Glazing Type as a Determinant of Energy Performance in Double Skin Facades: Simulation Evidence from High-Rise Offices in Abuja

Source: Field Survey (2026). IJEMT 5.0 Discussion Four findings stand out from the comparative analysis. First, dynamic glazing offers the greatest efficiency benefit of any option tested: electrochromic double-pane glazing outperformed every static alternative, consistent with the broader literature on smart glass in climates with pronounced seasonal and diurnal solar variation (Feng et al., 2022). Second, double-pane configurations consistently outperform triple-pane configurations of the same glazing type, a counterintuitive result explained by the loss of usable daylight through thicker glazing and the corresponding rise in artificial-lighting demand — a finding consistent with Tabadkani et al. (2021) on the energy trade-offs of transparent façade design. Third, solar control properties matter more than pane count. Tinted single-pane glazing (91,980 MWh) outperformed clear triple-pane glazing (107,446 MWh) despite using a single layer against three, indicating that investment in solar-control coatings and tints delivers a better energy return than simply adding glazing layers. Fourth, the DSF system as a whole delivers a clear benefit over a conventional single-skin façade: even its weaker-performing configurations, such as clear double pane (94,010 MWh), still improved meaningfully on the base case (104,288 MWh), confirming the fundamental value of the ventilated cavity itself, consistent with Aliyu and Abdulhamid's (2021) observation that single-skin façades in hot-dry climates experience largely unmitigated heat gain. These results directly informed the design proposal, HEXA SKY, a fifteen-storey office building for Abuja's Central Business District. Its beehive-inspired hexagonal façade varies in shading density with building height — heavier and tighter at lower floors, more open through the mid-tower, and lighter and more transparent at the top — while a 1,000 mm naturally ventilated cavity, low-emissivity solar-control glazing and orientation minimising east–west exposure translate the simulation findings into built form. The design further integrates operable vents for daytime purge ventilation, rooftop photovoltaic panels, and passive shading, aligning the building's environmental strategy with the study's evidence that solar-control glazing and cavity ventilation, more than pane count, govern DSF energy performance in Abuja's climate. 6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations This study quantified, through building energy simulation, the comparative performance of eleven double-skin façade glazing configurations for a proposed high-rise office building in Abuja, and translated the resulting evidence into a complete architectural design. The uninsulated single-skin base case recorded the highest annual energy demand of any configuration tested, confirming the inadequacy of conventional curtain-wall practice in Abuja's composite climate. Electrochromic double-pane glazing delivered the greatest improvement, at approximately 17.1% below the base case, with low-emissivity and tinted double- and single-pane options forming a closely clustered second tier of cost-effective static alternatives. Triple-pane glazing offered no consistent advantage over double-pane glazing in any family tested, and low-emissivity treatment without an insulating air gap performed worse than doing nothing at all. On this basis, the study recommends: i. That electrochromic or, where budget constrains dynamic glazing, low-emissivity or tinted double-pane glazing be adopted as the priority DSF specification for new high-rise office buildings in Abuja and climatically similar Nigerian cities. ii. A naturally ventilated cavity of approximately 1,000 mm be treated as a practical default, balancing thermal buffering against construction feasibility. IJEMT iii. 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