China's newest design of apartment buildings with modernized façade: A comparative evaluation of its energy performance in five major climate zones

•High WWR, flat shape, and open spatial distribution are the characteristics of ABMF design.•Cold and temperate climate zones are more suitable for ABMF design.•Spatial distribution has isolated effects on residential building energy performance.•Reasonable apartment layout design is conducive to energy-saving. Many studies have indicated that the energy efficiency of residential buildings can greatly mitigate energy shortages and environmental problems. High window-to-wall ratio, flat geometric shape, and open space layout are the key characteristics of apartment buildings with modernized façade (ABMF), and the major design trend dominating China's housing market. This study aims to understand the isolated effects of these three design factors on the energy performance of ABMF in five major climate zones using a parametric performance design method. Three important findings were concluded: 1) the energy use intensity (EUI) of ABMF showed a positive relationship to the window-to-wall ratio in five climate zones. Qingdao in Cold Region (2.12 kWh/m2) and Kunming in Temperate Region (1.04 kWh/m2) exhibited lowest average increase in EUI; 2) the reduction of EUI was twice as much in Kunming than in the other four cities, when the aspect ratio of ABMF changed from 1.75 to 0.95; 3) the ‘exterior-side hall’ was the most energy-efficient layout in the five cities. This study is the first to investigate the energy performance of the newest apartment design and hopefully can attract more studies to explore the suitability of ABMF for the sustainable development of China's housing market.