Building Environment

People live in their physical and social environments and they ought to arrange their relations via physical and social environments surrounding them to meet sheltering need, which is their essential requirement. When, especially, traditional residential architecture that represents historical and cultural backgrounds of societies is examined, the critical importance of human-environment relation is observed. When Anatolian traditional residential architecture is examined, it is observed that, as in many societies, dwellings are the reflections of the physical and social structures of the region where they are located. Dwellings that are structured differently in various parts of Anatolia signify both physical conditions and social characteristic and rich cultural background of the region they are located. In this sense, vernacular dwellings in Eastern Black Sea Region have a key position in the Anatolian residential architecture. Within the scope of this study, the impact of physical and social factors on residential architecture was analyzed by focusing on the vernacular dwellings in Eastern Black Sea Region (in Turkey). In this study, structuring process of the vernacular dwellings in Eastern Black Sea Region was examined from the housing scale to the location scale in terms of physical and social factors.

Izzivi uvedbe davka na nepremičnine so mnogoteri, mednje spada tudi dolžnost zakonodajalca, da zagotovi njegovo skladnost z Ustavo Republike Slovenije (URS). Gre za nujno apriorno presojo, ki sta jo dolžna opraviti tako vlada (preko službe vlade za zakonodajo) kakor tudi državni zbor (preko zakonodajno-pravne službe). Čeprav so trenutno znani zgolj grobi obrisi davka na nepremičnine (»predlog vlade«), avtor meni, da je mogoče identificirati vsaj en potencialni izziv v zvezi s skladnostjo z URS.

In Bandiagara, Mali, extreme heat, humidity, lack of modern amenities, and low literacy rates present significant challenges in building design. Designing a school aims to provide access to quality education, foster community development, and promote sustainable building practices to empower the local community through job creation and the use of local resources. To address these concerns, this study focuses on an early-stage school model to determine the optimal window-to-wall ratio (WWR), rotation, and aspect ratio of the building. The analysis process includes three steps: (1) determining the input values based on ASHRAE 90.1 2019; (2) analyzing

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On the occasion of building fires, the risk of smoke, which adversely influences escape conditions, must be minimised. One way to reduce the risk is, for example, to pressurise the escape route in order to limit the infiltration of smoke. Careful determination of the design parameters of the pressurisation system is of great importance. This study will propose a new leakage area for single-leaf smoke control doors based on the analysis of the leakage area of the doors in the EN 12101-13 standard, estimating the leakage rate through closed doors. This value is half the currently recommended value, regardless of the opening direction. The determination of the leakage area is supported by measurements in pressurised smoke-free lobbies with single-leaf smoke control doors opening into and outwards from a pressurised space. The measurements are performed using the fans of the lobbies' pressurisation systems to provide the required air volume. The suitability of this method has also been tested using blower door assembly measurements. The newly proposed leakage area takes into account the increased air tightness of the smoke control doors, thereby ensuring that the optimum air volume to be supplied by the pressurisation system can be determined. The results of this research suggest an appropriate leakage area value for designers when using the calculation method proposed by the applicability of the investigated standard.

This paper describes a procedure devised using Geographical Information System (GIS) to delineate boundaries of zones, where any change in thermal comfort requirement indicates corresponding change in responsive building design strategies. Very high resolution interpolated climatic data subset for India has been used in this analysis so as to distinctly represent the variety of climates experienced in India. The raster datasets of climatic parameters have been analyzed in GIS to get derived and classified parameters required in the Mahoney Tables method for computation of six climatic indicators. These six indicators have been used in the selection of suitable climate-responsive building strategies from 8 strategy groups for the whole dataset. The selected strategies in 8 groups are superimposed together to identify 62 Thermal Comfort Design Zones with unique combination of building design strategies. The proposed zones can be useful in the legislative tools for implementation of energy conservation measures and sustainable building practices.

This review evaluates the existing studies of blue, green, and grey interventions based on field measurements and modelling aiming to quantify the cooling impact that reduces outdoor heat stress. Based on findings from literature, it is concluded that water bodies can reduce the mean air temperature (Ta) by 3.4°C and universal thermal climate index (UTCI) by 10.7°C, while natural vegetation can improve Ta by 2.3°C and physiological equivalent temperature (PET) by 10.3°C during summer. Vertical greenery systems (VGS) provide cooling effect of Ta up to 4°C, whereas architectural shades reduce it by approximately 3.8°C and PET up to 6.9°C under shade structure.

In this study, fieldwork was carried out in two naturally ventilated classroom building types categorized as dwarf wall and enclosed wall classrooms to determine their thermal performance. The objective data of the environmental parameters of these classrooms located in Imo State were collected together with their physical measurements during the rainy season and dry season. Results of the correlation analysis of the retrieved data from the fieldwork show that though the two classroom types were in thermal compliance with the international standard (ASHRAE Standard 55), the dwarf wall classroom type was more compliant (r 2 = 0.822), while the enclosed wall classroom type was less compliant (r 2 = 0.585). The difference in thermal performance in these two building types is likely linked to the difference in their building envelopes. The result further suggests that the dwarf wall classroom type has a greater potential to contribute to reduced energy use in buildings. This is because of its very high thermal performance, indicating a high likelihood that there may be no need to use airconditioning systems to provide thermal comfort to the users of the space. The paper recommends the adoption of the dwarf wall concept in the design of classroom blocks in the warm and humid climate, in Nigeria.

The structural order followed by nature, also adopted in the construction of Hindu temples, was to depict the ultimate truth. This became possible by following fractal geometry. Fractal geometry plays a major part in the transmission of the symbolic intended meanings from the visibly manifested art and architecture of the temple, to the intellect of human beings, for perception in the correct sense. This paper is therefore an attempt to integrate and analyse the fields of study of, temple architecture, fractal geometry, symbolism, human perception of architectural expression, and temple concept through cosmology and philosophy. It is advocated that the use of fractal geometry in the construction of temples, and sculptures adorning them, helps in imparting the temple concept and idea in its correct value.

This paper aims to present the elaboration of a device able to modify the airtightness of a test House. This project has been conducted with three Master student groups in the framework of their research projects from 2015 to 2017. The TIPEE IEQ test House, comprising of two floors and eight rooms, is dedicated to the study of Indoor Air Quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and energy consumption. Its envelope has been designed to reach an airtightness target slightly lower than the French Energy Efficiency Standard RT2012 requirement for dwellings i.e. Q4 Pa value equals to 0.5 m/h.m (n50 = 1.2 ACH). The role of the new device, called Building Airtightness Modifier (BAM) in this paper, is to allow the experimental researchers to adapt the envelope airtightness of the test house (or part of it) in a gradually fashion from the lower value of 0.5 to about 2 m/h.m. The main objective here is to evaluate the influence of envelope airtightness on IAQ and heating/cooling/ventilation system effi...

This paper presents the initial reflections in the frame of Subtask 1 – Setting the Metrics of the IEA EBC Annex 68 – Indoor Air Quality Design and Control in Low Energy Residential Buildings. The first step of IEA Annex 68 aims at summarizing the current knowledge on target pollutants for residential buildings and at evaluating indoor air quality (IAQ), i.e. how to define indices that provide useful information allowing to achieve low risks for health in indoor spaces, and how to enable the comparison of solutions for achieving high IAQ taking into account energy efficiency. At this stage of the project, there is no single definition of the metric that would allow meeting these objectives. However, the potential elements of such definition presented in this paper regarding both IAQ and energy indices will be further investigated in the course of the project.

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In order to evaluate the impacts of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions from building materials on the indoor pollution load and indoor air quality beyond the standard chamber test conditions and test period, mechanistic emission source models have been developed in the past. However, very limited data are available for the required model parameters including the initial concentration (Cm0), in-material diffusion coefficient (Dm), partition coefficient (Kma), and convective mass transfer coefficient (km). In this study, a procedure is developed for estimating the model parameters by using VOC emission data from standard small chamber tests. Multivariate regression analysis on the experimental data are used to determine the parameters. The Least Square and Global search algorithm with multi-starting points are used to achieve a good agreement in the normalized VOC concentrations between the model prediction and experimental data. To verify the procedure and estimate its uncertainty, simulated chamber test data are first generated by superposition of different levels of "experimental uncertainties" on the theoretical curve of the analytical solution to a mechanistic model, and then the procedure is used to estimate the model parameters from these data and determine how well the estimates converged to the original parameter values used for the data generation. Results indicated that the mean value of the estimated model parameters Cm0 was within -0.04%+/-2.47% of the true values if the "experimental uncertainty" were within +/-10% (a typical uncertainty present in small-scale chamber testing). The procedure was further demonstrated by applying it to estimate the model parameters from real chamber test data. Wide applications of the procedure will result in a database of mechanistic source model parameters for assessing the impact of VOC emissions on indoor pollution load, and for evaluating the effectiveness of various IAQ design and control strategies.

A major obstacle for integrating energy and indoor air quality (IAQ) strategies in the design and optimization of buildings is the non-existence of an agreed measure, which can quantitatively describes the IAQ and will allow the assessment of measures to improve energy performance. A complication to develop such an IAQ index is that hundreds of chemical compounds are present in indoor air, including residential environments, at concentrations much lower than occurring during occupational exposures. There is a lack of clear consensus on which pollutant or group of pollutants should be used to form such an index as well as on how they should be integrated into one index. IEA EBC Annex 68 was formed with the objective to discuss Indoor Air Quality Design and Control in Low Energy Residential Buildings. The objective of Subtask 1 of this Annex described in this paper was to review, discuss and propose methods and approaches to define an IAQ index and to develop such an index so that it can be used as a key performance indicator to examine the methods to control IAQ, which are integral parts of other subtasks in this IEA EBC project. To meet this objective, the pollutants measured in low-energy houses were compared with pollutants measured in traditional houses. Pollutants measured and known to be harmful for health were identified and selected to be represented on a list of pollutants that should be considered when the IAQ index is defined. The selected pollutants were: acetaldehyde, acrolein, -pinene, benzene, carbon dioxide, formaldehyde, naphthalene, nitrogen dioxide, PM10, PM2.5, radon, styrene, toluene, trichloroethylene, TVOC and mould. Both shortterm and long-term effects of these pollutants were considered. The compound with the highest ratio of concentration to its exposure limit value was proposed as the IAQ index for the short term effects so that the existing exposure limits could be referred to and to avoid problems associated with the aggregation of many air quality indices. The same approach was proposed for the IAQ index for the long-term effects together with the calculation of the burden of disease caused by the compounds of concern expressed as the sum of disability-adjusted life years. It is recognized that the proposed IAQ indices are crude, and the list of compounds is incomplete. It should be progressively updated once new data on exposure limits and pollutants of concern become available.

A two storey terraced house was modelled in ESP-r with a simple window opening control strategy to represent typical dwellings found in Mexico City and the adjoining municipalities. Future weather data was generated for years in this century based on morphing methods developed from the literature and by the authors and a TMY weather file developed from historical data between 1975 to 1989 by WhiteBox Technologies. The population in the region under consideration is a little over 20 million which represents 16% of Mexico’s population. The present day climate is such that air conditioning is rarely used in single family housing. The main cooling strategy in the hottest months (Mid February to mid June) is window opening. This was modelled considering that if the interior temperature was at or above 18°C and the exterior air temperature was below the interior air temperature then windows would be open. The air flow was modelled using the flow network model within ESP-r. It was found th...

The present paper investigates the performance of a district solar thermal smart network capable of providing the cooling, heating, and domestic hot water needs for a group of 100 villas in the desert climate of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Evacuated tube solar collectors are distributed over the villas' roofs, while the hot water Lithium Bromide absorption chillers and hot phase change material thermal storage tanks are located in a centralized plant. Electrical heating elements embedded in the thermal storage tanks are considered as back up auxiliary sources in case of shortages. Using the "Design Builder" energy simulation program, a typical villa constructed as per the local thermal standard has been modeled to calculate the hourly thermal loads. These hourly profiles are the initial inputs for a Transient System Simulation (TRNSYS) model integrated with the Generic Optimization Program (GenOpt). The interaction between these two programs is used to find the optimized sizing of the solar collectors' area and the hot thermal storage volume which could achieve the maximum thermo-economic performance with a 100% solar fraction. The hourly transient simulations over a one-year period show that this system can achieve up to 82.67% reduction in the annual electrical consumption as well as carbon dioxide emissions if compared to conventional district thermal plants. Furthermore, the smart network benefits have been revealed from three different aspects: generation source, transmission loop network, and end-user consumer. The feasibility analysis performed shows that adopting the smart network can enhance the profitability of the project by 34.89% if compared to central solar plants. Also, it gives the end-user the opportunity to participate in energy production through buying the solar collectors installed on their roofs, and thus further enhancing the reduction in their annual thermal bills from 23.13% to 82.88% in a payback period of 4 years and 11 months.

Indoor air quality (IAQ) in confined spaces like bank vaults and basements is influenced by complex factors such as building layout and HVAC systems. This study examines how mechanical ventilation impacts IAQ in a bank building's occupied basement vault, addressing significant challenges posed by pollutant exposure in these airtight environments. This study advances safe IAQ in confined spaces, crucial for occupant health and safety, using CFD (ANSYS Fluent Workbench 16.0) and CONTAM 3.2 software for multi-zone ventilation and air quality analysis. It analysed three indoor pollutants: Radon (Rn), Carbon dioxide (CO 2), and Particulate Matter (PM2.5), enhancing the reliability and applicability of the findings. The findings indicated that the simulated indoor pollutants concentrations did not exceed the indoor air quality guideline levels. The CFD simulations predicted average steady-state values of 27.2 Bq/m 3 for Radon, 574.80 ppm for CO 2 , and 69.36 µg/m 3 for PM 2.5 in the basement. For different outdoor air floor rates, an optimal ventilation rate of 4.7 ACH and a cooling load of 17 kW were determined to maintain Radon concentrations below 15 Bq/m 3. This provides a practical and actionable solution for maintaining safe IAQ in confined spaces, which is a significant step forward compared to similar studies. These results align with other experimental research, validating the use of numerical techniques in indoor air quality studies. By optimizing HVAC systems to maintain IAQ and minimize energy consumption, the study supports SDG 7 (Affordable and Clean Energy) by enhancing energy efficiency, SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) by reducing exposure to indoor pollutants, and SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) by improving air quality management in confined spaces. The findings are particularly relevant for Africa, offering practical solutions, informing policy direction, and supporting the African Union's Agenda 2063 and SDGs 3, 7, and 11.

In the current paper we quantified and evaluated the energy saving potential in air conditioners and chiller systems. We also showed how to reduce the cost of air conditioners and chiller systems in existing facilities on the basis of payback periods. Among the measures investigated were: 1) installing higher efficiency air conditioners, 2) installing higher efficiency chillers, 3) duty cycling air conditioning units, and 4) utilizing existing economizers on air conditioning units. For each method, examples were provided from Arizona, USA. In these examples, the amount of saved energy, the financial evaluation of this energy, and the investment cost and pay back periods were calculated.

Energy and transport demand can both be considered as being derived from an individual’s activity participation. As such, both energy and transport demand are inherently linked: completing activities inside the home generates residential energy demand, where completing activities outside the home generates transportation and non-residential energy demand. Whilst there are several works in the literature that focus on either energy or transportation demand, there remain very few studies which explicitly investigate their interaction. To address this need, in this paper we conduct in-depth literature review of transportation and energy demand modeling. The review analyses the methodologies employed within each domain in order to (a) establish the state-of-research for energy demand modeling and (b) identify the suitable opportunities for joining these two domains. Drawing on a review of the current papers, we identify four key areas of practice: (i) activity scheduling, (ii) building ...

This paper deals with the human adaptability to its built environment. The built environment as we know it rarely finds itself adapting to its surrounding context, whether it be on the level of interaction with humans or the climate. Humans and nature both are in a constant state of flux; moving, changing, sensing, and reacting to their context and information they gather and perceive. A barrier is formed between the built environment and humans and nature due to the fact that their inherent characteristics are utterly contrasting. It is commonly estimated that persons in urban areas spend at least 80% of their time indoors. This suggests that the quality of the indoor environment can have a significant impact on comfort, health, and overall sense of well being. The indoor environment of buildings should thus be designed and controlled, as to provide a comfortable and healthy space for occupants. In order to maintain the quality of the indoor environment, we mechanically condition our buildings to achieve constant, uniform and comfortable environments. The maintenance of thermal equilibrium between the human body and its environment is one of the primary requirements. History of thermal comfort and climate design shows a definite relation between them and research is needed to know "What are comfort conditions?" and "How buildings could adapt themselves to these conditions".

This is a PDF file of an article that has undergone enhancements after acceptance, such as the addition of a cover page and metadata, and formatting for readability, but it is not yet the definitive version of record. This version will undergo additional copyediting, typesetting and review before it is published in its final form, but we are providing this version to give early visibility of the article. Please note that, during the production process, errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain.

Likert scales are useful for collecting data on attitudes and perceptions from large samples of people. In particular, they have become a well-established tool in soundscape studies for conducting in situ surveys to determine how people experience urban public spaces. However, it is still unclear whether the metrics of the scales are consistently interpreted during a typical assessment task. The current work aims at identifying some general trends in the interpretation of Likert scale metrics and introducing a procedure for the derivation of metric corrections by analyzing a case study dataset of 984 soundscape assessments across 11 urban locations in London. According to ISO/TS 12913-2:2018, soundscapes can be assessed through the scaling of 8 dimensions: pleasant, annoying, vibrant, monotonous, eventful, uneventful, calm, and chaotic. The hypothesis underlying this study is that a link exists between correlations across the percentage of assessments falling in each Likert scale category and a dilation/compression factor affecting the interpretation of the scales metric. The outcome of this metric correction value derivation is introduced for soundscape, and a new projection of the London soundscapes according to the corrected circumplex space is compared with the initial ISO circumplex space. The overall results show a general non-equidistant interpretation of the scales, particularly on the vibrant-monotonous direction. The implications of this correction have been demonstrated through a Linear Ridge Classifier task for predicting the London soundscape responses using objective acoustic parameters, which shows significant improvement when applied to the corrected data. The results suggest that the corrected values account for the non-equidistant interpretation of the Likert metrics, thereby allowing mathematical operations to be viable when applied to the data.

The period of home confinement during the COVID-19 pandemic made the importance of a high-quality surrounding environment even more evident than before. Several studies have been carried out to assess the (negative) impacts of noise on annoyance, particularly whilst working from home (WFH). The present study takes a step further by (1) investigating the positive and negative impacts of the "actual" acoustic environment on a range of activities, i.e., WFH, relaxation, physical, and sexual activities, and (2) identifying the characteristics of an "ideal" indoor soundscape. The study is based on the qualitative analysis of verbal descriptions collected from open-ended questions included in a survey administered in January 2021 to 464 respondents living in London, during the COVID-19 lockdown. The range of impacts in the actual scenario varied from no effect on task execution, to disruption, distraction, concern of disturbing others or being heard. Positive impacts included support of concentration, relaxation, motivation, freedom of sound expression, feeling of being connected to the surroundings and comforted by the presence of others, according to mechanisms described in the study. Negative appraisal could trigger coping strategies (e.g., controlling windows, playing music, wearing headphones) and behavioural changes (e.g., lowering the volume of the voice or music, muting oneself during call, changing workout type) that could in turn limit or enhance the freedom of behaviour, affect or foster wellbeing. Negative impacts were most frequently reported on WFH (by 55% of the participants), followed by relaxation activities (40.6%), sexual activities (30.1%), and home workout (20.1%). The ideal soundscape was described as a quiet, well-sound insulated environment, which guarantees access to positive sounds (i.e., natural sounds, music, urban background), thus resulting in privacy, intimacy, and a place where to express themselves without noise-related constraints. The study complements literature findings on housing design directions in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing further evidence on the impacts of poor sound insulation at home, the potential benefits of TYPE

Soundscape research has been gaining prominence in studies on the built environment. The soundscape concept is defined as the acoustic environment as perceived and/or understood by a person in context. Compared with traditional building acoustics, the soundscape concept brings interesting perspectives—but also challenges—for undergraduate architectural curricula, where it tries to strike a balance between qualitative and quantitative methodologies, a theoretical approach that in the context of soundscape studies it is often referred to as ‘triangulation’. Starting from real-world higher education courses, the aim of this paper is to examine how the soundscape approach can be integrated into teaching building acoustics at the undergraduate level in architectural courses. Methods such as soundwalks, acoustic measurements, and computational simulations that are commonly used in soundscape research are introduced in educational projects as tools for students to experience, analyse, and ...

Following the successful first Urban Sound Symposium held at Ghent University in 2019, the second edition in 2021 had to face the challenges of the pandemic. The symposium turned this challenge into an opportunity for giving easier access to practitioners and experts from around the globe who are confronted with urban sound in their professional activities. It was organized simultaneously in Ghent, Montreal, Nantes, Zurich, London and Berlin by researchers at Ghent University, Mc Gill University, Université Gustave Eiffel, EMPA, University College London and TU Berlin. The online event created opportunities for interaction between participants at poster-booths, virtual coffee tables, and included social activities.

Likert scales are useful for collecting data on attitudes and perceptions from large samples of people. In particular, they have become a well-established tool in soundscape studies for conducting in situ surveys to determine how people experience urban public spaces. However, it is still unclear whether the metrics of the scales are consistently interpreted during a typical assessment task. The current work aims at identifying some general trends in the interpretation of Likert scale metrics and introducing a procedure for the derivation of metric corrections by analyzing a case study dataset of 984 soundscape assessments across 11 urban locations in London. According to ISO/TS 12913-2:2018, soundscapes can be assessed through the scaling of 8 dimensions: pleasant, annoying, vibrant, monotonous, eventful, uneventful, calm, and chaotic. The hypothesis underlying this study is that a link exists between correlations across the percentage of assessments falling in each Likert scale ca...

The design of an indoor acoustic environment positively perceived by building occupants requires a perceptual approach to be adopted in order to define what makes it sound good. Soundscape standards ISO 12913 have been introduced to assess how the acoustic environment is perceived, in context, by people. According to the standards, a straightforward characterization of a soundscape as positive is currently possible only through measurements by persons, because of a current gap in linking perceptual metrics to acoustic or psychoacoustic measurements. In addition, despite applying also to indoor contexts, methods and perceptual metrics described by the standards have been mainly derived from studies related to outdoor urban environments and it is not clear whether they could be directly applied indoor. For this reason, a systematic review was performed to investigate: (i) Data collection methods used in the literature for indoor residential soundscapes and (ii) factors, output of such...

The soundscape is defined by the International Standard Organization (ISO) 12913-1 as the human’s perception of the acoustic environment, in context, accompanying physiological and psychological responses. Previous research is synthesized with studies designed to investigate soundscape at the ‘unconscious’ level in an effort to more specifically conceptualize biomarkers of the soundscape. This review aims firstly, to investigate the consistency of methodologies applied for the investigation of physiological aspects of soundscape; secondly, to underline the feasibility of physiological markers as biomarkers of soundscape; and finally, to explore the association between the physiological responses and the well-founded psychological components of the soundscape which are continually advancing. For this review, Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, and PsycINFO were searched for peer-reviewed articles published in English with combinations of the keywords ‘soundscape’, ‘environmental noise/so...

Soundscape research is attracting an ever-increasing worldwide interest from different disciplines and stakeholders. This brief commentary paper aims at offering some insights into the new directions this research (and practice) field will likely go, in the near future. For this purpose, eleven early-career soundscape researchers and practitioners were approached and asked to provide a response to the question "What are the current priorities and challenges for soundscape research?" Five recurring themes were identified in the participants' statements. A major concern of the interviewed sample is the need to bridge the academic and practice sides of the soundscape community, in order to better position this discipline in the broader framework of (urban) sound planning and design.

Scientific research on how people perceive or experience and/or understand the acoustic environment as a whole (i.e., soundscape) is still in development. In order to predict how people would perceive an acoustic environment, it is central to identify its underlying acoustic properties. This was the purpose of the present study. Three successive experiments were conducted. With the aid of 30 university students, the first experiment mapped the underlying dimensions of perceived similarity among 50 acoustic environments, using a visual sorting task of their spectrograms. Three dimensions were identified: (1) Distinguishable-Indistinguishable sound sources, (2) Background-Foreground sounds, and (3) Intrusive-Smooth sound sources. The second experiment was aimed to validate the results from Experiment 1 by a listening experiment. However, a majority of the 10 expert listeners involved in Experiment 2 used a qualitatively different approach than the 30 university students in Experiment ...

The collaborative and comprehensive work of group-1, who have attended the short term scientific mission (STSM) initiated through COST: Action TD0804, for the training on soundscape recording and analysis techniques is presented. Group-1 was composed of 9 young researchers who were trained by experienced researchers. The theoretical part of the training school included firstly, introduction to measurement technology, its theory and practical use and secondly, the basic analysis of sound by the conventional indicators and psychoacoustic parameters. Practice on field study was accomplished through semistructured interview techniques, and evaluation of the recorded dialogue by grounded theory. All these theoretical and practical exercises were followed by a case study. The case study was designed as a sound walk on a pre-defined route, which was accompanied with binaural recordings and soundscape evaluation survey. The STSM for training on the soundscape recording and analysis was accomplished through the presentations and discussions of the results for the case studies of the groups. The results of the recordings and surveys as well as the results of the comparative lab-listening tests of the recorded sound samples of group-1 are presented and discussed as the major parts of this study.

The proper simulation of the hygrothermal behaviour of historical buildings is a challenging task with several implications regarding the evaluation of indoor thermal comfort and the suitability of retrofit strategies that comply with the conservation of cultural heritage. An inaccurate simulation may lead to inadequate conclusions, which could result in inappropriate and dangerous actions for the preservation of the heritage buildings. Then calibration and validation of hygrothermal simulation models are essential steps to achieve more accurate and reliable results. Now, although some agencies have developed guidelines and methodologies to carry out the validation of building performance models, all of them are based on energy consumption only. However, since in some buildings the energy consumption data are not always available especially when no operating heating, ventilation and air conditioning system is installed, which is the case of many historical buildings, the microclimatic parameters are usually adopted in the validation process. In this case, neither protocols nor specific parameters have been officially recognised to perform the model validation. The present work reviewed the main approaches used by researchers for building performance model validation with special reference to historical buildings based on microclimatic parameters, highlighting the main advantages and drawbacks of the different methods reviewed. Finally, recommendations to properly carry out the model validation based on microclimatic parameters have been provided. The collected information may be useful to different subjects (e.g. designers, energy auditors, researchers, conservators, buildings' owners and policy makers) and can drive suitable and reliable retrofit and maintenance interventions.

Typically, the structure of old monumental buildings differs significantly from that of contemporary ones. The massive walls, large indoor air volume and the small windows, compared to the opaque portion, drastically affect the microclimates of such constructions. In such buildings is often quite difficult to perform a detailed monitoring campaign of the main microclimatic parameters. In this regard, experimental methodologies and non-invasive equipment, able to minimize the impacts on the building and on its users, should be adopted. This research describes the methodology applied to carry out the monitoring campaign on the Milan Duomo, one of the biggest Cathedrals in Italy. The campaign was carried out by means of non-invasive measuring instruments, in order to keep the building intact and ensure the smooth running of the activities. In a second stage, sensors for the long-term monitoring were installed according to the most significant and accessible points inside the Cathedral. The data collected during one year of monitoring was used to characterize the hygrothermal behaviour of the Cathedral, in order to assess the risks for the main materials which sacred objects, artworks, organs, sculptures and furnishing are made of. The future developments of this work are oriented towards the realization of a simulation model aimed at designing and planning proper active or passive solutions to improve the microclimatic conditions for both artwork conservation and the comfort of visitors.

The control of hydronic building systems is considered in this paper, using a simulated chilled water system as a case study. In this context, model-based predictive control strategies have been proposed and compared with traditional feedback control schemes. The advantages and limitations associated with these methodologies has been demonstrated. The cornerstone of this work is the development of a novel, distributed predictive scheme which provides the best compromise in the multidimensional evaluation framework of 'regulation', 'optimality', 'reliability ' and 'computational complexity'.

The strict CO2 emission targets set to tackle the global climate change associated with greenhouse gas emission exerts so much pressure on our cities which contribute up to 75 % of the global carbon dioxide emission level, with buildings being the largest contributor (UNEP, 2015). Premised on this fact, urban planners are required to implement proactive energy planning strategies not only to meet these targets but also ensure that future cities development is performed in a way that promotes energy-efficiency. This article gives an overview of the stateof-art of energy planning and forecasting approaches for aiding physical improvement strategies in the building sector. Unlike previous reviews, which have only addressed the strengths as well as weaknesses of some of the approaches while referring to some relevant examples from the literature, this article focuses on critically analysing more approaches namely; 2D GIS and 3DGIS (CityGML) based energy prediction approaches, based on their frequent intervention scale, applicability in the building life cycle, and conventional prediction process. This will be followed by unravelling the gaps and issues pertaining to the reviewed approaches. Finally, based on the identified problems, future research prospects are recommended.

Buildings and their construction together contribute annually 36% of global energy use and 39% of energyrelated carbon dioxide emissions. In energy use per m2, buildings sector energy intensity constantly to improve at an annual average rate of around 1.5%. Building growth in ASEAN countries, include Indonesia, are predicted rapid to double by 2040. Indonesia, is committing to 29% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by applying the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). Emission reduction in many sector should be contributed, include construction sector. This study estimates the GHG emission of the use of column, beam and plate in a real estate project in Malang – Indonesia, based on their life cycle assessment (LCA). The stages of LCA consist of goal and scope definition, life cycle inventory, life cycle impact assessment, and interpretation of the result. Each an individual construction material of column, beam and plate plus transport and electricity related ...

Traditional architecture of the historical cities of Iran contains valuable lessons related to architecture and urban design. A group of these strategies are those used in outdoor urban spaces in desert cities providing a safe and sustainable microclimate for pedestrian. This research paper will highlight some of these strategies by doing a field study research in hot summer and cold winter in Kashan, a historical city of Esfahan Province. The weather data are collected in 11-12 July 2011 and 11-12 Jan 2012 by a mobile Kestrel Personal Weather station in the traditional part of the city. The collected data are analyzed for human thermal condition by UTCI (Universal Thermal Climate Index) on the psychrometric chart. The different thermal zones on this chart are compared with people's behaviour according to their exposure time, clothing and activity. The collected weather data of observation days are compared in four levels of long-term meso climate, short-term meso climate, local climate and microclimate. To speed up the analyzing process a new software is designed called SIKRON. The result of this research has shown the effect of architectural strategies on modifying the microclimate condition in hot summer and cold winter for outdoor living in hot-arid climate.

ISO standard 15927-3 establishes two calculation methods to characterise wind-driven rain exposure on building façades, with different approximations according to the available climatic data: (i) a reference method, using hourly wind and rain data, and (ii) an alternative method using average wind records and the present weather code for rain in half-day intervals when hourly data are not available. However, the equivalence between the two methods was only validated in three British cities with similar environmental conditions (London, Manchester, and Edinburgh), and for only four façade orientations. In addition, the description of the second method also admits different interpretations that can influence its results. This study re-examines the real equivalence between the two methods, comparing their results in multiple façade orientations of 12 Spanish locations subjected to varied amounts of wind-driven rain exposure. The analysis shows that the reliability of the method based on non-hourly data varies significantly according to the methodological interpretation applied, making it advisable to review its current description. Finally, an improvement is proposed that reinforces the equivalence and reliability of the alternative method with respect to the reference method, regardless of the climate of the analysed location.  Equivalence analysis between the ISO 15927-3 methods to calculate wind-driven rain  Detailed climate data analysis of 12 Spanish sites with varied exposure conditions  Comparison of several methodological interpretations for the non-hourly data method  Improvement proposal to reinforce the reliability of this alternative method  Calculation of a best-fit relationship to extrapolate results between both methods

The future impacts of climate change on heating and cooling energy demand were investigate by building energy demand simulations by EnergyPlus model and hourly climate data for two IPCC scenarios: RCP 4.5 (stabilization emission scenario) and RCP 8.5 (little effort to reduce emissions). The climate scenarios have been downscaled from 1º to 50 meters of spatial resolution over city of Madrid. A Madrid typical 1km by 1km area of buildings is simulated using detailed meteorological information for each building produced by a dynamical downscaling process taking into account the 3D shape of the buildings, for years 2011 and 2100. Three types of buildings were identified: offices, hotels and apartments. The three prototypes are based on ASHRAE 90.1 Prototype Building Modeling Specifications but major characteristics have been adapted for each specific simulated building. We analyze the changes (%) in energy demand for the heating (gas) and electricity (HVAC system) for year 2100 versus 2011.The results show an increase in cooling demand around 10.5% by 2100 with RCP 8.5. The annual heating gas demand for office buildings will increase by 64.4% while the cooling energy demand will fall by 7.8% with the RCP 4.5 because future will be cooler that the present. The results show that climate change will have a large effect in the building energy demand and the used methodology can be used to design strategies to reduce the effects of climate change.

Occupant behavior influences energy savings in intelligent buildings over and above the advanced technologies deployed. IoT based interconnected sensors, along with personal devices such as mobile phones, wearables and virtual assistants, can assist building management systems with occupant behavior information paving the way for personalized comfort coupled with energy savings. This work investigates the occupant adoption of such an IoT climate control service in the context of Indian office spaces by examining four theories viz., TRA, TPB, TAM and VAM. The results indicate that TAM and VAM have higher explanatory power among the models considered. Further, TAM's constructs 1. perceived benefits, viz., improvement in comfort, productivity and wellbeing, and 2. Perceived ease of use, viz., access convenience to climate control in offices are identified as the most significant causal constructs. The results can pave way for IoT players to formulate business and technology strategies for product management and targeting specific customer segments.

The perceptual classification of emotions, memories, preferences, and wishes is crucial for evaluating the sound quality of sonic environments. Over the years, several psychological taxonomies have developed, aiming to help categorise core emotions. When applied to auditory stimuli, some models simplify emotional dimensions to assess the sound quality of environments. However, aligning emotional taxonomies with psychoacoustic indicators requires careful attention, as individual interpretations can vary widely due to contextual factors such as socio-cultural influences, momentary attention, and the space use and function of the space in question. This study aims to align perceived emotional attributes with psychoacoustic indicators from sonic environments surrounding daycares and playgrounds, utilising data collected through soundwalks, interviews, and listening tests in Brazil, Germany, and the United Kingdom. It will associate emotional classification methods based on the core emotional dimensions proposed by Plutchik [1], Russell [2], and ISO/TS 12913-2 [3]. The psychoacoustical indicators under consideration are loudness, sharpness, roughness, fluctuation strength and tonality. The findings linking core emotions with psychoacoustic parameters for daycare centres and playground areas may identify key sound qualities to consider in these spaces, as well as potential soundscaping design and management strategies.

In recent years, memory retrieval has been a rising aspect under investigation in urban soundscape studies. This aspect involves how people interpret and understand the sonic environment as they experience and recall it in memory (ISO 12913-1, 2014). Several types of memory retrieval, including sensory, short-term, and long-term, will be considered in this project. The investigations will connect these types of memories with wanted and unwanted types of sound sources, as well as how it is possible to improve the sonic environment through sound design, interventions and noise control measures. The knowledge gathered in this project will map and provide essential findings to understand the influence of urban soundscapes in memory retrieval by highlighting how the sonic environment can damage cognitive processes. Additionally, the project will show how to enhance healthy and restorative soundscapes, reversing adverse outcomes on cognitive and mental processes.

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The urgent need to reverse global climate change necessitates rethinking the design and operation of humanmade systems. Urban energy systems, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, are a key focus to enhance sustainability. Addressing challenges such as renewable energy integration, energy storage, reducing building energy consumption, innovative mobility systems, and improving energy infrastructure flexibility drives the development of reliable, multi-scale models capable of capturing complex dynamics. This review evaluates the current state of urban energy modelling from a novel perspective, focusing on interactions across different scales: end-users, buildings, and districts/cities. It critically assesses existing models' strengths and limitations in addressing the complexity of urban energy systems, identifying gaps in the literature and highlighting emerging trends. The review underscores a paradigm shift towards more end-user-centric modelling approaches, which aim to better capture human behaviour and its impact on energy use. Additionally, it stresses the growing demand for integrated, interdisciplinary simulation tools to address challenges such as demand flexibility. The findings advocate for next-generation urban energy models to move beyond building-focused perspectives, adopting approaches that emphasise end-users and their interactions with clean, affordable energy hubs. The review outlines future directions to improve model accuracy and scalability, supporting the transition to sustainable and resilient urban energy systems.

District heating networks are commonly addressed in the literature as one of the most effective solutions for decreasing the greenhouse gas emissions from the building sector. These systems require high investments which are returned through the heat sales. Due to the changed climate conditions and building renovation policies, heat demand in the future could decrease, prolonging the investment return period. The main scope of this paper is to assess the feasibility of using the heat demand -outdoor temperature function for heat demand forecast. The district of Alvalade, located in Lisbon (Portugal), was used as a case study. The district is consisted of 665 buildings that vary in both construction period and typology. Three weather scenarios (low, medium, high) and three district renovation scenarios were developed (shallow, intermediate, deep). To estimate the error, obtained heat demand values were compared with results from a dynamic heat demand model, previously developed and validated by the authors. The results showed that when only weather change is considered, the margin of error could be acceptable for some applications (the error in annual demand was lower than 20% for all weather scenarios considered). However, after introducing renovation scenarios, the error value increased up to 59.5% (depending on the weather and renovation scenarios combination considered). The value of slope coefficient increased on average within the range of 3.8% up to 8% per decade, that corresponds to the decrease in the number of heating hours of 22-139h during the heating season (depending on the combination of weather and renovation scenarios considered). On the other hand, function intercept increased for 7.8-12.7% per decade (depending on the coupled scenarios). The values suggested could be used to modify the function parameters for the scenarios considered, and improve the accuracy of heat demand estimations.

 The thermal performance of a residential house equipped with a combined system, DSF, EAHE and free cooling is investigated.  The DSF is combined with the EAHE while the EAHE is alternated with the free cooling.  A control strategy is adopted to synergize these systems, whether for heating or cooling.  A thermal model of the house integrated with these systems is developed and simulated.  A sensitive study on the contribution of each system in reducing the annual energetic requirements of the house and increasing thermal comfort is conducted.

Reduced-scale experiments and full-scale field measurements show contradictory buoyancy effects from heated windward walls. Reduced-scale experiments exhibit significant thermal effects, but full-scale field measurements show a negligible thermal effect on the overall flow fields. This paper investigates this discrepancy by using at both scales Computational Fluid Dynamics simulations with Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes (RANS) and Large Eddy Simulation (LES). Compared to experimental and field measurements, RANS models perform well at reduced scale but over-predict the thermal effects of heated windward walls at full scale. On the other hand, LES results agree well with measurements at both scales. Therefore, LES should be used for full-scale simulations of street canyon flows with heated windward walls. To date, there has been no explanation for the discrepancy of opposing thermal effects between reduced-scale experiments and full-scale field measurements although Richardson number similarity is satisfied. We provide an explanation by showing that in reduced-scale experiments with heated windward walls, the assumption of Reynolds number independence is invalid. In canyon flows with thermally induced buoyancy, unless the flow is proven independent of both Reynolds number and Grashof number, we should not generalize results from reduced-scale experiments to full-scale street canyons.

Daylight illuminance levels and their spatial distribution are important design elements to achieve indoor visual comfort conditions and sustainability in buildings during the operation stage. While a proper daylighting scheme increases the efficiency of the building, the excessive use of glazed surfaces can contribute to thermal and visual discomfort, hence increasing the cooling demand and use of artificial lighting. Solar control film (SCF) is a self-adhesive thin film that can be applied on glazing systems of existing buildings for retrofitting purposes to modify thermal and optical properties of the glass substrate. This paper analyses experimentally the impact of single glazing with different SCFs on the indoor illuminance levels and respective distribution on horizontal work plane by comparing the measured absolute values and the useful daylight illuminance metric. Field experiments using a small scale model with the glazing oriented to the south, in Lisbon, were performed fo...