Optimization Method for Building Envelope in Terms of Thermal and Visual Comfort

Recently, by enhancing the knowledge of the effect of indoor air quality, thermal and visual conditions on works’ productivity, health and comfort, concerns over indoor environment have increased. Although the construction industry shows a lot of progresses in field of sustainability, well integration of comfort conditions is still a big case of argument. In this case, today’s computer-based analysis capabilities have reached a point at which daylight availability, occupants’ visual and thermal comfort conditions, user behavior, total energy consumption and cost can be combined and presented in a comprehensive performance dashboard. This digital progress helped researchers to estimate and calculate the effect of every element of buildings. However, here the problem is that it is difficult to define the design parameters about building performance. There are too many variables and as architects, we have to know our minimum requirements for thermal comfort, visual comfort and energy performance, before making decision. In this case, the aim is to establish and develop a model for architects, in order to find an optimum solution for buildings’ envelop design, in different design stages (pre-design, design and existing building), according to thermal and visual comfort. This model has the ability to be adapted with all the three stages with some considerations. However, based on the research limitations, it is uniquely tailored for Famagusta’s buildings design stage as an example to test the methodology authenticity. The research outcomes have gone on to inform the Cyprus building code and can be the first step to create a reference building in Cyprus. Meanwhile, it leads to propose a standard method, which can be applied on buildings with various functions, locating in different climates in order to assess the optimum amount of energy efficiency, visual and thermal comfort simultaneously.