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This research aims to introduce a new methodology for integration between urban design strategies and supervised machine learning (SML) method – by applying both energy engineering modeling (evaluating phase) for the existing green sidewalks and statistical energy modeling (predicting phase) for the new ones – to offer algorithms that help to catch the optimum morphology of green sidewalks, in case of high quality of the outdoor thermal comfort and less errors in results.

The tools of the study are the way of processing by SML, predicting the future based on the past. Machine learning is benefited from Python advantages. The structure of the study consisted of two main parts, as the majority of the similar studies follow: engineering energy modeling and statistical energy modeling. According to the concept of the study, at first, from 2268 models, some are randomly selected, simulated and sensitively analyzed by ENVI-met. Furthermore, the Envi-met output as the quantity of thermal comfort – predicted mean vote (PMV) and weather items are inputs of Python. Then, the formed data set is processed by SML, to reach the final reliable predicted output.

The process of SML leads the study to find thermal comfort of current models and other similar sidewalks. The results are evaluated by both PMV mathematical model and SML error evaluation functions. The results confirm that the average of the occurred error is about 1%. Then the method of study is reliable to apply in the variety of similar fields. Finding of this study can be helpful in perspective of the sustainable architecture strategies in the buildings and urban scales, to determine, monitor and control energy-based behaviors (thermal comfort, heating, cooling, lighting and ventilation) in operational phase of the systems (existed elements in buildings, and constructions) and the planning and designing phase of the future built cases – all over their life spans.

Limitations of the study are related to the study variables and alternatives that are notable impact on the findings. Furthermore, the most trustable input data will result in the more accuracy in output. Then modeling and simulation processes are most significant part of the research to reach the exact results in the final step.

Finding of the study can be helpful in urban design strategies. By finding outdoor thermal comfort that resulted from machine learning method, urban and landscape designers, policymakers and architects are able to estimate the features of their designs in air quality and urban health and can be sure in catching design goals in case of thermal comfort in urban atmosphere.

By 2030, cities are delved as living spaces for about three out of five people. As green infrastructures influence in moderating the cities’ climate, the relationship between green spaces and habitants’ thermal comfort is deduced. Although the strategies to outside thermal comfort improvement, by design methods and applicants, are not new subject to discuss, applying machines that may be common in predicting results can be called as a new insight in applying more effective design strategies and in urban environment’s comfort preparation. Then study’s footprint in social implications stems in learning from the previous projects and developing more efficient strategies to prepare cities as the more comfortable and healthy places to live, with the more efficient models and consuming money and time.

The study achievements are expected to be applied not only in Tehran but also in other climate zones as the pattern in more eco-city design strategies. Although some similar studies are done in different majors, the concept of study is new vision in urban studies.

Natural ventilation is an environmentally friendly effective way of improving thermal comfort and the quality of indoor conditions if applied properly. This study aims to investigate the physical mechanism of the air movement and also the influence of building geometry in a cross-ventilated room through a parametric study of window geometrical characteristics using computational fluid dynamics.

Momentum and continuity equations are solved by the control volume method using a commercially available software. Standard k−ɛ turbulence model is employed to simulate the incompressible airflow and SIMPLE algorithm to solve the conservation equations. Mean air velocity magnitude is measured at three different surfaces of different heights, and the effect of incoming wind velocity inside the building is studied.

The research concluded that window hood and sill projections reduce indoor wind velocity magnitude, play a major role in incoming wind direction and thus have a crucial impact on wind circulation and indoor air quality.

The paper has evaluated redesigning of a both practical and ornamental architectural element named Palekaneh, which is found in many historical buildings in several hot places in the world. Its optimal design could increase indoor natural ventilation quality and decrease a space's cooling load. Therefore, a new passive cooling architectural element could be re-introduced to the regions previously enjoying such ornaments. This is economically efficient because it eventually saves a considerable amount of energy in the long run and is socially important because of the revitalization of architectural identity.

The role of a building envelope's physical features, although being studied for solar absorption and daylight availability, has rarely been investigated for natural ventilation, especially in a small scale, thus making the paper novel in this regard. This provides a guideline for designers to assess the impact of their design on redirecting wind-induced natural ventilation the very early stages of design.

The aim of this paper is to present a parametric design method to generate optimum adaptive facades regarding occupants' comfort and building energy criteria. According to the literature review, the following questions have arisen to address the research gaps: Is it possible to have the outside view throughout the whole year without discomfort glare by utilising adaptive solar facades (ASFs)? How can architects integrate both view quality and quantity into ASF design? What is the impact of dynamic vertical shading systems mounted on south facades on the outside view, occupants' visual comfort and operational energy? How can we evaluate the view quantity through multi-layer shading systems?

In recent years, there is a surge in demand for fully glazed buildings, motivating both architects and scholars to explore novel ideas for designing adaptive solar facades. Nevertheless, the view performance of such systems has not been fully explored especially when it comes to the effect of dynamic vertical shading systems mounted on south facades. This fact clarifies the need to conduct more research in this field by taking into account the window view and natural light. Consequently, a simulation research is carried out to investigate the impact of a dynamic shading system with three vertical slats used on the south facade of a single office room located in Tehran, on both view quality and quantity, visual comfort and operational energy. The research attempts to reach a balance between the occupant's requirements and building energy criteria through a multi-objective optimisation. The distinctive feature of the proposed method is generating some optimum shading which could only cover the essential parts of the window area. It was detected from the simulation results that the usage of a dynamic vertical shading system with multi slats for south facades compared to common Venetian blinds can firstly, provide four times more view quantity. Secondly, the view quality is significantly improved through enabling occupants to enjoy the sky layer the entire year. Finally, twice more operational energy can be saved while more natural light can enter the indoor environment without glare. The final outcome of this research contributes toward designing high-performance adaptive solar facades.

This paper proposes a new metric to evaluate the view quantity through a multi-layer shading system. The proposed method makes it clear that the usage of dynamic vertical shading systems with multi-layers mounted on south facades can bring many benefits to both occupants and building energy criteria. The proposed method could (1) provide four times more view quantity; (2) improve view quality by enabling occupants to watch the sky layer throughout the whole year; (3) slash the operational energy by twice; (4) keep the daylight glare probability (DGP) value in the imperceptible range.

The research limitations that should be acknowledged are ignoring the impact of the adjacent building on sunlight reflection, which could cause discomfort glare issues. Another point regarding the limitations of the proposed optimisation method is the impact of vertical shading systems on users' visual interests. A field study ought to be conducted to determine which one could provide the more desirable outside view: a vertical or horizontal the view. Research on the view performance of ASFs, especially their impact on the quality of view, is sorely lacking.

This paper (1) analyses the performance of dynamic vertical shadings on south facades; (2) evaluates outside view through multi-layer shading systems; and (3) integrates both view quality and quantity into designing adaptive solar facades.

This paper's main objective is to focus on the water-harvesting ability of plants and try to implement a solution-based method to outline a plant-inspired design framework.

The current paper aims to provide a step-by-step approach to the biological-inspired design by looking deeply at plants' mechanisms and features to harvest water and conduct a method to learn them in an organized way.

In addition to the proposed framework, the fundamental water-harvesting principles of plants including increasing condensation, reducing transpiration and facilitating transportation have been extracted by investigating several adaptable plants. The relevant factors related to each of these three principles are introduced and can potentially ease the process of bio-inspiration as it contributes to the findability and understandability of a particular biologic strategy. As a result, this framework can be used to the formation of novel designs in different disciplines. In this process, the development of an architectural design concept is presented as an example.

The current global issue about the shortage of water leads researchers to learn adaptability from nature and increase the demands of using bio-inspired strategies. The novelty of this study is to introduce a water-harvesting design path, which has been presented using a four-step-plant-to-design process. Learning from plants' water-harvesting strategies will contribute to efficiency in different disciplines. The findings of this study have important implications for developing bio-inspired water-harvesting materials and systems. Moreover, the findings add substantially to the understanding of water-harvesting architecture and play an important role in bridging the gap between theory and practice.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate moisture problems and defects which have been caused by condensation in historic buildings. Emphasis has been put on finding condensation possibility on the external walls and inside temperature and humidity.

A third-part study including survey method to identify moisture problems and exhaustion, then determining indoor and outdoor temperature and relative humidity in a two-part survey within four days periods, and finally computer modeling and simulation to finding condensation possibility in the building walls by WUFI and THERM software.

Results indicated that the case study has serious defects and almost 7.5°C differences (Δt) and about 6 percent relative humidity differences (Δh) between indoor and outdoor temperature, and from analyzing computer simulations, condensation risk occurrence between wall layers is witnessed. Also this study shows that some climatic methods applied by traditional architects despite enhancing thermal comfort have caused damages and defects to the building envelope and structure. In this paper, the authors suggest a method to reduce condensation possibility by active ventilation for reducing temperature differences.

While there is a lock of technical researches and investigations about architectural heritages conservation, this study tries to perform a technical research and filling the gaps in this subject area.

This paper aims to optimise building orientation in Tehran, as well as determining the impact of its shape, relative compactness (RC) and glazing percentage on its optimised orientation.

A cubic module was used and a set of 8 of the same module with 16 different formations were analysed for their orientation (360°), the RC (four groups) and the amount of glazing percentage (25, 50 and 75 per cent).

The results show that the optimised orientation of a building in Tehran strongly depends on its passive solar heat gain elements, their orientation and their position in building; furthermore, glazing percentage amount, amongst the studied factors, plays the most important role in determining a building’s orientation.

The application of the findings of this study in Tehran city planning and also technical details of buildings will lead to a great energy saving in construction sector. Furthermore, the deployment of the proposed design guidelines in construction has explicitly been proven to save a prodigious amount of energy.

The main research question is taken directly from authors’ initiative when working as university professor and research associate. The case study buildings, their morphological configurations and sustainable features have not been presented before in an academic journal.