A Practical Framework for the application of passive/natural systems in buildings

application of passive/natural systems in buildings: Assessing the professional Practice

The purpose of this research is to examine the degree of adoption of the concepts of passive/natural systems (i.e. passive) versus artificial/mechanical systems (i.e. active) in the design of sustainable buildings by practitioners to investigate the variables that may increase/reduce the application of these systems in designs. Although an extensive list of publications about natural systems exist, there are very few studies about the approaches and tools utilized by professionals for the incorporation of natural systems in sustainable buildings. The factors influencing the increase/reduction of the use of passive systems in buildings and the importance of their integration with mechanical systems will be also analyzed. Above all, despite the availability of many methods and strategies for incorporating natural/passive systems into buildings, it is not clear why we rarely see buildings utilize these systems in practice. Such studies could pave the way for reducing a building’s energy consumption by shifting our dependency from non-renewable energies to renewable energies. This research seeks to fill this gap through several methodologies including content analysis, case study, and survey questionnaire.