Performance-Based Material Selection in Future Housing: A Mediterranean Climate Case

¹ Balikesir University, Ayvalik Vocational School, Department of Architecture and City Planning, 10400, Balikesir, Türkiye
² Balikesir University, Faculty of Architecture, Department of Architecture, 10100, Balikesir, Türkiye

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Published online: 5 February 2026

Abstract

Designers constantly develop materials with different technical properties to provide optimum indoor comfort conditions with minimum energy consumption. Ensuring indoor thermal comfort conditions in residential buildings, where people spend a significant portion of their time, is a challenge that must be addressed. In recent years, the climate crisis (CC) has caused temperatures to rise, particularly in warm climate regions. The study proposes a computational framework for a residential model that demonstrates optimal thermal performance for at least 50 years in hot climate regions affected by the CC. Within the scope of the study’s objective, it primarily focuses on a residential building in Balıkesir that exhibits the characteristics of the Mediterranean climate type (CSA), a hot climate type. Honeybee performed energy simulations for the residential building under current climate conditions and a 2080 weather scenario generated by Meteonorm. The results showed that the building’s energy consumption would increase by 12% in 2080. Within this scope, the study optimised the residential building envelope and interior design parameters. Furthermore, the study aimed to compare the effectiveness of the Genetic Algorithm (GA), frequently used in architectural design problems in the literature, with different algorithms by employing the GA and the RbfOpt algorithm.