Construction activity in the developing world is on the rise due to a rapid growth in
urbanization. This rapid growth has resulted in the widespread abandonment of traditional
architectural styles that are typically adapted climatically to their locale, in favour of quick-
build, low-tech generic type buildings. The demand for air conditioning is likely to increase
for those buildings that are prone to high levels of solar gain. External shading devices are
among the few low-tech architectural features that can enhance solar gain and the indoor …

The thermal modelling of windows is often carried out at a high level of precision whilst
irradiance and daylight quantities are predicted using coarse approximations. This paper
describes a new approach to predict the daylighting and thermal performance of buildings
with shading devices using a hybrid dynamic lighting-thermal model. Irradiation and
daylighting modelling is carried out using the validated Radiance lighting simulation
program. The irradiance predictions coming from raytracing calculations on virtual …