Thermal improvement of indoor environments through an architectural correction

This paper deals with the case of a very important thermal discomfort due to wide open arcades and corridors beneath a building, especially under windy and rainy weather. Building thermal simulations (with ESP-r) and field measurements were operated for a building at Coimbra University (Portugal) to suggest architectural corrections (e.g. closing the arcades with windows and doors) in order to reduce discomfort outside and inside the building sand save energy. Analysis of the main results suggested that the working conditions could be reasonably improved and that 1/3 of the annual energy consumption could be saved.