Multi-objective Optimization for Visual, Thermal, and Energy Performance of Glazing and Shading Assemblies in Temperate Climate Zone of India

With rapid urbanization and higher energy demand, high-performance building design has drawn attention to the challenges for a sustainable built environment. Climate-adaptive envelope parameters have a significant interactive impact on building social, environmental, and economic performance. This research purposed a multi-objective optimization (MOO) approach to evaluate building performance including visual comfort, thermal comfort, and energy demand simultaneously. A residential apartment building situated in a temperate climatic zone (Köppen climate classification: Bsh) of Bangalore (India) was chosen as a case study. The optimization was initiated with Rhinoceros tools and Grasshopper in order to maximize the useful daylight illuminance (UDI) and minimize the thermal discomfort percentage (TDP) and the energy use intensity (EUI). The Octopus plugin of Grasshopper was used to explore the building envelope parameters such as wall–window ratio (WWR), window height, window sill height, external louvers depth, external louvers count, louvers angle, vertical fins depth, vertical fins count, glazing conductivity (U-value), solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), and visible light transmittance (VLT) to achieve the good balance (trade-off solution) between building performance objectives. The trade-off solution improves the UDI, TDP, and EUI by 46.19%, 30.44%, and 22.65%, respectively, from the initial generated optimal solution. The outcome of this research illustrates how optimization methodology can be useful for building professionals in the early design stage of building envelopes to ensure a healthy and comfortable indoor environment with minimum energy demand.