P.H. D. Thesis

The thesis Defense session of Mr. Mojtaba Mahdavinia with the title of“An Analytic Study of the Relationship between Energy Consumption and Physical Characteristics in Tall Office Buildings(Case Study: Semi Hot and Arid Climate - Tehran Metropolitan City)” under supervision of Dr. seyed Abdolhadi Daneshpour and Dr. Seyed Majid Mofidi will be held in 6 of March 2012 at 13:00 in School of Architecture and environmentaldesign.

Abstract:

In spite of the fact that high-rise construction in large cities of Iran such as Tehran, along with the rest of the world, is being developed, but its consequences including the considerable waste of energy resources has not been properly recognized yet. Addition to the given fact, the recent implementation of the fuel subsidies law in our country, makes it necessary to undertake essential researches and to also demonstrate the practical frameworks, more than before. In this regard, the main concern of the thesis was formed based on architectural designing of energy efficient tall office buildings in Tehran. Herein, according to the extent of the related areas, the effects of form and physical specifications such as “plan geometry”, “fenestration” and “orientation” on the annual energy consumption were specifically evaluated in the research, as well as the component hierarchy and prioritization with the basic criteria of the energy consumption change. Finally this study concluded in determining the physical specifications of the optimum model for tall office buildings in the urban context of Tehran. In order to achieve the aforementioned objectives, different research strategies and methods were applied in each step of the research process involving “library research, comparative analysis, case study and energy performance simulation” and also data interpretation was implemented using descriptive statistics and logical arguments.

The study results demonstrate the different effects of each physical component on the building energy consumption in considered climatic conditions. In accordance with the study conclusion, it can be stated that the proper application of the proposed framework in the initial steps of design process, contrary to the common understanding, not only does not limit the creativity of architects, but can lead to significant reduction of non-renewable energy consumption in a given building.

Keywords: “Energy consumption, Physical Specifications, High-rise Construction, Office Building, Energy Simulation”