Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) is implementing the concept of green campus by various means including through elements in its sustainable campus development plan. With regards to several factors related to Energy and Climate Change indicators set by UI GreenMetric, this research examined the existing condition of the area of UGM which belongs to academic zone in order to construct a proposal based on a building mass reconfiguration. This proposal was aimed to improve the implementation of energy-specific green campus concept within the Forestry cluster area as a sample case study. This selection was based on the average value of the Building Coverage Ratio (BCR) values in all of the clusters; thus, the scenario was relevant for generalization and could be replicated in other clusters in the university. The study was done in three stages of simulation, and was based on a series of digital simulation of sunlight hour and solar radiation run in Grasshopper using Lady Bug environmental analysis plug-in for a period of five summer months during the building office hours. Following the reconfiguration, results had shown a similar downtrend between the amount of sunlight hour and solar radiation in the area (up to 49% and 45% respectively on building envelopes, and up to 44% and 42% respectively on landscaping surfaces). This reduction indicated a potential of energy efficiency by applying selective building mass reconfiguration as a passive design strategy that goes hand in hand with the campus’s development policy to optimize the use of BCR for a greener UGM campus through its many undergoing and upcoming redevelopment projects.

This paper presents creative geometry research focusing on computational design exploration to improve the eco-performance of concrete blocks used as a building material. To provide a positive ecoperformance, an optimized concrete block was designed to be more efficient than a conventional concrete block with respect to the materials used and the space occupied during storage and transport. The results prove that the form is cost-effective and that the environmental impact caused by associated production and distribution processes would be comparatively reduced. Computational research based on parametric design thinking enabled the relationship between form properties as selected design parameters to be evaluated, with the aim of ensuring that efficiency does not compromise technical requirements and that the overall functional role of the concrete block is appropriate when used as a constituent material in nonstructural wall construction. Volumetric-based measurements were employed using Rhinoceros modeling software with a Grasshopper plug-in to assess the eco-performance of the concrete block based on selected indicators. The results show that the folded S-shape concrete block with a width of 40 mm consumes only 43% of the main material and 14% of the auxiliary material relative to a conventional concrete block with a width of 100 mm. When arranged horizontally, a standard container can hold 60% more of the optimized concrete block units compared to conventional ones. Additional findings were also made that suggest future research potential, including use of the concrete blocks as building elements in passive design strategies.

Sliding Sudare has a big potential to be developed considered its high effectiveness in minimizing building energy consumption while still maintaining its visibility quality. Meanwhile, its original blinds that is made of bamboo cannot withstand extreme weather and have a short lifespan. Therefore, this research is to investigate the effectiveness of the other material alternatives namely stainless steel, plastic, and natural fiber. A scaled model is used for prototyping the materials in the shape of bicycle spokes, PLA+ (3D printer filament), and bamboo slats as the blinds. These everyday objects were tested in terms of their physical characteristic and were measured by four parameters (security requirement, weather resistance, construction process, and cost-effectiveness). From the research, it was concluded that bicycle spokes has the highest overall performance with the highest advantages in weather resistance requirement, cost-effectiveness, and construction; whilst PLA+ and bamboo slats have the least overall performance though both have high advantage in terms of security requirement.

Bamboo has been used for a long time as a material for simple to complex structures. Many advantages of bamboo as a building material makes it suitable for buildings in disaster-prone areas. Bamboo is however prone to humidity, which could cause fungi and moss to emerge and endanger the building structure. Pedestal foundation made of concrete or stone is often used to reduce this risk as for its action as a barrier of direct contact between soil and bamboo. Nevertheless, water from damp soil or rainwater can still penetrate the foundation by capillary transmission through the foundation’s pores. This research proposed a hollow pedestal foundation model with larger pores and compared its ability to reduce moisture on bamboo columns to an ordinary pedestal foundation. The case study is a temporary post-disaster housing project of 13 houses in Muntilan, Central Java, Indonesia, which was built on an active rice field. Visual examination showed that after 5 years of occupancy, bamboo houses built on hollow pedestal foundations still firmly stood without apparent attacks of fungi or overgrowing mold, whereas the moisture measurement showed that the usage of hollow pedestal foundation could reduce the humidity level in the bamboo column almost twice as fast compared to solid pedestal foundation.

In Indonesia, a bamboo slanted ceiling is one of the most commonly used types of ceiling. It occurs for numerous reasons, including technical and cultural aspects. However, practically, it has low durability and is difficult to maintain as it is used in place which is prone to rainwater seepage and installed in the form of large woven sheet material. Therefore, in this research, three alternative models of construction for a bamboo slanted ceiling were proposed: (1) one layer of dense bamboo slats, (2) two layers of dense bamboo slats; and (3) two overlapping layers of sparsely weaved bamboo slats. Each model was developed on a real scale prototype and tested in terms of its material’s temperature and humidity level. The construction strategies used for these models were focused on the arrangement and orientation of pieces of ‘Bambu Kuning’ within the roof structure. The measurement result shows that the third model had the lowest temperature with >5°C different compared to the other models during the hottest hour of the day (from 9 AM to 3 PM). Then, in terms of the humidity measurement, data shows that the second model had the lowest humidity measurement with 1.93% different compared to the first model and 1.22% different compared to the third model. Furthermore, other potential benefits of the proposed models are also presented.