Determining the Effect of Building Geometry On Energy Use Patterns of Office Buildings in Toronto

The project investigated the potential of building geometry to minimize energy consumption in office buildings. Five distinct geometries were modeled as mid-size office occupancies in the context of Toronto, Ontario, and examined with varied design parameters: window to wall ratio (WWR) and external static shading devices. IES VE software was used to predict the annual energy consumption of the five archetypes for 40 permutations. The outcome of this research showed that the variation of the total energy use from one shape to another was relatively small. WWR appeared to have a stronger impact on the energy pattern of a building than its shape. Overall, the energy performance of the archetypes were observed to conform to their individual building aspect ratios. The findings are thus expected to provide useful guidelines for architects on utilizing building geometry as an energy saving measure in the design of office buildings.