Whilst there have been numerous categorisations of high-rise buildings according to their function, architectural style, height or structural strategy, historically little work has been undertaken to classify them based on factors affecting their energy performance — their shape and form, façade, attitude to natural lighting, ventilation strategies, etc. These factors have been influenced by regulatory changes, developments in technology and materials, changes in architectural thinking and economic and commercial drivers. Developments such as the New York Zoning Law of 1916, the postwar innovations in curtain wall façades and the energy crises of the 1970s have all impacted on the way tall buildings of the time were designed and operated. These events also had a significant impact on the quantity of energy and the way in which it was consumed in tall buildings of the time. This paper examines the history of energy use in tall buildings, from their origins in North America in the late nineteenth century to the present day. In doing so, it categorises tall buildings into five chronological ‘generations’, based on their energy consumption characteristics.

Informal learning spaces play a significant role in enriching student experiences in learning environments. Such spaces are becoming more common, resulting in a change to the spatial configuration of built environments in higher education. However, previous research lacks methods to evaluate the influence of the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces on student preferences and their activities within. This paper aims to tease out the spatial design characteristics of informal learning spaces to examine how they shape students’ preferences in terms of their use of the spaces and what they do within them. The two case studies selected for this study, both in the UK, are the Diamond at the University of Sheffield, and the Newton at Nottingham Trent University. A mixed-methods study is applied, including questionnaires, observation, interviews, and focus groups. Six significant design characteristics (comfort, flexibility, functionality, spatial hierarchy, openness, and other support facilities) that influence student use of informal learning environments are identified. These can be used to inform future design strategies for other informal learning spaces in higher education.

Building skins should host multiple functions for increased performance. Addressing this, their design can benefit by learning from nature to achieve multifunctionality, where multifunctional strategies have evolved over years. However, existing frameworks to develop biomimetic adaptive building skins (Bio-ABS) have limited capabilities transferring multifunctionality from nature into designs. This study shows that through investigating the principles of hierarchy and heterogeneity, multifunctionality in nature can be transferred into biomimetic strategies. We aim at mapping the existing knowledge in biological adaptations from the perspective of multifunctionality and developing a framework achieving multifunctionality in Bio-ABS. The framework is demonstrated through the case study of Echinocactus grusonii implemented as a Bio-ABS on a digital base-case building. The methods include the Bio-ABS case study demonstrating the framework and simulating the performance of the case study and base-case building to comparatively analyze the results. The outcomes are a framework to develop multifunctional Bio-ABS and simulation results on the performance improvement Bio-ABS offer. The performance comparison between the Bio-ABS and base-case building show that there is a decrease in the discomfort hours by a maximum of 23.18%. In conclusion, translating heterogeneity and hierarchy principles in nature into engineered designs is a key aspect to achieve multifunctionality in Bio-ABS offering improved strategies in performance over conventional buildings.