Mahsa Zomorodian

• Shahid Beheshti University
• Professor (Assistant) at Shahid Beheshti University

The Mean Radiant Temperature (Tmrt), is a critical indicator for understanding urban thermal comfort and microclimate conditions, particularly in urban areas experiencing higher temperatures compared to rural surroundings. Tmrt is heavily influenced by urban morphology, including building layout, street design, and green spaces which alter airflow,...

Purpose In many countries, urban block layouts follow rigid and outdated design guidelines; however, these approaches fail to effectively address settlement construction, neighborhood planning, the design of old urban contexts and the rapid development of emerging cities, as seen in the new towns of Iran and various other regions worldwide. Revisin...

As urbanization accelerates, open spaces are increasingly recognized for their role in enhancing sustainability and well-being, yet they remain underexplored compared to built spaces. This study introduces an AI-driven framework that integrates machine learning models (MLMs) and explainable AI techniques to optimize Sky View Factor (SVF) and visibi...

In rapidly urbanizing regions, designing climate-responsive urban forms is crucial for sustainable development, especially in dry arid-climates where urban morphology has a significant impact on energy consumption and environmental performance. This study advances urban morphology evaluation by combining Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) with m...

In designing performance-based facilities, such as educational buildings, assessing visual comfort is crucial. The computational cost and resource-intensive modeling necessitate an efficient analytical tool for diverse layout assessment. In the current study, predictive models were developed using deep learning and machine learning to predict visua...

Buildings significantly impact energy consumption, making energy planning and Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) at the urban scale essential for sustainable development. This research emphasizes the importance of understanding and enhancing energy modeling methods at the city level, crucial for tackling global challenges like climate change and...

Building energy performance assessments are essential in High-Performance Building Design (HPBD) in order to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. With advancement in data analytics, rapid and accurate machine learning-based building energy consumption prediction models have emerged. These models can be used by non-professionals as an alt...

Due to the changes in the modern human lifestyle, the average time people spend in interior spaces has increased, which calls attention to providing appropriate indoor lighting. Many studies have shown the considerable influence of luminous conditions on human circadian rhythm, productivity, overall health, and well-being. While the influence of a...

This work aims to propose a simplified decision tool for the design of side-lit spaces that accounts for the impacts of climate and surroundings. The framework was developed using a smart optimization algorithm NSGA-III in combination with CatBoost ensemble machine learning technique and simulation. WWRs and overhang depths were optimized to maximi...

Daylight improves indoor environmental quality, the physical and mental health of occupants, and their efficiency. Research in the area of human-centric lighting that considers the visual and non-visual effects of light on human vision, have focused on examining human visual perception in response to a wide variety of lighting aspects. To investiga...

The purpose of this research was to alleviate deprivation in underprivileged rural areas of Iran through energy production through photovoltaic panels. First, the poverty map of the country has been analyzed along with the sunlight gain potential map of Iran. 79 villages with extremely high and high deprivation conditions were identified. To analyz...

Purpose In this study, a novel framework based on deep learning models is presented to assess energy and environmental performance of a given building space layout, facilitating the decision-making process at the early-stage design. Design/methodology/approach A methodology using an image-based deep learning model called pix2pix is proposed to pre...

Rapid urbanization and global warming have increased heat stress in urban areas. This in turn makes using indoor space more compelling and leads to more energy consumption. Therefore, paying attention to outdoor spaces design with thermal comfort in mind becomes more important since outdoor spaces can host a variety of activities. This research aim...

To achieve the desirable energy conservation targets, it is important to use forecasting tools to predict the energy consumption based on several expected parameters. This study aims at developing an Ensemble Learning (ENL)-framework for predicting residential electricity consumption. Fifty parameters classified into categories of environmental, co...

To achieve the desirable energy conservation targets, it is important to use forecasting tools to predict the energy consumption based on several expected parameters. This study aims at developing an Ensemble Learning (ENL)-framework for predicting residential electricity consumption. Fifty parameters classified into categories of environmental, co...

According to statistics, educational institutions have the highest level of energy consumption in governmental buildings. Understanding the correct energy performance of the building, therefore, can help in using the correct optimisation methods. In this research, the aim is to optimise energy consumption in five new and old faculty premises of Sha...

Purpose University students spend a considerable amount of time in dorm rooms, where their environmental condition affects residents' health, well-being, sleep quality and the associated performance. Accordingly, this study aims to run an initial assessment of the environmental quality of two dormitory buildings in Tehran, using field studies and c...

Recent studies have focused on data-driven methods for building energy efficiency, by using simulated or empirical data, for energy-based design assessment rather than the common physics-based techniques, which are mostly time-consuming. In this paper, the feasibility of using seven different Machine Learning models, including three single models a...

The importance of saving energy in the current decade has drawn more attention to optimising energy consumption factors. One of the influential and well-known factors affecting energy consumption is the occupants' behaviours (OBs). Reviewing this factor is a requirement to assess buildings, particularly the residential sector, as the majority targe...

Solar shading design should be done for the desired Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) in the early design stages. This field can be very challenging and time-consuming also requires experts, sophisticated software, and a large amount of money. The primary purpose of this research is to design a simple tool to study various models of solar shadings...

This paper provides a systematic review on the application of Machine Learning (ML) in thermal comfort studies to highlight the latest methods and findings and provide an agenda for future studies. Reviewed studies were investigated to highlight ML applications, parameters, methods, performance and challenges. The results show that 62% of reviewed...

Application of machine learning methods as an alternative for building simulation software has been progressive in recent years. This research is mainly focused on the assessment of machine learning algorithms in prediction of daylight and visual comfort metrics in the early design stages and providing a framework for the required analyses. A datas...

In time-cost scale model studies, predicting acoustic performance by using simulation methods is a commonly used method that is preferred. In this field, building acoustic simulation tools are complicated by several challenges, including the high cost of acoustic tools, the need for acoustic expertise, and the time-consuming process of acoustic sim...

This research is mainly focused on the assessment of machine learning algorithms in the prediction of daylight and visual comfort metrics in the early design stages. A dataset was primarily developed from 2880 simulations derived from Honeybee for Grasshopper. The simulations were done for a shoebox space with a one side window. The alternatives em...

Heightening population density and expanding urbanization has increased the need for constructing high-rise buildings due to land shortage. Many efforts have been done to design or retrofit high-rises in an energy efficient and sustainable way to decrease their significant environmental impacts. A high number of studies have been conducted on reduc...

Building energy simulation software are in no short supply. However, their excessive complexity makes many of them inaccessible to building engineers and architects, for early-stage design decisions. Within this context, many research groups and software developers have been working on tools that 1) are publicly-available, 2) require minimal input...

Due to the profitability of open-plan office layout, they have become the dominant format of office spaces. Noise and lack of privacy are widely acknowledged as the key sources of occupants’ dissatisfaction in open-plan offices given that open offices seem to have been more disruptive owing to the uncontrollable audible and intelligible speech from...

In this research, a highly potential campus site for solar/wind energy production is identified with the purpose of micro-hybrid system installation in on-grid mode to sellback the excess electricity and hence economize the building as a source of income. A PV/wind/grid and PV/wind/grid/gen system are surveyed techno-economic wise. For case1, the n...

Refurbished heritage buildings usually lack in meeting the required standards defined for the new function especially when reused as educational buildings. Therefore, they are usually equipped with different post-occupancy retrofit strategies to achieve an acceptable level of environmental quality and energy demand. Daylight quality and the distrib...

This paper aims to provide an overview of a content analysis of the sustainability declaration status of Australian universities. The report presents findings on the orientations evident in the published policies, reports and plans attributed to sustainability. A sample of 27 documents from Australian universities was selected based on the availabi...

This paper aims to provide an overview of a content analysis of the sustainability declaration status of Australian universities. The report presents findings on the orientations evident in the published policies, reports and plans attributed to sustainability. A sample of 27 documents from Australian universities was selected based on the availabi...

Many daylight metrics are developed to assess different aspects of visual comfort in recent years. However, there are still some doubts about the robustness of these metrics. This paper presents a comprehensive and thorough analysis of 58 field studies and lab experiments (2012–2020), focusing on metrics used to predict occupants' acceptance and vi...

The growing interest in reducing energy consumption and the associated environmental impacts are promoting energy efficiency in buildings. Comprehensive energy consumption models affected by occupant behavior are needed to assess the techno-economic implications of adopting energy conservation measures (ECM). In this study, occupant energy behavior...

Daylight availability and distribution, as well as occupants’ visual comfort, are some of the main performance indicators in the built environment. These aspects become more important in spaces with specific uses such as study halls or libraries. In this paper, daylight availability and visual comfort in seven libraries at Shahid Beheshti Universit...

Daylight performance has a considerable effect on occupants’ comfort and satisfaction of office buildings. Nowadays, open offices are a common typical plan, in which the workstations are separated via partitions. These partitions completely affect daylight performance due to their height, material, and arrangement. Therefore, the optimum design of pa...

Building sector is one of the major consumers of energy worldwide, and the reduction in energy demands is proved to be significant relative to other stages of building life-cycle. In this context, atrium is considered as one of the architectural design elements which can improve the quality of space. However, this element also can be assessed in te...

People's subjective response to any thermal environment is commonly investigated by using rating scales describing the degree of thermal sensation, comfort, and acceptability. Subsequent analyses of results collected in this way rely on the assumption that specific distances between verbal anchors placed on the scale exist and that relationships be...

A large portion of rural residential buildings in developing countries neglecting climate and the low construction quality has resulted in high-energy consumption in this sector. Besides, low economic power and awareness make it difficult to invest in energy upgrades in rural areas. Therefore, low-cost energy retrofit strategies are required to red...

Daylight and glare metrics are useful to quantify visual performance, minimize visual discomfort, and promote energy savings. This study evaluates the performance and robustness of some dynamic and static daylight and glare metrics by field studies in twenty architectural studios, daylit by different strategies (i.e., skylight, clerestory, side-lit...

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Thermal discomfort is one of the main triggers for occupants’ interactions with components of the built environment such as adjustments of thermostats and/or opening windows and strongly related to the energy use in buildings. Understanding causes for thermal (dis-)comfort is crucial for design and operation of any type of building. The assessment...

Today, Iran’s largest share of energy consumption is in the non-industrial sector while more than 30% of the country's energy is consumed in the household sector. Currently, the average annual household electricity consumption in Iran is far above the global standards. The Subsidy scheme for the energy carriers in Iran offers low cost energy to res...

Photovoltaics have been proven to be one of the key technologies of electricity generation at building, district, and city level. Numerous strategies have been applied to maximize the performance of roof mounted PV panels, while the potential of building façades for PV installation is often disregarded, especially in urban areas. However, façade mo...

In this study, daylight performance and visual comfort have been evaluated by a longitudinal subjective survey (842 total responses) and simulation-based metrics in four classrooms in two LEED™ silver certified buildings during a year. Dynamic and static daylight and glare metrics are reviewed and critiqued based upon their ability to explain the p...

Double skin façades (DSF (are a popular feature in office buildings. Although these systems considerably reduce the heating energy demand in cold climates, overheating of indoor spaces and therefore excessive cooling energy consumption are the main problems of DSFs in warm climates. In addition to thermal performance, carbon footprint and are impor...

Indoor Environmental Quality is an important issue in educational buildings since it is directly related to students’ well-being and learning activities. Indoor Environmental Quality parameters have been assessed in three representative campus building typologies (old, new, and retrofitted), in Tehran, Iran, by measurements and questionnaire (n = 8...

Among different energy consumption sectors, buildings sector accounts for about 40% of total energy consumption. Therefore, it is essential to implement energy saving policies and standards in order to determine and control the energy consumption in buildings. Hence, the idea of designing and building zero energy buildings has attracted a distincti...

In this study architectural parameters including building orientation, shape, window to wall ratio(WWR), building envelope u-values and shadings are investigated by dynamic energy modeling in order to define the optimum high-rise building model. The study is conducted in three urban contexts in three cities with different climates in Iran(BSK,BSH,B...

Photovoltaic (PV) Panels, one of the more promising renewable energy technologies, are growing rapidly nowadays, especially in developed countries. However, these systems have not achieved public acceptance in some countries due to low energy efficiency and poor economic performance, especially in countries which are subsidized in energy tariffs. I...

Thermal and visual comfort are often listed by occupants as the most important requirements for indoor environmental quality. Leadership in energy and environmental design (LEED), as an internationally recognized rating system for sustainable buildings, defines credits for the indoor environmental quality, particularly in terms of thermal and visua...

Providing good environmental conditions for educational buildings has always been critical because of the negative influence of thermal and visual discomfort on students’ learning and performance. Unsatisfactory conditions mostly caused by overheating and glare due to the presence of direct solar radiation, could be compensated by appropriate windo...

Abstract Visual comfort in schools enhances not only health and wellbeing, but also satisfaction and therefore learning and visual performance. This research aims at testing students’ evaluations on visual comfort through questionnaires in daylit and non-daylit areas in classrooms. Dynamic daylight metrics including Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA)...

Daylight in classrooms is a critical factor in school design, in terms of its impact on students' health, learning and visual performance. Providing adequate amount of evenly distributed daylight and glare prevention are important challenges in classroom design. Window configuration significantly affects the intensity and uniformity of daylight. Th...

Daylight in classrooms is a critical factor in school design, in terms of its impact on students' health, learning and visual performance. Providing adequate amount of evenly distributed daylight and glare prevention are important challenges in classroom design. Window configuration significantly affects the intensity and uniformity of daylight. Th...

Fixed sitting positions during class hours and overheating due to direct solar gains through large windows in classrooms cause thermal diversity and discomfort. Detailed investigations in thermal comfort levels in classrooms in relation to occupant's position during occupation are necessary. The Spatio-temporal pattern of thermal comfort in a class...

Energy retrofit of educational buildings is an effective solution to the high energy consumption and thermal discomfort problems in this sector. This article presents the retrofit procedure of two typical schools built before and after 2000 in Iran. The procedure contains three steps: first preliminary building performance assessment and presenting...

School buildings, which form a major part of public buildings, are considered to be one of the maximum consumers of energy in Iran. Based on building typology and occupancy patterns, school buildings have a significant potentiality for energy optimization while providing thermal comfort. This study investigates the architectural design paramet ers...

School buildings, which form a major part of public buildings, are considered to be one of the maximum consumers of energy in Iran. Based on building typology and occupancy patterns, school buildings have a significant potentiality for energy optimization while providing thermal comfort. This study investigates the architectural design paramet ers...

ساختمان هاي آموزشي به عنوان بخش زيادي از ساختمان هاي دولتي از مصرف ك نندگان عمده انرژي در ايران هستند. بنابراين كاهش مصرف انرژي در اين بخش امري ضروري بوده و معرفي و احداث ساختمانهاي بهينه از نظر انرژي، بويژه در مقياس وسيع تأثير بسزايي بر كل مصرف انرژي كشور خواهد داشت. از آنجايي كه پوسته حرارتي ساختمان مسئول اتلاف انرژي در ساختمان است، تمركز بر روي...

The development of technology has recognized the importance of time, cost, resources and budget in executive projects. Thus, assessing the management process of these projects is essential in order to determine their weakness and strengths to improve them. On the other hand PMBOK is considered as one of the most essential standards in the project m...

Cable-stayed bridges can be recognized as a suitable solution for connecting wide-span crossings. More than 600 cable bridges are constructed in the world till now while this process is in progress and this number is increasing. The span of cable bridges is between 100m to 500m wide usually while length of widest cable bridges has increased up to 1...

Stadiums are large theaters for entertainment purposes while being social and architectural propaganda in towns and cities built in. Design priorities are achieved in these buildings if structure and enclosure are recognized carefully in all scales. Indoor Ballparks are a type of stadiums that support outdoor sports, such as baseball, football or s...