The impact of using smart material technologies in managing life cycle cost of administrative buildings' facades projects in Egypt

Abstract EN

The world is moving towards a zero-carbon vision, which has encouraged architects in many countries to use smart materials technologies in the building facade to maintain the internal environment of the building by limiting energy waste and thus reducing carbon and harmful gas emissions.

furthermore, employing life cycle cost analysis methods early in the project significantly reduces resource waste and preserves the surrounding environment by imposing recommendations for the building's most appropriate facade materials that could be used in terms of the long run most economically feasible and functionality maintainable.

this paper is based on study of the glazing facades cool-lite SKN 154/154 of the main administrative building of credit agricole Egypt at fifth settlement, in terms of the systems used to improve the internal environment of the building and comparing them in terms of the life cycle cost of materials with two other smart materials, namely electrochromic glass and photovoltaic smart facade materials system, where the net present value is analyzed for initial cost, operating costs and disposal costs for the 3 scenarios during a 60-year study period, with the aim of reaching out the most feasible economic materials and functionally suitable on the long term, the study concluded that, in conclusion, from a LCC aspect, photovoltaic is the most economically feasible material on long term, while from an initial cost aspect, the existing facade is the most suitable.