Application of Double Skin Glass Facade to Enhance Thermal Comfort in the Design of Railway Terminal Building Bauchi, Nigeria

The quest to enhance indoor comfort has led to substantial innovation of building envelopes which is considered a viable option for buildings to work with climate by responding to heat gains. The use of Double Skin Glass Façade (DSGF) can lower the amount of heat gained via building envelopes however, most of the studies on DSGF where carried in cold climates. In this study, the effect of the DSGF cavity depth, envelope type, material and configuration on thermal comfort in wet, dry climate of Bauchi is evaluated. Using the chosen case study of railway buildings, the buildings were simulated, temperatures were measured, and an Autodesk Revit 2017 reference base case model was created. After performing a thermal simulation of the base case, cavity depths and envelope material configurations were changed, put into use, and thermally simulated using Design Builder to produce annual and monthly internal temperatures for the peak wettest months (April, March, and May). Results from the Simulations of the optimized model indicates that DSGF model having a cavity depth of 300mm with fully glazed envelope of 6mm thick Low-E glass coating with box window DSF, a reduction in temperature of 4.620, 4.290, and 4.040. Subsequently, the research findings indicate that integrating a DSGF model with adequate selection of cavity depth and envelope material choice has led to a notable reduction in internal temperatures thereby, reducing dependency on mechanical system whilst enhancing building performance, suggesting its effectiveness in improving thermal comfort within the proposed railway station building.