Energy-saving Strategy of Building Skins System in Hot-summer and Cold-winter Zone

It is difficult to design the building skins because there are several intractable contradictions among different strategies. For instance, sun-shading design can reduce the impact of solar radiation in summer, but it can also impair the natural lighting, ventilation and winter sunlight absorption. Namely, the building skins, as the climate boundary of a building, can affect the heating, cooling, ventilation and lighting of the building, which can impact the indoor comfort and energy consumption directly. To maximize indoor comfort with minimum building energy consumption, this paper investigated and reviewed design theory and methodology of climate-adaptive building skins. As a result, the design discipline was proposed that building skins should filter out unfavorable climate factors but absorb favorable climate factors up to the hilt. The following climate-adaptive design strategies are recommended in hot-summer and cold-winter zone of China: (1) sunshade integrated with building skin system, (2) solar energy utilization integrated with building skin system, (3) ventilation integrated with skin system.