Dr. AlaaEldin Abdou has more than thirty years of work experience in the design and management of buildings at both academic and practice levels. He is an AIA associate and holds a Ph.D. degree in Project/Design Management from Liverpool University, U.K, a Master of Architecture, and a Master's Certificate in Construction Management from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Dr. Abdou has extensive experience in academia at several universities in UAE and Saudi Arabia. He has secured eight research grants and published several articles in international journals, conference proceedings, and book chapters. During his work in UAE, he served as a Project/Design Management advisor providing several consultations for a number of UAE governmental and private organizations. In addition, he was authorized as a ‘Construction Management Expert’ by Judicial Department in the Abu Dhabi Emirates. During his practical career, he served as a Designer, Project Architect, and Design/Project Manager for more than forty prestigious projects in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar.
As occupants spend almost 90% of their day indoors, especially in the workplaces, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ) plays a primary role in health and well-being, productivity, and building energy consumption. Adopting the IEQ and Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE), data has been gathered from nine multilevel open offices within a university building located in Al Ain, in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for three winter months. Physical parameters were monitored using data loggers to record the main IEQ factors. In parallel, POE questionnaires have been distributed to obtain occupants’ satisfaction with the IEQ and health-related symptoms experienced in the workspaces. The IEQ and POE data have shown slightly above or below the recommended ranges, with the occupants similarly and slightly dissatisfied with the building. The thermal comfort revealed concerns with 99% of temperatures below international standards, where 55% of the survey respondents reported “too cold”. The IAQ measurements showed 45% and 30% of the respondents reporting “stuffy air” and “headache,” which indicated symptoms that could be tracked to other parameters or a combination of several, and the findings have been discussed in detail in this paper. This research contributed to identifying correlations between measured data and occupant satisfaction and identifying common IEQ defects and their sources to better communicate with facility managers and architects.
With the prevalent use of large glazings, particularly in office buildings, offices receive an abundance of light and are among the largest consumers of electricity. Moreover, in an extremely hot arid climate such as in the UAE, achieving comfortable daylighting levels without increasing solar heat gain is a challenge, in which the window or fenestration design plays an essential role. This research adopts a case study of higher education (HE) office building on the United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) campus, selected to investigate an evidence-based retrofitting solution for the west façade that can be applied in existing office buildings in the UAE in order to reduce cooling energy load as well as enhance indoor environmental quality. To achieve an evidence-based retrofitting solution, the research design was built upon a comprehensive exploratory investigation that included indoor environmental quality physical monitoring and occupant satisfaction surveying. The model simulation was performed by means of DesignBuilder software to perform a single- and multiparameter sensitivity analysis for three key passive window design parameters, i.e., window-to-wall ratio, glazing type, and external shading, aimed towards minimizing annual cooling load and solar heat gain, while maintaining appropriate indoor daylight illuminance levels. The results highlight the importance of the window-to-wall ratio (WWR), as it is the single most significant parameter affecting total energy consumption and daylighting levels. The results recommend 20–30% WWR as the optimum range in the west façade. However, by utilizing high-performance glazing types and external shading, equal energy savings can be achieved with a larger WWR. Double Low E tinted glazing, and 0.4 projection shading overhang and side fin revealed a noteworthy reduction of energy use intensity of 14%. The study concludes with final retrofitting solutions and design recommendations that aim to contribute validated knowledge towards enhancing window performance in a hot arid climate to guide architects and stakeholders to apply a range of passive parameters towards reducing energy consumption and improving occupant comfort in office buildings.