Passive design involves the utilization of natural forces such as natural ventilation and daylighting without mechanical input of energy, and is a subset of environmentally sustainable design (ESD), which offers solutions for more environmentally friendly buildings. This review is based on the premise that ESD interventions have an inherent cost on building projects. The aim is to review existing research on applications of various building configurations for facilitating the economical application of passive design, in terms of natural ventilation and daylighting. A systematic review of existing research during the previous decade (2010 – 2020) was conducted. In our findings, we compare and categorise concepts within building configuration in terms of their applicability to natural ventilation and daylighting. Our review identified seven categories of building configuration ie. building geometry, interior, context, envelope, fenestration, building plan and voids, with their associated parameters. It was discovered that building fenestration was the most frequently researched followed by building voids. The identified parameters point to the variety, diversity and trends of research in the field. The knowledge can be used in familiarising, assessing and evaluating various aspects of passive design of building configuration towards energy saving and ESD.