LAUSR

Abstract Fenestrations allow for natural daylight and outdoor views, but also represent the least thermally efficient portion of the building envelope, and thus can be a source of unwanted direct sunlight and associated discomfort glare. A well-designed fenestration system operated with proper control strategies is capable of reducing building energy usage significantly while maintaining a both thermally and visually comfortable environment for occupants. This paper reviews and analyzes window design studies for high-performance buildings, which could be interpreted as decision-making processes to achieve the window performance goals by controlling a series of design variables (e.g., location and dimensions of windows, glazing type, etc.). An overview of available design options for window systems to date is introduced first, and then the decision-making methodologies of window systems are categorized and analyzed to present a comprehensive review, where we present a detailed analysis of sequential knowledge-based design methods and simulation-based optimization methods. Last, potential challenges and future research trends are identified and analyzed to help promote all automatic simulation-based optimization design methods for high performance fenestration systems.