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The challenge for building design is to maintain comfort inside while the weather outside changes unexpectedly. Therefore, air conditioning (AC) has become an essential component in office buildings as it provides a comfortable indoor environment while also being the primary source of energy consumption growth. Recent studies have emphasized the application of courtyard as a passive design strategy to reduce building energy use in tropical climates, particularly for cooling demand. Unconditioned buildings usually have a positive impact on courtyard design. This study investigates the effectiveness of courtyard design for a fully air-conditioned and mixed-mode naturally ventilated office building in the tropical context of Dhaka, Bangladesh. A typical office building model was developed using Design Builder software, according to the ASHRAE 90.1 standard. Both scenarios fully air-conditioned building and change over mixed-mode control ventilation (same space in different times) were compared in terms of total end-use to observe how the courtyard affected total energy performance. The courtyard was combined with several passive envelope design strategies, including insulation in the wall and roof, shading on the roof, self-shading over the wall, cavity wall, jaali (lattice) walls, and low-E glass. According to the simulation results, a single courtyard design might not be efficient, but a courtyard that integrates different passive design strategies will be efficient in fully air-conditioned and mixed-mode control buildings in Bangladesh’s tropical environment.

Keywords: Humid-tropical climate; courtyard; air conditioned-mixed mode control; energy-efficient building.

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