Energy-Oriented Design Tools for Collaboration in the Cloud

Toth, Bianca; Salim, Flora D.; Burry, Jane; Frazer, John; Drogemuller, Robin; Burry, Mark

doi:10.1260/1478-0771.9.4.339

“…The former approach (distributed) is easily observed by the introduction of numerous specialized analysis tools which appeared over the past two decades in digital design. 17,18 While the plurality of tools allows designers to use specific tools for specific tasks, its disconnectedness does not allow designers to account for multiple criteria synchronously in their projects, and the addition of multiple tools onto the design process after a point makes it overcomplicated and inefficient. The latter approach (centralized), which is manifested by the rise of BIM, anticipates a linear design process where multiple design teams add their information into a central building model which is managed by one software package.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A framework for generating and evaluating façade designs using a multi-agent system approach

Pantazis

¹

,

Gerber

²

2018

International Journal of Architectural Computing

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Digital design paradigms in architecture have been rooted in representational models which are geometry centered and therefore fail to capture building complexity holistically. Due to a lack of computational design methodologies, existing digital design workflows do little in predicting design performance in the early design stage and in most cases analysis and design optimization are done after a design is fixed. This work proposes a new computational design methodology, intended for use in the area of conceptual design of building design. The proposed methodology is implemented into a multi-agent system design toolkit which facilitates the generation of design alternatives using stochastic algorithms and their evaluation using multiple environmental performance metrics. The method allows the user to probabilistically explore the solution space by modeling the design parameters' architectural design components (i.e. façade panel) into modular programming blocks (agents) which interact in a bottom-up fashion. Different problem requirements (i.e. level of daylight inside a space, openings) described into agents' behavior allow for the coupling of data from different engineering fields (environmental design, structural design) into the a priori formation of architectural geometry. In the presented design experiment, a façade panel is modeled into an agent-based fashion and the multi-agent system toolkit is used to generate and evolve alternative façade panel configurations based on environmental parameters (daylight, energy consumption). The designer can develop the façade panel geometry, design behaviors, and performance criteria to evaluate the design alternatives. The toolkit relies on modular and functionally specific programming modules (agents), which provide a platform for façade design exploration by combining existing three-dimensional modeling and analysis software.

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“…An Architectural model will be zoned by rooms, not by thermal zones which are required for an energy simulation (Kim et al, 2015) Wall Thickness Thermal zones can generate with a gap between them due to wall thicknesses duplicating (Toth et al, 2011) (Ramaji et al, 2016) Many of the issues with the IFC schema being used in file translation are identified from multiple sources (Jalaei and Jrade, 2014, Kim et al, 2015, Maile et al, 2013, Lilis et al, 2017, Toth et al, 2011, Ramaji et al, 2016. These issues are simpler to identify when they occur due to them occurring during simulation, like missing zones or geometry.…”

Section: Review Of Potential Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architectural Models as a Base for Reliable Early Stage Energy Simulation

Steele¹

0

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<p>Designers from the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries have shown a desire to allow for quantitative data to back up sustainable decision-making (Braasch, 2016). Methods and software used to reach this goal often do not provide all the information to make informed design decisions or require a complete remodelling of designs at each stage. These factors make Building Performance Simulation (BPS) feasible at early design stages, where it is most beneficial for Architects. This thesis explores the current process to translate Architectural models constructed within a Building Information Modelling (BIM) environment into Building Energy Models (BEM) so that performance simulations can take place. Within the aim of exploring translation processes, the objectives were to document: • Whether current processes can facilitate modelling of environmental building performance during early design, as well as during developed design? • Whether there are any common problems or successful approaches that might form the basis of future improvements in the way Architect’s and consultant’s models work together? This thesis has identified 19 translation processes from current literature and examined a range of representative processes for exchanging information between Architectural modelling and BPS programs. It concluded that translation issues can be classified into similar groups based on the overall processes used. The eight categories of issues can be used by future developers to determine their priorities in development, and those looking for a current solution can adopt one for themselves. None of the processes tested allowed for issue-free modelling of building performance during sketch design. The two types of building translation schema evaluated in this thesis divided identified references between a dedicated and generalised approach. The dedicated approach of gbXML and the generic approach of IFC identified similar issues; however, IFC contained more of these problems because it communicates with all modelling programs at a lower information quality. Due to the generic approaches containing more issues that take longer to solve, it is currently more complicated to generate an energy model out of IFC data. While the gbXML schema can only provide benefits for BPS related translations, it is the most viable way to provide the service.</p>

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“…An Architectural model will be zoned by rooms, not by thermal zones which are required for an energy simulation (Kim et al, 2015) Wall Thickness Thermal zones can generate with a gap between them due to wall thicknesses duplicating (Toth et al, 2011) (Ramaji et al, 2016) Many of the issues with the IFC schema being used in file translation are identified from multiple sources (Jalaei and Jrade, 2014, Kim et al, 2015, Maile et al, 2013, Lilis et al, 2017, Toth et al, 2011, Ramaji et al, 2016. These issues are simpler to identify when they occur due to them occurring during simulation, like missing zones or geometry.…”

Section: Review Of Potential Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Architectural Models as a Base for Reliable Early Stage Energy Simulation

Steele¹

0

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

<p>Designers from the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries have shown a desire to allow for quantitative data to back up sustainable decision-making (Braasch, 2016). Methods and software used to reach this goal often do not provide all the information to make informed design decisions or require a complete remodelling of designs at each stage. These factors make Building Performance Simulation (BPS) feasible at early design stages, where it is most beneficial for Architects. This thesis explores the current process to translate Architectural models constructed within a Building Information Modelling (BIM) environment into Building Energy Models (BEM) so that performance simulations can take place. Within the aim of exploring translation processes, the objectives were to document: • Whether current processes can facilitate modelling of environmental building performance during early design, as well as during developed design? • Whether there are any common problems or successful approaches that might form the basis of future improvements in the way Architect’s and consultant’s models work together? This thesis has identified 19 translation processes from current literature and examined a range of representative processes for exchanging information between Architectural modelling and BPS programs. It concluded that translation issues can be classified into similar groups based on the overall processes used. The eight categories of issues can be used by future developers to determine their priorities in development, and those looking for a current solution can adopt one for themselves. None of the processes tested allowed for issue-free modelling of building performance during sketch design. The two types of building translation schema evaluated in this thesis divided identified references between a dedicated and generalised approach. The dedicated approach of gbXML and the generic approach of IFC identified similar issues; however, IFC contained more of these problems because it communicates with all modelling programs at a lower information quality. Due to the generic approaches containing more issues that take longer to solve, it is currently more complicated to generate an energy model out of IFC data. While the gbXML schema can only provide benefits for BPS related translations, it is the most viable way to provide the service.</p>

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Energy-Oriented Design Tools for Collaboration in the Cloud

Cited by 10 publications

References 12 publications

A framework for generating and evaluating façade designs using a multi-agent system approach

A framework for generating and evaluating façade designs using a multi-agent system approach

Architectural Models as a Base for Reliable Early Stage Energy Simulation

Architectural Models as a Base for Reliable Early Stage Energy Simulation

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