Buildings are significant drivers of greenhouse gas emissions and energy consumption. Improving the thermal comfort of occupants in free-running buildings and avoiding active and fossil fuel-based systems is the main challenge in many cities worldwide. However, the impacts of passive design measures on thermal comfort in cold semi-arid regions are seldom studied. With the rapid urbanization and the widespread use of personalised heating and cooling systems, there is a need to inform building designers and city authorities about passive design measures that can achieve nearly optimal conditions. Therefore, in this study, a global sensitivity analysis of the impact of passive design parameters on adaptive comfort in cold semi-arid climates was conducted. A representative residential building was simulated and calibrated in Quetta, Pakistan, to identify key design parameters for optimal thermal comfort. The results list and rank a set of passive design recommendations that can be used widely in similar climates. The results show that among the investigated 21 design variables, the insulation type of roof is the most influential design variable. Overall, the sensitivity analysis yielded new quantitative and qualitative knowledge about the passive design of buildings with personalised heating systems, but the used sensitivity analysis has some limitations. Finally, this study provides evidence-based and informed design recommendations that can serve architects and homeowners to integrate passive design measures at the earliest conceptual design phases in cold semi-arid climates.

Improving urban walkability in the face of climate change is a critical challenge for urban designers. Street design strategies can mitigate heat stress and enhance pedestrian livability. Most previous studies conducted in hot climates recommend adopting deep canyons to improve summer conditions, overlooking the potential improvement of wide streets as essential structural elements of the urban fabric. This study was conducted in Biskra city, southern Algeria, where several mitigation strategies were applied to ‘Emir Abdelkader Boulevard’, as the main structural street inside the city, to create an optimal street model for arid climates. Five scenarios were developed based on three criteria: (Sc1) asymmetric profile northeast side (NES) > southwest side (SWS); (Sc2) asymmetric profile SWS > NES; (Sc3) cool paving; (Sc4) horizontal shading; and(Sc5) shading with a linear tree arrangement. ENVI-met software version 5.1.1 and the RayMan model were used to estimate the local climate conditions and outdoor thermal comfort levels based on the physiological equivalent temperature (PET). All scenarios reduced PET values across the street, with optimal reductions of −2.0 °C, −3.1 °C, −1.3 °C, −1.7 °C, and −1.2 °C in Sc1, Sc2, Sc3, Sc4, and Sc5, respectively. Concerning pedestrian areas, the optimal results durations were at the southwest side below the arcades’ sidewalks during peak hours: Sc2, Sc3, Sc4, Sc5 (2.2 °C–3 H, 2.3 °C–3 H, 2.4 °C–3 H, 2.5 °C–2 H). Sc1 performed best during daytime hours on the northeast side. The utilizing of these results can strongly help urban planners and landscape architects in creating climate-responsive streets that enhance citizens’ quality of life.

In Pakistan, reinforced concrete frame houses are the most widely used and common construction technology. In a country that experiences extreme hot and cold seasons throughout the year, buildings need to be adaptable to the climate to improve the thermal comfort of the inhabitants. Therefore, the aim of this study was to improve thermal comfort in reinforced concrete frame houses using passive design and energy efficiency measures in Quetta, Pakistan. Thermal comfort of a representative house was investigated using a building performance simulation. The building model created in EnergyPlus was validated by comparing it with on-site monitored data in both summer and winter seasons. The model was calibrated using statistical methods. Then, the calibrated model was used to perform a whole year simulation in which various orientations, ventilation, passive design, and energy efficiency strategies were applied to perform parametric analysis for the improvement of thermal comfort. The best fit-to-context thermal comfort model was selected, and the potential of bioclimatic design strategies was quantified. The results indicate that by adopting passive design strategies comfort hours can be increased from 43% to 59%. The results of the study revealed many findings which could be useful for architects and building engineers to set a future direction for improvement of indoor comfort in Quetta as well as in many other areas of Balochistan Province in Pakistan.

Electric appliances for cooling and lighting are responsible for most of the increase in electricity consumption in Karachi, Pakistan. This study aims to investigate the impact of passive energy efficiency measures (PEEMs) on the potential reduction of indoor temperature and cooling energy demand of an architectural campus building (ACB) in Karachi, Pakistan. PEEMs focus on the building envelope’s design and construction, which is a key factor of influence on a building’s cooling energy demand. The existing architectural campus building was modeled using the building information modeling (BIM) software Autodesk Revit. Data related to the electricity consumption for cooling, building masses, occupancy conditions, utility bills, energy use intensity, as well as space types, were collected and analyzed to develop a virtual ACB model. The utility bill data were used to calibrate the DesignBuilder and EnergyPlus base case models of the existing ACB. The cooling energy demand was compared with different alternative building envelope compositions applied as PEEMs in the renovation of the existing exemplary ACB. Finally, cooling energy demand reduction potentials and the related potential electricity demand savings were determined. The quantification of the cooling energy demand facilitates the definition of the building’s electricity consumption benchmarks for cooling with specific technologies.

Poor Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) adversely affects the performance and health of building users. Building users are an important source of information regarding IEQ and its influence on users’ wellbeing and productivity. This paper discusses the analysis and evaluation of IEQ in lecture halls of two public Architectural Campus Buildings (ACB) in Karachi, Pakistan. The method of this research is divided into three parts: (i) An analysis of local climate conditions, (ii) An on-site survey of two existing ACBs to analyze indoor environmental conditions. and (iii) The analysis of users’ satisfaction using a questionnaire survey. The research results showed that users are dissatisfied with existing hot and humid indoor environment conditions caused by interactions of local outdoor climate conditions, the building’s architecture, and inadequate ventilation within the building. The findings revealed that Karachi has 41.3% comfort hours with the warm sub-humid season to be the most comfortable season having 80.56% comfort hours. IEQ analysis unveiled that airflow in ACB1 is low, whereas, high airflow is observed in ACB2. The findings of this research unveiled that cross-ventilation by the adapted placement of openings, improved external shading devices, and provision of increased vegetation are required in both ACBs to achieve a more comfortable IEQ.

Climatic spatial maps are essential for understanding the thermal conditions of cities and estimate their cooling and heating energy needs. Climate maps allow building designers and city planners to get adequately informed without accessing, analyzing or interpreting dense textual information. In this study, a representative residential benchmark model was simulated in seventy-four cities of Algeria. The simulation results were interpolated using geographic information systems to generate six high-resolution maps that spatially estimate and visualize the discomfort hours and cooling/heating energy needs. The unique methodology relies on a reliable weather dataset (2004–2018) and combines the power of building performance simulation and geographic information systems. The results of these analyses provide easy to understand and web-based atlas that can be used to explore regional and local climate and quantify the discomfort hours, the heating/cooling energy needs and energy use intensity. The spatial maps are not a static product, but rather data-rich content, which can be expanded to include the most important cities of Algeria. The capabilities of the tool allow architects and urban planners to understand the climate better and propose practical design guidance.