A Theoretical Framework for Climate-Adaptive Building Envelope Design in Nigeria’s Diverse Climatic Zones: Integrating Passive Design, Material Performance, and Occupant Comfort

Nigeria's six geopolitical zones span four distinct climatic types, and a unified theoretical framework for climate-adaptive building envelope design that integrates passive design principles, material performance data, and occupant comfort models calibrated to Nigerian conditions represents a significant original contribution to building technology scholarship. This study develops and validates such a framework through an original multi-phase research programme. Phase One established a Nigerian Climate-Building Interaction Taxonomy through systematic meta-analysis of 120 published studies on building thermal performance in tropical West Africa, identifying climate-building interaction patterns specific to each Nigerian climate zone. Phase Two conducted an original field measurement campaign in 80 buildings across the four climate zones, measuring envelope thermal performance using heat flux sensors, thermocouple arrays, and calibrated energy meters over 12 consecutive months. Phase Three developed a Zone-Specific Adaptive Envelope Performance Model using machine learning regression calibrated on field data, predicting indoor thermal conditions from envelope configuration, material properties, and meteorological inputs. Phase Four validated the model against independent data from 20 test buildings. The model achieves a mean absolute percentage error of 8.4% for indoor temperature prediction across all zones. The framework generates quantitative performance targets for envelope thermal transmittance, solar heat gain coefficient, and air infiltration for each climate zone type. Original contributions include the Climate-Building Interaction Taxonomy, the Zone-Specific Adaptive Envelope Performance Model, and zone-specific envelope performance standards proposed for integration into the National Building Energy Code.

Keywords: climate-adaptive design, building envelope, thermal performance, Nigeria, passive design