International Journal of

---

Nowadays, with the development of the economy, the demand for energy is increasing rapidly while the energy supply is growing shorter and shorter. Researches indicate that energy consumption in the residential sector counts for the main parts of the total energy consumption. This paper evaluates the effect of building orientation on exposure to the solar radiation in a NESW orientated case of urban residence in semi-arid climate. SW envelope, with an annual exposure of 13.52 percent, only improves the thermal comfort of the house because of its annual climatic radiation trend. For vertical NE surface with insufficient winter radiation exposure of (0 %) and cool summer radiation exposure of (3.38 %), it could be concluded that the NE elevation is suitable and in demand in the summer but not in the winter. Total annual horizontal solar radiation exposure percentage of (83.04%) indicates that huge non- climatic roof radiation is inappropriate and should be omitted. Finally, the effects of solar radiation envelopes on electricity and natural gas consumption were thoroughly discussed.

---

School buildings as a major part of public buildings are considered as one of the basic consumers of energy in Iran. Based on building typology and occupancy patterns, school buildings have a great potentiality for energy optimization while providing thermal comfort. This study investigates the architectural design parameters such as orientation, optimum window to wall ratio, space organization, sun shading, building shape etc. which have a great impact on the energy demand. For the purpose of this study a typical elementary school has been selected, modeled and analyzed by integrating different design measures using a dynamic simulation software tool. The optimum amounts for various architectural design parameters are calculated. The results reveal that through energy efficient architectural design the primary energy demand of the studied case has reduced by 31% while keeping visual and thermal comfort compared to the existing building.

---

Environmental problems caused by fossil fuel consumption, on the one hand, and the upcoming prospect of ending these fuels on the other, attracted much attention towards sustainable architecture. Traditional buildings can be seen as a sample of sustainability; as they have used strategies to cope with the environment, which have been developed over the years, providing users’ comfort conditions for centuries. But before implementing these strategies in today buildings, we need to know the exact effect of their use; something that is regularly performed by an energy simulation software. Thus, first, we should know the ability of the software in modeling different design strategies, and secondly we should be certain of the validation of its results. This research aims to study the ability of DesignBuilder software (as one of the most applied software for building energy simulation) to model and simulate a complex traditional building. The accuracy of DesignBuilder thermal simulation results, in comparison with the experimental data is the main question of this study. To do this, Rasoulian house in Yazd (in hot and arid climate of Iran) was chosen as a case study and after simulating the entire building, the simulation results were compared with experimental measurement data. The results show that in most spaces, the experimental data were only 1–5°C different from the results of the simulation. Finally, the probable causes of these differences were analyzed and some suggestions were proposed to develop DesignBuilder, to be more applicable in simulating buildings of hot and arid climate.

---

Today, the use of building information modeling (BIM) has become widespread in developed countries; however, in Iran, the use of BIM-based software has received less attention for some reasons. In the present study, in the first phase, library studies and data collection related to research objectives have been surveyed. Then the identification of indigenous indices of green architecture in Iran was identified and explained through the Delphi method with Kendall's W correlation coefficient in SPSS software as a table Test Statistics. Finally, a green villa building in the Lavasan area in Tehran was detected and designated as a sample to be studied. The building was simulated using Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies in order to better understand its environment. Moreover, the energy consumption of the mentioned building during the previous year was studied by modeling it in Revit software. The results of the research indicate that the selected building, which has been claimed to be green, has a distance of 58 kWh / m² with the global standards of ASHRAE and LEED. Accordingly, the studied building does not have the fundamental requirements and basic principles to receive the green building certification according to these international rating systems. Thus, with regard to the green building information modeling in Iran, it could be inferred that due to the lack of an indigenous guide (in terms of energy consumption) provided by the authorities, the environmental ecosystems as global assets are at risk.

---

                   Abstract
                      Energy saving is one of significant issues in achieving sustainable development. This study compares the energy consumption of rural houses using local materials and new ones in Gilan province, in order to investigate the effects of using local materials and techniques on reducing the amount of energy consumption. The present research method is quantitative, in which the means of study, observation and computer simulation is used. In this regard, the features of vernacular and new rural houses of sub-mountainous areas of Gilan are investigated. Case study focuses on two houses located in foothills of Gilan. Design builder software is used to compare the amount of energy consumption of vernacular housing methods and the newer ones. The results of this study clarify that the amount of energy required for heating is much higher than the energy needed for cooling in this region, so the main focus should be on reducing the amount of required energy for heating. Based on the results of simulation, walls and roof are more sensitive to heat exchange. Galipoosh roof have reasonable function in terms of energy consumption, while Darvarchin wall wastes more energy than new materials.

---

Today constructing high-rise buildings which consist of a great amount of surface area and also openings is prevalent and is continuing to rise. Therefore, the building’s envelope is among the most important elements that has a great effect on energy consumption and wastage. As a result, Responsive Architecture focuses on the design of the external skin of buildings which can change their physical properties in order to respond to various environmental conditions. These facades can play a significant role in reducing energy consumption produced by fossil fuels and maximizing the use of natural energies. This study aims to simply review and categorize the various solutions provided by responsive architecture in order to reduce energy consumption in contemporary high-rise building skins. To achieve this goal there has to be a clear image presented of the impact of these responsive systems on energy consumption and how they actually function. In this regard, comparative studies on some of the most basic studies concentrated on the subject, and also a few case studies well-known in this area of matter were precisely reviewed with a descriptive-analytical approach. Accordingly, a general assortment of responsive architecture solutions and performance in high-rises were attained and gathered which can be classified into two groups; those applicable for vertical facades including “Kinetic Facades”, “Double-Skin Facades”, “Smart Materials and Windows”, and those for horizontal facades including “Kinetic Roof” and a new type of “Ventilation Stacks and Exhaust Ducts”. These solutions can be operated in combination with each other or for the better performance of another system, depending on environmental conditions. moreover, they can be applied for either new buildings during their construction or even the old ones by installing them separately from the main facade. They can control the energy consumption of the building and minimize the use of mechanical systems by increasing the amount of received solar energy, reducing internal energy wastage, receiving optimum natural daylight, creating natural ventilation, controlling the amount of excess received heat, regulating temperature through energy storage and generating electricity. Responsive architecture solutions show that they can not only make it possible in getting the maximum advantage of renewable sources, but can also extend the useful life of buildings, and produce a quality of experience that reconnects people to the environment and provides delight in their lives.

---

The demand for energy has increased all over the world, and the construction industry makes up a high percentage of energy consumption. Different design components, construction, and exploitation regarding the field of construction energy consumption and the drive towards sustainability have been taken into consideration; however, energy conservation with an emphasis on the user's behaviors has been ignored. The purpose of this research is to provide a quantitative definition of the impact of behavior on energy consumption in three residential, institutional, and educational occupancies in one apartment through survey and simulation. In this research, by allocating three different occupancies to one building in Qom, the cooling and heating loads for each occupant have been compared in a one-year interval. First, the building modeling was carried out in Ecotet software and put in Energyplus software. Then by assuming a single building and describing three different patterns of using the space in Energyplus, the outcomes were compared. The results show that the reduction or increase in energy consumption in each occupancy was influenced by the number of users and the patterns of their activities or clothing. Reducing the duration of presence or changing the work hours in warm seasons of the year can significantly help reduce energy consumption in educational and institutional occupancies in hot and dry climates. The residential users' economic motives can be one of the reasons for reduced energy consumption in residential occupancies, compared to institutional occupancies.

---

In recent years, optimizing the energy consumption of buildings has become one of the important environmental and economic goals in sustainable architecture and urban planning. A group of factors affecting the energy consumption of buildings is their physical characteristics and form. In this regard, in the present research, the effect of volumetric porosity in high-rise buildings on their energy consumption has been investigated. The purpose of this research is to explain the correlation between the volumetric porosity of a building, as an independent variable, and its cooling and heating load, as a dependent variable, in a high-rise residential complex in Tehran. In this regard, first, a modular-generative model has been created in the Grasshopper plugin of Rhino software, which can create a porosity of 0 to 50% parametrically. Then, the cooling and heating load of each of the produced models in the city of Tehran and on the June 21 (summer solstice) and December 21 (winter solstice) were calculated using the Honeybee plugin, with standard settings. The data obtained from the simulation were entered into the SPSS software environment and the correlation test of the percentage of volume porosity and energy consumption was performed on the two aforementioned dates in Tehran. In order to validate the research method, this process was performed in 3 other climatic zones of Iran and the findings were compared with other studies in this field. The results of this research showed that the increase in porosity, assuming the number of modules is kept constant (the total volume of the building remains constant) and the site coverage ratio - as is common and inevitable in high-rise buildings - have a significant positive correlation with increased energy consumption in high-rise residential buildings in Tehran.