The main challenge for the scientific community is to mitigate climate change impacts while reducing energy consumption, without compromising comfort and quality of life. Buildings in hot climates require specific design strategies to limit the effects of extreme weather and heat waves. Standardized modern buildings, often unsuitable for hot and arid climates, lead to high energy consumption, mainly due to cooling systems, causing both discomfort and energy inefficiency. Previous studies have shown that solutions inspired by local vernacular architecture are often more effective than conventional construction techniques. This paper investigates the thermal response and discomfort intensity in two building models exposed to various climate scenarios: a typical modern residential building and a bioclimatic vernacular-inspired building. The analysis is conducted through dynamic thermal simulations under current as well as future medium- and long-term climate change scenarios. The study evaluates the buildings’ ability to adapt to future environmental changes, an aspect that has not yet been studied in depth. Results show that contemporary buildings experience significantly higher levels of thermal discomfort than vernacular buildings under both present (TMY) and future (SSP1-2.6 and SSP5-8.5, 2080) climate conditions. Results show that under the present climate, the vernacular building exhibits about 22% fewer discomfort hours than the contemporary one and roughly half the overheating integrated degree-hours. Under future scenarios, overheating increases by 25.8% to 67.7% in the contemporary building and 36.1% to 89.6% in the vernacular building, yet the vernacular building consistently maintains substantially lower discomfort levels. Overall, vernacular inspired envelopes remain more resilient to warming in all scenarios, but additional adaptation measures are required to ensure acceptable summer comfort by late century.

Since gaining independence in 1962, Algeria has significantly developed its tourism infrastructure, including notable projects by Fernand Pouillon. The thermal performance of hotel buildings, measured by discomfort hours and considering the design parameters for both PMV-PPD and adaptive comfort models, is a crucial study area across Algeria’s eight climate zones. This research focuses on the M’Zab Hotel in Ghardaïa, designed by Pouillon, utilising in situ measurements and dynamic simulations with EnergyPlus. After validating the simulation model, the performance of the optimised model, derived from sensitivity analysis parameters, is explored. A comparative study is conducted, analysing results obtained through simulation and psychrometric charts for both comfort models across Algeria’s climate zones. The findings indicate that the optimised design significantly reduces discomfort hours by 27.9% to 54.8% for the PMV-PPD model and 38.8% to 90.3% for the adaptive model, compared to the actual design performance. Strong correlations are observed between the simulation and psychrometric chart results for the PMV-PPD model, while the correlation for the adaptive model requires further investigation.