Passive design strategies for curtain wall system in subtropical office buildings in China considering multi-sensory comfort
4 affiliations
- 1School of Architecture, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China; Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Urban Planning and Decision-Making, Harbin Institute of Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
- 2Department of Architecture and Civil Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China
- 3Institute of Future Human Habitats, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China
- 4Institute of Future Human Habitats, Shenzhen International Graduate School, Tsinghua University, Shenzhen 518055, China; Corresponding author.
Abstract
In subtropical urban environments where glass building curtain walls predominate in the high-rise office construction, the building envelope plays an important role in determining energy use and comfort level within the building. This work formulates passive design concepts to the high rises office building in the subtropical China through a systematic evaluation of four common envelope types, namely, single-layer curtain walls, single-layer curtain walls with shading, double-layer curtain walls, and continuous shading with enclosure structures. Based on representative subtropical climate condition as a typical example of the subtropics in China, a parametric analysis is conducted using various comfort performance criteria including thermal comfort hours, useful daylight illuminance (UDI), and visual quality. EnergyPlus and Radiance performance simulations identified the optimum parameter spaces in each envelope type: for single-layer curtain walls, 565–591 comfortable hours could be achieved annually with glass U-values ranging from 1.7–3.2 W/m 2 K of glass U-value and window-to-wall ratios of 0.40–0.60; the single-layer curtain walls with shading had the best performance overall, providing 599–601 comfortable hours. After eliminating designs that fail to achieve adequate visual performance with average interior visibility ratio > 40 %, this work provides evidence-based design guidelines for curtain wall systems that maintain a balance between thermal comfort, quality of daylighting and aesthetics. The evidence-based design measures described in this paper are useful to architects and engineers intending to optimize the building envelope design within the subtropical climate, addressing the gap of theoretical knowledge and practical application to sustainable high-rise construction.
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BibTeX
@article{yu2026passive,
title = {{Passive design strategies for curtain wall system in subtropical office buildings in China considering multi-sensory comfort}},
author = {Lei Yu and Caifang Lin and Wei Gu and Xing Zheng and Yi Zhang and Pengyuan Shen},
journal = {Energy and Built Environment},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1016/j.enbenv.2026.01.001},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbenv.2026.01.001},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Passive design strategies for curtain wall system in subtropical office buildings in China considering multi-sensory comfort
AU - Lei Yu
AU - Caifang Lin
AU - Wei Gu
AU - Xing Zheng
AU - Yi Zhang
AU - Pengyuan Shen
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/30
JO - Energy and Built Environment
DO - 10.1016/j.enbenv.2026.01.001
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbenv.2026.01.001
AB - In subtropical urban environments where glass building curtain walls predominate in the high-rise office construction, the building envelope plays an important role in determining energy use and comfort level within the building. This work formulates passive design concepts to the high rises office building in the subtropical China through a systematic evaluation of four common envelope types, namely, single-layer curtain walls, single-layer curtain walls with shading, double-layer curtain walls, and continuous shading with enclosure structures. Based on representative subtropical climate condition as a typical example of the subtropics in China, a parametric analysis is conducted using various comfort performance criteria including thermal comfort hours, useful daylight illuminance (UDI), and visual quality. EnergyPlus and Radiance performance simulations identified the optimum parameter spaces in each envelope type: for single-layer curtain walls, 565–591 comfortable hours could be achieved annually with glass U-values ranging from 1.7–3.2 W/m 2 K of glass U-value and window-to-wall ratios of 0.40–0.60; the single-layer curtain walls with shading had the best performance overall, providing 599–601 comfortable hours. After eliminating designs that fail to achieve adequate visual performance with average interior visibility ratio > 40 %, this work provides evidence-based design guidelines for curtain wall systems that maintain a balance between thermal comfort, quality of daylighting and aesthetics. The evidence-based design measures described in this paper are useful to architects and engineers intending to optimize the building envelope design within the subtropical climate, addressing the gap of theoretical knowledge and practical application to sustainable high-rise construction.
SN - 2666-1233
ER -