The built environment is responsible for a large share of global energy consumption. Where façades play a crucial role in regulating the interaction between indoor and outdoor conditions. While adaptive façades can improve indoor climate performance, many existing systems rely on motors, sensors and complex control systems. This research investigates how smart materials can be integrated into adaptive building façades to improve indoor climate performance and reduce energy demand.
The study follows a mixed-method approach consisting of a literature review, material evaluation, design development, physical prototyping and building performance simulations. First, different categories of smart materials were analysed and evaluated for façade integration. Shape Memory Alloys were selected for further development. This because of their temperature-responsive behaviour, reversible actuation, relatively high actuation force and suitability for passive façade applications.
The selected SMA was translated into a passive adaptive natural ventilation component. The design uses the linear contraction of an SMA wire to activate a Scotch yoke mechanism. Which rotates a set of lamellas to open and close the ventilation component. Experimental testing confirmed that the SMA wire can generate sufficient force and contraction to actuate the mechanism. The design was evaluated through building performance simulations in DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus. Using both a reference room and the Hartje Noord case study in Amsterdam.
The simulation results show that adaptive natural ventilation can reduce overheating when cooler outdoor air is available, especially during the evening, night and early morning. However, passive ventilation alone was not sufficient to maintain thermal comfort during peak summer conditions. The most promising result was found in the hybrid scenario. Where adaptive ventilation was combined with active cooling. In this case, the summer cooling demand was reduced by approximately 68% compared to the reference scenario.
The research demonstrates that SMA-driven adaptive ventilation can contribute to lower-energy building performance as part of a hybrid climate strategy. The proposed component should be considered a proof-of-concept, as further testing is needed regarding durability, airtightness, acoustic performance, draught risk and real-world façade integration. ... Read more

This book has been developed during the Complex Projects Graduation Studio, as part of the master track of Architecture at TU Delft. The studio reflects on the theme of Bodies and Buildings, examining the dynamic relationship between the human body and the built environment. Within this studio, students are challenged to design a ‘one-of-a-kind’ building in Milan (a large-scale, complex building unique in the city).

This particular book presents the design of an airport that focuses on reducing the stress experienced in a terminal and provides the most pleasant passenger experience possible. The project focuses on how architectural design can influence human emotions and contributes to the ongoing discussion of transforming air travel into a pleasant and relaxing experience. Extra attention is paid to researching ways to design a mobility hub, spaces for crowds and flows of people with the goal of creating an airport that is intuitive and easy to navigate. ... Read more

The research explores the spatial and conceptual disconnect between human-centered spaces and train-centered infrastructure. It focuses on how architectural design can recalibrate the station environment so that trains are not isolated or hidden from the spatial experience but instead become visible and integrated elements of a broader urban and civic framework. Traditional station designs tend to compartmentalize functions, platforms for trains, halls for people, resulting in a fragmented spatial narrative. The design instead seeks to reconfigure the station hall as a shared domain, where the train enters into a human-scaled space rather than the reverse. In this way, the station transforms from a neutral transit shell into an inhabited and expressive civic environment.

Trains are brought visually and physically closer to users by treating the platform area not as a peripheral utility but as part of the main spatial continuum of the station. The design allows trains to enter the hall, not through concealed corridors but through an open and legible structure where their movement becomes part of the spatial experience. This strategy evokes the historical role of the station as a place of wander and fascination with machines, restoring a degree of spectacle and engagement lost in the contemporary functionalist approach.

The design creates a space where trains are present but do not dominate, where movement does not erase the possibility of pause, and where the public realm reclaims its place within a transit environment. ... Read more

Reducing waste production is key to achieving a circular economy. The European metal industry consumes over 1.2 billion TJ of energy every year. This number could be reduced by reusing material that is currently being wasted.

The current problem is that the recycling industry focuses on creating clean secondary raw materials from waste. This means that large quantities of material are rejected because they are too contaminated to meet these high standards, or because it is not economically viable to recycle them. This thesis focuses on the value of metal waste materials and their potential in architectural applications. By lowering recycling standards and taking a multidisciplinary approach, an integrated process can be developed that can handle a wider range of materials.

Using a powder metallurgical approach, aluminium composite foils are researched for their potential in architectural applications. The material is granulated, compressed and heated to study its behaviour. The best results were obtained using the highest pressure and a heating temperature of 750°C.

These experiments demonstrate that these materials still have considerable value and quality. The material’s aesthetic quality is particularly high, making it an excellent material for visual applications. The material’s mechanical properties are also interesting for more technical architectural applications. ... Read more

Fully glazed offices are being questioned due to issues with heat gain, view obstruction from shading, and glare. Energy-efficient facades should allow daylight penetration while preventing excessive solar heat. These fully glazed offices also have a monotonous appearance and, therefore, lack design freedom.

This thesis proposes a novel hybrid panel combining a transparent (glass) and an opaque (concrete) material in a single prefabricated unit without adhesives to create a new design language.

Since concrete and glass lack strong natural adhesion, this research focuses on optimizing the interface between these materials to enhance adhesion and structural integrity. Key parameters investigated include material composition, interlocking geometry, and surface roughness. Experimental testing revealed that combining interlocking forms with surface roughness significantly improves adhesion strength. Specifically, surface roughness combined with an interlocking form characterized by a repetitive series of peaks yielded the best results for robust interfacial adhesion.

Design guidelines were established to minimize stress concentrations in facade panels, ensuring sustainable solutions by enabling disassembly and recycling. This innovative hybrid panel represents a significant advancement in facade technology, blending the opacity of concrete with the transparency of glass in a free-form manner without the use of additives.
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Glass is a material that is used in many different industries nowadays, including digitalisation, telecommunications, transportation, and architecture. Despite being widely used, the manufacture of flat glass presents serious environmental issues because to its energy-intensive methods, such as the float method.

Glass recycling and reuse have been explored to mitigate these environmental impacts. Incorporating cullet, into manufacturing processes has shown substantial reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions. However, challenges such as financial, infrastructural, and technical limitations hinder the increased use of cullet, especially from post-consumer sources.

Creative thinking is essential to overcome these challenges. In line with the EU's zero C&D waste goals, researchers aim to maximise the use of recycled glass in building construction. Various approaches to reusing waste glass in construction are under investigation by research organisations like Delft University of Technology. Methods such as casting allow for volumetric designs and can accommodate higher levels of impurities and contaminants. Since float glass typically breaks due to surface imperfections and flaws, enhancing surface quality is crucial while the bulk can tolerate lower quality. This concept has led to the development of composite panels, where the surface contains higher purity cullet and the bulk contains lower purity cullet.

Despite these advancements, there is still a significant gap in understanding the optimal ratio between the surface and bulk layers to achieve the best structural performance while maximising recyclability. Furthermore, the specific material compositions for both the surface and bulk layers remain unknown. Current research aims to address this gap by investigating the impact of various factors, including glass material composition and the thickness of both surface and bulk layers, on the performance of composite glass panels.

Research on glass casting and recycling is essential for sustainable development since it presents viable answers to environmental problems facing the building industry. This study focuses on experimental methods that are essential to the advancement of casting and glass recycling.

The research aims to increase glass recycling operations through investigations into experimental variables using cast glass recycled beams. To better understand structural behaviour, the experimental methodology includes testing both homogeneous and composite glass beams. In order to maximise surface-to-bulk ratios, various material compositions of surface and bulk and layering techniques are investigated. Techniques for both mechanical and microscopic validation are used to assess beam performance and to understand variables affecting structural integrity.

Recycled Composite Cast Glass Panels made of C&D waste are an example of a new solution for sustainable building applications that can be produced by improving beam configurations and understanding material behaviour. This helps the building construction industry make the shift to a circular economy.
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The building industry's emphasis on cost-driven standardization has led to more waste, prompting a need for resource-efficient methods. While coreless-filament winding (CFW) with materials like flax fibers show promise, a research gap is present. This study explores how computational design, coupled with coreless-filament winding, can create modular, demountable, and aesthetically valued fiber-based building systems. The methodologies chosen are research-by-design and prototyping, which generates various design options that are supported by literature and insights from an expert in the field. The viability of flax fiber-based building systems, using CFW, relies on the intended function. While flax is optimal for structural and thermally insulated elements, addressing weatherproofing and flammability necessitates a combination of different fiber types in bespoke fibrous tectonic structures. ... Read more

Current research conducted at TU Delft focused on utilizing structural Topology Optimization (TO) for designing large monolithic cast glass structures with maximum stiffness and minimum mass. These structures demonstrated improved manufacturability in terms of time, energy, and cost efficiency due to their mass efficiency, which results in shorter annealing times. However, the complex geometries and customization of these forms posed challenges in terms of fabrication.

The manufacturability of intricate glass structures is explored by analysing and comparing three possible fabrication methods for three-dimensional glass structures with complex and customized geometries. The methods examined are:

(i) Kiln casting in disposable moulds,
(ii) Waterjet cutting and lamination of float glass panes,
(iii) Additive manufacturing of glass.

The assessment of these methods is based on a set of criteria related to structural performance, visual quality, fabrication limitations, and sustainability. This comparative study act as a guide to the design of a case study and the selection of the preferred fabrication method. An all-glass topologically optimized bridge observatory in Vikos Gorge, Greece, is chosen as the design case. Based on the comparative study and a set of soft criteria, casting in disposable moulds is selected as the preferred fabrication method.

However, glass casting currently faces major drawbacks that restrict its potential. The two main drawbacks that this thesis tries to address are:

Rough and opaque surface quality (main focus): This issue is tackled through laboratory experimentation with the aim of achieving good surface quality immediately after demoulding. The experiments involve the use of different types of disposable 3D printed sand moulds (3DPSM) and application of refractory coatings and coating combinations at various maximum firing temperatures.

Lack of redundancy: Redundancy is explored though research by design and the implementation of design strategies (segmentation, zoning, fabrication methods combination) to ensure the feasibility of the structure.

The end result of this thesis is a comprehensive study on how an all-glass structure with complex and customized shape can be realized. The experimental part of the research yielded improved results, indicating that the combination of refractory coatings and 3DPSM has the potential to bring such glass components to life, reduce the need for post-processing, and simplify the fabrication process.

Given the limitations of time and knowledge within a master’s thesis, further research is suggested to validate and evaluate the results obtained. ... Read more

The 15-minute city is an urban planning concept which seeks to enhance social sustainability by improving accessibility. In this master thesis accessibility in Amsterdam Nieuw-West is explored to better understand the link between the 15-minute city concept and social sustainability to answer the research question: To what extent is the 15-minute city able to enhance social sustainability? Empirical research is conducted to identify the indicators that truly affect accessibility. Literature regarding the subject has pointed out two scale levels which affect accessibility. The macro scale relates to accessibility of the infrastructure network and availability of facilities while the micro scale relates to the indicators affecting the accessibility of a place. There where also two categories of accessibility indicators defined. Physical accessibility indicators experienced directly because of the built environment and social accessibility indicators experienced because of the behaviour of people inhabiting the built environment. This creates an interesting dynamic of the designed physical accessibility and the social accessibility resulting from it. After the initial literature review, three research methods were used in the case study in Amsterdam Nieuw-West. First two project mangers affiliated with the municipality were interviewed which alongside case study documents aided the framework of known accessibility indicators in Nieuw-West. Thereafter, the way accessibility is experienced was studied on both scale levels. The macro scale by interviewing residents about their decision making process regarding their routes and destinations utilising mental maps and the micro scale by street interviews with users of Osdorpplein. The findings show that the 15-minute city concept is not applicable as a one size fits all solution for urban development as that would be discriminatory because of the different desires and capabilities of inhabitants. However, indicators of the 15-minute city on their own are able to improve accessibility and thus social sustainability. ... Read more

This report investigates the potential use of Phase Change Material (PCM) technology in poorly insulated lightweight homes in the Netherlands. The aim is to develop a cost-effective and easy-to-install PCM product that can decrease energy consumption through passive heating and cooling. The proposed design involves a multi-layer curtain system with small PET macroencapsulations containing salt hydrate attached to a sheer curtain. The system also includes a secondary insulation layer made of polyester with a reflective aluminum lining as a thermal barrier. MATLAB simulations indicate that this system, with 16 liters of PCM, can reduce heating loads by 7-9% when applied to a living room bay window measuring 4.46 m2 within a 28.8 m2 room. However, the insulation layer provides the most significant heat loss reduction. The simulation results also demonstrate a lower average summer temperature when the insulation curtain is not applied, suggesting effectiveness in both summer and winter. The estimated payback period for the system, based on the Dutch gas price cap of
€1.45 per m³, is 5 - 8.5 years. The report concludes that while the proposed PCM system has the potential to reduce energy usage in lightweight homes, further research is necessary to determine its actual effectiveness. ... Read more

With 40% of global greenhouse gas emissions originating from the built environment, the construction sector has a big responsibility to reduce global warming. The impact that structural designs have, is often calculated by simply multiplying a carbon factor with the mass of the structure. As gridshell structures feature a high number of nodes, they require extensive processing. This research aims to develop a better method of assessing the global warming potential of a gridshell structure, taking processing into account, and simultaneously learning what its influence is on GWP optimization.
The research was carried out by investigating multiple gridshell node types. For each node type, the required fabrication processes were identified. Carbon data was gathered for all these processes, as well as for the materials making up the structure of the gridshell. The GWP of a gridshell structure was then calculated in Excel per node type, based on design variables. A parametric structural analysis script was made in Grasshopper using the plugin Karamba. This script provides the Excel sheet with the variables, allowing it to calculate, and optimize the GWP value. An existing gridshell made by Octatube was used as a case study throughout this research.
The research concludes that processing has a very limited impact on the GWP of a gridshell structure, with most of the GHG emissions being related to the materials. The choice for node type that is utilized, does influence the GWP significantly. The research has produced a ‘tool’ for assessing and/or optimizing the GWP of a gridshell structure. The tool consists of the Excel sheet and Grasshopper script, and has the potential to be very useful in early design stages to not only assess, but to help optimize the GWP of a gridshell structure. ... Read more

One of the major technological challenges in achieving circularity within the built environment is the disassembly of multi-material systems at the end of their useful life. This is especially true for façade systems, which have become more complex to improve operational performance. As efforts to reduce embodied carbon in façade systems intensify, circular economy principles, which integrate design, maintenance, and product reclamation to minimize waste and emissions, are crucial. A significant aspect of this is the emphasis on Design for Disassembly (DfD) strategies.

Yet, despite the critical importance of circular economy principles, there is a disconnect between the awareness of stakeholders in the façade industry and the evaluative methods used to assess the impact of DfD during the early design stages on the material reclamation potential at the end of a building product's lifecycle. Industry stakeholders emphasize the need for quantitative methods to determine how design choices affect reclamation potential. Thus, developing a disassembly assessment framework is essential to guide DfD efforts in façade systems and to predict outcomes at their end of life. This study seeks to address this issue by developing a framework that meets the façade industry's needs, emphasizing the evaluation of design choices on material reclamation.

By reviewing relevant literature, various factors that impact the highest reclamation potential for a façade systems were identified. These factors were organized into process maps, laying the groundwork for potential computational workflows. The factors were organized into modules that, when combined, facilitate a consistent assessment process. This research revealed that much of the necessary information is not readily processed by computational tools; it often exists in unstructured formats like text documents, and the key decision-making factors are often subjective and require human judgement. As a result, this framework proposes steps to creating databases which could improve the assessment process.

The framework's effectiveness is demonstrated through a case study of an aluminum curtain wall façade system. The assessment led to suggested design improvements that increase the potential for material recovery and reduce disassembly time at the end of life. This case study demonstrates the framework's utility and uncovers practical challenges and opportunities, serving as a model for adapting the framework to different façade typologies and building components.
... Read more

In a constantly evolving urban environment, it is important that we design structures with future adaptability in mind. Bridges for example can have very long life spans, but within their life span their use might change or even become obsolete. Disposing of the bridge, which can still be in perfectly good shape, would be a terrible waste of resources.

As a more innovative approach, in this thesis a modular and reusable railway footbridge is designed so that the bridge can be assembled and reassembled based on changing local requirements. To further improve its sustainable character, the choice of main structural material is basalt fiber reinforced polylactic acid, which is a more sustainable alternative to regular FRP.

The conclusion of this thesis is a design which shows methods to demonstrate the modular and demountable character of the bridge, using mainly bolted and pinned connections between the modules. ... Read more

Dense urbanization increases the demand on the building sector who is responsible, on the one hand for producing large amounts of landfilled glass waste, and on the other for consuming the earth’s natural resources and release additional CO2 emissions, for the manufacture of new architectural glass. These unfavorable conditions together with the already apparent effects of climate change, demand resourceful solutions for adaptive and resilient cities, that utilize current waste and require low maintenance and low costs, to be implemented universally.

This, can only be ensured by letting nature to take over. Unexploited urban facades have a key role to provide this new ground that can be colonized by microorganisms, creating a microclimate by forming an outer green layer growing on its own. Aiming this, materials covering our urban facades need to be transformed to porous hosts by retaining rainwater and providing the right environment for bio-growth to take place.

This research aims to discover new ways that unutilized glass waste can be upcycled into bioreceptive applications, that form a promising set of criteria. By shedding light firstly on the specific material properties needed, the method of glass foaming is chosen to be investigated, as the means to provide an open porous network that can incorporate large amounts of waste into its recipe.

An experimental approach has been designed to explore the parameters related to the mixture, manufacturing process affecting the glass foam’s microstructure and potential biofilm formation by producing a total of 22 samples in the Glass lab in Stevin lab, TU Delft. These specimens were not foamed at once, but gradually being tested first of all, microscopically, to reveal the porosity network and secondly, with a series of quick tests related to their hydraulic performance, providing feedback for the next batch of samples regarding the most promising recipes to be further explored. All the samples were tested for their water absorption, evaporation rate and frosting resistance, while only the higher-scored specimens were put under test for moss-growth and compressive strength.

Apart from the experimental analysis, the next steps towards a product development were also explored by setting the bioreceptive design principles for manufacturing the meso-scale surface. Limitations in adjusting these guidelines to the way glass-foam is produced are addressed with possible solutions as suggestions for further experimentation. In addition, an application catalogue was composed as schematic recommendations to showcase the potential of bio-host glass. Combining this idea to the material science, these applications were also approached from an engineering view to analyze the material properties’ specific demands per product. This tool, can prove to be beneficial both in the hands of the future designer and material researcher to have a starting point on what needs to be further developed, depending on the chosen product out of bioreceptive glass-foam.

Taking the most immediately feasible example of a façade tile, based on the findings of the aforementioned analysis, during the last part of this project, a methodology for designing and implementing the new material into the urban environment is proposed. By informing the design of the macro-scale with weather data, precipitation levels can be exploited, in order to provide the maximum water content for the benefit of bioreceptivity.
Therefore, the novelty of this thesis, aspires by providing a holistic approach, based on the knowledge obtained both in the literature review and the conducted experiments, to stir not only bio-growth on our cities, but also innovative thinking and exploration on ways to combat the increasing landfill waste. ... Read more

To reduce the heat loss in heritage buildings, this graduation research aims to explore what alternative solutions arise when thin glass is used to design an insulating glass panel that replaces the single glazing? To do so, six different designs are proposed. The first two are an IGU with thin glass and laminated thin glass. The third design is made with a hollow twin-wall sheet of PC and laminated to thin glass. The fourth and fifth proposal are laser cut PMMA connected to thin glass. While design four uses a honeycomb pattern, the fifth proposal experiments with a more freely design of cavities. The last proposal uses glass balls in the cavity of the IGU.

Based on the computer analysis, design 5 and 6 fail on the thermal properties and design 1 and two cannot handle the wind load. For design 1, 2, 3 and 4 prototypes are made but design 4 did not succeed during this research. The others were then tested on the U-value and the maximum force before breakage. This concluded that design 3 performed thermally as expected but design 1 and 2 performed worse, due to a flaw in the computer modelling. Converting the force to the maximum distributed load showed that all designs could handle the wind load. The materials were also tested on ageing due to UV rays. Only the polycarbonate changed significantly over ten years, but with an extra UV-coating, this is avoidable.

The aesthetic of the design 3 and 4 and the opinion of the public are tested with a survey. It can be said that the division between design 3 and 4 was fifty-fifty. If the other design had a better U-value, they did not switch. Depending on the function of the space behind it, people chose design 3 for more private spaces and design 4 for more public spaces. To show the final appearance and precision of the designs, a rendering and details are given. After this, a table is made to compare the designs based on stars which concludes that design 2 is the best alternative solution to replace single glazing in heritage buildings. ... Read more

Glass has been widely used in the construction industry since the early nineteenth century. It was most commonly used in the form of a window, which is a flat glass panel. Glass has natural optical properties and is resistant to weather, making it ideal for use as a facade material. Glass’s novel applications in the built environment have led us to go beyond its 2D application of flat glass panels to a solid, 3D component, as seen in recent projects such as Maison de Hermes in Tokyo and Crystal House in Amsterdam.

Currently, there are two approaches in glass blocks: load-bearing solid glass blocks with poor thermal properties and hollow glass blocks with optimal thermal properties but no structural performance. Can we combine these approaches and develop a glass block with good load-bearing and thermal properties? Research on Hybrid glass blocks is one such topic that investigates the potential of this unique concept. A hybrid glass block is the combination of solid and hollow glass blocks designed as a single product with good thermal performance and load-bearing capacity.

The existing research on this topic is promising and noteworthy for further development as it conceptualises the rudimentary design guidelines for the system. The output of the existing research is oriented towards the design development of the novel hybrid glass blocks, ideation of the production methodologies, and validation of their thermal performance. Thus the scope for further research and development is actual prototyping of the design concepts, validation of the structural performance, and qualitative analysis. It is observed that the shape of the hybrid glass blocks impacts the structural-thermal performance, production methodology, and desirability of standardisation. Thus, to develop this product a thorough investigation and exploration are necessary.

The research first focuses on developing design guidelines for the innovative hybrid glass system. A product development methodology is formulated to guide and aid the design process of the hybrid glass block systems. Various design concepts are explored in-depth for each design problem based on their relationship with the structural-thermal performance, manufacturing, and assembly process and are then assessed through a set of design criteria to develop a final design concept. The final design concept is further refined based on manufacturing standards and challenges. The final design is then detailed and implemented in the Academy of Arts, Maastricht (case study), and various assembly strategies for dry stacked cast glass systems are formulated.

To validate the design a prototype manufacturing is done by using a kiln casting method. The prototyping challenges, observations, and decisions aid to assess the practicality of the design. A hybrid method of numerical and experimental validation is considered to evaluate the design based on its feasibility for application in the building industry. This research proves to be a guide for developing hybrid glass block systems and provides them with a design development, manufacturing, and evaluation framework to design, develop and assess their concepts. ... Read more

As the housing shortage in the Netherlands is rapidly increasing, hence the need to develop more housing is as well. It is needed to make these new houses more sustainable to honour the Paris climate agreement. It is known how to make buildings energy neutral. To push further the development of a sustainable urban environment research is done by investigating shortening the transport into the urban environment to a minimum by implementing food production and black water sanitation on site. Based on data provided by the Dutch nutrition centre (Voedingscentrum), the amount of food needed is calculated and divided in what could be feasible to produce within a neighbourhood and is translated to 36 m2 per capita. Blackwater and organic waste are produced and digested on site. Biogas forms from organic waste and biosolids and can provide a potential energy of 626,1 kWh per capita. Ammonia and fertiliser can be harvested with a struvite reactor and has a potential of 20,5 kWh per capita, and the struvite harvested is 474,5g per capita per year. A total of 646,6 kWh per capita is gained ... Read more

The goal of this project is to design a high-quality circular housing complex. The challenge lies in finding a balance between creating a circular and high-quality result and making it as cost-effective as possible. Circularity in this design will focus on using prefabricated timber modules that are designed for disassembly. It also entails the circular use of other resources such as energy and water. High-quality in this context stands for a space that aesthetically and socially is pleasant and lively for the inhabitants.

Prefabrication of timber has the potential to create high-quality results in a safer work environment, faster and with lower costs. Timber building products can be categorised in the following prefabrication levels: component, panel and module. Modules are at the last level of completion, and they can comprise a room finished up to 95% until it is moved to the site. ... Read more

In the Netherlands, the residential buildings consume the highest percentage of primary energy among the various building sectors. With around 80% of the Dutch housing built before 1995 a huge portion of the energy share is tapped in the old housing stock. While new housing constructions had to be nearly energy neutral as of 2020, a large portion of the existing housing stock has a higher relative energy consumption. The old housing stock thus needs urgent energy-retrofitting that is instrumental in reaching the goals targeted by the Dutch government by 2050. The Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) system developed by Dr. Ben Bronsema (2013) during his PhD research can play an effective role in this aspect. Therefore, the research focussed on investigating the applicability of the Earth, Wind & Fire system for the Housing buildings in terms of energy-efficiency and thermal comfort potential. A case study building is selected to carry out the said investigation. Several design strategies were incorporated for the case study building to design the EWF system with highest technical performance. The study also incorporated dynamic simulations to evaluate the energy performance of the building after installing the EWF system. The study concluded that the integration of the Earth, Wind & Fire system has a great potential to reduce the energy consumption of the apartment buildings and improve the indoor comfort of the building and thus is a highly effective energy-retrofitting system for the housing buildings. The efficiency of the EWF system in improving the performance of the apartment buildings is thus highlighted. The effectives of the EWF system in reducing the energy consumption is dependent on the existing façade of the apartments and thus it is essential to refurbish the poor-performing façade to maximize the benefit. Thus, the study also concluded that apart from the installation of the EWF system several more improvements are needed in the existing buildings to achieve the goal of a nearly energy-neutral design. ... Read more