Impact of shape on residential buildings energy performance

The impact of the shape on energy performance for residential buildings has been investigated using a series of simulation analyses. The shape of a building is quantified by its compactness relative to a reference building. In this paper, the performance of a prototypical residential building with various shapes is investigated for selected locations in the US. Various window-to-wall ratios are considered in the analysis. The findings indicate that significant energy can be saved when the shape and the window-to-wall ratio of the building are optimized. A simplified evaluation method is provided to help designers assess the impact of basic building architectural features on the energy performance of residential buildings.