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Consideration of building energy performance in the early stage of the design process is very important to help minimizing energy consumed by the built environment. Therefore, help in minimizing energy crisis problem. Optimization of building form and orientation at the early stage of the design process can save a significant amount of energy consumed by the building. This paper proposes an annual thermal energy performance-based form making (EPBFM) method that generates numerous design configurations and tests their annual thermal energy performance till it reaches an optimal solution. The proposed workflow uses 3d parametric modeling program, energy simulation program, and genetic algorithm. A case study of an open plan office building is used to evaluate the proposed workflow in three different cities with different climates, Cairo, London, and Chicago. Building's contexts were not considered in order to highlight the change of the building form and orientation caused due to the change in climate conditions. Then, Scatterplots were developed to test the impact of each dynamic parameter on thermal energy use intensity (EUI). Compared to the initial square shaped building, optimization results showed that thermal EUI decreased by 22.76%, 29.7%, and 19.2% in Cairo, London, and Chicago, respectively. Manipulation of building area along one axis and each floor area along the other axis proved to have the highest positive impact in decreasing thermal EUI.

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Indoor environmental quality (IEQ) could influences employees' satisfaction and performance in office buildings. Previous research have suggested that factors such as gender, age, proximity from a window could influence employees' perceived satisfaction with IEQ. This study as a part of an ongoing research attempts to investigate the impact of workspace location on employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace within office buildings in Cairo. Employees' subjective evaluation of satisfaction with IEQ parameters were collected using a questionnaire as a post occupancy evaluation survey. Responses were collected and quantitatively analysed using software package used for statistical analysis (SPSS). Diversity in levels of satisfaction among employees within the same building was found highly sensitive to their workspace location. Building orientation and external views could influence employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace. Employees with highest perceived satisfaction with IEQ parameters and overall satisfaction with personal workspace seem to prefer their workspaces to be located on the ground floor, away from a window, either in the middle of the building or on the southern façade and not overlooking the courtyard. The study recommends that Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification criteria should reconsider employees' satisfaction with IEQ parameters in developing IEQ credits and LEED certification process.

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