Energy efficient building design using sensitivity analysis—A case study

A case-study of a public building is presented as an example of the adequacy of timely analyses of building performance, based on a preliminary architectural design. The final design of the case-study building benefited of the thorough analysis performed at this early stage, the main motivation being the willingness of a town government of an intelligent design, leading to a sustainable town-hall building, in a town in the centre region of Portugal. A virtuous combination of a receptive building owner and a multidisciplinary design team, allowed a systematic methodology to be used, providing the opportunity for the consideration of several options for each class of constructive element and the possibility of choosing among the options for each case, based on quantitative results on the expected performance of the building. The options were created and analysed with the help of the VisualDOE™ building simulation tool, aiming at a comfortable and energy efficient building. Several parameters were used for enabling the sensitivity analyses, namely relating to wall structure and materials, window frames, HVAC system, etc.