3% of the earth could not
cause increases in temperature in the other 97%.
Finally, in 2011 Stanford University in the United
States of America published findings from a study
entitled “Effect of Urban Surfaces and Cool Roofs on
Global and Regional Climate”. The study quantified
the proportion of global warming which may have
been caused by the urban heat island effect as being
between 2% and 4%, while attributing 79% of climate
change to greenhouse gases. [Jacobson et al, 2011]
However there are also those who maintain that

global warming is caused solely by the urban
heat island effect and not through increases in
CO2. This group believe that global warming is not
caused through the increased emissions, but by the
change of land use that occurs from natural to built
Page 35
environment, and the accompanying urban heat
island effect. The opinion of this group is widely
discarded by scientists as a conspiracy theory, part
of global warming scepticism and exists primarily
online in the blogosphere; however, publications
into the theory do exist. The argument is based
on the fact that the majority of stations recording
temperature worldwide over the last 100 years have
been positioned in ever growing urban areas and
therefore the increases noted in “global” temperatures
are in fact increases in urban heat island intensities
as the cities in which these temperatures are being
recorded have expanded. [Fijibu, 2010] Fijibu goes
on to state that a population as little as 1000 can
increase localised temperatures by 2.2°C therefore
even temperature increases out with cities can be
attributed to the urban heat island effect.
Regardless of the relationship between the urban

heat island effect and global climate change, the
urban heat island effect remains a significant issue
for consideration. We are now at the point where the
existence of the urban heat island effect has been
proven beyond doubt. Its characteristics, causes and
potentially negative effects are understood and have
been witnessed. The next natural step for urban heat
island research is the mitigation of the effect – what
can we do to reduce the heat and therefore reduce the
side effects?
Page 36
3. The Role of Architecture

in Urban Heat Islands
A city’s buildings are absolutely vital to its ability to

function, its identity and its existence. Buildings
are landmarks, making city skylines instantly
recognisable and giving the city so much of the
character and personality for which it is known,
individual to each city – the sleek corporate
skyscrapers of Manhattan, compared to the fairy tale
expressive forms of Gaudi’s buildings in Barcelona.
Even two city’s in the same country are made to look
and feel totally different by their architecture - the
medieval forms of Edinburgh’s Old Town compared
to the Neo-classical designs common in Glasgow,
only an hour away. In an increasing urban world,
buildings still manage to make every city unique.
However their materiality and design is a massive
contributing factor to the urban heat island effect,
and it is for this reason that it is vital that architects
have knowledge of the effect and design with it in
mind.
3.1 Cool Roofs
Roofs
Ro account for about 25% of a city’s surface
area,
ar [Akbari, 2008] therefore the heat absorbed
and
an released by roofs has a notable impact on the
city’s
ci temperature. There are two main ways in
which
wh designers can reduce the urban heat island
effect
ef through roof design; cool roofs, and green roof.
Creating
Cr a cool roof involves coating the traditional
dark,
da tar and asphalt roof coverings which attract and
Fig. 3.1 Thermal representation hold heat, with light coloured coverings and materials
of a cool roof [Weathershield,
2009] which reflect more sunlight and therefore more heat.
The traditional dark roof materials can absorb 90%
of the sun’s heat energy, while a lighter roof will only
absorb 10%. [Barringer, 2009] When the sunlight
and heat is reflected, it reduces the amount of heat
Page 37
being transferred into the building, thus reducing air
conditioning demand, and also reduces the amount
of latent heat which would be transferred back into
the air at night, thus reducing the urban heat island
intensity.
The Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) has

invested in urban heat island mitigation programs
since the 1990s, including tree planting, using trees
for shading properties and cool surface programs:
the SMUD Cool Roof program was launched in 2001.
One roof was studied during the conversion process
and surface temperature measurements showed
the uncoated asphalt part of the roof had a surface
temperature of 160°F (71°C) while the coated cool roof
had a temperature of 100°F (37.8°C). The Cool Roofs
program has been applied to more than 500 buildings
and 8.8 million square foot of roof space in the
Sacramento area since 2001, and has been estimated
to have reduced energy cooling loads for the District
by 20%. [Sarkovich, 2009] The SMUD Cool Roofs
program was a retroactive program, replacing the roof
coverings of existing buildings, however there is no
reason why the success of the program in reducing
temperatures and energy demands cannot be applied
to new build projects as well.
Similar programs have been running in the European

Union; the EU Cool Roofs Project was set up to
establish and address the technical, marketing,
maintenance and policy aspects of cool roofs, and
ran from September 2008 to February 2011. It had a
number of aims; to promote the concept of cool roofs
over the EU; to identify any barriers to cool roofs; to
identify potential legislation and policies which could
be implemented to develop the growth and popularity
of cool roofs; and to develop cool roof materials
databases and technical data to assist in the design
and material selection for cool roofs. [Synnefa, 2009]
The research supports that of the SMUD program in
Page 38
America – air conditioning energy savings of up to
40% were proven, and the urban heat island effect
was shown to be mitigated by between 1°C and 2°C.
[Synnefa, 2009]
Despite significant worldwide awareness of cool roofs

and their benefits, roofs are still generally being
designed in the traditional way, using the traditional
dark materials. This reluctance to switch to cool
roofs is attributed to poor aesthetics – the roofs get
dirty quickly, while the white roofs are considered
basic and unattractive by most architects. [NASA,
2006] Recently, in response to this, materials have
been developed which allow roofs to maintain a
traditional appearance or colour, while still lowering
temperature.
A cool roof doesn’t need to be pure

white; a recent study showed that a
20% energy saving can be achieved
by increasing the albedo of a roof
covering from 0.2 to 0.6. [Akbari,
2008] Therefore the reluctance
Fig. 3.2 Albedos of of designers to simply paint their
American Rooftile Cool
Coatings [American Rooftile roofs white need not impact on the adoption of cool
Coatings, 2009] Upper shows roofs. Research by Berkeley University investigated
reflectiveness of the cool
concrete tile; lower row shows a layering technique which allows concrete roof tiles
reflectiveness of a standard
concrete tile of the same to be created which look like traditional roof tiles and
colour; numbers in black show are constructed like traditional roof tiles, but which
reflectance gain
have a higher albedo. The layering consists of a
structural layer, made of a traditional material, and
then a reflective layer such as a white acrylic, before
a traditionally coloured topcoat such as a red-brown
is applied. The result is an entire range of roof tiles
which look identical to traditional materials, but
which are more reflective, therefore creating a cool
roof (Fig. 3.2). [Levinson, 2009] The roof tiles are
already in the market, being produced by American
Rooftile Coatings, who have used them on a number
of retrofit projects, an example of which is seen in Fig.
Page 39
3.3.
3.
In the light of a market presence for cool roof

materials, the Cool Roof Rating Council (CRRC)
ma
wa established to provide unbiased information on
was
co
cool roof materials, assessing them on the basis of
th
their solar reflectance and thermal emissivity. The
CR
CRRC advises design professionals on cool roof
ma
materials and developments, and has compiled online
da
databases with material information in order to assist
an
and encourage the growth of cool roofs. [Hao, 2009]
In October 2011, findings of a study by Stanford

Un
University questioned the success of cool and white
Fig. 3.3 American Rooftile
Coatings in application [American roofs as a tool for urban heat island mitigation by
Rooftile
Coatings, 2009] suggesting that mass uptake of cool roofs would in
fact cause temperatures to rise. It showed that,
while painting surfaces white was proven to reduce
the surface temperatures across the city, the overall
effect on air temperature would be an increase, due
to reduced cloud cover. The study explained that
the lower surface temperatures meant less moisture
in the city, reducing the amount of moisture which
rose in the atmosphere to form clouds. The reduced
cloud cover meant higher levels of sunlight reaching
the city, making them warmer. Additionally, the
increased sunlight in the atmosphere, created by
both the reduced cloud cover and the increased
reflectance of the city’s surfaces, meant the air quality
was actually reduced as the sunlight reacted with
pollutants such as carbon and ozone. [Jacobson et
al, 2011] It is still unclear at present whether this
predicted side effect of mass uptake of cool roofs
would offset the reduction in urban heat island
intensities afforded by the reduction in absorbed heat
by roofs ad the resultant decrease in energy demand
for air conditioning internally.
Page 40
3.2 Vegetation
The relationship between vegetation and reduced

temperatures is long established in urban heat island
research. It is partially the removal of vegetation - the
natural environment - to create the built environment
that causes the existence of the urban heat island
effect in the first place, and it has been acknowledged
for some time that reintroducing more vegetation
to the materiality of cities would take steps towards
reducing the urban heat island effect. Increasing
vegetation is one area of urban heat island mitigation
that architecture has begun to experiment with and
integrate into building and urban design, through
green roofs, living walls and street planting.
3.2.1 Green Roofs
Green roofs involve the installation of irrigation

systems and vegetation onto a building’s roof in place
of the traditional tar or asphalt roofs. Worldwide
there are a variety of green roofs installed, some
consisting simply of grass, others creating elaborate
roof top gardens; some designed to attract and
Fig. 3.4 Typical greenroof
construction [Architect’s Journal, enhance local wildlife, some designed to lower energy
2008]
costs to the building.
One of the most unique green

roofs in the world today is the
High Line in New York City.
Built on top of an old freight
train line formerly used to
deliver goods and mail across
Manhattan, conversion of the
section of elevated rail line
into a public park began in
2006 with the official opening
of the garden happening in
Fig. 3.5 The High Line, New June 2011. It is classed as a
York green roof and not merely an
Page 41
elevated public park due to its method of irrigation
and form of construction, with shops located beneath
most of it, and the fact it is designed as a stormwater
management system. The piece of historic railway
was rescued by members of the local community
who formed a group called Friends of the High Line,
fighting alongside the City of New York against its
destruction. They argued that it represented a vital
stage of New York’s industrial history and industrial
architecture and should be preserved and maintained
as a public park for the people of New York to use
and reflect upon their history. The design reflects
The High Line’s railroad past, with the original rail
tracks incorporated into the design and the plant
formations and path layouts echoing those of track
junctions. Additionally in many places the plant
formations take the form of narrow rows growing
between the paving, reflecting the way foliage is seen
to grow on other unused railways. Three quarters of
the plants along the high line are native to New York,
consolidating The High Line as a place the people
of New York can feel belongs to them and honours
their history. Stretching for nearly a mile and a half
through Manhattan, it is classed as the longest green
roof in the world and has provided the people living in
and visiting Manhattan a piece of green space in an
otherwise densely constructed city. [The High Line,
2011]
Another fascinating green roof project in New York is

the Brooklyn Grange urban farm, located in Queens.
The farm is located on the roof of a rented warehouse
an
and at almost 1 acre, it is the largest urban farm in
th world. Founded in 2009, Brooklyn Grange has
the
co
completed a full successful growing season, growing
ev
everything from tomatoes, carrots, beets and beans
to a variety of herbs right in the middle of a New York
Ci borough. The produce is all organically grown
City
Fig. 3.6 Brooklyn Grange, and sold as local markets, to local restaurants and
Queens, New York
supermarkets, as well as being available to individual
Page 42
members of the public. [Reddy, 2010]
The High Line and Brooklyn Grange were both green

roofs created with a specific vision, improving the
social and environmental conditions for the people
living in that area and are for this reason very unique
and unusual green roofs. Generally, green roofs
are built as the internal benefits of having them are
realised - increased insulation, decreased heating
bills, opportunities for stormwater management.
Indeed, the largest green roof in the world was not
built as a public environmental haven, but is rather
su
surprisingly found atop a Ford car manufacturing
fa
factory.
Th green roof on the Ford Dearborn Truck Assembly

The
pl
plant in Dearborn, Michigan, United States of
Am
America, is approximately 10.4 acres in area and has
been officially recognised by the Guinness Book of
Records as the largest green roof in the world from
20
2004 onwards. The roof was created from 9 types of
se
sedum which were all selected and tested for their
ab
ability to thrive in the Michigan climate with little
ma
maintenance. The roof was originally created with the
ho
hope of a number of benefits as a return: protection
of the roof membrane, retention of rain water,
sa
savings in energy loads, introduction of wildlife and
Fig. 3.7 Ford Dearborn Truck
Assembly Plant, Michigan, USA improvement of air quality.
While the final verdict on the success of the world’s

largest green roof in meeting these aims has not
been officially declared, the results to date have
proven promising with all of their intended benefits
materialising in some form. A 2007 article published
by GreenRoofs.org stated that the Ford Dearborn
plant was reporting a 7% decrease in energy use
when compared to other plants of a similar size,
due to the green roof. It was also estimated that
the roof was capable of retaining about 50% of the
yearly rainfall experienced in the area which could
Page 43
then be treated naturally through a stormwater
th
management system containing wetland ponds which
ma
wa rolled out over the entire Ford plant site. The
was
Gr
GreenRoofs article says that this natural stormwater
ma
management system saved Ford millions of dollars
th
that they would otherwise have had to pay to install
wa
water treatment facilities made mandatory by the
En
Environmental Protection Agency. In terms of
en
environmental impact, the roof was estimated to have
im
improved the local air quality by about 40% due to
th vegetation assisting with absorbing and removing
the
ha
harmful pollutants from the air. Finally, a 25%
Fig. 3.8 The Wedge, Pollok,
Glasgow improvement in wildlife to the plant site was reported,
with bees even being spotted gathering honey from
the sedum on the roof. [GreenRoofs, 2007] The Ford
Dearborn green roof is one of the most unlikely roofs,
positioned on top of a building usually associated
with negative environmental statistics, therefore the
reported success of the project says a lot about the
environment and economic positives of green roofs.
While the United Kingdom does not have green roofs

on the same scale as the United States, Glasgow is
home to a few small projects. A community resource
ce
centre in the Pollok area of Glasgow, nicknamed “The
We
Wedge” due to its unusual form, was constructed in
20
2005 with a sedum roof. A green roof was chosen
fo
for the project in order to improve insulation within
th
the building and keep heating costs down, while
al
also giving the residents of a tenement overlooking
th
the building a more aesthetically pleasing view than
a traditional roof. [glasgowarchitecture, 2005] A
se
second example of a green roof found in Glasgow
is at Glasgow Harbour, a residential development
wh
which is situated at the River Clyde forming part of
th
the riverfront revival occurring in the area over recent
ye
years. The green roof was installed in response to a
pr
problem concerning how to place the resident’s multi-
Fig. 3.9 Glasgow Harbour Roof storey parking facilities close to the apartments,
Garden, Glasgow
without resulting in many apartments having the
Page 44
top of a garage as their view. The green roof creates
a garden for use by the residents in the lower space
between towers of residences. [GreenRoofs, 2010]
When compared with more simple cool roofs, green

roofs generally tend to be the preferred aesthetic
choice among architects looking to consider
sustainability in their designs, however they are still
not commonly used, as they are considered heavy,
difficult to design and complex to maintain. [Roth,
2010] However, a higher uptake of green roofs could
have a massive effect on the mitigation of the urban
heat island effect. Research by Columbia University
showed that green roofs could reduce the amount of
heat absorbed by a building by 84% in the summer,
while lowering the surface temperature by nearly
60°C when compared to traditional tar and asphalt
roofs. [Extance, 2010]
The benefits of green roofs have

been recognised internationally. In
May 2010, the City of Copenhagen
launched a new policy which stated
that all roofs under 30° in pitch
should be green roofs, including
any refitting of old roofs. It is hoped
Fig. 3.10 Stuttgart’s urban that 5000m2 of green roofs will be
heat island [SustainableCities,
2010] added to the city each year, helping the city reach
its carbon targets while reducing the urban heat
island effect. [Nusca, 2010] In Germany, 50% of
local city governments offer incentives such as a
reduction in utility fees for owners of buildings with
green roofs, and it is estimated that 15% of flat roof
buildings in Germany have a green roof: in Stuttgart,
22% of all buildings have a green roof, and inner
city temperatures there remain closer to the rural
surroundings as seen in Fig. 3.10. Various German
cities have included green roof legislation in their
building regulations, with Munich and Stuttgart
having the legislation from as early as 1984 and 1989
Page 45
respectively. A similar story is seen in Switzerland,
where the cities of Zurich, Basel and Luzern require
all flat roofs to be green in their building codes; in
2005 alone, Switzerland added 15 million m2 of green
roofs to its cities. [GreenRoofs, 2011]
Green roofs have been part of legislation in Europe for

over 20 years, yet the UK remains behind in this area.
In 2010 London Mayor Boris Johnson launched the
Climate Change Adaption Strategy, which required
green roofs, and where not feasible cool roofs, on flat
roofed buildings in the city. However the requirement
only applies to the main areas of the city, such as the
City of London, Westminster and Camden, and only
applies to new major public buildings. The scheme
aims to develop 100,000m2 of green roofs in 2 years,
a tiny fraction of what Switzerland achieved in a
single year. [GreenRoofs, 2011]
Th same reluctance to deviate from the norm, as

The
se
seen with cool roofs, is seen with green roofs. It is
tr
true that green roofs are more difficult to design
th
than traditional roofs, but they are certainly not
im
impossible, and with enough consideration of the
ro
roof early in the design process, green roofs can be
Fig. 3.11 A Toyota roof tile
[Toyota, 2010]
hugely successful. The area of green roofs has seen
development with new methods being created to
simplify the design, installation and maintenance. In
20
2001, the Toyota Motor Corporation launched a new
su
sub-company called Toyota Roof Garden Corporation,
in alliance with a landscape construction company,
wh
which produces a new way to install green roofs
bo
both onto new build projects and retroactively onto
ex
existing buildings. [Toyota, 2010] The system uses
Fig. 3.12 Chicago City Hall roof recycled car bumpers, remoulded to form container
[Toyota, 2010]
units into which soil, plants and shrubs can be
planted, with the irrigation feeding in through holes
in the underside of the container. (Fig. 3.11) The
units are designed to be simple to install, while the
grass and plants used are selected based on ease of
Page 46
maintenance for the garden. The tiles have been used
on a number of successful projects, including the roof
of Chicago City Hall, as seen in Fig. 3.12. [Del Percio,
2007]
3.2.2 Living walls
Living walls, or green walls, are another way in which

vegetation can be used in architecture to improve air
quality and temperature conditions in urban areas.
A living wall is like a vertical version of a green roof,
with plants, shrubs and flowers being used to form
a building’s facade. Living walls share a number of
problems with green roofs, namely they are difficult
to install and difficult to maintain. The technical
considerations of holding the weight of soil vertically
are even greater than the similar complications with
green roofs, and with accessibility problems, the
plants are even more difficult to maintain. However,
with a bit of innovation, they have proven very
successful on many projects worldwide.
Green Over Grey, a Canadian design

company who specialise in installing
living walls onto existing buildings,
completed the largest living wall
in North America in 2010. The
Semiahmoo Public Library in Surrey,
British Columbia is 280m2 and
features over 10,000 plants. The
living wall was designed to impact
as little as possible on the existing
concrete wall: in order to achieve
this, Green Over Grey designed a
waterproofed frame which could
Fig. 3.13 Semiahmoo Public be fixed to the concrete, leaving a
Library, before and after [Green
Over Grey, 2010] cavity between the living wall and original wall. It
is onto this frame that the irrigation system to feed
the plants is installed; the system is soil free thus
Page 47
it is 90% lighter than living walls which do use soil.
The plants were positioned in the frame to form a
design of colour and shape, and the result is both
beautiful and beneficial: the installation of the wall
reduced the building’s energy demands by around
20%, while reducing ambient air temperatures by up
to 7°C and also attracting wildlife like butterflies and
hummingbirds. [Justa, 2010]
Another notable living wall was installed at the

An
headquarters of the European Environment Agency in
he
Co
Copenhagen. Again installed over an existing facade,
the foliage was in this case arranged to represent a
th
map of Europe, earning the wall the name “Europe in
ma
Bloom”. [Hattam, 2010] The living wall was always
Bl
intended to be temporary therefore it was vital that
in
Fig. 3.14 “Europe in Bloom”
[EEA, 2010] it could be installed, maintained and removed with
minimal damage to the existing facade. The wall was
mi
fixed to the facade via a lightweight steel frame, as
seen in Fig. 3.15. The grids of the frame into which
se
plants were placed were filled with felt, back with
pl
plywood. The felt allows constant moisture to the
pl
plants: irrigation came from the top of the building,
pl
feeding down the wall before being drained at the
fe
base of the building. The grids which were not to
ba
have plants in them were fitted with a transparent
ha
covering to allow natural light into the existing
co
windows
wi of the original facade. [Hartman, 2010]
Fig. 3.15 Balcony detail of
“Europe in Boom” [EEA, 2010]
The “Europe in Bloom” living wall served as a
statement of commitment by the European Union to
promote and protect biodiversity in its cities. It has
since been moved to the University of Copenhagen.
While at the EEA headquarters, the wall proved to
provide additional insulation to the building, as well
as improving the air quality by absorbing dust and
pollution. An increase in birds and insects in the
area around the building was also noted, proving that
the smallest green space can increase biodiversity.
[Hattam, 2010]
Page 48
Both the Semiahmoo Public Library and the “Europe
in Bloom” living walls had the advantage of significant
funding behind them, allowing the specially designed
frame and irrigation systems seen in both projects
to be researched and developed to ensure success
of the living wall. Not all projects suited to a living
wall have these funds at their disposal therefore
living walls remain most commonly seen on larger
public projects. However, a Spanish company have
developed a product which could see living walls be
installed on any project.
A Spanish ceramic tile company called Ceracasa

have developed two materials which work in harmony
ha
to create living walls. Lifewall is a 1m2 tile which
is designed to support drip irrigated plants, which
means minimal maintenance and automatic watering
me
for the plants. The other material, Bionictile, is a
fo
Fig. 3.16 Bionictile and Lifewall
porcelain tile which absorbs pollution and converts
po
tiles [Ceracasa, 2010] it to nitro fertilizer. Ceracasa’s intention is for the
Bionictile to be used to improve air quality and reduce
pollution, while the converted fertilizer it can produce
can be absorbed by the plants in the Lifewall tiles
to feed and maintain themselves. [Mok, 2010] The
modular nature of the two tiles mean that they can be
arranged to form any sort of pattern, while any plants
can be placed in the Lifewall tile. Ceracasa tested
5m2 of the Bionictile and found that it could reduce
the pollutants in the air by up to 76%. [Ceracasa,
2010]
The urban heat island effect is essentially caused by

the removal of vegetation from urban places, therefore
green roofs and living walls are an excellent way of
restoring the lost greenery. It is important to note
that not every project is suited to a green roof or living
wall; it’s not a case of covering all of a city’s facades
with vegetation. The diversity in materials seen in
cities are part of what makes them identifiable and
Page 49
perhaps if all buildings were clad in living walls that
identity would be lost. However, where green roofs
and living walls are not suitable, vegetation can be
used at street level to just as effectively reduce the
urban heat island effect.
3.2.3 Street level planting
Generally, city streets are stripped bare of any trees

and planting in favour of maximising pedestrian
areas and exposure to shop fronts. But research has
shown that street level planting can have a significant
effect on mitigating the urban heat island effect.
Trees
Tr growing close to buildings can have an effect
on the building’s temperature, internally and
externally, and as a result a significant effect on the
ex
air conditioning requirements. The trees themselves
ai
absorb heat thus reducing the localised temperature
ab
by up to 5°C [US EPA, 2009], but also reduce
temperatures and energy demands by providing
te
shade for the building. The tree can lower the surface
sh
Fig. 3.17 Street planting on Las
Ramblas, Barcelona [Wordpress, temperature externally by up to 25°C [US EPA, 2009]
2010] which in turn lowers the internal temperature of the
building thus lowering air conditioning requirements.
The tree can also act as a buffer to direct sunlight
if positioned to cast shadow on a window, thus
reducing solar gain and again lessening the need
for air conditioning. In addition to the Cool Roof
Program, SMUD has ran a Shade Tree program in the
Sacramento area since 1990. Initially, SMUD ran a
test program from 1991 to 1993 in order to determine
wherein lay the most significant benefits of using
trees for shade. They found that over the test period,
a single tree planted to the west of a building could
provide, on average, a $125 saving in energy demand.
[Sarkovich, 2009] A US EPA study of 5 US cities
found the average cost of a tree over a year, including
planting and pruning, was $50, showing that shade
trees can save money while reducing the urban heat
Page 50
island effect.
3.3 Innovation
Recently, the urban heat island effect has sparked a

new field of research into its mitigation. In addition
to developing the mitigation techniques already
known – improving green roofs like Toyota, making
living walls simpler like Ceracasa – some groups have
been carrying out innovating and pioneering research,
developing brand new building materials to address
the urban heat island effect.
One such group from the National and

Kapodistrian University of Athens have
been researching the potential of using
thermochromic coatings and materials
for building claddings. Thermochromic
coatings react to sunlight and
change colour in response to external
Fig. 3.18 An example of a
thermochromic material
conditions; so in low light and temperature the
coatings would be dark to allow the building to
absorb heat, and in bright hot conditions the coating
could turn light to reflect heat. Experiments showed
the thermochromic coatings on a concrete tile can
reduce surface temperatures by between 3.4°C and
6.8°C when compared when an identical sample
coated with a cool coating, and by between 5.4°C and
10°C when compared with an uncoated tile. [Karlessi
et al, 2009]
Thermochromic coatings are a material which

could be quickly adopted in architecture. It would
create buildings which are constantly adapting,
an entirely different colour in the morning than in
the afternoon and evening, with all facades having
subtle differences to their colour. It is a material
that architects could get excited about, all the while
helping to reduce the urban heat island effect.
Page 51
An
Another group from Osaka City
University are exploring the possibility
Un
of using retroreflective materials.
Standard reflective materials and
bright colours reflect the heat and
br
light away from a surface by diffusing
li
Fig. 3.19 Diffuse reflection and it into the air. It is bounced back
retroreflection [Sakai, 2009]
in many directions. In the case of the urban heat
island effect, this means the heat may not be getting
absorbed by a building, but could still be trapped
between two tall buildings as it is reflected back
into the air, thus keeping ambient air temperatures
high. Retroreflective materials only return the light
and heat in the direction it came from; in the case of
urban heat islands, the sun. They are currently most
commonly used on road signs at night.
The Osaka group’s experiments showed that, when

compared to a high reflective white material, a
retroreflective material could reduce the surface
temperature of the initial building by 0.3°C, the
road surfaces around it by 0.5°C and any opposite
buildings by 0.4°C, the reduction in road and
opposite building temperatures coming from a
decrease in surrounding ambient air temperature.
[Sakai, 2009]
Page 52
4. The Next Step
The urban heat island effect has come into its

own as an environmental issue for consideration
separate from climate change. The scientists and
climatologists have carried out their part; the effect
has been discovered, researched, established and
understood. The next step is mitigation, and this is
where architecture has a role to play.
The issues of environment and sustainability are

nothing new to architecture, but the urban heat
island raises a new, unique set of considerations.
Architecture and design thus far has been concerned
with the internal environment of a building: how
the fenestration affects internal temperatures; how
the orientation affects internal conditions; how the
insulation affects the interior spaces; how the air
moves through the building internally. In terms
of sustainability, the most praised of Eco Buildings
such as those built in the PassivHaus style pride
themselves on internal airtight quality, effectively
containing the building. While climatologists may
still have to definitively answer what the relationship
between the urban heat island effect and climate
change is, the architectural response to the two
issues is already clearly different. In order to address
the urban heat island effect, now is the time for
a greater consideration of the external conditions
caused by a building.
For instance: how does the external material choice

of a single building affect the localised air quality and
temperature in the street? How in turn could this
affect the building’s neighbours? What effect does
building geometry have on the urban heat island?
Could the construction material impact on the
ambient air temperature? Architects must consider
Page 53
the design of the street, the neighbourhood and the
city as much as the design of the building.
And these considerations are not unique to new

builds. The urban heat island was first recorded
over 200 years ago, and has logically existed as long
as cities have. How do new construction materials
compare to traditional materials and their effect on
the air around them? With the modern move to steel
and glass structures, are we improving the urban
air conditions, or do the solid stone structures of
the past prove to lessen the urban heat island effect
more effectively? And how does building form and
detail influence the city environment? Do older
buildings, which tend to be more sculptural and
decorated, retain more heat in their reveals and
crevices than the typical flat and flush modern
facades? The urban environment is diverse, much
like the natural environment is, and as the designers
of this environment architects have the responsibility
to understand their creations and their impacts, in
order to make informed design decisions to benefit
the lives of all living in cities.
Page 54
5. The Urban Heat Island

in Glasgow
Th presence of an urban heat island in Glasgow has

The
tw
twice been explored, once in 1977 and for a second
time in February 2011.
ti
5.
5.1 1977 Study
Th first study was carried out by undergraduate

The
ge
geography student Michael Hartley at The University
of Strathclyde in 1975 and published in 1977. The
st
study covered an area from Bishopbriggs to Clarkston
(n
(north to south) and Renfrew to Uddingston (west
to east). The study was carried out at night, when
Fig. 5.1 Results of 1977
Glasgow urban heat island urban heat island intensities are at their greatest,
study [Hartley, 1977]
and found that an urban heat island of 6-7°C existed
in Glasgow city centre at night time. Glasgow’s
urban heat island is radial in nature, with the
hottest temperatures forming a centre point and
te
temperatures getting consistently cooler in all
di
directions away from the city centre. The hottest
point of the city centre was situated to the east, in
po
the Merchant City and Dennistoun area. The study
th
al
also discovered that the River Clyde acted as a divide
for the urban heat, with two distinct heat islands
fo
being formed on either side of the river; the centre of
be
the south heat island formed over the Tradeston and
th
Gorbals area. [Hartley, 1977]
Go
5.
5.2 2011 Study
In February and March of 2011, Glasgow Caledonian

Un
University’s Centre for Energy and the Built
Environment, part of the School of the Built and
En
Natural Environment, carried out a microclimate
Na
Fig. 5.2 Results of 2011 Glasgow study of Glasgow. The group established 6 weather
urban heat island study - average
diurnal results [Emmanuel et al, stations on a north-south axis through the city
2011]
centre. Between February 26 and March 4 the
Page 55
variations in temperature at these six points were
va
recorded every hour and the results studied. The
re
av
average diurnal temperature at the hottest point in
th city for the week was 11.6°C, while the average
the
at the coolest, in a suburban area, was 8.3°C, a
he
heat island intensity of 3.3°C. As previously proven
in other urban heat islands, the average nocturnal
in
intensity was higher at 4.4°C, the difference between
4.
4.7°C in the city and 0.3°C in the suburbs. The
hi
highest diurnal intensity was 4°C; the highest
no
nocturnal was 6°C.
Th findings of the 2011 study supported the

The
findings of the 1977 study with relation to the area of
Gl
Glasgow’s city centre which experiences the hottest
te
temperatures. The Merchant City area displayed
Fig. 5.3 Results of 2011 Glasgow the second highest temperatures during the day in
urban heat island study - average
nocturnal results [Emmanuel et the 2011 study, and the highest temperatures at
al, 2011] night time. The Merchant City remains a significant
position in Glasgow’s urban heat island studies over
nearly 35 years, and would therefore arguably be an
ideal setting for any future research.
Page 56
6. Experiments
The contextual research into urban heat islands and

the role of architecture to date highlighted a great
number of research routes that could be taken, and
the one selected for this project was to explore the
effect common cladding materials in Glasgow could
be having on the city’s urban heat island.
From the results of the two Glasgow studies, the

Merchant City was identified as an area of interest to
urban heat island studies. It was then decided that
a street from the area should be selected to inform
the next stages of the experiments. Ingram Street
was selected as being the best representative of the
Merchant City and indeed, Glasgow city centre as a
whole.
6.1 Ingram Street
Beginning one block east of the main shopping street

Buchanan Street, Ingram Street runs in an east-west
direction ending at High Street, the city’s historical
centre. It is one of the city’s main streets and a
major artery to Glasgow’s Merchant City, an area of
the city home to a collection of designer shops, bars,
Fig. 6.1 Diagram of Ingram Street

building use (See Appendix A for
full sized diagram)
Page 57
nightclubs, restaurants and other commercial and
residential buildings. Ingram Street itself is home
to many mixed use buildings, with the majority of
buildings serving as multi functional: the ground
bu
floors home to bars, restaurants and designer stores
while
wh the upper floors serve as offices or residences.
The
Th function of each building can be seen in Fig. 6.1;
for the full sized image see Appendix A.
fo
The architecture of Ingram Street proves to be as

diverse as the businesses which populate it. The west
di
en
end of Ingram Street is mainly made up of buildings
constructed in the 17th to 19th centuries, built or
co
clad in blonde and red sandstone, while the east end
cl
consists of more modern concrete, brick and steel and
co
glass buildings. Countless architectural styles can be
gl
seen: aspects of Neo-classical, Baroque, Gothic, Art
se
Deco and Victorian architecture are all represented
De
alongside features of modern architecture such
al
as angular buildings, coloured bricks and curtain
walling.
wa No two buildings on Ingram Street are the
same: they include a one storey building topped with
sa
a Baroque dome to an 8 storey residential building; a
dazzling white art gallery with a towering spire next to
da
the copper details of a clothing store; and the gothic
th
tower of a former kirk opposite a black brick building.
to
Ingram Street offers a snapshot of architecture across
In
Glasgow and throws up a number of potential aspects
Gl
to research in relation to Glasgow’s urban heat island,
from cladding material to building height to building
fr
age to the relationship to the street. In this case, the
ag
research will focus on the cladding materials.
re
The
Th variety of cladding materials seen on Ingram
Street is common to many areas of Glasgow city
St
centre. This teamed with the results of the Glasgow
ce
Figs. 6.2 Ingram Street,
Merchant City, Glasgow Caledonian University’s microclimate study which
showed the Merchant City as a notable hot spot in
Glasgow’s urban heat island, make Ingram Street
the ideal street to inform which materials should
Page 58
be tested. The traditional sandstone buildings
interspersed with modern brick and concrete
buildings are representative of the architecture
of Glasgow city centre. Buildings from the 17th
century sit next to buildings from the 21st;
traditional sandstone blends with 21st century
sandstone cladding, as buildings pay respects to the
city’s traditional materials, while across the street
sandstone contrasts with bright blue bricks, or white
concrete. Fig. 6.3 shows the cladding material of each
building along Ingram Street; for the full sized image
see Appendix B.
Fig. 6.3 Diagram of Ingram

Street cladding materials (See
Appendix B for full sized diagram) 6.2 Materials
By using the cladding study carried out in Ingram

Street, and knowledge and observation of Glasgow’s
architecture both old and new in the city centre as a
whole, five materials were selected to be used in the
experiments. The materials were the most common
cladding materials in Glasgow therefore would be
the most beneficial to study. The materials were red
sandstone, blonde sandstone, concrete, red brick and
toughened, structural glass.
Both the red and blonde types of sandstone used in

the experiments were sample sized tiles which were
provided by Stancliffe Stone and came from Scottish
sandstone quarries. The tiles were 100mm squared
individually and grouted together for the experiment,
Page 59
giving a total size of 200mm square for each type of
sandstone.
The concrete used was a 200mm squared off cut

sourced from a local builder’s yard. The block was
light grey in colour with a rough texture, and 50mm
thick.
The red bricks were provided by the Hanson-

Heidelberg Cement Group. Three bricks were
provided which were grouted to provide a total size of
210 mm by 200mm, and 100mm deep.
Finally, the toughened glass sample was specially

created for the purpose of the experiments by
Supaseal Glass Ltd, a local glass merchant. The
sample was 4mm in depth and measured 250mm
squared. The sample had to be made slightly larger
than the rest of the materials in the experiments as it
was not possible to put glass through the toughening
process at a smaller size.
6.3 Heat Source
Th heat source for the experiment came from a 75W

The
in
infrared heat lamp, encased in a heat resistant lamp
fitting. The lamp was fixed precisely in the centre of
the frame horizontally, and was adjusted vertically as
th
re
required.
6.4
6. Frame
Fig. 6.4 Heat Source
A frame was constructed to hold the materials and

he lamp. The frame was fully adjustable; the
heat
he
height, width, distance to heat lamp could all be
al
altered as well as the heat lamp’s height, allowing the
heat to always be aimed exactly in the centre of each
he
ma
material.
Fig. 6.5 Frame
Page 60
6.5 Experiment Methodology
The experimental process was as follows:
1. The three thermometers (T1, T2 and T3) were

calibrated to ensure maximum accuracy. All
were switched on and allowed to settle at room
temperature, with the experiment only beginning
when all thermometers registered the same
ambient air temperature.
2. While the thermometers were calibrating, the

frame was prepared. The material to be tested was
fixed to the frame. When in place the heat lamp
was adjusted to ensure it was exactly 30cm away
from the front face of the material. The lamp was
then adjusted vertically to ensure it was aimed at
the centre of the material.
Fig. 6.6 Experiment set up
3. Once the thermometers were calibrated, they

were fixed into place. T1 was used to monitor the
ambient air temperature to ensure it remained as
constant as possible, and was positioned at the
other side of the room from the heat source so as
to be unaffected by it. T2 was used to measure the
surface temperature of the material and was fixed
to the front face using tape. Finally, T3 was used
to monitor the alterations in the air temperature
immediately in front of the material, and was
placed 5cm from the front face.
Fig. 6.7 Thermometers T2 and

4. The starting temperatures of all three
T3 thermometers were recorded before the heat lamp
was switched on. Readings were then taken
from each thermometer every 20 minutes for
the following three hours while the material was
exposed to the heat.
5. After three hours, the heat lamp was switched

off. Readings continued to be taken every 20
Page 61
minutes for a further three hours to monitor each
temperature as the material cooled.
6. The material was removed from the frame, and

the thermometers allowed to return to room
temperature before the experiment was repeated
with the next material.
Fig. 6.8 Heat source switched on
6.6 Expected Outcomes
Prior to the experiments, there were a number of

expectations and assumptions regarding how each
material would behave when exposed to heat and
what sort of results each would produce.
Firstly, the concrete was presumed to be the material

which would reach the highest temperature in both
surface and near surface air temperature. This
expectation was founded on the knowledge that
concrete is a material which often serves as thermal
mass, absorbing and storing heat before releasing
it slowly. It was also expected that the concrete
experiment would register high temperatures in the
near surface air readings during the cooling period,
as the air would be kept warm by the heat emitted
from the material as it cooled.
It was expected that the blonde sandstone would

reach a cooler surface temperature when compared
with the red sandstone. The prior research into
the urban heat island effect and its causes and
mitigations proved that lighter colours and lighter
materials reached cooler temperature, therefore
although the composition of both materials were
similar, it was thought the lighter colour of the
blonde sandstone would reflect the heat where the
red sandstone would absorb it. Colour aside, it was
thought the sandstone samples would reach relatively
high surface temperatures during the heating period,
as they were similar to the concrete in that they
Page 62
would provide thermal mass, absorbing and storing
heat. The near surface air temperatures during the
cooling period for each type of sandstone was also
expected to be relatively high as the stored heat was
released.
It was also thought the red bricks would absorb

and store heat, due to their thick mass. The brick
was a relatively dark red colour, strengthening
the assumption that it would prove to be one of
the hottest materials recorded. Although the red
sandstone and red brick were a similar shade of red,
the mass of the bricks compared to the sandstone
led to the expectation that the temperatures for the
surface and the near surface air recorded during the
cooling period for the red brick would be greater than
those recorded for the red sandstone, as the brick
would store more heat.
Finally, the toughened glass was expected to be the

material which reacted least to exposure to the heat.
It was thought most of the heat from the lamp would
pass through the glass unabsorbed and unreflected,
therefore resulting in minimal increases in the
surface temperature and near surface air temperature
during both the heating and cooling periods.
Page 63
7. Results
The experiments were carried out on 12th-17th

November 2011, with each taking 6 hours in total
to complete. Each 20 minute reading was recorded
in the table seen in Fig. 7.1, showing all results
for all thermometers. T1 represents the constant
air temperature of the room, T2 is the surface
temperature of each material and T3 is the near
surface air temperature for each material.
7HPSHUDWXUHVΣ&
&RQFUHWH 5HG%ULFN 5HG6DQGVWRQH %ORQGH6DQGVWRQH *ODVV
7LPH0LQV 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7

Fig. 7.1 Experiment results for T1 was placed away from the experiment and used
all materials
to ensure the temperature of the room remained
as constant as possible, as well as providing a
platform from which to base conclusions about any
temperature readings for T2 and T3. In general, the
readings for T1 show a very slight increase over the
total 6 hours for each experiment, with the average
increase being 0.6oC. In the concrete experiment, T1
readings increased by 2oC while the final T1 reading
for blonde sandstone was actually 0.2oC below the
starting temperature. These notable variations most
likely resulted from the time of day the experiments
were completed: the concrete experiment began in
Page 64
the morning and so the readings reflect the increase
in temperature throughout the day while the blonde
sandstone experiment was completed in the evening
and thus reflects the decrease in temperature towards
night time. Overall these are very small variations
when compared to the results for T2 and T3, therefore
the T1 readings for each material can still provide an
excellent basis for comparison.
For all five materials, a sharp increase in temperature

was seen in the first 20 minutes of each heating
period, with the following increases being much more
gradual and uniform. Similarly, the temperatures
of both the material surface and near surface air
dropped sharply in the first 20 minutes after the
heat lamp was switched off, before the material
continued to cool gradually for the remainder of the
observation period. It was clear that the heat lamp
was contributing to the temperature readings at these
two points.
The average contribution to the temperature

readings from the heat lamp was calculated to be
approximately 14oC, by taking the average change
in temperature for each material during the first 20
minutes of both the heating and the cooling period.
7.1 Concrete
Th experiment on concrete was carried out on 12th

The
No
November 2011 between the hours of 09.00 and
15
15.00. The results recorded in this time can be seen
in Fig. 7.3.
Th graph shows a fairly constant increase in

The
te
temperature for both T2 and T3 after the initial sharp
Fig. 7.2 Concrete incline, previously explained as being due to the
presence of the heat lamp. The surface temperature
of the concrete is seen to increase at a greater rate
than the near surface air temperature, with the
Page 65
surface temperature heating up by 12.5oC while T3
only increases by 4.4oC. The heating trend for both
temperatures is a fairly uniform
and constant increase, continuing
right up to the end of the heating
period - the temperatures do not
plateau or reach a peak in the
3 hour duration of the heating
period therefore the graph
appears to suggest that had the
heat lamp not been switched off,
both the surface temperature and
the near surface temperature
tem of the concrete would
Fig. 7.3 Concrete results
have continued to increase.
With regards to the cooling period, the surface

temperature drops at a more rapid rate than the
near surface air temperature, as can be seen by the
180 minute cooling period time when both lines are
close to meeting. The difference between these two
temperature at the end of the experiment was only
1.3oC, compared to 8.6oC at the beginning of the
cooling period. This could be due to the near surface
air temperature absorbing the heat being released
by the surface of the concrete as it cools down, thus
slowing down its own cooling process.
Concrete was the only material for which the surface

and near surface air temperatures did not return
to match or almost match T1, the ambient air
temperature, by the end of the cooling observation
period. This result was unsurprising as concrete is
known to be a material which absorbs, stores and
slowly releases heat, therefore it was expected that
out of the five materials concrete would take the
longest to cool down.
7.2 Red Brick
The red brick experiment was carried out on 17th

Page 66
November 2011 between the hours of 14.00 and
No
20.00 and the results are shown in Fig. 7.5.
20
Following the initial sharp increase from the heat

Fo
la
lamp, both the surface temperature T2 and the near
surface air temperature T3 continued to increase
su
in temperature during the heating period, with the
Fig. 7.4 Red brick
surface temperature increasing by 4.7oC and the near
surface air temperature increasing by 2.4oC. The
majority of the temperature rise for both readings
occurs in the first two hours of the heating period,
with the readings plateauing in the final hour and
only increasing by 0.1oC in each 20 minute interval.
Therefore the temperatures reached for both the
surface and the near surface air are arguably
the maximum, or near to the
maximum, temperatures the
red brick material would have
reached in the experiment.
As with the concrete, the

surface temperature T2 cooled
at a faster rate than the near
surface air temperature T3,
with the difference between the
temperatures reducing from 4.5oC to 0.5oC during
Fig. 7.5 Red brick results
the cooling period, as seen in Fig. 7.5 where the lines
representing T2 and T3 come very close to meeting at
the end of the experiment. This continues to build
on the theory that, in these experiments, the near
surface air temperature was being kept warmer and
being prevented from cooling by the heat radiating
from the surface of the material, in this case the red
brick.
7.3 Red Sandstone
The third material to be placed into the experiment

was red sandstone. The experiment, the results of
which can be seen in Fig. 7.7, took place on the 13th
Page 67
November 2011 between 14.00 and 20.00.
During the heating period, the surface temperature

T2 and the near surface air temperature T3 both
increased, but with different trends. By the end of
the heating period, the surface temperature was
still uniformly increasing as it did in the concrete
Fig. 7.6 Red sandstone experiment, meaning that by the end of the 3 hours
heating period the surface temperature T2 had not
yet reached its potential maximum temperature.
However, the near surface air temperature only
increased steadily until the end of the first hour,
before levelling out and maintaining temperature
at around the 36oC mark, increasing by only 0.4oC
between the 80 minute and the
180 minute readings.
In the duration of the cooling

period, both the surface
temperature T2 and the near
surface air temperature T3
returned to approximately the
same temperature as the ambient
air temperature T1. As with the
concrete and the red brick, the
Fig. 7.7 Red sandstone results surface temperature of the red sandstone cooled at
a faster rate than the near surface air temperature
did. At the first 20 minute cooling period reading, the
difference between the two temperatures was 6.3oC;
this difference fell to 0.3oC by the end of the cooling
period observation time.
The near surface air temperature behaved similarly in

the cooling period as it did in the heating period, and
began to plateau towards the end of the observation:
in the first 2 hours of the cooling period T3 drops
by significant amounts in each 20 minute interval,
but in the last hour it slows and only cools by 0.5oC
between the 120 minute and 180 minute readings.
During this time the surface temperature continues to
Page 68
cool by greater amounts in each 20 minute interval,
until all three temperatures are approximately equal.
As with the red brick, Fig. 7.7 shows how T2 and T3
cooled at these different rates thus resulting in the
graph lines meeting.
7.4 Blonde Sandstone
Th experiment exploring the behaviour of the

The
blonde sandstone when exposed to the heat source
bl
wa carried out on 12th November 2011, starting at
was
16
16.00 with the last temperature reading being taken
at 22.00. The temperature recorded in this time are
pr
presented in the graph seen in Fig. 7.9.
Fig. 7.8 Blonde sandstone A steep increase in surface temperature T2 is seen

in the first hour of the heating period, with the
temperature rising by 5.7oC between the 20 minute
and 60 minute intervals: this steep climb can be seen
very clearly in Fig. 7.9 as the red line representing the
surface temperature shoots up rapidly to over 46oC.
The graph also shows how, following this first hour,
the surface temperature T2 plateaus and increases
very little in the remainder of the heating period, only
gaining 0.8oC from the 60 minute interval to the end
of the heating period.
The near surface air temperature T3 follows a

different trend: when the surface
temperature T2 begins to plateau
at the start of the second hour,
the temperature readings for the
near surface air also plateau,
remaining at 37.5oC for an entire
hour, but then begin to increase
again in the final hour until the
end of the observation period,
and reach 38.3oC, the highest
Fig. 7.9 Blonde sandstone
near surface air temperature
results recorded over all 5 experiments.
Page 69
The blonde sandstone seems to reach close to its
maximum surface temperature within the first hour
before it begins to reflect heat, hence the continuing
increases in near surface air temperature while the
surface temperature remained more or less constant
- almost like the blonde sandstone had reached a
heat saturation point. The fact that the material
reached this high surface temperature very early in
the heating period suggests it is a highly absorbent
material.
As seen with the other materials, the surface

temperature and the near surface air temperature
both cooled to approximately the same temperature
as the ambient air temperature by the end of
the cooling period observation time. The surface
temperature T2 cooled at a faster rate than the
near surface air temperature T3, with the difference
between the two temperatures being 6oC at the start
of the cooling period, and only 0.3oC by the end.
7.5 Toughened Glass
The final material, the sample of toughened glass,

was tested on the 14th November 2011 between
the hours of 13.00 and 19.00, and the readings
taken during the heating and cooling periods are
represented in Fig. 7.11.
The toughened glass is the material for which the

Fig. 7.10 Toughened Glass
increases in both temperatures T2 and T3 were
least. Taking into account the contribution from the
heat lamp, the surface temperature T2 of the glass
only increased by 1.9oC while the near surface air
temperature showed a 1.7oC increase. These results
were entirely unsurprising as it was known that most
of the heat would pass through the glass without
being retained or reflected.
Unlike the heating period results which were as

Page 70
predicted, the cooling period results for the toughened
glass were more surprising and produced some
interesting points. The surface
temperature T2 and the near
surface air temperature T3
dropped at exactly the same rate:
where other materials showed T2
dropping at a faster rate before
eventually reaching the same
temperature as T3 as it cooled
slower, the 20 minute interval in
the cooling period showed both
Fig. 7.11 Toughened glass T2 and T3 already at the same figure of 23.1oC, and
results these temperature readings continued to be equal at
every following 20 minute observation interval. It was
therefore concluded that the piece of toughened glass
did not store any of the heat it had been exposed to
for 3 hours at all. Had it stored and released heat,
the near surface air temperature T3 would have
cooled more slowly than the surface temperature T2
as it would be recording the heat being emitted from
the glass, as seen in all the other materials tested. As
it was the two readings were continuously the same
therefore the thermometer positioned to record the
near surface air temperature T3, due to its proximity
to the glass surface, was simply picking up on the
surface temperature.
The cooling period results were also interesting as

they showed the surface temperature and the near
surface air temperature continued to cool after they
had reached the ambient air temperature. At the
60 minute interval in the cooling period, all three
thermometers were showing approximately the same
temperature; by the end of the observation period the
ambient air temperature T1 had maintained the same
temperature of 21.2oC while the surface temperature
T2 and near surface temperature T3 had both
dropped to 20.9oC. As it has already been established
Page 71
that T3 was merely mimicking the reading of T2 due
to its proximity, it is clear that this continued fall
in temperature was coming from the surface of the
glass, but could not be explained beyond that.
Page 72
8. Limitations
It must be acknowledged that the experiments carried

out for this research are basic in nature, and certain
variables could have had an affect on the results.
• It was not possible to ensure that all the materials

tested were the same dimensions e.g. the concrete
tested measured 200mm by 200mmm while the
toughened glass was 250mm by 250mm.
• The materials selected were intended to be
representative of those found on Ingram Street
and in Glasgow, and while every effort to select the
materials which best matched the original – i.e.
the correct shade of sandstones and bricks – was
made, total accuracy cannot be guaranteed.
• The ambient air temperature could not be
controlled in these experiments. This means one
material could have been tested when the room
was at 21oC while another was tested when the
room was 19oC. These variations were monitored
and taken into account, however the use of an
incubator or similar piece of equipment which
kept the ambient air temperature constant would
have been more preferable; such facilities were
unfortunately unavailable in the time scale.
• Finally, the setting of the experiments in an
internal lab environment as opposed to externally
in the city means that some factors which have
influence over a real urban heat island were not
present. For example, the wind and levels of
vehicular movement would affect the temperatures
readings in the city.
The best way to achieve true results in this type of

experiment would be to carry it out in situ on Ingram
Street with exposure to Glasgow’s true climate and
weather, in a prolonged study. The time constraints
Page 73
of this project meant this wasn’t possible; however
this could be carried out in future.
That being said, the limitations present in the

experiment were the same for each of the five
materials, therefore the only variable from experiment
to experiment was the different cladding material. It
is therefore reasonable to conclude that the results
drawn from the experiments provide valuable and
generally accurate information regarding the affect
each type of cladding material has in relation to
another, and on Glasgow’s urban heat island.
Page 74
9. Discussion
The experiments provided some very interesting

results and while some materials behaved precisely as
expected other materials produced some surprising
readings.
The concrete tested behaved precisely as it was

predicted it would. The surface temperature T2, seen
in Fig. 9.1 compared with the surface temperatures
of the other materials tested, increased gradually
and consistently over the heating
observation period as the concrete
absorbed and stored the heat.
The stored heat caused the
concrete to cool very slowly; in
Fig. 9.1 it is clearly the material
which recorded the highest
temperatures throughout the
whole duration of the cooling
observation period and was the
only material which did not return
to the ambient air temperature by
Fig. 9.1 Surface temperature
(T2) results for all materials the end of the 180 minutes the material was given to
cool. While Fig. 9.1 shows concrete readings which
are noticeably higher than the surface materials of
the rest of the materials tested, Fig. 9.2 shows that
the near surface air temperature of the concrete
was in fact one of the coolest during the heating
observation period, ending up as the second coolest
with only the toughened glass being cooler. However,
the concrete near surface air temperatures cools
much more slowly than the rest of the materials and
at the end of the observation period is the warmest
recorded. This was concluded as being due to the
heat stored in the concrete being emitted back into
the air from the surface of the concrete, thus keeping
the near surface air temperature higher than the rest
Page 75
of the materials.
As the concrete sample did not reach its maximum
temperature for either the surface or near surface
temperatures, it would be interesting to see what
temperature the concrete sample could reach over a
24 hour experiment structured to replicate the day
and night heating and cooling periods, and what
effect this prolonged period of exposure to the heat
would have on the maximum surface temperatures
and near surface temperatures of the concrete
sample.
Due to the relatively dark colouring, the thickness

and mass of the red bricks it was expected that the
material would behave rather like the concrete did. It
was assumed that the red bricks would absorb and
store heat, reaching high surface temperatures during
the heating period before cooling slowly as the heat
was released, thus resulting in the near surface air
temperature T3 cooling period readings reducing very
slowly, as seen in the concrete. However this is not
what occurred. Rather than reaching temperatures
close to the concrete, as expected, the maximum
surface temperature of the red brick was in fact
one of the coolest recorded of the 5 materials, at
42.5oC with only the toughened glass reaching a
lower temperature. Additionally, the near surface
air temperature T3 for the red bricks was the joint
highest, reaching 38.3oC. This suggests that the red
brick was actually reflecting a high amount of heat
rather than absorbing it.
As with the red brick, the red sandstone was expected

to act much like the concrete, absorbing and storing
heat during the heating period resulting in high
surface temperatures, while the near surface air
temperatures were expected to decrease slowly during
the cooling period as the stored heat was released
back into the air. As a result, the red sandstone
would have been one of the hotter materials recorded;
Page 76
however the results showed very different readings.
The red sandstone proved to be the sort of middle
ground of all the materials tested, as both the surface
temperatures and the near surface air temperatures
remained relatively cool. The expectations formed
were mainly when compared to the blonde sandstone;
it was expected the blonde sandstone would reflect
more heat thus recording cooler surface temperature
during the heating period. However in reality the
red sandstone proved to be less absorbent than the
blonde sandstone, with both the surface temperature
and the near surface air temperature of the red
sandstone recording lower temperatures than the
blonde sandstone.
These blonde sandstone results

were somewhat surprising, as
they recorded the 2nd largest
surface temperature at 47.2oC,
and the joint largest near surface
air temperature, reaching
38.3oC. It was expected that
the light colouring of the blonde
sandstone, compared to red
sandstone and red brick, would
Fig. 9.2 Near surface air
temperatures (T3) for all materials mean the material would reflect more heat rather
than absorb it and therefore it was assumed that
the blonde sandstone would be one of the coolest
materials tested. Instead the material seems to have
been very quick to absorb heat, as it reached close
to its maximum surface temperature within the first
hour of the experiment, before beginning to reflect
heat. This unusual result is very easily noticed in
Fig, 9.1., which shows the surface temperature T2
results for all 5 materials. The common trend for the
concrete, red brick, red sandstone and toughened
glass is a gradual increase towards the end of the
observation period; however the line representing
the blonde sandstone shows its sharp increase at
Page 77
the beginning of the heating period rising above all
other surface temperatures, before plateauing. Fig.
9.2 shows the near surface air temperature for all 5
materials, and here it can be seen that at the point
on Fig. 9.1 that the line representing the surface
temperature of blonde sandstone levels out, the
line representing the near surface air temperature
of the material begins to rise again, resulting in the
highest near surface air temperature recorded of all
experiment during the experiments. The high near
surface air temperature at the end of the observation
period seems to suggest that there was a significantly
large amount of heat being reflected back into the
air, while the surface temperature neutralised. These
unexpected readings could perhaps be explained by
better knowledge, understanding and exploration of
the composition of blonde sandstone as a material.
Prior to the experiments, it was expected that the

toughened glass would be the material for which the
lowest surface temperatures and air temperatures
would be recorded, as it was assumed that the
majority of the heat would pass through the glass.
This is indeed what the results show: the toughened
glass recorded the coolest temperatures for both
T2 and T3, reaching only 37.2oC for the surface
temperature and 32.4oC for the air temperature.
The graphs Fig. 9.1 and 9.2 both show how the
temperatures do not rise much at all once the
contribution by the heat lamp has been taken into
account, and the results produce an almost straight
line when compared with the rising curves of the
other materials. The toughened glass results were
surprising in one aspect, however: during the cooling
period both the surface temperature T2 and the near
surface air temperature T3 both returned to match
room temperature at the 60 minute cooling period
interval, but instead of maintaining this temperature
they continued to fall and recorded temperatures
below that of the ambient air temperature. This
Page 78
result was intriguing as it was assumed that each
material’s surface temperature and near surface
air temperature readings would match the room
temperature; but the toughened glass temperature
readings seem to suggest that, had the observation
time not ended, the temperatures would have
continued to fall. There was no clear explanation as
to why this occurred with the toughened glass, and is
perhaps something that could be further explored in
future.
9.1 Implications on Glasgow’s Urban Heat Island
This research project set out to explore and establish

the relationship between architecture and the urban
heat island effect. The experiments carried out were
an important part of beginning to understand how
the cladding material choices in Glasgow are affecting
the city’s urban heat island. By understanding the
effect of the buildings we already have, it is possible
to recognise what aspects of the existing buildings are
worsening the urban heat island effect. Architects,
designers and planners can then use this knowledge
in their future designs - in the case of this research,
knowledge regarding their cladding choices - and
begin to design to mitigate the urban heat island
effect.
Much of the research carried out to date into various

urban heat islands worldwide show that the urban
heat island effect is most prevalent at night; that is,
the urban heat island intensities recorded are larger
during the night than during the day, thus meaning
the period of time during which the buildings are
cooling down is one of significant interest. Translated
to the basic nature of the experiments, the behaviour
of the material during cooling period after the heat
lamp is switched off represents the behaviour of
the material in the city at night time. The surface
temperature of the material during the day - or in the
Page 79
case of the experiments, during the heating period - is
also significant as it says a lot about each material’s
ability to absorb and store heat; heat which is then
emitted during the night thus keeping ambient air
temperatures and urban heat island intensities high.
Logically the less heat the material is able to store
the less heat it can emit at night thus resulting in a
lower urban heat island intensity. However the near
surface air temperatures of each material are also
important as they represent the day time heat island
intensity, and have a direct impact on the night time
intensity - the hotter the air during the day the more
the air has to cool at night.
So with all of these issues taken into account, what

does the experiments say about the common cladding
materials found in Glasgow? Is it possible to identify
which materials are responsible for the effect and
which are not? Is there a material which, if more
commonly used, could make a massive difference to
Glasgow urban heat island?
From brief analysis of the results recorded, the

toughened glass initially seems like the material
which has less impact on Glasgow’s urban heat
island. The temperatures recorded are all ideal:
low surface temperatures and near surface air
temperatures during the heating period, and low
near surface air temperatures during the cooling
period. Translated to the urban environment, this
would mean low temperatures throughout the day
and night and therefore a very small urban heat
island. However, using glass over a large area on
a facade in Glasgow comes with a number of other
considerations. A room behind a glass facade would
be exceptionally warm in the summer due to solar
gain as all the heat passes from the outside in,
and exceptionally cold in the winter as all the heat
escapes back out, resulting in a high requirement for
air conditioning and heating throughout the year -
Page 80
and both of these contribute to the urban heat island
effect significantly. While the results suggest the
toughened glass to be the success of the experiments
in reality it is a material which could make the urban
heat island effect worse.
On the other end of the spectrum is concrete. As

expected, the temperatures recorded for the concrete
show that it is a material which has a significant
effect on the air temperature around it. Concrete
is a material know for its thermal mass and in a
climate like Glasgow’s, this feature is often used to
reduce heating requirements internally by using
concrete in construction to absorb and store heat
during the day, keeping the building warm during
the night with minimum heating required. However,
the experiments show that this heat storage aspect of
concrete which is so often used as a benefit internally
could be contributing massively to the external
conditions in a negative way.
The research completed to date states without

question that materials with a lighter surface are
better at mitigating the urban heat island effect by
reflecting the heat away from the building. However
the lightest coloured material used in the experiment,
the blonde sandstone, registered some of the highest
temperatures recorded of all 5 materials. Rather than
being reflective it seemed to be absorbent, as seen
by the rapid increase in surface temperature of the
material in Fig. 9.1. These findings do not tie in with
the assumptions of light coloured materials to date.
The blonde sandstone also recorded high near surface
air temperatures towards the end of the heating
period, suggesting the heat was being reflected at
that point, as would have been expected. While these
results are more in line with what prior research
indicated, it does mean that in the city environment
the air temperature around blonde sandstone
would be very high going into the night time. While
Page 81
the light surface will make the internal conditions
more comfortable and reduce energy demands, the
colouring’s effect on the external environment should
also be considered. As both the energy demand and
high air temperatures contribute to the urban heat
island effect, it is important to further explore both
aspects to understand where the middle ground and
the ideal conditions lie.
When compared with other materials common to

Glasgow such as concrete and blonde sandstone,
the red sandstone maintains a good balance
between surface temperature and near surface
air temperature. While the red brick recorded low
surface temperatures, the high near surface air
temperatures moving into the night time period would
be a cause for concern as the hot air would cause
a high urban heat island intensity during the day,
taking longer to cool at night. The near surface air
temperature during the day time period of the red
sandstone experiment, however, remained relatively
low and cooled quickly during the night. The red
sandstone results were the only ones of the materials
tested which reached this ideal kind of middle
ground: the high concrete surface temperatures
would aggravate the urban heat island effect, as
would the high air temperatures of the red brick and
blonde sandstone, while the results obtained for the
glass would be impractical in practice.
The results of the experiments support the urban

heat island research completed in Glasgow to
date. Ingram Street was chosen as the focus for
the experiments due to its location in the Merchant
City area of Glasgow, an area which had shown
up in both the 1977 and 2011 urban heat island
studies to be a significantly warm area of the city.
The building cladding material study carried out
showed a majority of the buildings along the street
were blonde sandstone, with a significant cluster
Page 82
of red brick buildings and very few building clad
in glass or red sandstone. With the results of the
experiments proving blonde sandstone and red brick
produce the highest air temperatures, it could be
said fairly confidently that this research and these
experiments begin to explain why this particular area
of the city centre consistently features in urban heat
island studies as a hotspot. Figure 9.3 depicts the
predicted microclimate of Ingram Street as suggested
by the results of the experiments, with red hotspots
positioned at the buildings which are clad in the two
materials which recorded the highest near surface
air temperatures, blonde sandstone and red brick.
The diagram and adjacent photographs show how
the majority of buildings on Ingram Street are clad
in these materials, while only four buildings are
clad in the materials which recorded the lowest air
temperatures, concrete and glass. The full sized
image can be seen in Appendix C.
Fig. 9.3 Predicted microclimate

of Ingram Street based on
experiment results
9.2 Future Research Routes
The research carried out was basic in nature and

as discussed in Chapter 8: Limitations, could
be improved upon in a number of ways for more
accurate results, given appropriate time constraints.
Regardless, the findings of this research does begin to
Page 83
address some of the issues surrounding architecture
and urban heat islands, and also opens a number of
research routes.
• The results for the blonde sandstone compared

with red sandstone proved interesting and
unexpected; potentially further study into
sandstone as a material and its variations could
help explain why the surface temperature of the
blonde sandstone became hotter than the red
sandstone despite the lighter colour.
• Similarly, the low surface temperature of the red
brick during its experiment was interesting and
could be further developed, perhaps in a more
prolonged and true to life study.
• The cooling period of the toughened glass
presented a unique outcome in that the surface
temperature and the near surface air temperature
of the glass continued to cool beyond the ambient
air temperature. Further experiments on glass
could be designed to explore this. For example,
the glass could be left under observation for
longer to see how cool it would have went had the
observation time not ended.
• This experiment only tested toughened glass.
There are many other types of glass and glass
treatments available to the construction industry:
energy efficient glass, noise reducing glass,
fire proof glass, textured glass. An experiment
could be set up which tested glass under various
treatments to explore if these made a difference to
the temperature readings.
• The experiments could be extended to include
other materials, building up a full understanding
of how each building cladding material influences
Glasgow’s urban heat island. For example, only
one type of red brick was used in this experiment
so other brick colours with different finishes could
be experimented on.
• The limitations addressed in Chapter 8:
Page 84
Limitations could be addressed: a long term
experiment carried out in situ in Glasgow city
centre would take into account the issues this
basic experiment could not.
• The experiment could be repeated with the new
technologies discussed in Chapter 3.3: Innovation
applied to the common materials; thermochromic
and retroreflective coatings could be applied
in order to explore the result of using these in
Glasgow.
• The experiment could be repeated with vegetation
introduced, to explore how the vegetation could
reduce the temperatures each material reached.
Different types of vegetation could be tested to
establish which kind of plant, herb or shrub has
the greatest impact.
In addition to the possible research routes identified

by this research, those identified in Chapter 4: Next
Steps remain:
• What affect does the choice of external cladding

have on its neighbouring buildings? To what
extent does a building’s neighbours affect
its external and internal air quality, it’s air
conditioning and heating requirements?
• What effect does building geometry have on the
urban heat island? Does a curved facade absorb
or reflect heat more efficiently than a flat facade?
There are many geometric features of buildings
which could be explored: alcoves, cantilevers,
curves and angles to name a few.
• This research focussed solely on the cladding
material, but a building facade is constructed of
much more which could affect urban heat. Do
different types of insulation affect air quality,
external and internal? Another consideration
could be the construction material - a brick clad
building could be constructed from anything from
timber to steel to concrete - does the primary
Page 85
construction material affect the air temperatures
and quality in any way?
• The issue of old vs new could be a very interesting
research focus: how do modern buildings affect
their surrounding air temperature and quality
with comparison to older buildings? How does a
modern steel construction clad with sandstone
tiles behave compared to an older solid sandstone
block construction, as commonly seen in
Glasgow? In Shanghai, the day time urban heat
island intensity was shown to be higher than
the night time intensity, bucking the otherwise
well established trend. As the urban centre of
Shanghai is home to a majority of relatively new
buildings, could these new buildings be causing
the city’s urban heat to behave differently?
• Finally, another research point closely linked to
a buildings age is the effect, if any, of decorative
features such as sculptured statues, reveals
and crevices on older buildings compared to
the typically flat modern facades. Does heat
get absorbed more effectively into the spaces
created by the details, or by the unobstructed flat
surfaces?
The research carried out has the potential to be just

the beginning of a field of research into the effect of
Glasgow’s architecture on the city’s urban heat island
effect. The findings begin to give knowledge and
understanding into how many of the city’s common
materials can influence the quality of the external
environment experienced by the city’s residents and
visitors. Awareness of the environmental effect of
these common materials can be used to better inform
the choices of architects, designers and planners
when they are creating their future designs for
the city, as well as being useful when maintaining
Glasgow’s older buildings.
While the urban heat island effect is a worldwide

Page 86
phenomenon and problem, the solution is very
individual and localised. Each city will have different
factors to consider and explore which will affect
their heat islands: climate, geography, vehicular
use, building user energy demands to name but a
few. A material which provides a solution to one
city could make very little difference to another.
Innovative materials, such as the thermochromic and
retroreflective coatings mentioned in this research
have the potential to have a positive impact on
urban heat islands over a wider scale than one city
but generally the best mitigation of each heat island
requires in-depth understanding and dedicated
research into each city’s materiality. The individuality
of each city’s identity, through its buildings and
urban design, is reflected in the uniqueness of the
environmental problems each will face and only
through continued research can urban heat island
mitigation have a world wide effect.
As the world grows increasingly urban, the urban

heat island effect will only become more prevalent,
and the ability - and indeed the responsibility -
for architecture to significantly contribute to its
mitigation will grow. As the natural environment
continues to make way for the built environment
throughout the world, the decisions architects,
designers and planners make regarding these new
roads, buildings and cities will hugely affect the
quality of life for the people living there, from the
air they breathe to the energy bills they pay to the
weather they experience. Knowledge is the key:
only through knowledge of the urban heat island
effect, understanding of its causes and side effects,
and awareness of how it can be addressed can any
real difference be made and it is for this reason that
architecture must begin to understand, accept and
address its role in these mitigation efforts, through
continued research and education.
Page 87
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Appendix
A: Ingram Street Building Use Diagram, Scale

1:1000
B: Ingram Street Building Cladding Diagram, Scale

1:1000
C: Ingram Street Predicted Microclimate Diagram,

Scale 1:1000
Page 96
Appendix A
Ingram Street, Glasgow

Building Use Diagram
Scale 1.1000
Appendix B

Building Cladding Material Diagram
Scale 1.1000
Appendix C

Predicted Microclimate Diagram
Scale 1.1000

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Designing Out the

Urban Heat Island Effect

MRes Building Design and Management for Sustainability

This thesis is the result of the author’s original

The copyright of this thesis belongs to the author

The world’s population has reached an all time

Supaseal Glass Ltd.

Hanson-Heidelberg Cement Group

Family and friends

2. Urban Heat Islands ...22

3. The Role of Architecture in Urban Heat Islands ...37

4. Next Steps ...53

5. The Urban Heat Island in Glasgow ...55

1.1 New York City, USA ...17

2.1 Profile of a typical urban heat island ...22

3.1 Thermal representation of a cool roof ...37

5.1 Results of 1977 Glasgow urban heat island ...55

6.1 Diagram of Ingram Street building use ...57

7.1 Experiment results for all materials ...64

9.1 Surface temperature (T2) results for all ...75

• The rising population of both the world as a whole

ii. Urban Heat Islands

• Urban heat islands are caused when the natural

iii. The Role of Architecture in Urban Heat Islands

• There have been a number of building materials and

iv. Next Steps

• Architecture’s response to urban heat island

v. The Urban Heat Island in Glasgow

• From the key areas of research identified in Chapter

• The heat lamp proved to contribute to the surface

• The basic nature of the experiments meant some

• The concrete behaved as expected, absorbing

In October 2011, the world’s population reached an

As the planet’s population continues to increase,

In addition to these social and economic urban

Since the urban heat island effect was first recorded

Architecture has a definite role to play in the

The project aimed to explore the relationship between

The research focus then shifted to investigate the role

The background research showed that, while a heat

Basic lab experiments were designed to explore what

2. Urban Heat Islands

2.1 Urban Heat Island Causes

Urban heat islands are essentially caused when

In addition to the heat absorbed due to the

Offices are just one of the many examples of function

Aside from a city’s buildings, the urban heat island

Finally, the urban heat island effect is worsened by

2.2 Urban Heat Island Intensity

Th urban heat island intensity in the majority of

The sky view factor and the canyon effect, combined

However, there have been some noted exceptions

2.3 Urban Heat Islands and Urban Population

Urban heat island intensities can range from

The proven link between population and high urban

2.4 Urban Heat Islands and the Weather

In an often cold and wet country like the UK,

There have been reports of increased rainfall

Perhaps surprisingly, this increase in rainfall has

Regardless, the manipulation of the rain in a region