Analysis of the luminous and thermal performance of studio apartments in current and future climate scenarios in the city of São Paulo

Abstract

Urban densification and verticalization impact changes in the building's performance. This article aims to evaluate the thermal and natural lighting performance of studios according to the estimated increase in temperature of RCP8.5 for the city of São Paulo/SP. To this end, a case study was carried out in a recently constructed building with studio apartments. By using Grasshopper and EnergyPlus software, four scenarios were simulated: the first one with the existing built condition considering the current weather condition, a second considering a hypothetical verticalized condition with the current weather condition, a third with the existing condition considering the weather condition, and a last in the hypothetical verticalized condition with the weather condition. The thermal and lighting performance assessments are based on the parameters of standards LM-83-12 and NBR15.575. The results demonstrate that, despite verticalization, the internal environment illuminance of all apartments meets the LM-83-12 standard and reaches the superior performance level of the NBR15.575 standard. Concerning thermal performance, shading the immediate surroundings of the building reduces the exposure time of the surroundings to direct solar radiation, resulting reduction in the maximum temperature inside the building by 2.6°C. Despite this, the reduction in maximum temperature was not sufficient to meet the minimum level of thermal performance required by NBR15.575. It is also worth highlighting that the most significant effect of climate change occurs through the increase in minimum indoor air temperatures in the analyzed studios, with an increase of up to 7ºC in cases simulated with a future climate archive.