Recommendations for Improvement of the Thermal Performance of an Office Building Based on Retrofitting the Glazed Curtain Wall

Glazed curtain wall systems have become indispensable particularly in office buildings due to their light weight, aesthetic appearance, easy installation and resistance to climate conditions. Curtain walls however, also have problems in terms of thermal efficiency because of their wide, glazing windows and metal frames that have high thermal conductivity. The aim of this study is to offer proposals for improving the thermal performance of an office building with a glass curtain wall system built in a hot-humid climate zone. An office building constructed in Antalya, Turkey was modelled with the help of DesignBuilder energy simulation software and various modifications were made on the model in order to improve the thermal performance of the building. With the improvements proposed in the study, it is possible to decrease the annual thermal loads of the whole building by 6.6%, and the annual thermal loads of the space with the curtain wall by 33.2%. The study revealed that, applying an additional envelope is more effective than lowering the U-value of the glass of the curtain wall in terms of thermal performance improvement.