Study on the Thermal Environment and Indoor Comfort of Half Glass Curtain Buildings – a Case of Kouhu Visitor Center in Yunlin County, Taiwan

Located in the subtropics, the high temperature in summer affects indoor living environments in Taiwan. The use of perspective glass material for modern public buildings increases the transparency of landscape views; however, the solar radiation heat also increases the heat in indoor environment. In particular, visitor centers which offer service functions for large quantities of visitors should satisfy the demands for indoor environment comfort and energy saving. “Numerical simulation” and “field data” are therefore utilized in this study for mutual comparison and the analyses of duration of sunshine, temperature distribution, heat balance, and space comfort. The research result reveals that different building envelope materials, with distinct thermal resistance and thermal conductivity coefficients, as well as sunshine direction and duration, affect the heat transmitting indoors, change the indoor temperature and further influence the comfort of the indoor environment. In the future indoor venue comfort will affect visitors’ recreational behaviours.