A Review of Performance-Oriented Architectural Design and Optimization in the Context of Sustainability: Dividends and Challenges

As most countries have widespread and growing concerns about the sustainable development of society, the requirement to continuously reduce energy consumption poses challenges for the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. Performance-oriented architectural design and optimization, as a novel design philosophy and comprehensive evolution technology, has been accepted by architects, engineers, and stakeholders for a period of time. Performance in the context of architecture is a widely discussed definition that has long shown a correlation with visual and cultural attributes. Shifting the paradigm of sustainable development while ensuring that the function and aesthetics of the building are not overlooked has been the focus of public attention. Considering the core design elements that affect energy conservation and style performance, the design and optimization of building envelopes, form, and shading systems were selected as research materials. From the perspective of epistemology and methodology, a systematic review of 99 papers was conducted to promulgate the latest development status of energy-efficiency design. This paper manifests a detailed analysis of the design patterns, research features, optimization objectives, and techniques of current approaches. The review found that performance-oriented design optimization can benefit the entire industry from the heuristic knowledge base and the expansion of the design space while maintaining sustainability. In contrast, challenges such as tools, skills, collaboration frameworks, and calibration models are highlighted.