Improvement of recreational areas between the residential areas to achieve human behavior and the concept of humanization is urgently needed to achieve the 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia. This study aims to develop a parametric urban optimization framework to optimize the outdoor thermal comfort in outdoor recreational areas between residential buildings in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia, based on the 2030 vision of Saudi Arabia to achieve a high standard of quality of life with thermal comfort. Measurement was conducted inside the sports walking path with walk-through observation and interviews. Then, case study geometry was generated computationally, using Rhinoceros software and its plug-in Grasshopper to implement the set of development scenarios. Then, the optimization process for the case study was integrated with 192 proposed development solutions to assess the solutions’ influence in reducing the Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) and average solar irradiance, besides increasing energy generated by PV panels. EnergyPlus engine and Ladybug plug-in are used to integrate PV panels with shading scenarios, to utilize the high solar irradiation, and to calculate the generated electrical energy. The results concluded that trees with diameters between 10 and 15 m could achieve thermal comfort and reduction UTCI by 11.26 K and average solar irradiance by 642.77 W/m² with average energy generation of PV panel and optimum inclination angle of 20°. The integration of PV with shading scenarios generates electricity for every square meter of PV panel, equal to 578.84 kWh/m² for lighting poles and service areas within the recreational areas. The results of this study help to improve the current park as a prototype, for which results can be implemented in more than 8100 instances of gardens, parks, and municipal squares in Saudi Arabia.

Improving students’ thermal comfort in university courtyards and indoor spaces promotes walkability, enhances livability, and fosters social interaction among students. This study aims to improve students’ outdoor thermal comfort in university courtyards, to reduce heat transfer to classrooms, and to accordingly reduce energy consumption in university buildings in hot arid climates. Thus, the proposed coupled methodology for the case study, the Faculty of Agriculture, New Sohag University, Egypt, consists of three stages. First, monitoring and questionnaire surveys were conducted in the open courtyard and the classroom to obtain air temperature, wind speed, thermal image, and CO₂ and thermal comfort analysis. Secondly, the Envi-met model was used to investigate the impact of six improvement solutions on improving thermal comfort in the courtyard. Third, retrofitting strategies in the building envelope were evaluated to decrease heat transfer and energy consumption by DesignBuilder software. Consequently, the findings revealed a high outdoor air temperature, which causes discomfort for students. Hence, the simulation results concluded that the significant reduction of physiological equivalent temperature (PET), which ranged between 11.1 °C and 13.9 °C, occurred after applying the hybrid improvement solutions (vegetation area and semi-shading or pergola-shading). Moreover, integrating a combination of retrofitting strategies into the faculty buildings contributed to a 30% reduction in energy consumption. Ultimately, the proposed methodology aims to assist architects and urban designers in the early design stages by providing the appropriate environmental solutions for the universities’ courtyards and buildings in hot arid climates.

Enhancing urban air quality and thermal comfort involves addressing multifaceted environmental and design challenges. Investigating the effects of urban morphological and building geometrical parameters on enhancing air quality and thermal comfort is a multifaceted problem, influenced by different parameters. This study aims to develop optimized design solutions for university buildings and courtyards to enhance outdoor thermal comfort and reduce CO₂ concentration levels as an indicator of air quality. Consequently, the methodology involved a combination of field monitoring at two university faculties in Egypt and a computational parametric methodology using Rhino 3D+Grasshopper(V8) for enhancing thermal comfort, reducing CO₂ concentration levels, and improving wind velocity. The in situ measurements revealed significantly high CO₂ levels (780 ppm) and wind speed (3.8 m/s). The parametric methodology’s findings revealed a substantial reduction in the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) by 2.04 to 10.3 °C, a decrease in CO₂ concentration by 57 to 197 ppm, and an increase in wind speed by 0.4 to 4.07 m/s. The most suitable vegetation ratio for trees within narrow courtyard designs was found to be 30%. This ratio effectively enhances thermal comfort (UTCI) and reduces CO₂ concentrations, while also maintaining adequate airflow and avoiding excessive obstruction of natural ventilation within the courtyard. These findings provide valuable guidance for optimizing courtyard designs in hot arid climates.

Self-learning is receiving great attention internationally in different fields, along with the best utilization of different computational applications or methods. This paper introduces a novel computational approach for supporting Architectural Design Education (ADE) in its early stages; a computational implementation through MATLAB has been developed to conduct the proposed processes. As a scope, spaces’ furnishing design has been selected to demonstrate the proposed computational approach and implementation, while office workspaces have been selected as a representative case. However, the proposed approach provides and enhances ADE through three main concepts: (a) generating design alternatives for different cases of furnishing spaces, (b) providing accurate and flexible evaluations to students’/designers’ works with different levels, and (c) tracking students based on their defaults and relevant sensitive modifications. Different applications of the proposed approach have been generated, analyzed, and validated.

Mosques are distinguished from other buildings functionally and operationally, so there has recently been great interest in the energy consumption inside them in Egypt. Consequently, the novel proposed methodology in this study is integrating smart occupancy sensor systems inside mosques and analyzing their current and further impact on energy consumption. Thus, the main aim is to reduce mosque energy consumption with the integration of smart sensors inside mosques besides the prediction of the efficiency of this approach based on climate change during the future periods of 2050 and 2080. Hence, the DesignBuilder software program was used to build the model and investigate the improvement of energy consumption after integrating smart occupancy sensors currently and in the future. The findings indicate that the reduction in total energy consumption ranges from 16.2% to 21.2%, while the energy index reaches 69 kWh/(m²·yr). The study proves the efficiency of smart occupancy sensors in reducing energy consumption in the short and long term, in addition to being an eco-friendly system and not requiring changes to the building structure.

Inner courtyards have been traditionally used as passive strategy in vernacular buildings in desert climates. This paper presents a study conducted to investigate indoor and outdoor thermal comfort of two vernacular buildings in the hot arid climate of Upper Egypt and proposes an improved solution for courtyards to achieve sustainable development of current vernacular houses and apply the same in the arid climate zone of Egypt. The thermal comfort of vernacular building spaces was evaluated based on using field measurements during the hot season and improvement for courtyards based on ENVI-met V5.6.1 simulation model using three scenarios. Two vernacular buildings (Hassan Fathy and Nubian house) were selected to represent the traditional buildings south of Egypt. The study found that using adobe bricks with high thermal mass in vernacular buildings maintained lower indoor temperature with a range of 2.7 °C to 6.7 °C compared to outdoor temperature; this is considered effective thermal insulation. Meanwhile under extreme hot conditions, courtyard temperature inside the vernacular house was 0.3 K higher than the outdoor. This is not sufficient to maintain indoor thermal comfort without integrating passive solutions inside courtyards. In addition, applying the hybrid solution with big dense trees in the courtyards achieved a significant reduction in PET ranging from 4.2 °C and 5.7 °C; shading the widest area of courtyards and allowing for family activities. The study provided techniques and methodology for the middle courtyard of vernacular buildings, demonstrating how improvement achieves thermal comfort and sustainable development required in the 21st century in Upper Egypt, and can be applied to other vernacular houses in different desert cities in southern Egypt.