An early-stage design optimization for office buildings’ façade providing high-energy performance and daylight

Abstract

The amount of received sunlight and radiant energy could affect the energy consumption in heating, cooling and lighting systems. Utilization of natural daylight in architecture, in addition to fulfilling the inhabitants’ mental and physical needs, could greatly reduce fossil fuel consumption. Although higher levels of daylight can be obtained by increasing light transmission, this increased transmission could negatively affect the building’s sustainability and thus result in higher energy consumption in turn. So, designers must seek an acceptable balance, in which not only optimal daylight comfort and usage are met but also the best possible thermal performance is achieved. The use of a parametric design model can facilitate the simulation of lighting and annual thermal performance of a building in the early stages of the design or restoration process. In this paper, the daylight and thermal performances of an office building are optimized using a simulated parametric-based design model and the Octopus plug-in which is an optimizing tool based on genetic algorithms developed for Grasshopper. By applying the developed workflow, the enhanced results for (useful daylight illuminance) is up by 20.56% and for energy use intensity by 141 kWh/m²/yr.