Passive design strategies for medium-format retail buildings in Toronto toward NZE Using Ecotect® Analysis 2011, with a case-study of a retail building in Toronto, ON

This paper studied passive design strategies available for medium-format retail buildings in Toronto. An existing retail building, designed by the researcher and built in 2014, was chosen as a case study. A framework of four models to show incremental improvements was created and multiple passive design strategies were applied to each model. The framework targeted four energy goals. Each goal represented a level of higher efficiency using Energy Use Intensity (EUI). Each of the four design models was simulated using Ecotect® and all results documented and analyzed. At the end of last model’s analysis, an architectural design project to exhibit design strategies was created. There are perhaps two significant points that the study has achieved. First point was the identification of key passive strategies that can be implemented in retail buildings in Toronto. The second was the methodology by which incremental improvements with pre-set energy targets can be followed with validated results.