Changing the Strategies of The First Design Stages After Corona and Their Impact on Energy Efficiency Indicators in Commercial Centers

Abstract

               Corona global pandemic, which appeared in the first quarter of 2020, has affected the global economy, which has led to many sectors such as energy, buildings, and industries being exposed to serious impacts from the epidemic, as the usual design considerations for buildings are no longer effective with energy consumption strategies and reduce the spread of epidemics within them. the studies of the transmission of the COVID-19 virus have indicated a direct relationship between the number of occupants and the risk of infection. This study aims to focus on the occupancy density strategy as one of the main overlooked factors affecting energy consumption and the risk of virus transmission inside buildings and to determine the optimum occupancy density to reduce energy consumption in buildings, especially commercial buildings. To achieve that, the applied approach was used by the COVE.TOOL and COVID Occupancy Score tool analysis and evaluation programs to apply the proposed occupancy density after new design considerations to the food court area in one of the selected commercial centers and evaluate its efficiency to reduce the spread of epidemics and rationalize its energy consumption.