Synergizing Nature-Inspired Adaptive Facades: Harnessing Plant Responses for Elevated Building Performance in Alignment with Saudi Green Initiatives
Saudi Arabia has a large part of the country’s power consumption in the building area, mainly operated by cooling demands under extreme climatic conditions, where the summer temperature is more than 45 °C and solar radiation peaks are more than 1200 W/MIC. Facing this challenge, this research examines the translation of biometric principles in the design of adaptive building construction for dry areas. We present a comprehensive, four-phase method structure: removing thermoregulatory and shading strategies from desert vegetation; computer display simulation using EnergyPlus 9.7.0 and CFD (ANSYS Fluent 2022 R2); and the development of an implementation guideline. Our findings achieve three central insights. First, the dynamic factor system, such as the electrochromic glazing tested in our student project, reduced the use of HVAC energy by 30%, while advanced materials, such as the polycarbonate panel, demonstrated notable thermal stability. Secondly, the synergy between cultural knowledge and technical performance proved to be decisive; vernacular-inspired Mushrabias improved generic louver not only in thermal efficiency but also in user acceptance, which increased the 97% approval rate in post-acquisition surveys. Finally, we demonstrate that scalability is economically viable, indicating a seven-year payback period for simulation, phase-transit material (PCM), which aligns with the budgetary realities of public and educational projects. By fusing the plant-induced strategies with rigorous computational modeling and real-world applications, the work provides actionable guidelines for permanent failure design in the warm-dry climate. It underlines that maximizing energy efficiency requires the cohesion of thermodynamic principles with the craft traditions of local architecture, an approach directly aligned with the Saudi Green Initiative and the ambitions of global carbon neutrality goals.
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