Towards Sustainable Building Design: The Impact of Architectural Design Features on Cooling Energy Consumption and Cost in Saudi Arabia

Energy-saving has become a high priority in the Architectural design of buildings, particularly in hot climate regions like Saudi Arabia. Thus, selecting the appropriate Architectural Design Features (ADFs) at the early design stage provides significant opportunity to manage heat flow, prevent excessive energy consumption, and maintain a comfortable temperature for the occupants. In this research, a structured "Architectural based-Energy Impact Scoring System (AEISS)" has been developed. The system incorporates seven key ADFs that were identified based on inputs from a large number of experienced architects, and embody 40 different design options. To support designers in selecting and evaluating, including energy analysis, of any Architectural design that has any combination of design options, AEISS incorporates a comprehensive decision scoring system. Energy analysis is performed using a simulation tool (Ecotect (R)) that is integrated with the Revit BIM models. To validate AEISS, three design alternatives were evaluated for a residential building in Saudi Arabia. Using AEISS, it was possible to arrive at the optimum design. This research presents a scientific decision-making approach to quantify design alternatives while reducing designers' subjectivity in the evaluation process. (C) 2020 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.