A design proposal for the positioning of residential buildings based on energy analysis, the case of Gaziantep

The industrial revolution and increasing urbanization have made cities the regions where energy is used most intensively. The efficient use of air conditioning energy, which is among the most energy-demanding actions of residential buildings, affects urban and regional energy requirements. This study aims to develop passive design strategies for residential buildings in Gaziantep province. It is assumed that local, passive design strategies to be developed within the scope involving environmental factors for residential buildings will reduce the energy required for air conditioning. The study is limited to the houses built in Gaziantep province in 1960 and after. The purpose of this is to compare the construction differences for each new zoning plan starting from the first zoning plan for Gaziantep. For each period, 4 different patterns are analyzed. The comparison was made through energy simulations. Simulations are digitally modeled with building materials, equipment and climate data to estimate energy loss gains. Energy analyses are limited to the total annual heating and cooling energy of the buildings. In energy analyses, user habits, building materials and window-wall ratios of facades are kept fixed. The program used for the analysis is DesignBuilder version 6.1 and uses the EnergyPlus 8.9 simulation engine. The variables that affect and differentiate the energy efficiency are building orientation, number of floors, number of apartments per floor, distance between buildings and height ratio (h/w). According to 30 different simulation results derived from the identified parameters, the optimum design values for Gaziantep city center are proposed. The optimal building orientation for Gaziantep city center is 45o from north to northwest. Solutions with 4 dwelling units on one floor are always more energy efficient than 2 dwelling units. Designs with 5 storeys and a h/w ratio of 1 showed the highest energy performance.