• Abstract
  

The paper summarises the results of the usability testing exercise of a new building performance simulation (BPS) based guide that offers assistance for designing high performance residential buildings. The guide, presented via a web-based platform aims to assist practitioners and policymakers during the early building design stage to achieve higher thermal and daylight performance. This study focused on (a) assessing the usability of the contents of the guide in assisting users during the early design-stages and (b) identifying design/navigation issues, for the web-platform, that would affect the user experience. The results of the usability testing showed that the participants generally perceived the design guide easy to use and valuable during early design stages. The participants found the concept of providing the guide via an interactive web-based platform useful, as it would be easily accessible to a wide range of audience. Furthermore, the participants provided suggestions on areas for possible future improvements.

• Abstract
  

The responsiveness of buildings to prevailing local climate plays an important role if the dual aspects of occupant comfort and low energy demand are to be met. This study takes as example the State of Kerala in India where the Government – as part of the project titled “Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) mission” – plans to build more than 750,000 houses across the State, using a uniform design, irrespective of the location or climate. A previous study has identified regions with different climatic characteristics within Kerala using a method based on adaptive thermal comfort model. This study aims to understand how the building design influences occupant comfort in the different adaptive climate zones by performing an uncertainty analysis on the output metrics. The thermal comfort was assessed based on the hours requiring heating/cooling while visual comfort was assessed based on the Useful Daylight Illuminance metric. A sensitivity analysis was also carried out to identify design parameters that influence occupant comfort. The results of this study will serve as a reference for practitioners during the early stages of design to achieve thermal and visual comfort for high performance residential buildings.

• Abstract
  
• Full paper

Classification of climate zones for building design and energy assessment purposes plays a vital role in aiding building engineers and architects in achieving energy efficiency in buildings using building performance simulation. Previous studies highlighted the need for climate assessments at higher resolutions for the purpose of climate classification but failed to infer the resolution requirement. In this study, climate zones of Kerala (one of the 29 States in India) are defined and delineated with climate data from grid resolutions of 10, 15, 20 and 25 km. The delineated zones are then assessed by comparing them with the thermal performance of a building representative of building typology of Kerala to identify the grid resolution necessary for zone delineation.

• Abstract
  
• Full paper

Knowledge of location specific climate parameters plays an important role in the design conceptualisation phase if a balance between visual comfort, thermal comfort and energy performance is to be achieved. In this study, the climate diversity of Kerala (India) was assessed using synoptic meteorological tools and three locations with significant population centres and different prevailing climate were identified. A case study building, based on the design proposed in a Government project that aims to built 759,523 houses across Kerala, was simulated under different conditions to understand the sensitivity of daylight and thermal performance to the climate in Kerala.

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This section with be updated soon.

This is a residential building design guide developed to assist during the early design stages of buildings that would exhibit high thermal and daylight performance in Kerala. To know about the steps involved, please watch the below video.

Click here to access the guide.