International Journal of

Courtyard geometry plays an important role in the amount of received solar radiation, also heating and cooling energy consumption of buildings. Considering this geometry for finding its proper proportion and orientation is significant to increase indoor thermal comfort, and as a result reduce the amount of energy consumption. This paper mainly focuses on a dormitory courtyard in Yazd and investigate the effects of it’s different proportions and orientations on the dormitory energy demand to reduce energy consumption. A computer software (EnergyPlus) was utilized to conduct the survey on base model which was obtained from existing university student dormitories in Yazd in a hot-dry climate of Iran. The findings indicated that the proportions and orientations of the courtyard dormitories affect the cooling and heating loads. Also, the outcomes indicated that the use of university student’s courtyard dormitory with the proportion of 3/7 (width to length) and the orientation along east-west axis has the lowest required cooling and heating loads and could reduce the total energy consumption by 3.4 % compared with the most inappropriate courtyards based on their proportion and orientation.