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The early architectural design involves the most salient decisions. However, because of the large amount of variance, the decision-making is highly arduous. This article presents a methodology to enable the most effective design variables to be selected within the most effective value range by presenting a method that allows the measurement of output uncertainty depending on the impact of design decisions on outputs. The methodology was tested with different building functions and climate regions using two-phase sensitivity analysis. The values of design variables were generated with quasi-random sampling. They were sorted with factor prioritization. Ineffective variables were eliminated with factor fixing. Advanced global sensitivity analyses were performed for the total effect. Factor mapping was applied with the output weighting. The results were presented with Parallel Coordinate Plot (PCP). The designers can make selections from alternatives with PCP. Finally, the study demonstrated how climate and building functions should be considered for building performance.

Existing buildings are seen as a potential field where effective carbon-saving and energy-efficiency strategies can be applied. Their lifetime and performance can be increased by implementing different retrofit measures. The retrofit processes remain a complex task that necessitates long-term planning and costly operations and requires a consensus of their stakeholders to identify an ultimate solution from many alternatives. This paper demonstrates a simulation-based exploratory approach, allowing a broader consideration of alternative retrofit solutions to increase non-technical and technical stakeholders’ involvement over design decisions. A hypothetical office building was selected, and a list of retrofit parameters and their combinations focusing on multiple objectives was determined, modeled, simulated, and visualized. Three different decision-making approaches are presented and discussed over the case study results. The study suggests that giving a voice to all stakeholders in decision-making processes might lead to achieving more robust retrofit solutions.