Simulation-based personalized real-time control of adaptive facades in shared office spaces

Abstract

High-performance facade is a crucial component in buildings that are characterized by extensive large transparent facades especially in shared office environments to control both energy demand and human comfort. Adaptive façades (AFs) offer a multifunctional potential that can react to short-term changes of environment or user preferences. However, there is no methodological framework for controlling such façades for a shared office space where extra conflicts because of different visual discomfort experiences might arise among users when they want to interact with façade due to social constraints such as hesitation or complex ownership. This research paper introduces a novel simulation-based framework that allows personalized real-time control over façade sections or modules. The methodology utilizes parametric simulation tools and offline control programming using Python language within an integrated workflow. Allowing the users to send their visual discomfort requests to the back-end control algorithm could improve both their visual comfort performance and building thermal energy demand by 61% and 29%, respectively, compared to two typical automatic shading controls. Limitations of the current methodology and potential recommendations for future studies are also discussed in detail. © 2022