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Optimisation of daylight admission through window is crucial for alleviating glare while maintaining useful daylight levels in order to enhance occupants' health, visual comfort and moderating lighting energy consumption. Amongst various solutions, fixed external shade is an affordable solution for housing spaces that need to be sophisticatedly designed, especially during the period of increasing home spaces as working environments. In the humid subtropical region, daylight control plays an important role in indoor comfort, particularly with areas with a high window to wall ratio (WWR). Due to the insufficient amount of such study on non-office spaces in Australia, shading-related standards are not addressed in Australian building codes.

The chosen methodology for the research is a quantitative data collection and analysis through field measurement and simulation simultaneously. The first step is a multi-objective optimisation of shading elements through a non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGA-II) on parametric modelling via Rhino3D CAD and simulation engines (DIVA and ClimateStudio). In the second phase, the Pareto front solutions are validated by experimental measurements within a room with a single north-facing window (the most probable for the daytime glare in Sydney) for the seven most common local window configurations.

Through the simulation of ten genes, 1,560 values and 2.4 × 1,019 of search space, this study found an optimum shade for each local common window layout, resulted in +22% in (UDI) and −16% in views with discomfort glare on average. Moreover, an all-purpose polygonal shade showed an average of 4.6% increase in UDI and a 5.83% decrease in the percentage of views with discomfort glare.

The findings are subject to the room dimensions, window dimensions and layouts, and orientation of windows for selected residential buildings in Sydney.

The study contributes to the development of highly accurate fixed external shading systems with rectangular and tapered-form external shapes. A real-time measurement by luminance-metre sensors and HQ cameras located at six eye levels is conducted to corroborate simulation results of the visual comfort.

The paper aims to investigate the comfort-related performances of an innovative solar shading solution based on a new composite patented material that consists of a cement-based matrix coupled with a stretchable three-dimensional textile. The paper’s aim is, through a performance-based generative design approach, to develop a high-performance static shading system able to guarantee adequate daylit spaces, a connection with the outdoors and a glare-free environment in the view of a holistic and occupant-centric daylight assessment.

The paper describes the design and simulation process of a complex static shading system for digital manufacturing purposes. Initially, the optical material properties were characterized to calibrate radiance-based simulations. The developed models were then implemented in a multi-objective genetic optimization algorithm to improve the shading geometries, and their performance was assessed and compared with traditional external louvres and overhangs.

The system developed demonstrates, for a reference office space located in Milan (Italy), the potential of increasing useful daylight illuminance by 35% with a reduced glare of up to 70%–80% while providing better uniformity and connection with the outdoors as a result of a topological optimization of the shape and position of the openings.

The paper presents the innovative nature of a new composite material that, coupled with the proposed performance-based optimization process, enables the fabrication of optimized shading/cladding surfaces with complex geometries whose formability does not require ad hoc formworks, making the process fast and economic.

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is known for its extreme weather conditions during Summer. A major determinant of the sustainability of the design of a building is its fenestrations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the problem of designing and locating windows on building facades such that a number of relevant criteria to the MENA region are optimised, including solar heat gain, privacy, daylighting and cost of installation.

A multi-objective optimisation problem is proposed with the focus on capturing the requirements of residential dwellings in the MENA region. Since the problem contains conflicting objectives that need to be optimised, a lexicographic approach is adopted. In order to display the Pareto curve, a bi-objective analysis based on the ε-constraint method is utilised.

The conflicting nature of the proposed problem is indicated via the Pareto optimal solutions yielded. Depending on the preference of criteria adopted in lexicographic optimisation, the location of the windows on the building façade tends to change. The bi-objective analysis indicates the importance of balancing out the daylight factor against each of privacy, solar heat gain and installation cost criteria. Furthermore, an analysis conducted in three major cities in the MENA region highlights the discrepancy in design alternatives generated depending on the local climatic condition.

This work proposes a novel mathematical optimisation model which focuses on producing a sustainable design and layout for windows on the facades of residential dwellings located in the MENA region. The proposed model provides designers with guidance through an automated support tool that yields optimised window designs and layout to ensure the sustainability of their designed buildings.

Architectural theorists have a long tradition of acknowledging the centrality of building users to architectural production. This article contributes to the discourse on architecture, actor–network theory (ANT), and users by proposing a typology of user translations ranging from supporting to tinkering to adjusting to resisting.

The research utilises an ANT-inspired ethnography of sustainable lighting scripts at the Masdar Institute of Science and Technology (MIST). It comprises semi-structured interviews with MIST designers and students, and site visits and participant observation to understand how the users interpret the scripts and how they interact and change them on a daily basis.

There is a shared understanding that users do not simply receive architectural designs but interpret and change them to suit their preferences. The findings reveal the multiple ways that users interpret and respond to the assumptions of designers and in the process, recast the relations between themselves and their material surroundings.

The research contributes to acknowledging the centrality of users to architectural design processes and the interpretation of design scripts, addressing the limitation in current literature in demonstrating the diversity of ways that users react to such scripts. The research suggests that user actions have significant implications on long-term building performance. It accordingly points to the need for devising multiple means of user involvement in the design process and allowing greater flexibility in design scripts to improve the alignment with user preferences.

Decisions taken during the early design of adaptive façades involving kinetic, active and responsive envelope for complex commercial buildings have a substantial effect on inclusive building functioning and the comfort level of inhabitants. This study aims to present the application of an analytic network process (ANP) model indicating the order of priority for high performance criteria that must be taken into account in the assessment of the performance of adaptive façade systems for complex commercial buildings.

The nominal group technique (NGT) stimulating and refining group judgments are used to find and categorize relevant high performance attributes of the adaptive façade systems and their relative pair-wise significance scores. An ANP model is applied to prioritize these high performance objectives and criteria for the adaptive façade systems.

Embodied energy and CO₂ emission, sustainability, energy saving, daylight and operation maintenance were as the most likely and crucial high performance criteria. The criteria and the weights presented in this study could be used as guidelines for evaluating the performance of adaptive façade systems for commercial buildings in planning and design phases.

This research primarily provides the required actions and evaluations for design managers in accomplishing a high performance adaptive façade system, with the support of an ANP method. Before beginning the adaptive façade system of a building design process, the design manager must determine the significance of each of these attributes as high performance primacies will affect the results all through the entire design process.

In this research, a relatively innovative, systematic and practical approach is proposed to sustain the decision-making procedure for evaluation of the high performance criteria of adaptive façade systems in complex commercial buildings.

Achieving an appropriate indoor environment quality (IEQ) is crucial to a green office environment. Whilst much research has been carried out across the globe on the ideal IEQ for green offices, little is known about which indoor environment New Zealand office workers prefer and regard as most appropriate. This study investigated New Zealand office workers' preference for a green environment.

Workers were conveniently selected for a questionnaire survey study from two major cities in the country – Wellington and Auckland. The perception of 149 workers was analysed and discussed based on the workers' demographics. The responses to each question were analysed based on the mean, standard deviation, frequency of responses and difference in opinion.

The results showed that workers' preferences for an ideal IEQ in green work environments depend largely on demographics. New Zealand office workers prefer work environments to have more fresh air and rely on mixed-mode ventilation and lighting systems. Also New Zealand office workers like to have better acoustic quality with less distraction and background noise. Regarding temperature, workers prefer workspaces to be neither cooler nor warmer. Unique to New Zealand workers, the workers prefer to have some (not complete) individual control over the IEQ in offices.

This study was conducted in the summer season, which could have impacted the responses received. Also the sample size was limited to two major cities in the country. Further studies should be conducted in other regions and during different seasons.

This study provides the opportunity for more studies in this area of research and highlights significant findings worthy of critical investigations. The results of this study benefit various stakeholders, such as facilities managers and workplace designers, and support proactive response approaches to achieving building occupants' preferences for an ideal work environment.

This study is the first research in New Zealand to explore worker preferences of IEQ that is not limited to a particular building, expanding the body of knowledge on workers' perception of the ideal work environment in the country.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has been reported to have a major impact on the mental health of an individual. Healing the mental stress, anxiety, depression and insomnia of an individual's immediate surroundings play a major role. Therefore, this study reviews how the built environment impacts the healing of an individual's state of mind.

Various works of literature on healing environments were analysed to create frameworks that can facilitate psychological healing through architectural elements. Articles were selected from various journals like SAGE, PubMed, Journal of Applied and Computational Mechanics (JACM), Routledge Taylor and Francis, Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs (JCUA), ScienceDirect, and Emerald databases, news articles, official web pages, and magazines that have been referred.

Indicators (spatial, sensory comfort, safety, security, privacy and social comfort) are linked to sub-indicators (access, distractions and views) and design characteristics (indoor climate, interior view, outside view, privacy, communication, noise, daylighting, temperature) which help in better connection of the built environment with individual's mental health. From the above indicators, sub-indicators and design characteristics, the authors have come to a conclusion that a view to the outside with better social interaction has an in-depth effect on an individual's mental health.

This study predominantly talks about healing in hospitals but quarantining of COVID-19 patients happens in residences too. So, it is important to find the healing characteristics in residences and in which typology the recovery process is high.

This paper has been written completely by the author and the co-authors and has not been copied from any other sources.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a framework of green strategies as a combination of energy-efficiency measures and solutions towards environmental impact reduction for improving environmental sustainability at logistics sites. Such measures are examined by discussing the related impacts, motivations and barriers that could influence the measures' adoption. Starting from the framework, directions for future research in this field are outlined.

The proposed framework was developed starting from a systematic literature review (SLR) approach on 60 papers published from 2008 to 2022 in international peer-reviewed journals or conference proceedings.

The framework identifies six main areas of intervention (“green strategies”) towards green warehousing, namely Building, Utilities, Lighting, Material Handling and Automation, Materials and Operational Practices. For each strategy, specific energy-efficiency measures and solutions towards environmental impact reduction are further pinpointed. In most cases, “green-gold” measures emerge as the most appealing, entailing environmental and economic benefits at the same time. Finally, for each measure the relationship with the measures' primary impacts is discussed.

From an academic viewpoint, the framework fills a major gap in the scientific literature since, for the first time, this study elaborates the concept of green warehousing as a result of energy-efficiency measures and solutions towards environmental impact reduction. A classification of the main areas of intervention (“green strategies”) is proposed by adopting a holistic approach. From a managerial perspective, the paper addresses a compelling need of practitioners – e.g. logistics service providers (LSPs), manufacturers and retailers – for practices and solutions towards greener warehousing processes to increase energy efficiency and decrease the environmental impact of the practitioners' logistics facilities. In this sense, the proposed framework can provide valuable support for logistics managers that are about to approach the challenge of turning the managers' warehouses into greener nodes of the managers' supply chains.

The present shift and change in the human lifestyle across the world are undeniable. Currently, individuals spend a substantial amount of time indoors due to the global COVID-19 pandemic that strikes the entire world. This change in human lifestyle has devastating effects on human health and productivity. As a result, the influence of indoor environmental quality (IEQ) on the health and productivity of building users becomes a critical field of research that requires immediate attention. As a result, the purpose of this study is to review the state-of-the-art literature by establishing a connection between the factors that influence health and productivity in any given indoor environment.

The methodology involves a thorough review of selected published journals from 1983 to 2021, and the result was analysed through content analysis. The search included journal articles, books and conference proceedings on the critical factors influencing IEQ and their impact on building occupants, which was sourced from different databases such as ScienceDirect, Taylor, GoogleScholar and Web of Science.

The findings from the 90 selected articles revealed four critical factors influencing the quality of the indoor environment and are categorised into; indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort. The findings suggested that when developing a system for controlling the quality of the indoor environment, the indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, visual comfort and acoustic comfort should be taken into account.

The indoor environment deeply impacts the health of individuals in their living and work environments. Industry must have a moral responsibility to provide health facilities in which people and workers feel satisfies and give conditions for prosperity. Addressing these essential aspects will not only help the decision-making process of construction professionals but also encourages innovative construction techniques that will enhance the satisfaction, wellness and performance of building occupants.