The Impact of Building Patios on Energy Consumption in Small and Medium-sized Buildings in Hot Summer and Warm Winter Regions

This study aims to respond to energy-saving and emission reduction policies by conducting real physical simulations of different building patio design forms to explore their impact on building energy consumption. The simulation results indicate the following under controlled variable conditions: (1) As the ratio of patio area to building projection area varies from 4.89% to 24.95%, building energy consumption per unit area continuously increases from 100.69 kWh/m² to 119.21 kWh/m². Building energy consumption is positively correlated with the building form coefficient, and minimizing the building patio area is advantageous for overall building energy conservation. (2) Patio depth has minimal impact on building energy consumption per unit area. (3) Different geometric forms have little impact on building energy consumption per unit area. (4) Among different building patio types, open-side patios have the lowest energy consumption, followed by enclosed patios, and open-center patios consume the most energy. The research findings can be used to guide building design in buildings with patios and atriums, aiming to minimize overall building energy consumption. This study only utilized Sefaira software for experimentation, and further confirmation and refinement of thefindings are needed through real samples or comparisons with other software.