Abstract
The application of Double Skin Facades (DSFs) in hot climates is limited and their potential benefits are still under investigation. Moreover, daylight and thermal performances of the double façade are rarely studied together. In this paper a set of parameters are optimized for the design of a folded porous double façade for an existing office building in Cairo, with an aim of reducing cooling loads while maintaining daylight needs. The design and optimization processes take place using parametric design software, specifically Grasshopper Plugin for Rhino 3D modeller. These software tools were chosen due to the possibility of using evolutionary algorithms for multi-objective optimization, and environmental simulation plugins that provide real-time feedback during the early design phase. The existing building acts as a reference case to which the proposed façade is compared to evaluate its performance in South-East and North-West orientations. It is also compared to a conventional double façade. The paper discusses the effect of the design parameters on the thermal and daylight performances of the façade highlighting their preferred numerical range. Limitations of the software used are addressed, requiring verification of results using CFD simulations in future work.