Relationship Analysis and Optimisation of Space Layout to Improve the Energy Performance of Office Buildings

Tiantian Du, Michela Turrin, Sabine Jansen, Andy van den Dobbelsteen and Francesco De Luca
Additional contact information
Tiantian Du: China National Engineering Research Center for Human Settlement, China Architecture Design and Research Group, Beijing 100044, China
Michela Turrin: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, 2628 BZ Delft, The Netherlands
Sabine Jansen: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, 2628 BZ Delft, The Netherlands
Andy van den Dobbelsteen: Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, Delft University of Technology, 2628 BZ Delft, The Netherlands
Francesco De Luca: Academy of Architecture and Urban Studies, Department of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Tallinn University of Technology, 19086 Tallinn, Estonia

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 4, 1-26

Abstract: Architectural space layout has proven to be influential on building energy performance. However, the relationship between different space layouts and their consequent energy demands has not yet been systematically studied. This study thoroughly investigates such a relationship. In order to do so, a computational method was developed, which includes a method to generate space layouts featuring energy-related variables and an assessment method for energy demand. Additionally, a design of experiments was performed, and its results were used to analyse the relationship between space layouts and energy demands. In order to identify their relationship, four types of design indicators of space layout were proposed, both for the overall layout and for each function. Finally, several optimisations were performed to minimise heating, cooling and lighting demands. The optimisation results showed that the maximum reduction between different layouts was up to 54% for lighting demand, 51% for heating demand and 38% for cooling demand. The relationship analysis shows that when comparing the four types of design indicators, the façade area-to-floor area ratio showed a stronger correlation with energy demands than the façade area ratio, floor area ratio and height-to-depth ratio. Overall, this study shows that designing a space layout helps to reduce energy demands for heating, cooling and lighting, and also provides a reference for other researchers and designers to optimise space layout with improved energy performance.

Keywords: space layout; energy performance; optimisation; design of experiments; correlation analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1268/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/15/4/1268/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:15:y:2022:i:4:p:1268-:d:745470

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().