Optimal orientation for a typical Italian residential building and its urban context.

Several studies have been performed about the optimal orientation, from energetic point of view, of specific building’s typology; however real urban tissues are normally composed by different types of buildings with different orientation. This work takes in consideration a building type called “palazzina in linea”, that is particularly representative of Italian medium density expanding areas, and its typical urban context. Two parameters have been investigated in order to find the optimal values for them: dominating building’s orientation and distance between buildings. The case study is situated in an expanding area of a small town in Venetian region. The orientation that minimise the total annual primary energy demand, comprehensive of artificial lighting and climatisation, is assumed as the optimal one. This work is based on computer simulations. Two main softwares have been used in an integrated way: Ener_lux and TRNSYS. Building’s volumes have been divided in thermal zones, corresponding less or more to the flats. The first program calculates, with hourly step, energy and luminous solar radiation impinging on each external surface (glazed or not) of each thermal zone. The calculation takes into account surrounding buildings shading effects. The second program executes the energy balance of each thermal zone and calculates energy demand related to climatisation and artificial lighting. Dwelling’s use and inhabitants behaviour patterns are carried out by means of interview with people of the area and statistic data.