ABSTRACT
Buildings consume more than 40% of primary energy in most countries and healthcare facilities have been identified as one of the highest consumers of energy. These is due to its heavy dependence on HVAC systems for controlling indoor temperatures as well as general operations. It was further observed that the situation is more critical in developing countries like Nigeria, due to insufficiency in power supply, a factor which in turn increases the hospitals running cost. Studies have shown that the situation can be significantly improved by exploring passive means of cooling the buildings such as courtyards. It was also revealed that it's performance can be improved by giving special consideration to courtyards design variants such as form, aspect ratio, orientation, wall enclosure and elements within it. Hence, the research was aimed at improving passive cooling in hospitals using courtyard forms in the design of a women and children hospital in Kaduna state, Nigeria. This was achieved through qualitative and quantitative methods. A case study was carried out to ascertain the level of applications of courtyard design variants in existing hospitals in the study area. Also base case models were designed using Autodesk Revit architecture to depict existing courtyard scenarios with enclosed and semi enclosed forms. This forms were also varied into different ratios ranging from 1:1.2 to 1:2, the models were subsequently simulated using ECOTECT energy software to record the annual energy load of each model. The results showed that a U shape courtyard of ratio 1:2 in a two storey building in the hot dry climate of Kaduna state can reduce a buildings annual energy consumption by up to 44.03%. It is therefore hoped that designers can adopt these findings in the design of future buildings most especially healthcare facilities with the hope of improving passive cooling as well as providing the conducive environment necessary to aid faster patient recovery.