Developing a parametric model to study the relationship between building orientation and climate in Fortaleza-CE

Abstract

Locating a building is one of the first design decisions, which plays a major role on how it interacts with climate. In Fortaleza-CE, literature points to a pattern of directing the long-stay rooms towards east and southeast, a phenomenon which has not yet been characterized in recent buildings. This research aims to investigate the relationship between building orientation and climate, in the context of multi-family buildings constructed after 2009 in Fortaleza. This study develops a parametric workflow based on urban, geometric and climatic data to detect the prevailing direction of buildings’ facades. Results showed that, in the Meireles neighborhood, most of the buildings face north-northeast and east-southeast. It is noticeable that recent residential real estate production in this neighborhood has continued to prioritize prevailing wind and and nascent sun exposure as conditions for placing apartment buildings, a relevant aspect for understanding the current dynamics of high-rise building projects.