Effects of Window Design on Natural Ventilation and Daylighting in Single-Sided Computer Labs in Hot-Arid Climates

Single-sided computer labs face challenges in achieving adequate natural ventilation and balanced daylighting, particularly in hot-arid climates. This study examines the effects of window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and window placement on ventilation and daylighting performance using an integrated simulation framework. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations in ANSYS Fluent were combined with climate-based daylighting analysis in Rhino/Grasshopper using Ladybug and Honeybee to evaluate airflow behavior, air change rates (ACH), Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), and daylight uniformity. The approach was applied to an existing computer lab at the Jordan University of Science and Technology. Results show that increasing WWR improves ventilation and daylight availability but increases glare risk, while split-window configurations enhance daylight uniformity with a slight reduction in ventilation efficiency. A multi-criteria compromise analysis identified an optimized configuration with a WWR of approximately 23.5% and a window spacing of 3.2 m, achieving a balanced performance. The findings provide practical.