Design Optimization of Building Form and Fenestration for Daylighting and Thermal Energy in Three Variations of the Hot Climate of Egypt

Abstract

Early consideration of building form and orientation in architectural design can significantly reduce a building's energy consumption, crucial due to the built environment's contribution to climate change crisis. Previous research using optimization of building form for energy performance in more than one city focused mainly on the difference between three or more major climates. However, the difference between cities that are variations of the same climate is not fully studied. This research proposes a multi-objective-optimization (MOO) method of a three-floor office building in three cities that represent variations of the Egyptian climate, Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan. Dynamic parameters are the building expansion along east-west, floors expansion along north-south, orientation, skylight, WWR, and shadings. Enhancements of one of overall best solutions are 19.63 %, 13.2 %, and 30.1% for annual thermal Energy Use Intensity (EUI), and 8.05%, 11.66%, and 1.54% for annual Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI (100-2000)) in comparison to the initial form. The results are compared, and characteristics attributed to the specific conditions of each city are identified. Scatterplots are then developed to study the relationship between building dynamic parameters and the performance objectives. Scatterplots of floors’ expansion, building expansion and skylight show the most obvious trends in the three cities.