Assessment of Thermal Behavior of Double Skin Façade in the Climate of Tehran

The layer of the building as a separator of the interior and exterior environments plays an important role in thermal behavior of the building. Compared to the other parts of building, the facade has a significant effect in terms of solar heat gain, day lighting, ventilation, infiltration, thermal load control, noise control, design quality and aesthetic dimensions. New concepts of facade design; turned the building facade to a barrier between the interior and exterior environments. One of these concepts is double skin facade. To assess the performance of double skin facade in the climate of Tehran, an office building is modeled both with and without double skin facade with the building energy simulation program E-QUEST. In these simulations, the effect of facade layering, transparency and orientation on energy demand of HVAC system have been compared and contrasted. The results show that the energy demand of HVAC system reduces about 16 to 20 % by using a double skin facade compared to a single skin facade. However, to improve the energy performance of the facade, one has to consider other important design parameters in facade design such as ventilation, control strategy, shading devices, etc.