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Buildings
Special Issues
Computational Design for Low-Carbon and Climate-Responsive Architecture and Urban Environments
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Computational Design for Low-Carbon and Climate-Responsive Architecture and Urban Environments

A special issue of Buildings (ISSN 2075-5309). This special issue belongs to the section "Architectural Design, Urban Science, and Real Estate".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 August 2026 | Viewed by 288

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Xuan Ma

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
Interests: low-carbon architecture design; climate-adaptive urban design; outdoor and indoor thermal comfort
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Juan Ren

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Architecture, Chang’an University, Xi’an 710061, China
Interests: sustainable building design and evaluation; building performance simulation and design optimization; building wind environment; solar building
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Qian Zhang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Joint School of Design and Innovation, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Interests: urban design; thermal environment optimization; climate-sensitive design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

In the context of global climate change and carbon reduction targets, the built environment must respond with greater agility, intelligence, and sustainability. This Special Issue focuses on computational design methods that present low-carbon, climate-responsive strategies in architecture and urban environments. Via the integration of simulation, optimization, algorithmic design, and digital modeling, computational approaches are transforming the way in which we design, evaluate, and retrofit our cities and buildings.

We welcome contributions that explore the innovative application of generative algorithms, parametric tools, AI-based diagnostics, performance-driven design, and digital twin technologies to address challenges such as energy efficiency, thermal comfort, environmental quality, and spatial adaptability. Submissions may include theoretical research, methodological developments, practical applications, or case studies.

This Special Issue aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary dialogue between architects, urban designers, engineers, and computational scientists. By uniting technology and environmental performance, we hope to enhance the development of a resilient, intelligent, and carbon-conscious built environment.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Architecture.

Dr. Xuan Ma
Dr. Juan Ren
Dr. Qian Zhang
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Buildings is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • computational design
  • low-carbon architecture
  • climate-responsive urban planning
  • parametric and generative design
  • performance-based simulation

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Further information on MDPI's Special Issue policies can be found here.

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

37 pages, 7429 KiB  
Article
Study on the Influence of Window Size on the Thermal Comfort of Traditional One-Seal Dwellings (Yikeyin) in Kunming Under Natural Wind
by Yaoning Yang, Junfeng Yin, Jixiang Cai, Xinping Wang and Juncheng Zeng
Buildings 2025, 15(15), 2714; https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings15152714 (registering DOI) - 1 Aug 2025
Abstract
Under the dual challenges of global energy crisis and climate change, the building sector, as a major carbon emitter consuming 33% of global primary energy, has seen its energy efficiency optimization become a critical pathway towards achieving carbon neutrality goals. The Window-to-Wall Ratio [...] Read more.
Under the dual challenges of global energy crisis and climate change, the building sector, as a major carbon emitter consuming 33% of global primary energy, has seen its energy efficiency optimization become a critical pathway towards achieving carbon neutrality goals. The Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR), serving as a core parameter in building envelope design, directly influences building energy consumption, with its optimized design playing a decisive role in balancing natural daylighting, ventilation efficiency, and thermal comfort. This study focuses on the traditional One-Seal dwellings (Yikeyin) in Kunming, China, establishing a dynamic wind field-thermal environment coupled analysis framework to investigate the impact mechanism of window dimensions (WWR and aspect ratio) on indoor thermal comfort under natural wind conditions in transitional climate zones. Utilizing the Grasshopper platform integrated with Ladybug, Honeybee, and Butterfly plugins, we developed parametric models incorporating Kunming’s Energy Plus Weather meteorological data. EnergyPlus and OpenFOAM were employed, respectively, for building heat-moisture balance calculations and Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations, with particular emphasis on analyzing the effects of varying WWR (0.05–0.20) on temperature-humidity, air velocity, and ventilation efficiency during typical winter and summer weeks. Key findings include, (1) in summer, the baseline scenario with WWR = 0.1 achieves a dynamic thermal-humidity balance (20.89–24.27 °C, 65.35–74.22%) through a “air-permeable but non-ventilative” strategy, though wing rooms show humidity-heat accumulation risks; increasing WWR to 0.15–0.2 enhances ventilation efficiency (2–3 times higher air changes) but causes a 4.5% humidity surge; (2) winter conditions with WWR ≥ 0.15 reduce wing room temperatures to 17.32 °C, approaching cold thresholds, while WWR = 0.05 mitigates heat loss but exacerbates humidity accumulation; (3) a symmetrical layout structurally constrains central ventilation, maintaining main halls air changes below one Air Change per Hour (ACH). The study proposes an optimized WWR range of 0.1–0.15 combined with asymmetric window opening strategies, providing quantitative guidance for validating the scientific value of vernacular architectural wisdom in low-energy design. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Computational Design for Low-Carbon and Climate-Responsive Architecture and Urban Environments)
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