Urban comfort lab

Noise, heat stress and air quality affect the quality of life and health, especially in cities. All these factors are influenced by the shape and cladding of streets and buildings. Buildings and ground surfaces locally amplify or reduce sound and heat, depending on its design. Data and measurements can help to improve our understanding of the interplay between urban form, sound, temperature, and wind. The urban comfort lab focusses on the impact of urban form, surface materialization, and landscaping on aircraft noise, heat stress and wind flows, in streets, and around buildings. 

From 2021, in situ data is collected in a field lab in Hoofddorp. The lab comprises of shipping containers which are stacked in different shapes clustered around three courtyards.

The project consists of two phases. During phase 1, sound, temperature, wind, and humidity is measured around, and in between, the streets. Surface materials with built-in resonators, geared to absorb a wider sound spectrum, are tested in an acoustic laboratory. During phase 2, two courtyards are landscaped with gardens, and acoustically absorbent cladding is mounted on roofs and walls. This makes it possible to quantify the efficacy of these interventions in respect to aircraft noise, heat stress and pollution. This output is relevant for planners, designers, and municipalities (working) in the proximity of airports. Results are relevant for areas which are built from scratch, but also for urban retrofitting projects.

The urban comfort lab is the first project in its kind in which the impact of architectural, urban and landscape interventions on aircraft noise is measured and studied. However, we also study the efficacy of noise mitigating measures in the light of the urban climate. The project focusses on all levels of urban design, ranging from urban geometry to cladding and the design of public spaces. Data collected in the field lab will be used to improve simulation models.

Facts

Project partners

Gemeente Haarlemmermeer, Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties, Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Waterstaat, Stichting Leefomgeving Schiphol