A cost-effective approach for ventilation optimization on building sites based on geospatial analyses and simulated annealing

This study proposes a cost-effective method to optimise ventilation in building sites using geographic information system (GIS) and simulated annealing (SA). Two sites in Kaohsiung City with serious wind blockage were selected as case studies. GIS was employed for spatial analysis and wind environment simulation, while SA optimised two key building parameters: location and orientation. Results show that the method effectively enhanced site ventilation, with maximum improvements in average wind speed of 60.0% and 34.8%. Optimised configurations also increased areas with higher wind speed (≥0.5 m/s), suggesting a potential improvement in outdoor thermal comfort. The approach further offers architects actionable guidance by identifying both recommended and non-recommended configurations, while also considering surrounding wind conditions. Each SA iteration required only 20–22 s on average, and the complete optimisation process ten independent runs comprising a total of over 1,300 iterations per site required approximately 470–477 min, demonstrating efficiency compared with traditional simulations. Overall, the proposed GIS-aided approach improves ventilation, enhances outdoor comfort, and serves as a practical, low-cost tool for architectural design and urban wind environment improvement.