ComfortCover: a novel method for the design of outdoor shades

Over the past few decades, several methods for designing shades to reduce energy loads of buildings have emerged. However, to date there are virtually no agreed upon methods available to assist in the design of outdoor shades to keep people comfortable. Here we present a novel method named ComfortCover to assist in the design of static shades in outdoor conditions using a 3-step methodology adapted from the current state-of-the-art process for the design of building shades. The first step is an assessment of radiation falling on a person and the calculation of a corresponding solar-adjusted radiant temperature for every hour of the year. Second, this temperature is fed into an hourly calculation of Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI). Lastly, this UTCI is fed into an algorithm that projects sun vectors for every hour of the year from the location of a person through a surface where shade design is being considered. Each of the vectors is associated with a UTCI and a temperature difference from a ‘comfort temperature’ that is summed up for every subdivision of the test shade to color it with shade helpfulness (blue), shade harmfulness (red) and no major effect of shade (white).