Evaluation and Design of Smart-Built Environments Based on Advanced Performance Simulation: From Building to Regional Scales

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Building Energy, Physics, Environment, and Systems".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 October 2025 | Viewed by 2761

Special Issue Editors

School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: building performance simulation; energy-efficient building design; indoor environment quality; occupant behavior
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Civil Engineering, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: building performance simulation; indoor visual and thermal environment; building occupant behavior; solar radiation and daylighting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
School of Architecture and Urban Planning, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China
Interests: architectural design; building simulation; energy-efficient building; data-driven method; building retrofit
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Energy Technology, Dalarna University, 79188 Falun, Sweden
Interests: low carbon buildings design and control optimization; smart buildings; energy-sharing communities; building energy systems; electric vehicles; decision making under uncertainty; Bayesian theory
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The global energy shortage and climate change are imposing considerable challenges on architecture, while satisfying the thermal, visual, aesthetic, and sustainability demands. Because of the comprehensiveness of the architecture design targets and their interactions, it can sometimes be difficult for architects and engineers to fully consider the energy efficiency and environmental performances of the various plans while optimizing building designs, whether it is in relation to a single building or a complex of buildings. The recent developments of simulations and AI tools provide new approaches and potential solutions to the architectural design issues from building and regional environments, such as technical focuses, occupant expectations, and resource accessibility. This urges us to consider the roles and contributions of the simulation approaches from both the technology-oriented engineering and the design-based architecture perspectives.

We expect to achieve this target by collecting a series of original research works on architectural and urban designs that are aided by the latest computer simulation and artificial intelligence methods. The works should explore the roles, methods, and potential contributions of the simulation and artificial intelligence techniques in relation to recent designs and optimizations on aspects including indoor environment quality and energy performance, as well as environment, aesthetics, communication, cost, etc., in various spatial and temporal scales, from both architectural and engineering perspectives.

Dr. Yu Huang
Dr. Siwei Lou
Dr. Yukai Zou
Dr. Pei Huang
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • simulation-based design approach
  • data-driven design approaches
  • artificial intelligence in design evaluation
  • built environment
  • urban environment
  • climate change impact
  • energy-oriented design and evaluation
  • occupant factors in design stage
  • urban heat island
  • sustainable urban planning

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

22 pages, 7610 KiB  
Article
Impact of Green Roofs and Walls on the Thermal Environment of Pedestrian Heights in Urban Villages
by Chang Lin and Shawei Zhang
Buildings 2024, 14(12), 4063; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14124063 - 21 Dec 2024
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1207
Abstract
(1) Background: Urban villages in Guangzhou are high-density communities with challenging outdoor thermal environments, which significantly impact residents’ thermal comfort. Addressing these issues is crucial for improving the quality of life and mitigating heat stress in such environments. (2) Methods: This study utilized [...] Read more.
(1) Background: Urban villages in Guangzhou are high-density communities with challenging outdoor thermal environments, which significantly impact residents’ thermal comfort. Addressing these issues is crucial for improving the quality of life and mitigating heat stress in such environments. (2) Methods: This study utilized a validated ENVI-met microclimate model to explore the synergistic cooling effects of roof greening and facade greening. Three greening types—total greening, facade greening, and roof greening—were analyzed for their impacts on air temperature, mean radiant temperature, and physiologically equivalent temperature (PET) at a pedestrian height of 1.5 m under varying green coverage scenarios. (3) Results: The findings showed that total greening exhibited the greatest cooling potential, especially under high coverage (≥50%), reducing PET by approximately 2.5 °C, from 53.5 °C to 51.0 °C, during midday, and shifting the heat stress level from “extreme heat stress” to “strong heat stress”. Facade greening reduced PET by about 1.5 °C, while roof greening had a limited effect, reducing PET by 1.0 °C. Furthermore, under coverage exceeding 75%, total greening achieved maximum reductions of 3.0 °C in mean radiant temperature and 1.2 °C in air temperature. (4) Conclusions: This study provides scientific evidence supporting total greening as the most effective strategy for mitigating heat stress and improving thermal comfort in high-density urban villages, offering practical insights for optimizing green infrastructure. Full article
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24 pages, 10075 KiB  
Article
Cooling Energy Challenges in Residential Buildings During Heat Waves: Urban Heat Island Impacts in a Hot-Humid City
by Yukai Zou, Zhuotong Wu, Binbin Li and Yudong Jia
Buildings 2024, 14(12), 4030; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings14124030 - 18 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1058
Abstract
Ignoring Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects may lead to an underestimation of the building cooling demand. This study investigates the impact of the UHI on the cooling demand in hot-humid cities, employing the Local Climate Zones (LCZs) classification framework combined with the Urban [...] Read more.
Ignoring Urban Heat Island (UHI) effects may lead to an underestimation of the building cooling demand. This study investigates the impact of the UHI on the cooling demand in hot-humid cities, employing the Local Climate Zones (LCZs) classification framework combined with the Urban Weather Generator (UWG) model to simulate UHI effects and improve building performance simulations. The primary aim of this research is to quantify the influence of different LCZs within urban environments on variations in the cooling energy demand, particularly during heat waves, and to explore how these effects can be incorporated into building energy models. The findings reveal significant discrepancies in both the average and peak cooling demand when UHI effects are ignored, especially during nighttime. The most intense UHI effect was observed in LCZ 2.1, characterized by compact mid-rise and high-rise buildings, leading to a cooling demand increase of more than 20% compared to suburban data during the heat waves. Additionally, building envelope thermal performance was found to influence cooling demand variability, with improved thermal properties reducing energy consumption and stabilizing demand. This research contributes to the theoretical understanding of how urban microclimates affect building energy consumption by integrating LCZ classification with UHI simulation, offering a more accurate approach for building energy predictions. Practically, it highlights the importance of incorporating LCZs into building energy simulations and provides a framework that can be adapted to cities with different climatic conditions, urban forms, and development patterns. This methodology can be generalized to regions other than hot-humid areas, offering insights for improving energy efficiency, mitigating UHI effects, and guiding urban planning strategies to reduce the building energy demand in diverse environments. Full article
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