Examining the Impact of Building Façade Material Reflection on the Increase of Ambient Temperature in Urban Heat Island (UHI) Phenomenon (Case Study: Tehran)
Keywords:
Reflection, building facade materials, mbient temperature, urban heat islandAbstract
With the rise of urbanization and construction density in metropolitan areas, the phenomenon of Urban Heat Island (UHI) has become one of the major challenges in the field of urban climatology. Among the contributing factors, building materials, and particularly urban façades as vertical surfaces exposed to solar radiation, play a significant role in either intensifying or mitigating ambient temperature levels. The objective of this study is to evaluate the effect of different façade materials on ambient dry temperature in an urban case study. For this purpose, the southern section of Phase 1 of Ekbatan Town in Tehran was selected as the study area. Using Grasshopper software along with the Ladybug and Dragonfly plugins, three different scenarios were modeled and simulated: the current condition (concrete and stone façades), fully glazed façades, and a condition without anthropogenic elements (traffic, population, green spaces). The output data were analyzed through the UWG engine and compared with reference climatic data. The results indicated that highly reflective materials, particularly glass, cause a significant increase in ambient temperature during peak solar radiation hours (09:00–15:00). In the glazed façade scenario, the maximum temperature difference compared to the reference condition exceeded 5.5°C. These findings highlight the importance of considering appropriate material selection in urban façade design in order to reduce the negative impacts of UHI and to enhance outdoor thermal comfort.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Seyed Gholamreza Razavi Amrei (Author); Heydar Jahanbakhsh; Abdollah Ebrahimi (Author)
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