The present paper presents a method to characterizethe typical building from a group by applyingprincipal components analysis (PCA).The method has been developed on a sampleof secondary education school buildings inGreece. The purpose is to define the typicalbuilding in order to propose generalized improvementsfor energy efficiency of the buildingstock concerned. Therefore seven variables fromquestionnaires have been analyzed: heated surface,age of the building, insulation of the building,number of classrooms, number of students,schools operating hours and age of the heatingsystem.