EVALUATING THE PERFORMANCE OF ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN OF RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS FOR ENERGY CONSERVATION IN SALMIYA AND FARWANIYA AREAS, KUWAIT

The study aims to evaluate the performance of architectural design for energy conservation of residential buildings in Salmiya and Farwaniya areas due to the importance of energy and decrease of oil production, by time. Residential dwellings in Salmiya (coastal area) and Farwaniya (internal area) were considered a study case. Previous studies about energy conservation in residential buildings by architectural methods were reviewed. The study was carried out in two slected areas usingc Climate Consultant" program was implemented to provide climatic variables of both areas. These variables were introduced to "Ecotect" program. All architectural design methods were collectively and separately applied, where the performance of architectural design was evaluated in terms of rationalizing energy. The architectural design methods that achieved the highest rate of rationalization were signposted. These methods were collectively applied to the residential buildings in both areas. The Results reveald that integrating three architectural methods, collectively (i.e. nocturnal ventilation, natural ventilation and cooling by direct evaporation) achieved the best performance of architectural design for energy conservation in both regions with 96% and 98%, (i.e. relative to integrating the 6 architectural design methods collectively), for Salmiya and Farwaniya regions, respectively. The study recommended that the integration of the three methods collectively is efficient, in terms of Engineering practice and economy. As for future research, the study recommended proposing innovative methods and testing them to choose the best performing method.