Towards enhancing indoor environmental quality: a case of smart adaptive building envelopes in a coastal city

Abstract

Background: Earth's temperature has been rising since 1900, and the annual temperature has increased from 20°C to 24°C on the Mediterranean coastline. The external climate directly relates to indoor environmental quality (IEQ) and building performance, particularly in educational buildings. This paper proposes smart adaptive building envelopes (SABEs) as a potential solution for resilient architecture which is prone to unexpected weather patterns posed by climate change. Methods: A multi-dimensional criterion methodology is employed based on Egypt’s local climate, using SABEs to provide thermal comfort and natural daylight using minimum energy. The paper's novelty is in using a comparative methodology that is complemented with a software simulation (OpenStudio 3.0.1) to address the existing educational building design challenges in providing IEQ, and to assess the proposed SABE design’s performance, whilst providing better indoor thermal comfort and daylight. Results: The results show that the application of SABEs has led to significant reduction of the energy consumed, by 7.62% in summer and 5.42% in winter Conclusions: The implications of SABEs on IEQ in terms of thermal comfort and daylight are significant. SABEs also reduce energy consumption.