Analysis of the Impact of Residential Building Shape and Orientation on Energy Efficiency

The construction of residential buildings and structures is a complex process in which the economic component plays a key role. It is essential to maintain a balance between saving construction materials and the costs of additional engineering solutions while ensuring the functionality and comfort of the building’s operation. To achieve this goal, researchers initially analyze the impact of the climatic environment and spatial planning solutions—i.e., building shapes—that directly affect the building compactness ratio when evaluating the efficiency of the designed building. In this regard, the objective of this study was to analyze the shapes and orientations of buildings in the Republic of Kazakhstan across eight territorial units located in the I, III, and IV climatic zones between latitudes 42°18′ and 52°16′ N. The study identified the most favorable building orientations for each climatic zone: the meridional orientation is preferable for the I and III zones, while the latitudinal orientation is optimal for the IV zone. Four residential building shapes—square, rectangular, cylindrical, and triangular—were analyzed based on a floor area of 1000 m2 and a building volume of 3000 m3 during the coldest five-day period and the hottest month. According to the specific thermal characteristic values, it was found that a cylindrical residential building is 1.1, 1.37, and 1.27 times more efficient than square, rectangular, and triangular residential buildings, respectively. Additionally, the compactness ratio was determined for different residential building shapes and heights, ranging from 8 to 16 floors in increments of four floors. The results showed that under these conditions, the compactness ratio increases by an average of 1.3 times due to the increase in the area of external walls. However, if the initial condition is changed to account solely for the floor area, the compactness ratio decreases by up to 2.3 times. The conducted research shows that when solving the problem of the energy efficiency of a building, taking into account shapes and orientations, it is necessary to carry out a full assessment of the specified energy efficiency parameter depending on the expected results, which requires a comprehensive analysis to achieve energy-efficient buildings. At the same time, the results of this study will be used and will positively complement the results of a comprehensive study by the authors on the development of energy-efficient exterior enclosing structures, which, together with general solutions, will significantly affect the thermal balance of the building and complement the research conducted earlier.