Study optimizes tropical housing design for comfort and daylight

A Scientific Reports study validated Response Surface Methodology with desirability functions for optimizing tropical building designs, balancing minimized indoor overheating against maximized useful daylight. The approach offers a computationally efficient route to passive, energy-saving housing design relevant across resource-constrained Global South regions.

Published in Scientific Reports, the research confirmed the effectiveness of Response Surface Methodology with desirability functions for optimizing building designs in tropical climates. The method balances the often-conflicting goals of minimizing indoor overheating hours and maximizing useful daylight illuminance, offering a computationally efficient multi-objective approach for resource-constrained settings. By optimizing passive design strategies, the methodology reduces reliance on energy-intensive mechanical cooling while improving indoor environmental quality, addressing a prevalent overheating problem in tropical regions where access to mechanical cooling is often limited.

The findings most directly affect architects and building designers working in tropical regions of the Global South, where overheating is common and cooling access is constrained. Policymakers responsible for building codes and regulations can promote these optimization techniques, while funding programs supporting affordable housing can incentivize their adoption. New construction and retrofit projects both stand to benefit from passive design strategies that enhance thermal comfort and daylighting simultaneously, improving the well-being of inhabitants while reducing building energy consumption.

Architects and designers in tropical regions can adopt Response Surface Methodology with desirability functions as a practical, efficient method for optimizing passive design in new builds and retrofits. Policymakers can embed these optimization techniques in building codes to encourage sustainable practices, and funding programs could provide incentives for research and implementation to improve housing affordability and sustainability. The study emphasizes that global cooperation is essential to disseminate and adopt these optimization methods across building-design practice in the Global South.

Key figure — Optimization goals: minimize indoor overheating hours while maximizing useful daylight illuminance