Window to floor ratio in the design stage in considering to visual-thermal comfort and safety in building

Abstract

The building envelope with the openings play an important role in the process energy performance and ensure the well-being in a working space because of the impact of the openings to the visual and thermal comfort of the occupants. When designing buildings and structures, the standards for permissible safety should be taken into account, which are expressed by the value of critical duration of fire and the explosive load. The aim of the study is to propose the integrated approach in determining the rational Window to Floor Ratio to provide the target Daylight Factor, energy efficiency for the tropical climate, in consider to fire and the explosive load using the graphic of the relationship of the Window to Floor Ratio to the target minimum Daylight Factor. The result was shown for tropical of Vietnam, the Window to Floor Ratio was recommended of 15.2% to 18.5% corresponds to recommended target Daylight Factor of 1.35%.