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The study aims to synthesize findings from over two decades of research, highlighting key trends, progress, innovations, methodologies and challenges in bioclimatic design strategies and their interconnection with building environmental performance across the world.

This systematic review examines advancements in bioclimatic design strategies aimed at enhancing the environmental performance of buildings from 2000 to 2023 (n = 1,069). The methodology/approach involves a comprehensive analysis of literature from the SCOPUS database using bibliometric analysis, identifying trends, thematic evolution, keyword clusters and pivotal strategies such as passive solar design, natural ventilation, green roofs and thermal mass utilization.

The review highlights significant progress in several areas, including improved simulation/modeling tools for passive solar design, advanced computational fluid dynamics models for natural ventilation optimization, and the integration of green roofs with photovoltaic systems for increased building energy efficiency. Additionally, the use of phase change materials and high-performance glazing has reduced heating and cooling loads, while real-time optimization technologies have enhanced building performance and led to energy savings.

The study recognizes limitations where the effectiveness of bioclimatic strategies varies across different climates. For example, passive solar design is highly effective in temperate climates but less so in tropical regions. Global differences in design preferences and building types and practices impact the applicability of bioclimatic strategies and traditional building methods in some cultures may not easily integrate with modern approaches, affecting their implementation and effectiveness. Furthermore, practical implications highlight the potential for reduced reliance on artificial heating, cooling and lighting systems, while social implications underscore the role of bioclimatic design in promoting sustainable construction practices.

Practical implications highlight the potential for reduced reliance on artificial heating, cooling and lighting systems.

Social implications underscore the role of bioclimatic design in promoting sustainable construction practices.

This review offers a detailed analysis of bioclimatic design evolution, highlighting trends such as adaptive building designs and smart materials. This study serves as a crucial resource for architects, engineers and policymakers, advocating for innovative, climate-responsive design solutions to mitigate the environmental impact of the built environment and address challenges related to climate change and urbanization.

This paper reviews extant studies on bioclimatic architecture with a view of revealing the focus areas of past studies and mapping out future research directions useful in achieving building energy efficiency.

A mixed-method systematic review that integrates quantitative and qualitative analysis was adopted. The bibliographic data were extracted from the Scopus database, and a scientometric analysis was conducted to analyse the data quantitatively. Qualitative content analysis is then presented, which provided a basis for mapping out trends and gaps in current knowledge.

It is observed that there has been a rise in the number of studies on bioclimatic architecture over the last two decades. Past studies have focused on sustainability, building performance simulation, building climatology and energy use, solar energy applications and passive cooling. Artificial intelligence, algorithm coupling and acoustic comfort were some of the emerging areas discovered in this study.

The study reveals research gaps that researchers can investigate.

The information provided can help the building industry stakeholders in decision-making. It serves as a guideline for maximising the potential benefits of adopting bioclimatic designs in the building industry. Furthermore, it provides references that aid policy formulation for government agencies and corporate organisations.

The study fills the literature gap caused by the need for a holistic literature review that relates bioclimatic architecture and its energy efficiency implications. It is also the first study on bioclimatic architecture that adopts a mix of scientometric and qualitative analysis for analysing past studies on bioclimatic architecture.

By promoting certain design values and priorities, institutionalized award schemes are here seen as important agents in the production and management of a more contemporary form of cultural heritage. The research presented compares the claims and actions of the designers and the evaluating committees regarding bioclimatic considerations in the design of award-winning houses in Cyprus. The analysis looks at the way the basic principles of bioclimatic design have indeed influenced the design and classifies each house for each of the principles considered.

Highly specialized or quantitative analysis is avoided since what is finally sought after is an evaluation procedure that can be effectively used by a committee composed of practicing architects rather than experts in any field.

The results suggest that bioclimatic principles do not have a strong impact in the design or in the evaluation by the committee. What this means is that the award systems promote an architectural culture that may use catchy terminology referring to bioclimatic design and sustainability, but they do not give much weight to such criteria when judging the quality of a project.

The originality of the research is twofold: it considers architectural award schemes as agents that currently play a role previously performed by the vernacular in the creation of architectural culture; the analysis tools used are designed in such a way to also be used in the proposal for an improved evaluation procedure.

This review investigates the significance of passive solar systems and bioclimatic building designs in improving thermal comfort across various African regions. The study evaluates current papers and publications, focusing on best practice standards, scientific developments and the possibility of achieving maximum thermal comfort across varied temperature zones.

This research utilised a systematic approach to analyse passive solar systems and African bioclimatic design. It involved a review of 175 documents sourced from the Web of Science (WOS) and Scopus databases, focusing on peer-reviewed publications from 1992 to 2023 as well as the Regulations and Standards for Thermal Comfort established in African countries.

The study shows how integrating passive solar systems into bioclimatic architecture greatly increases thermal comfort and lowers energy consumption in African buildings. Nevertheless, significant research gaps exist in using these systems in different African climates. Maintaining and modifying passive solar systems is essential to tackling the distinct environmental issues faced by the continent.

While this review provides a thorough analysis, it acknowledges the complexity of local settings and construction practices, recognising potential limitations in the available literature. The implications include a call for further research and technological advancements to address these limitations and refine passive solar systems for optimal performance.

This study bridges knowledge gaps about how passive solar systems and bioclimatic design principles can be efficiently used across various African climates and areas. Furthermore, it incorporates recent advances and a thorough review procedure to ensure that findings are current and relevant.

The aim of this study is to propose solutions to ensure comfort conditions for users by taking advantage of the bioclimatic architecture. This could serve as a solution to the energy shortage problem.

In this context, 40 bioclimatic buildings located in Greece were analyzed. These bioclimatic buildings were classified according to their climatic zones, functions, parameters pertaining to the physical and built environment, and the passive methods used for heating, cooling and lighting.

The high share of residential buildings in the distribution of Greece’s bioclimatic buildings according to climatic zones can be attributed to the large number of users that residential buildings have when compared to other types of buildings. Among the physical environmental parameters, climatic parameters were found to be highly influential. Other parameters had less significant effects, depending on land conditions.

This study revealed the importance of bioclimatic applications in creating energy-efficient buildings. It is also important in terms of setting an example for creating bioclimatic architectural profiles of other countries.

Vernacular architecture is an architectural style of buildings that were constructed by artisanal builders who lacked formal qualifications, used local materials and had a deep understanding of local climatic needs. This approach addressed climatic, energy, materials and construction issues in a low-cost way. Building interiors were often made comfortable by using passive internal climate regulation methods, which could be key to resolving some of the current issues of the modern world.

Tamil Nadu is a land full of local architecture, with Konearirajapuram settlement a thriving specimen of its vernacular architecture, as one of the original Vathima villages (planned Brahmin villages). Here the authors present an appraisal of this settlement's native architecture with its various passive design elements. A questionnaire survey was also conducted among local residents, living in both vernacular and contemporary residential buildings, to understand the quality of indoor environmental comfort in the different building types (single courtyard, multiple courtyards and multiple story houses with courtyards).

The results of this study show that energy-efficient bioclimatic design strategies of traditional buildings can be analyzed with the help of climatic data and analysis tools such as Mahoney tables and Olgyay's bioclimatic chart. The study shows that vernacular design techniques and principles conserve more energy than modern buildings. The findings suggest that practical solutions for improving contemporary residential developments can be found in traditional architectural approaches and that these approaches should be incorporated in new developments to achieve energy efficiency and a sustainable future.

A detailed survey and the user preferences are plotted in detail in this paper; similarly, Mahoney table and its requirements are analyzed with respect to context; and the results are elaborated and justified.

This study analyzes an entire settlement of Konearirajapuram with 300 units of vernacular residences high in comfort even at extreme climates. Assessment is carried in both qualitative case and quantitative case. Even though there are no previous studies analyzed to identify the effectiveness of the artisanal builders of bioclimatic architecture. Hence, this study brings out the solution for current energy problems from the traditional settings, because the traditional buildings requires no active systems for indoor comfort except a fan, which is negligible in terms of energy use.

Despite worldwide climate change and the problems caused by using fossil fuels, energy consumption in the world keeps rising every year. The areas with extremely cold or scorching climates are large, and significant amounts of energy are getting used in these areas for heating, cooling, and ventilation. The general purpose of this study is to investigate the possible relationship between the climatic characteristics of the Esfahak, a village located in the hot desert region of Iran, and the physical characteristics of its built environment.

The method of this research is qualitative and somewhat descriptive-analytical. In this regard, the architectural features of Esfahak village are compared with the principles mentioned in the Mahoney tables to determine the degree of compliance of the architecture of this village with the climatic condition.

The results show that design principles have been used in all indicators discussed in the Mahoney tables. By applying these principles, not only did the acute weather conditions not prevent the initial settlement in the village location, they have not caused inhabitants to leave the site over time as well.

The impacts of bioclimatic design strategies on thermal comfort in hot desert regions are seldom studied. This research provides evidence-based and informed design recommendations that can help building designers and city authorities integrate bioclimatic design strategies at the earliest conceptual design phases in hot desert climates.

The escalation in demand for buildings in tropical zones has risen resulting from global population growth. Moreover, the construction industry is under growing pressure to adapt sustainable practices. Hence, this research aims to investigate how Circular Economy (CE) principles can be converged with Tropical Design Strategies (TDS) to enhance sustainability within the construction industry.

Qualitative approach was employed with three rounds of Delphi technique, following semi-structured expert interviews. Collected data were analysed through content analysis.

Four passive design strategies were explored as the most suitable strategies for building designs in the tropical regions. To amalgamate passive design strategies of Tropical Designs (TD) with the most practicable CE R principles, 23 number of methods were proposed to each passive design strategy. Furthermore, 11 enablers were revealed in converging TD with CE. Among them, green building design, advanced design software and bioclimatic designs are the enablers which are applicable for all the design strategies.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first kind of research which was done converging three concepts of CE, TD and sustainability. Moreover, this research defined various approaches on how to integrate CE R principles with each identified passive design strategy as an influential approach for ameliorating sustainability. This research contributes to the practice by proposing methods to building designers and architects on how to design buildings in tropical regions following CE principles while ensuring sustainability.

The objective of this article is to articulate a research agenda in architecture and urbanism by reviewing the contributions to Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research from 2022 to 2024. The article aims to develop a robust classification into established, evolving and emerging knowledge spaces. Such a classification seeks to offer insights into the role Archnet-IJAR plays in shaping current and future global research trends in architecture and urbanism.

A combination of bibliometric and textual analysis was employed, utilising tools such as VosViewer and Infranodus to map thematic structures and research trends. The examined articles were categorised into established, evolving and emerging knowledge spaces to assess how the journal dynamically adapts to and reflects global shifts in architectural and urban discourse. This classification offers a strategic lens into the influence of Archnet-IJAR on research trajectories and shaping the future landscape of scholarship in architecture and urbanism.

The study identifies three primary areas of discourse: sustainability and resilience, technology and innovation, and community-centred design. Key trends include the rise of AI and smart technologies, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on design strategies, and the integration of SDGs into architectural education and practice. Established knowledge spaces such as urban morphology and cultural heritage remain foundational while evolving spaces such as sustainability and resilience are gaining prominence. Emerging spaces such as smart technologies and bioclimatic architecture appear to be the future trajectory of research in the field.

The study focuses on three years (2022–2024) of analysing Archnet-IJAR content within an overarching contextualisation over the past decade. However, this may not capture longer-term trends.

The study presents a critical classification of architectural and urban discourse, highlighting the evolving nature of the field in response to global challenges. The notion of the knowledge spaces as a unique conceptualisation that integrates various thematic areas is emphasised.

The purpose of this study is to give an informative map of sustainable architectural education by focusing on publishing trends, prominent publications, prolific contributors, research challenges and future research prospects. As a consequence, an efficient framework for collecting significant knowledge and identifying prevalent topics in sustainable architectural education towards more sustainable environments at the urban and building scales may be provided.

The methodology adopted in this study is based on examining the subjects of many consecutive rounds of the Passive and Low Energy Architecture (PLEA) conference, with an emphasis on the most recent five rounds. The PLEA's official website served as the main source for gathering all proceedings. Earlier rounds from 2016 to 2020, which cover a time span of five years, were utilized to analyze patterns during that time period. The rationale for selecting this time period was the limited availability of data required to observe the trends, area of interest and emerging themes in these fields that could be analyzed qualitatively.

The findings show that the following drive themes emerged around education and research-driven sustainable architecture: emerging design as a core idea; concentration on the way of delivering and developing education; constructing and shaping the building; assessing current practices; acquiring and recruiting knowledge and new concepts; reporting on the current condition; portraying the target audience and ensuring the long-term viability of the architectural educational process. This insight provides academics and professionals a greater grasp of the state of the art, allowing them to direct their research toward developing concerns in education and research-driven sustainable design.

The study results provide an effective framework for collecting relevant content and identifying prominent topics in sustainable, passive and passive low-energy architecture for the creation of more sustainable urban and building environments. Furthermore, this qualitative and exploratory study may serve as a framework for those researching, creating and verifying different research approaches in education and research-driven sustainable architecture.