The impact of shading devices on the visual comfort and energy consumption of office rooms: A case study of the Ingenuity Building, Nottingham, UK

External shading devices on a building façade is a significant passive design strategy which can decrease direct solar radiation while controlling the direct daylight. While having an immense aesthetic impression, shading devices help to minimize the incident solar radiation and control daylight penetration, hence create a considerable effect on the building’s energy performance. As energy conservation and efficiency are fundamental areas of focus in contemporary building design, the effect of shading devices on energy consumptions should be widely explored. The study of this paper evaluated the visual comfort and energy demand of a real case office building, the Ingenuity Centre; which is enveloped by an exceptionally distinct shading device. The purpose of this study was to understand the relation between daylighting and energy consumption of Ingenuity Building considering the impacts of shading device. Quantitative methodologies such as spot measurement and checking the rule of thumbs were undertaken to get a practical idea of the spaces. After analysing the physical model on Heliodon, a digital model was built in IES-VE, to analyse the annual average lux level and Daylight Factor of the office rooms during the active office hours. A significant observation of this study was that the existing shading devices were not providing optimum solutions to daylight inclusion, instead, there was a notable presence of glare causing visual discomfort. Moreover, there was no improvement in the overall energy consumption of the building with the existing shading devices. The proposed shading devices, which were suggested considering the building orientation and climate, improved the daylight level in the office rooms and reduced the energy load as well. The results showed that the annual average lux was increased by 4.5% with a significant reduction in glare with the proposed shading strategy. It was evident that an appropriately designed shading device could achieve higher energy efficiency, providing improved visual comfort. Further exploration is required in this matter with various orientations and building forms, the size and depth of the shading devices as well as materials.