Investigating the Performance of Indoor daylighting, and Thermal Performance in Residential Buildings Using Productive Façades

Abstract

Productive Facade (PF) is a multi-functional system used in sustainable and productive cities, it is the integration of farming and Photovoltaics PV cells in façade design. Conversely, buildings could play a serious role in energy and food production while transforming cities from consumers to producers. Therefore, this paper reviews the current literature to propose a design strategy for PF. Then, the paper introduces a comparative study between different alternatives of PF in residential buildings in arid desert hot climate. The study evaluates the performance of façade designs depending on PF. The alternatives are the base case, which lacked PV or farming, design 1, which has vertical farming and PV louvers, and design 2, which has a double-skin façade with inner farming and PV. Then, a comparison between measurements of the three alternative models is undertaken to understand how to adjust PF to improve interior daylighting, thermal comfort, energy generation, and food production. The findings confirm that applying PF improves the daylighting and solar heating performance inside a residential building. Especially, design 2 is more efficient than other alternatives and decreases building energy consumption.