Optimising Window Design on Residential Building Facades by Considering Heat Transfer and Natural Lighting in Nontropical Regions of Australia

• Main Authors: Zixuan Chen, Ahmed W A Hammad, Imriyas Kamardeen, Assed Haddad
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2020-11-01
• Series: Buildings
• Subjects: multi-objective; optimisation; Revit; dynamo; Building Information Modelling; window design
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2075-5309/10/11/206

Windows account for a significant proportion of the total energy lost in buildings. The interaction of window type, Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) scheduled and window placement height influence natural lighting and heat transfer through windows. This is a pressing issue for nontropical regions considering their high emissions and distinct climatic characteristics. A limitation exists in the adoption of common simulation-based optimisation approaches in the literature, which are hardly accessible to practitioners. This article develops a numerical-based window design optimisation model using a common Building Information Modelling (BIM) platform adopted throughout the industry, focusing on nontropical regions of Australia. Three objective functions are proposed; the first objective is to maximise the available daylight, and the other two emphasize undesirable heat transfer through windows in summer and winter. The developed model is tested on a case study located in Sydney, Australia, and a set of Pareto-optimum solutions is obtained. Through the use of the proposed model, energy savings of up to 8.57% are achieved.