Occupant-Centric Simulation-Aided Building Design: Theory, Application, and Case Studies

Occupant-Centric Simulation-Aided Building Design promotes occupants as a focal point for the design process. This resource for established and emerging building designers and researchers provides theoretical and practical means to restore occupants and their needs to the heart of the design process.

Helmed by leaders of the International Energy Agency Annex 79, this edited volume features contributions from a multi-disciplinary, globally recognized team of scholars and practitioners. Chapters on the indoor environment and human factors introduce the principles of occupant-centric design while chapters on selecting and applying models provide a thorough grounding in simulation-aided building design practice. A final chapter assembling detailed case studies puts the lessons of the preceding chapters into real-world context. In fulfillment of the International Energy Agency’s mission of disseminating research on secure and sustainable energy to all, Occupant-Centric Simulation-Aided Building Design is available as an Open Access Gold title.

With a balance of fundamentals and design process guidelines, Occupant-Centric Simulation-Aided Building Design reorients the building design community toward buildings that recognize and serve diverse occupant needs, while aiming for superior environmental performance, based on the latest science and methods.

William O’Brien, PhD, PEng, is a Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering and the principal investigator of the Human Building Interaction Lab at Carleton University, in Ottawa, Canada. From 2018 to 2023, he served as an operating agent for IEA EBC Annex 79, the team that led this book. He has won several prestigious awards including the IBPSA Outstanding Young Achiever Award, Ontario Building Envelope Council Rising Star Award, and the Ontario Early Researcher Award.

Farhang Tahmasebi, PhD, CEng, MCIBSE, is a Lecturer at UCL Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering, in London, United Kingdom. As a researcher and practitioner of building performance simulation and performance-based design, he co-led IEA EBC Annex 79 task group focused on applying occupant behavior models in simulation-aided building design process. Prior to his appointment at UCL, Dr Tahmasebi was a researcher and tutor at TU Wien Institute of Architectural Sciences, in Vienna, Austria.