a b s t r a c tDuring the last decades, a great number of innovative building envelope materials and façade components have been developed. The majority of these technologies promise significant improvements in energy efficiency and occupant's comfort, with products that are easily available in the market. However, it remains a challenge to assess the performance of such facades, leading to difficulties for efficient design, operation, and maintenance. As a consequence, the market adoption of adaptive facades is not realizing its full potential, resulting in missed opportunities for energy savings and improved occupant satisfaction. In this study, the current trends of adaptive facades are investigated, with particular emphasis on their performance assessment. Based on extensive literature review, the gaps in assessment of adaptive facades are determined and a novel object-based façade characterization and classification framework is proposed. Furthermore, a generic stakeholder map and process map are presented to explain current adaptive façade delivery practices. In addition, the findings of interviews and two focus group discussions with experts and specialists are presented to elucidate their expert opinions, leading to a validated framework of key performance indicators. As results of this paper, the gaps related to adaptive façade systems' assessment are identified with respect to the different actors and stakeholders, and insights and perspectives on current trends and future challenges of adaptive façade system assessment are provided.

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Integrated thermal-daylighting simulations on a low energy building are performed. Optimal WWR of the façade that minimize the total energy demand is searched. Optimal WWR were found in the range 35-45%, regardless the orientation. If state-of-the-art technologies are used, WWR play a crucial role (maximum influence: 11%). The optimal configurations are tested against different building geometries and HVAC efficiencies.

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9Background: Phase Change Materials (PCMs) have been proposed as a means to increase the thermal inertia 10 of glazing systems. These materials have optical features that need to be investigated and characterised in order 11 to better understand the potential of these systems and to provide reliable data for numerical simulations.

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