Proposed Shopping Mall Design in Abuja Nigeria. Application of Cooling Strategies

Résumé ou Introduction

The focus of this master’s thesis was on design approaches that would lessen the need for artificial means of boosting passive cooling. Accordingly, this study made the recommendation that shopping mall design incorporate passive cooling strategies through appropriate building orientation, adequate planting and installation of green landscape elements, efficient use and proper positioning of shading devices, and careful selection of building materials that allow for adequate thermal insulation.

Shopping malls are now far more complex in terms of both space and interior operations, dispelling the notion that they exist solely for retail sales. The mall serves as a significant urban development hub and provides customers with shopping, entertainment, leisure, and recreation. Shopping malls have evolved to a closed building envelope as a result of this scale increase, necessitating the deployment of additional machinery to handle the mall’s interior heat. Numerous malls in Nigeria only employ mechanical cooling systems, which raises their operational costs in terms of purchase, installation, and maintenance. Therefore, the goal of this project was to create a shopping center that used passive cooling techniques in its architecture.

The objectives assessed the characteristic of shopping mall design, the cooling strategies used in shopping malls and the architectural design considerations for cooling. Thirteen case studies were selected using the random sampling techniques. Utilizing an observation checklist and the variable for each objective, data from the chosen case studies were collected. The statistical tool SPSS was used to evaluate the data that was gathered. To ascertain the percentages of various variables for the characteristics of shopping mall architecture and the cooling strategies utilized in the chosen samples, a descriptive survey method of analysis was used with an observation schedule.

Findings revealed the frequency of the variables used throughout the study, and it was concluded from the chosen case studies that shopping malls in Nigeria rely more on active cooling systems than passive cooling strategies, with mechanical cooling being used in 76.9% of the malls examined and mechanical and passive cooling being used in 23.1% of the malls. Additionally, the results showed that 7.7% of the areas featured lakes, pools, and fountains, respectively. However, 76.9% of the malls lacked evaporative cooling systems.