Impact of glass facades on internal environment of buildings in hot arid zone

Abstract

This research focuses on the problem of the design of contemporary glass buildings and facades in a hot dry area such as Egypt, that is based on the “western” concept of the glass facade design, without any attention to design according to the climate, or the use of glass in how, type and color to show the architectural identity and character of the country.The result is that the energy needed to cool the internal environment of these buildings is very high, leading to pressure on the total energy resources and the appearance of glass blocks that do not respect the architectural identity of the country.The importance of this study is to make designers and users aware of the application of appropriate glass types to ensure the comfort of users within buildings. Furthermore, it studies the effect of the glass facades on the visual and thermal comfort of users, and proposes a suitable process methodology for selecting the appropriate type of glass or color as well as effective shading systems which respond to the solar radiation of that region. It also emphasizes on the glass design methods that express architectural identity and culture of the country.