Optimizing Green Building Design with Passive and Climate-Responsive Strategies

Dear Colleagues,

Optimizing green building design through passive and climate-responsive strategies is critical for advancing sustainability in architecture. These approaches leverage the environmental conditions to enhance energy efficiency, minimize the reliance on mechanical systems, and improve occupant comfort.

Passive design principles integrate natural elements such as the solar orientation, thermal mass, and strategic ventilation to regulate indoor climates effectively. By employing high-performance insulation, daylight harvesting, and adaptive shading techniques, buildings can significantly reduce their energy demand. Such strategies align with contemporary efforts to lower carbon footprints while maintaining optimal thermal performance.

Climate-responsive architecture, conversely, tailors structural adaptations to specific regional climates. This involves designing buildings for local temperature extremes, humidity variations, and seasonal shifts, ensuring resilience and efficiency across diverse environments. Innovations in materials science and computational modelling have helped to further refine these adaptive designs, fostering sustainable urban development.

By adopting architectural methodologies with passive and climate-responsive principles, the construction of green buildings contributes to maintaining the long-term ecological balance and energy conservation. As the global sustainability challenges intensify, advancing research in this domain is becoming essential for shaping the future of resilient and high-performance built environments. Integrating these strategies underscores a commitment to sustainable development, but reinforcing the intersection between environmental science and architectural engineering is a challenge we need to overcome to secure the future of built environments.

This Special Issue will examine the role of passive and climate-responsive design strategies in achieving sustainable architecture. It aims to explore cutting-edge research, technological advancements, and practical methodologies that optimize energy efficiency, improve the indoor environmental quality, and enhance climate resilience in the built environment. This Special Issue will bring together interdisciplinary perspectives, bridging architecture, engineering, urban planning, and environmental science to address pressing sustainability challenges.

It will encompass a broad spectrum of research areas, including the following:

• Passive design strategies: Natural ventilation, daylighting, thermal mass optimization, and adaptive shading techniques.
• Climate-responsive innovations: Regional climate adaptations, net-zero-energy buildings, and computational modelling to achieve sustainability.
• Material science and construction methods: Sustainable materials, bio-inspired designs, and low-carbon construction approaches.
• The integration of technology: Smart building systems, AI-driven energy optimization, and climate data-informed design.
• Policy and urban impacts: Regulatory frameworks, climate resilience strategies, and sustainable urban development models.

The primary goal of this Special Issue is to advance the scientific understanding and practical applications of passive and climate-responsive design in green buildings. By fostering academic discourse, presenting empirical research, and showcasing successful implementation case studies, this Special Issue seeks to influence future design methodologies, policymaking, and industry standards. It aims to provide a robust foundation for researchers, architects, engineers, and policymakers to work toward sustainable solutions that drive innovation and environmental responsibility in architecture and urban planning.

Prof. Dr. Miguel Amado
Dr. Antonio Ribeiro Amado
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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• green buildings
• passive design
• climate responsiveness
• design
• sustainability