A shoeboxing algorithm for urban building energy modeling: Validation for stand-alone buildings

•A novel simplification algorithm for urban building energy modeling is presented.•Buildings are converted in representative shoeboxes by means of a set of indicators.•The urban context is accounted and buildings’ adjacencies can be easily implemented.•The algorithm is tested for 3072 building shape configurations in three climates.•The algorithm shows good accuracy at hourly scale and a reduced computational time.