Keywords: building performance, wind microclimate, pedestrian-level wind speeds, tall building, angular facades, aerodynamics.

The constant increase in urban populations at the centre of large cities increases the demand for residential developments. Whilst the construction of tall buildings solves many of the housing crises, they introduce several environmental challenges. Accelerating winds at pedestrian level through down-drafting, flow channelling and corner acceleration can cause pedestrian discomfort and in some cases safety concerns. Whilst planning legislations are becoming far more stringent in recent years with the introduction of the City of London Wind Microclimate Guidelines for instance, most architects continue to develop their designs without prior knowledge of aerodynamics. This leads to costly iterative design process involving wind consultants to resolve any issues introduced by the new building massing. However, these investigations are sophisticated and typically conducted in the context of large surrounding environments which cloud our understanding of the fundamental flow features that occur around the individual buildings. This paper examines ten popular angular façade designs in isolation under urban boundary layer conditions and assesses each design using a bespoke performance analysis approach designed to scrutinise these designs based on the windiness at pedestrian-level at three key areas. The research confirms that most angular façades produce adverse wind effects at ground level compared to a standard cuboid building.

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