EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF BUILDING FORMS ON THERMAL COMFORT IN OFFICE BUILDINGS IN HOT HUMID AREAS

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Presented To

Department of Environmental Design

ABSTRACT
The problem of thermal comfort has been the major challenge faced by most office buildings. The effect of these could lead to stress, pains and reduction of work efficiency of office workers. Office buildings are considered among the most architectural buildings that consume more energy to provide comfort all year round. One of the major factors affecting the thermal comfort of office buildings is their form. It has a great effect on the heating and cooling loads of a building. Hence, the research seeks to evaluate the thermal performance of different geometrical forms of cone, cube, cuboid, pyramid, and cylinder to see their response to energy loads. The research aims to reach to the best possible form which presents the high thermal performance in order to use it in office buildings in hot humid area of Lafia. The analysis is carried out using the computer program ECOTECT. The results indicate that the cube form receives the least amount of fabric heat gain on the hottest day, while the cone form is best in terms of direct solar heat gains and the cuboid in terms of Sol-Air (opaque Surfaces). In the area of annual cooling loads, the cylinder form performs best followed by the cone. For the amount of solar energy received by the forms, the cone is the least followed by cylinder, cuboid and cube. Energy consumption can be reduced by choosing Double Glazed Low-E material for windows with window to wall ratio (WWR) 40%. The research concluded that different building forms having the same area, volume and envelope materials respond differently to energy loads due to their surface configuration. Ultimately, the cylindrical form is the most suitable form within the context of this research. The research recommends applying thermal comfort design strategies for achieving comfort in hot humid areas, especially with regard to geometric form and envelope material composition in the first stage of the design process.