Edinburgh Napier University

  The future of building envelope design lies in smart adaptation. The current literature overlooks the crucial integration of airflow, ventilation and daylighting in adaptive façade design. Moreover, it neglects the occupants’ locations, activities and interior layouts in this context. This study introduces an innovative approach to adaptive building envelope design, aiming to enhance occupants’ comfort through parametric analysis of daylight and airflow. The research combines parametric simulation, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis and multiobjective optimisation. The optimisation goal is to improve visual comfort and indoor air quality while maintaining air temperature and velocity within the human comfort range. The study contributes to providing designers with a method for building envelope design that considers visual comfort and airflow, resulting in more interactive building envelopes that are adaptable to environmental conditions for enhanced utility and comfort. Results indicated that the optimised façade configuration and design methodology can achieve a 69% improvement in daylight performance, improving useful daylight illuminance (UDI) while reducing glare risk. Additionally, air changes per hour (ACH) showed a 38% annual improvement. This research signifies a significant step towards more efficient and occupant-centric building envelope design, aligning with the evolving demands of the construction industry and sustainable building practices.