Development of design guidelines for thermal, visual, and noise insulation performance of building envelope of low-rise commercial office buildings in the Indian tropical climate

Commercial office buildings are major electrical energy guzzlers as they are required to maintain high levels of overall occupant comfort to maximize workers’ productivity. Thermal comfort, visual comfort, and noise insulation are three major aspects of overall comfort in such buildings. There is ample potential to achieve these aspects of comfort through the passive design of the envelope and reduce the dependence on supplementary systems through building simulation optimization methodologies. But due to multiple conflicting objectives and complexity, these methodologies are seldom adopted by designers in early-stage design, especially in the Indian tropical subcontinent. The present study aims to provide ready-to-use guidelines in the form of recommended parameters for building envelope design of low-rise commercial buildings which after implementation will enhance the thermal, visual, and noise insulation performance of the building envelope in tropical climatic regions. Recommended material and thickness for construction layers of the exterior wall, roof, and glazing were formulated as guidelines for the different major climatic zones of the Indian tropical climate.