As global energy systems transition toward full electrification, peak demand congestion has emerged as a primary bottleneck for decarbonization. Thermal Energy Storage (TES) offers a critical solution for strategic peak shifting; however, the lack of a standardized design workflow often leads to inefficient sizing or failure to maintain operational stability. This thesis develops a multi-zone optimization model that integrates transient thermal load profiles and hydraulic stability requirements into a unified control framework. The model processes dynamic inputs, including real-time grid constraints and variable load demands, against user-defined performance preferences. By utilizing a multi-objective function, the model identifies optimal design solutions that prevent the common pitfall of oversized storage vessels while maintaining occupant thermal comfort boundaries.

The research quantifies a two-layer buffering effect. Firstly, structural thermal inertia acts as a passive buffer that dampens thermal demand peaks through the building's intrinsic heat capacity. Secondly, the active TES system integration acts as a predictive buffer: by utilizing real-time data to either pre-charge the building's structural mass or the active TES system, as defined in the control strategy, the system effectively shifts thermal demand temporally. This way the reliance on the physical thermal storage tank during peak periods is reduced.

The general framework is validated with a case study. Sensitivity analysis for the case study reveals a non-linear relationship between heating capacity and required storage volume, with an turning point at 95 kW; increasing heating capacity from 95 kW to 115 kW yields a 21.08\% reduction in hot tank volume for fixed scheduling and 18.47\% for dynamic Model Predictive Control (MPC) strategies. Furthermore, the analysis demonstrates that cold tank sizing is, at some point, constrained by hydraulic stability requirements, rather than thermal cooling demand. These findings provide a robust methodology for determining optimal storage capacities, ensuring grid-compliant delivery while strictly adhering to system performance constraints. ... Read more

The building sector represents the highest share of operational energy consumption across all sectors, with a significant portion attributed to the inefficiency of the existing building stock. In this context, building retrofit plays a crucial role in enhancing energy efficiency and reducing environmental impact. However, conventional models for assessing retrofit scenarios are highly computationally expensive, thereby slowing down the retrofit process. This research addresses this challenge by developing an AI-based surrogate model using Multi-Task Learning (MTL). The proposed MTL model significantly reduces computational costs while simultaneously predicting energy consumption, costs, embodied carbon, and thermal comfort. Additionally, Multi-Objective Optimization (MOO) and Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) techniques are employed to select optimal retrofit solutions Results demonstrate that the MTL model accelerates the retrofit simulation process from 90 minutes to just 2 seconds, highlighting its potential to streamline and enhance retrofit decision-making processes. ... Read more

The climate crisis is widely regarded as one of the biggest challenges of our century, driving the European Union to adopt ambitious climate action policies targeting rapid transitions across all sectors, particularly resource-intensive ones like the building industry. The building sector accounts for 40% of Europe’s energy consumption and 36% of its greenhouse gas emissions, making it a critical sector for achieving the EU’s goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Despite its potential for improvement, significant amounts of European buildings remain energy inefficient, and only 1% undergo renovations each year. These inefficient buildings consume over 270 kWh/m² annually, suggesting that effective retrofitting could significantly reduce energy use. Insulating external walls alone has the potential to achieve energy savings of up to 60%.

Historic buildings, however, present unique challenges due to the need to preserve their cultural, historical, and aesthetic significance. Internal insulation is often the only viable solution for such structures but brings with it complex hygrothermal risks. Insulating solid masonry walls internally reduces heat flow, lowers the wall’s temperature, and increases the likelihood of interstitial condensation and consequently frost damage, wood decay and mould growth. Moreover, the use of vapour-permeable, capillary-active insulation materials introduces additional complexities, as their ability to absorb and redistribute moisture can result in both benefits and risks depending on the interior and exterior boundary conditions.

The aim of this research is to gain insight into the most influential factors affecting the hygrothermal safety of embedded wooden beams in solid brick masonry with interior capillary active insulation. Through literature review, background information on the subject is provided. Creating an understanding of the hygrothermal changes to the solid brick masonry after the application of interior capillary active insulation and associated hygrothermal risks of the wall assembly, with regard to the biological decay of embedded wooden beams. To find the most influential factors on hygrothermal performance, methods to simulate this performance are assessed and compared and possible high influential material properties, such as temperature and moisture, further researched.

The influence of thermal conductivity, water vapour diffusion resistance and moisture retention of the insulation, as well as the water vapour diffusion resistance and moisture retention of brick on the hygrothermal performance is assessed with a Sobol sensitivity analysis. This sensitivity analysis indicates the most influential material properties, and is based on 1536 simulations using Delphin hygrothermal simulation software. Python scripting is used to create the simulation and material files, control the Delphin software and analyse and assess the generated results. To create a better understanding of these results and assess the hygrothermal safety, wood decay potential is calculated and visualised using the post processor of Delphin.

From this research, it can be concluded that the exterior boundary conditions, such as rain load, solar radiation and orientation, are more dominant on the hygrothermal performance of the geometry in comparison with the material properties. When solely analysing material properties, the sensitivity analysis concludes that the moisture retention of brick is the primary influence on hygrothermal performance. The moisture retention of insulation is of secondary importance within the research boundary conditions. Furthermore, the impact of capillary active insulation is studied by using wood decay assessments. Revealing positive contributes to the prevention of wood decay. However, incapable of reducing moisture content to levels that prevent wood decay completely.
... Read more

Energy consumption has become a significant global issue due to climatic and environmental challenges, a lack of energy resources, and rising energy prices. The building stock accounts for 40% of the total energy consumption. Therefore, efforts should be made to explore possibilities to reduce energy consumption and related CO2-emissions, not only by the construction of modern and energy-efficient buildings but also through energy retrofitting existing buildings. Historic buildings often have thermal discomfort, cold draughts close to the exterior walls, and high energy consumption due to heat losses. Hence, the improvement of energy efficiency of historic buildings is important. Moreover, preserving architectural heritage can reduce our reliance on new materials for new buildings and reduce energy use in manufacturing processes. The potential for energy efficiency of historic buildings depends on an appropriate compromise between the need to conserve cultural heritage inherited in the building and energy efficiency measures.

Reducing energy consumption and raising thermal comfort is possible by adding thermal insulation to the building envelope. Most historic buildings have facades with cultural, historic and aesthetic value, therefore, internal insulation is proposed as a suitable measure. The application of internal insulation changes the hygrothermal behaviour of a facade significantly and might result in hygrothermal risks such as frost damage, interstitial condensation and mould growth. The change in hygrothermal behaviour depends on the type of internal insulation system. Nowadays, vapour-tight and vapour-open, capillary active, internal insulation systems are mostly used for historic buildings.There is no consensus about the third internal insulation system: a vapour-open, non-capillary active due to a lack of knowledge about the hygrothermal behaviour of this system from theoretical and practical perspectives.

The aim of this research is to gain insight into the most influential hygrothermal properties of vapour-open, non-capillary active, internally insulated historic solid brick masonry. Through literature review, background information is obtained on the hygrothermal behaviour of vapour-open, non-capillary active internal insulation of historic solid brick masonry by exploring the factors that influence this behaviour. Prerequisites for the risk-free hygrothermal performance of a vapour-open, non-capillary active, internally insulated historic solid brick masonry wall are defined based on the risk of mould growth due to interstitial condensation and taking moisture-sensitive wooden elements into account. This approach is sufficient for one-dimensional and two- or three-dimensional situations.

The influence of hygrothermal properties on the hygrothermal behaviour of vapour-open, non-capillary active, internally insulated solid brick masonry of historic residential buildings is studied by a parameter study, which is carried out through Heat, Air and Moisture simulation software WUFI 2D.4. To gain insight into the influence of the hygrothermal properties on the hygrothermal performance, the boundary condition of the outdoor environment is simplified by excluding solar radiation and wind-driven rain. In the parameter study, four hygrothermal properties were studied: the μd-value of the finishing layer, the μd-value of the insulation layer, the thermal performance of the insulation layer and the moisture storage capacity of solid brick masonry. Finally, a prediction method of the hygrothermal performance of a building component is explored, which can be a useful tool to quickly assess the hygrothermal performance of a building component, without conducting advanced Heat, Air and Moisture simulations which might not be available.

From the research, it can be concluded that for the studied hygrothermal properties and boundary conditions, the moisture storage capacity of historic solid brick masonry has the most influence on the hygrothermal behaviour of a vapour-open, non-capillary active internally insulated historic solid brick masonry facade. The outcome of this research shows that a high moisture storage capacity of solid brick masonry has a lower risk on mould growth due to interstitial condensation at the interface between the solid brick masonry and insulation layer. Furthermore, the explored prediction method shows quite adequate predictions for the single variation of the parameters. ... Read more

People are feeling more and more lonely, especially in cities. This has negative effects on mental and physical well-being as well as on the economy. Feeling lonely is not just caused by internal factors like genetics and social skills, as many people think. The environment we live in contributes 52% to the feeling of loneliness. This environment is something changeable, especially for urbanists. Therefore, this thesis aims to bridge the gap between the existing theories about loneliness and the practical applications of these in the built environment of Linkeroever. Linkeroever is a deprived modernist neighbourhood in Antwerp separated from the rest of the city by the Scheldt River, where urban loneliness is a serious issue. This thesis will propose spatial and programmatic interventions through different scales and grounded in literature and empirical research that stimulate social cohesion and collective development on a legible human scale, countering urban loneliness. This will be done by answering the research question: how to improve spatial and programmatic conditions in Linkeroever that stimulate social cohesion and collective development, countering urban loneliness? Methods including research by design, literature analysis, and field trips helped by answering this question and resulted in an urban design for Linkeroever. Key takeaways from this research and design are that to counter urban loneliness important topics are social cohesion, social interaction, collective and personal development opportunities, and a legible and human scale. Spatial elements like hybrid zones, collective courtyards, and better public transport connections, together with programmatic solutions like a diverse public space offer, providing people with choices regarding social and development spaces, and making people proud through landmarks, can be used by urban designers and planners to counter urban loneliness all over the world. ... Read more

The combination of the monumental building, the Rotonde, and the panoramic painting ‘Panorama Mesdag’ is one of the few remaining exhibitions of its kind. The organization of the museum aims to preserve the building and painting while also wanting to decrease the carbon footprint of the museum. The objective of this research is to design a sustainable climate solution using thermal buffering that creates an indoor climate that preserves the panoramic painting and reduces energy consumption of the minimally insulated building. The potential thermal buffering solutions were defined through literature research and the option of a PCM system secured to the interior façade was further elaborated on by estimating its effect on the indoor climate of the Rotonde through software simulations in DesignBuilder using EnergyPlus. The simulation results of multiple PCM types and thicknesses showed that the current indoor temperature of the Rotonde is too inconsistent during summer months for a PCM to reach the intended cooling effect. A simulation of a combination of improvements to the building envelope and the most effective PCM showed a cooling effect of two ° C on warm summer days and a decrease of 50% in heating demand during the winter. This research amplifies the importance of a well-insulated building envelope for a qualitative indoor climate and climate systems should be an additional step. The outcome of this research has the potential to be relevant for other monumental museums or other spaces that seek sustainable solutions to stabilize the indoor climate. ... Read more

In this thesis the passive humidity control of indoor air is laid under review. This is primarily interesting for museum rooms, where strict requirements apply to the indoor air humidity. Passive humidity control is promising to contribute to stabilizing the relative humidity levels in a room.

Besides, the use of passive humidity control can potentially reduce energy demand for (de)-humidification, and reduce HVAC dimensions as a consequence. This work has zoomed in on the (de)-humidification of air lead through a packed bed with silica gel beads. Silica gel is very promising to use as a buffer material for humidity control as a result of its high hygroscopic capacity, or slope of sorption isotherm.

The work started with uptake rate measurements on different silica gel samples, referred to as Experiment 1. This has yielded adsorption and desorption isotherm between 20 and 80 %RH. The obtained isotherms provide insight in the sorption capacity of different samples, as well as the presence of sorption hysteresis.

Samples with promising sorption and desorption behaviour were selected to include in an experiment with a packed bed. In this experiment, referred to as Experiment 2, silica gel was contained in a packed bed (column) and exposed to cyclic input: alternating high and low levels of relative humidity, using a step function. Both short (1h/1h) as well as long (8h/16h) cycles are executed in the experiment. In both types of experiments, significant dehumidification and humidification of air in the packed bed was measured.

Next to experiments, a numerical model of the packed bed is developed. The results of this model are compared to experimental data from literature and to the experimental data obtained in Experiment 2. The model proves to be able to simulate the course of both temperature and humidity of outlet air exiting the packed bed in a reliable way. The main discrepancy between model and experimental results is found in the response time of the model: it reacts faster to changing inlet compared to measurements. Furthermore the model is sensitive to the inputted isotherm polynomial, RH(w). This polynomial describes the equilibrium of gaseous water in the air and adsorbed liquid water in the silica gel. This equilibrium applies at the interface of air and silica gel surface.

Experiment 2 has shown silica gel is able to both adsorb and desorb water in the humidity range of 40 to 60 %RH. An important observation in the long runs of Experiment 2 is that more water is adsorbed than desorbed in the Ąrst cycles. Two issues can be mentioned to explain this: the samples can experience ŠprimaryŠ hysteresis: some water is permanently retained in silica gel during the Ąrst adsorption/desorption cycle. This is a plausible explanation for the difference in primary and secondary isotherms. The other potential explanation is sway-in behaviour: it takes some time before the effect of initial conditions is eliminated in a cyclic experiment. In this case, it is possible that some water is stored in the deeper layers of a silica bead. The moisture uptake and release by silica gel converges to an equal value.

The performance in buffering moisture is expressed in the Moisture Buffering Value (MBV) in [g/m3/%RH]. This MBVτ accounts for the time period of the expected humidity fluctuations. The maximum, or theoretical, MBV∞ is derived from the equilibrium isotherm. For a given time period of the expected humidity fluctuations, the part of the hygroscopic capacity of silica gel that is effectively used is expressed as:
ξeffective = (MBVτ / MBV∞) · ξtheoretical (1)

The MBVτ is determind based on experimental results in this project. The numerical PGC model can serve as a tool to simulate MBV (and ξeffective) for different geometries of the silica gel container and different humidity input.

Concluding, silica gel is well able to reduce Ćuctuations in relative humidity of indoor air. It is important that the silica gel is well reachable by indoor air. Uniform utilization of the silica gel will increase the effective part of the (theoretical) hygroscopic capacity, ξeffective in [kg/m3], of the silica gel. It is best to avoid long lengths of silica, since the effectiveness of ŠupperŠ silica gel is reduced.

Relative humidity fluctuations can occur either due to changes in absolute humidity (hygric loads) or due to temperature Ćuctuations in a room. If relative humidity fluctuations are due to changes in absolute humidity, performance of the packed bed could be improved by cooling the silica during adsorption (dehumidification of air) and heating during desorption (humidification of air). Energy demand for temperature control of the silica gel should be limited, to not mitigate the profits in energy demand for passive humidity control. ... Read more

Ensuring good living accomodation is a constitutional duty of the government, but there is now a shortage of 300,000 homes. Demand for housing has grown sharply in recent years. In the last two years, the housing market issue has been high on the political agenda again. In it, the issue of starters regarding home ownership occupies a prominent place.
The importance of first-time buyers and the benefits of home ownership has therefore not remained underexposed. The inflow of ‘new’ households into the owner-occupied housing market not only stimulates movement but also provides the necessary liquidity. Partly due to quantitatives shortage, the position of first-time buyers is said to have continued to deteriorate. In the formulated housing policy, the quantitative housing demand is therefore emphatically central. Being able to realise the stated policy objectives - suitable and affordable housing for starters - depends on the demand exercised. Such policy requires accurate knowledge about the position occupied by first-time buyers in the (owner-occupied) housing market.

This research focuses on the (changing) position of first-time buyers in the Dutch housing market. The research question answered in this respect is: What is the position of first-time buyers in the Dutch housing market and how has this position developed from 2009 to 2021?

To arrive at this position, an insight needs to be gained into how first-time buyers operate on the housing market. For this, the ‘housing market’ needs to be explored first. Therefore, this research firstly discussed the background developments prior to the data analyses.
The data research is divided into three parts. Firstly, the concept of ‘first-time buyer’ is explored in more detail whereby various profiles are identified. Next, the various distinct households are researched with respect to the demand for owner-occupied housing. Finally, a model-based analysis of housing market accessibility and success rates for these households is provided. The research results conclude to five main findings. Firstly, whereas the absolute market entrance declines lightly, the relative influx decreases sharply. The total demand for housing from both aspiring first-time buyers as well as homeowners has grown sharply. Secondly, the most current houses are not current, meaning the demanded housing is scarcely available in the most demanded regions. Thirdly, the results show that it is increasingly the high-potential households that find their way into the market. Fourth, the position of first-time buyers has been increasingly determined by the total competition, as the affordability seems not to be the issue. This is mainly rooted in low interest rates. Lastly, the general succes rate among first- time buyers decreased while the diversity among these households has increased. ... Read more

Managing climate in museums is always a challenging task since it should meet the needs of multiple stakeholders, namely the conservation of collections, the comfort of visitors, and the protection of historic buildings. The relative humidity is one of the most crucial parameters in this management process, and it is controlled by passive design and active design approaches. In the renovation of museums, it is preferable to optimize the passive design and minimize the use of the active design that results in substantial energy consumption and high cost. The application of hygroscopic materials is one of the most effective passive design strategies, and some of them are already used on construction, such as wood and plaster. Nevertheless, silica gel, as a kind of hygroscopic materials with higher moisture capacity, is only used in the display case currently. So, the goal of this thesis is to study its application in the exhibition room and evaluate its effect on the stabilization of relative humidity, reduction in ventilation flow rate, and decrease in energy demand. The research is also combined with a case study, which is the renovation of the National Holocaust Museum in Amsterdam, and the aim of clients is to achieve climate class A1 in the exhibition room. Model 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0 with different complexity are created in Matlab/Simulink, which forms a schematic study of modeling. With the validation implemented in Design Builder, the accuracy of model 3.0 is proved, and it is determined as the main simulation tool. Model 3.0 consists of the thermal part, the hygric part, and the air handling unit part. In terms of simulation, it is based on the renovation plan of the National Holocaust Museum. A series of scenarios are defined at first, and the variables are the presence or absence of silica gel, the number of visitors, the ventilation flow rate, and the setpoint of humidity control. The simulation is done on two scales: one exhibition room and the whole building. With the amount of silica gel equal to 0.1% of the volume of the simulated object, the fluctuation of relative humidity reduces by a factor of 2 on the level of both room and building. Furthermore, 18.9% of energy for humidification and dehumidification can be saved. There is a possibility of decreasing the ventilation flow rate from 12 L/s per person to 6 L/s per person with almost 90% data meeting the A1 requirements at the same time.
The study shows the silica gel is capable of stabilizing the relative humidity fluctuation significantly with the additional benefits of energy savings and reduction in ventilation flow rate. It is recommended to apply this concept in practice as a trial, and further research about its hygrothermal performance can be done in the future. ... Read more

Usually in a renovation design process one of the first main tasks of the architect is to distribute effectively the program of requirements (spaces with their corresponding areas) in the building. To do so the architect inserts in the existing floorplan the spaces in the form of circles; the so called “bubble diagram”. The purpose of this project is to propose a methodology to wave proximity relationships with illuminance requirements. The designer inserts existing geometry of the building in the software. An illuminance analysis of the room is performed so as to determine the ideal light locations for each room according to regulations. The user inserts the desired proximity and illuminance requirements of the rooms in the form of points and lines and prioritizes them. Given these inputs the goal is to place the rooms in positions that the objective function (potential energy) is minimized. The tool finds the optimal position of the rooms regarding proximity and illuminance requirements in the given boundaries without overlapping themselves by simulating it as a spring network and produces the bubble diagram. The diagram produced serves as the starting point for the designer to further develop the layout into a proper floorplan manually. ... Read more

This project is based on two sustainable construction methods, namely up-cycling (reuse of materials) and vertical farming (green facades). These two concepts are combined to form a ‘Do It Yourself’ double skin façade, a double skin façade made with re-used sliding doors, which is aimed to be capable of developing ‘Edible Green’, which refers to the placement of edible vegetation in the façade of an office building. As two sustainable methods are combined into one project, the investigation of the performance of this ‘Do It Yourself’ double skin façade arose as an objective. Hence the aim of this research was to investigate the climatic performance of the façade for the growth of plants, as well as its influence in the indoor environment of the office. The façade was divided into 6 modules across two floors, capable of accommodating vegetation individually. These modules were assigned different design strategies based on ventilation, shading system, watering system and the placement of plants. Five different types of plants were placed on each module. Three types of ventilation strategies were adopted as parameters for the modules, namely minimally ventilated, naturally ventilated and mechanically ventilated. The configuration of plants were such that all modules had a total of 9 plants, with 7 short growing and 2 tall growing plants. The watering strategy was adopted in the form of drip irrigation system, where the modules in the top floor received constant rate of irrigation whereas the modules in the bottom floor received varied rate of irrigation. A measurement system was developed using a microcontroller, namely the Arduino UNO. The parameters were evaluated by the placement of measurement sensors in each of the modules. The measurement was done over a period of three weeks where the temperature, relative humidity, illuminance, CO2 and Total Volatile Organic Compounds (TVOC) were measured. The obtained values were studied and analysed based on the expected behaviour from the literature. The condition of the plants in the cavities were evaluated by determining the yield produced by each of the module, and also by a visual inspection of the plants. It was observed that the plants play an influential role in increasing the humidity in the cavity, especially in the cavities of the non-ventilated modules. This was evaluated by comparing the relative humidity and absolute humidity of all the modules. It was found that the humidity in the minimally ventilated modules was higher compared to the rest. Moreover, it was found that the shading in the façades highly influence the temperature in the cavity. The performed experiments suggested that the use of plants in the double skin façade, along with an external shading strategy can decrease the temperature in the cavity by up to 13°C and can increase the relative humidity of air in the cavity by 38%. Moreover, the experiments with respect to mechanically ventilated modules show that the cavity preheats the air by up to 6°C during night time and pre cools the air by up to 10°C during high outdoor temperatures (summer afternoons). Based on the theoretical and real time evaluation, it was concluded that the minimally ventilated modules perform relatively better with respect to the condition of the plants, whereas the mechanically ventilated modules perform better with respect to the indoor environment in the office. However, the influence of the double skin façade alone on the indoor environment of the office could not be determined, as there were external influences on the climatic conditions inside the office building. Based on the results, a design strategy was successfully formulated and the performance of each module was investigated. The research answered the question with respect to maintenance of the double skin façade for the growth and health of the vegetation. Moreover, the research helps to provide ideas on different design strategies that can be used, based on different sustainable design requirements. ... Read more

Since 3D printing is relatively new in the architecture applications, exploring how it could be integrated with environment-friendly materials as clay could lead to a more sustainable approach for materialising complex building components.
This research is investigating the answer to the research question “What are the printing techniques and tools that can help integrate the clay as an environment-friendly material, into the 3d printing of building components, while maintaining the required indoor and outdoor performance quality?”. The research was divided into four aspects of exploration and design. Clay as a printing material to find the most suitable type for architectural components, as well as material experiments to find the best mixture for printability. Displacement ventilation system as a Wall component to be prototyped, it was designed and CFD analysis verified the designs. Robotic fabrication as the process considered while designing, from Grasshopper environment and creating a slicer algorithm to robot program generation. Lastly, an Extrusion system and hardware tools for printing to materialise a prototype design. Out of this process, a final prototype was created. Eventually, a design guide was created and recommended process developments were illustrated. Lastly, the aspects that require further development and the limitations were concluded. This research sets a base for whoever is interested in pushing the limits of sustainable materials, like clay, to new boundaries within the new digital fabrication technologies evolving. ... Read more

The air-conditioning of commercial buildings accounts for approximately 50% of the total energy consumed in India’s commercial sector. Reducing this load is a key step towards minimizing India's greenhouse gas emissions. One culprit is the routine use of fully glazed façades which are chosen for aesthetics but are neither energy efficient nor effective at providing adequate thermal comfort. A double skin façade (DSF) can help reduce the heat gain of a building by exhaustion heat through cavity ventilation, while still providing the aesthetics of a fully glazed façade. The higher thermal resistance can also help provide better indoor thermal comfort to occupants. However, due to the high cost of DSFs, their complex thermal behaviour and overheating risk in the cavity an assessment of the effectiveness of the system in warmer climates of India is needed. This study evaluates the energy saving potential and thermal comfort enhancements with mechanically ventilated DSFs in different climate zones of the Indian subcontinent. A numerical model created in the MATLAB/Simulink platform, employing the zonal approach and verified against Design Builder was used for simulating the thermal behaviour. Optimization of the façade design was based on three parameters: 1) cavity width, 2) cavity ventilation rate and 3) glazing systems. The sensitivity of these design parameters to the performance of the DSF was analysed before proposing optimized configurations for different sites based on their local climate. These optimized configurations are then evaluated against a single skin fully glazed façade. The parameters used for evaluating the energy saving potential are annual heat gain and annual heat loss. For thermal comfort and overheating risk, the temperature distributions were analysed. In comparison with a single skin façade, it is found that the façade orientations with the highest incident solar radiation, usually the South, East and West facing façades, provide the most improvement, up to 50% reduction in heat gain annually. Heat loss was reduced by 25-35% at each site, however, this proves to be irrelevant for sites with mild winters. This corresponded to the arid, semi-arid, humid subtropical and montane climate zones found in India. Thermal comfort was maintained by the DSF for both warm and cool walls. This was also found to be the case for the single skin façade, hence, no additional improvement to thermal comfort was achieved with respect to radiant asymmetries. Overheating in the cavity was mitigated through the application of tinted glazing in the external envelope, ventilation rates of up to 80AC/hr and larger cavity widths. Optical properties of the external envelope have the largest impact on the reduction in heat gain regardless of the façade’s spatial orientation and façades with low direct solar radiation were found to be insensitive to changes in cavity width and ventilation rate. The findings of the study suggest that DSFs have an important energy saving potential in warm climates and the design recommendation can be utilized to mitigate overheating and excess heat gain which is seen as an issue even in cooler climate zones.
... Read more

Daytime radiative cooling (DRC) is a very novel passive cooling method for buildings that utilises the recent technological advance in wavelength selective-emittance material research and takes advantage of a transparency window that exists in the atmosphere between 8 and 13 μm. Application of DRC in locations where warm weather prevails for most of the year and cooling requirements of dwellings outweigh the respective heating ones could result in saving significant amounts of energy. Such a location is the small Mediterranean island of Cyprus. Designing an ideal radiative cooler is a challenging task and so it is to design an appropriate system that exploits the benefits of DRC. In such a design, a stratified thermal storage water tank can have a detrimental role. To identify whether it is possible to apply such a system in Cyprus, this project exploits the use of Matlab Simulink which has been used to run more than 6000 simulations, for a sensitivity and a varied analysis, taking into consideration different parameters with particular emphasis on the physical properties of the radiative cooling apparatus According to the data obtained, for the efficiency of a daytime radiative system to be maximized, the longwave transmission and emissivity coefficients of the cooler should be maximal while the shortwave transmission coefficient and the effective heat transfer coefficient to the environment should be minimal. Additionally, larger volumes of storage tanks achieve better results. ... Read more

One of the cutting-edge interests gaining relevance among design offices, notably in the sphere of architecture firms, is computational design. With its inception embedded in the 60s and later reformed through the CAD revolution that boomed in the 80s, the use of the computer as a design tool has evolved to such lengths that it became indispensable to contemporary practices. Nowadays, under the bright prospect of a challenging future and considering the sustainability hypothesis - sophisticated computational approaches and parametric design can genuinely be considered a most promising alternative for exceeding outcomes in the fields of performance and efficiency.

Thus, under this spectrum, the following research focuses on investigating the evolution of the aforementioned tools, through understanding the current user experience and interface in prevalent architectural offices. Consequently, through the use of existing computational tools - simulations, optimization and design exploration techniques - it will put forward a new method and use pattern that would also project the potential and the future of these technologies, specifically applied to a sustainable, energy-efficient and cost-effective vantage. ... Read more

The Why Factory’s research design studio operates on the exchange of collective work and individual project. Implementing from the studio’s common framework, The Blockmaker, the studio’s research explores the notion of what makes a housing block? Through data to design approach and parametric software thinking, the Blockmaker is a research software that allows one to generate multiple design solutions by transforming mass, reconfiguration of programs, accessibilities, porosity and generating options for façade and structure responsively to a climate condition.

My research question speculates on a scenario where a housing block would be self-sufficient with solar energy. How would it look like? How would it performs for power generation and at the same time generate better housing qualities for views, daylight and terraces? Can it create better qualities for a dwelling? In this studio, we add one parameter to observe the changes in our design intervention. In my case, for a block to be self-sufficient with solar panels, a parameter of energy demands with solar panel surfaces would be a primary aspect to consider. However, to make a housing block, it requires multiple parameters of housing qualities to finalise an optimised design decision. ... Read more