Parametric Design as a Tool to Reduce Solar Penetration by Outdoor Shades in Hot Arid Climate (original) (raw)
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Alexandria Engineering Journal, 2018
This research aims at investigating the potentials of parametric design optimization process over the residential building to achieve more sustainable design as well as the computational design methodology in the design process to activate the role of the computer in the design process not just as a drafting or visualization tool. It also investigates the essentiality of computational design and the state of art computer tools like Grasshopper, Octopus, Energy plus, Open studio, Radiance and Daysim in achieving an optimized parametric design. A residential building consists of five stories is studied to find the best parameters which lead to the optimum performance in daylighting and energy performance. Building parameters such as WWR, construction material, glass material, shading device configurations are optimized through closed-loop framework which consists of three main portions; Parametric modelling which depends on Grasshopper software, building performance simulation is performed via Ladybug and Honeybee plugins which depend on Radiance and Daysim in daylighting simulation while uses EnergyPlus in energy simulation, and genetic algorithm which is performed via Octopus plugin. The generations of solutions formed in Octopus are studied one by one to clarify by how much there is development in optimization process and when the optimization is ended. Also, the optimum solution is illustrated in addition to the best daylighting and energy performance ones.
This study focuses on generating geometric design alternatives for an airport roof structure with an evolutionary design method based on optimizing solar heat gain and daylight levels. The method incorporates a parametric 3D model of the building, a multi objective genetic algorithm that was linked with the model to iteratively test for various geometric solutions, a custom module that was developed to simulate solar conditions, and external energy simulation environments that was used to validate the outcomes. The integral outcome was achieved through an iterative workflow of many software tools, and the study is significant in dealing with several space typologies at the same time, taking real-life constraints such as applicability, ease of operation, construction loads into consideration, and satisfying design and aesthetic requirements of the architectural design team. 1 Introduction and Motivation This paper presents a case study in which geometric design alternatives for an airport roof structure were generated with an evolutionary design method based on optimizing solar heat gain and daylight levels. Our method incorporates a parametric 3D model of the building, a multi objective genetic algorithm that was linked with the model to iteratively test for various geometric solutions, a custom module that was developed to simulate solar conditions, and external energy simulation environments that was used to validate the outcomes.
Parametric design and daylighting: A literature review
Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 2017
In the history, architecture was exploited to the human being to protect him from unsteady environmental conditions. In the past centuries, architecture was pioneer art which has special features such as; simplicity, organization, clear style, accurate decoration, material assembly, and so on. However, modern buildings become complex products that have so many parts which have to fulfil different functions. Therefore, new computational ways and techniques have been developed to facilitate the design of modern complicated buildings and to create a convenient quantitative relationship between the environment and the envelope, putting into consideration the obstacles which influence on the building design. This has therefore formed the concept of parametric design in architecture, in order to deal with complex designs and gain more accurate results. Modern architects claim that parametric design is the most creative way to understand the development and complexity of the new era of architectural trends [1]. Meanwhile, it is really hard to deal with sophisticated details in buildings using our brains to imagine, or conventional ways to design [2]. In addition, building technologies nowadays are integrated and containing many disciplines in the same time, and each discipline is dependent on the other disciplines in a very complex vast connections. Hence, they should be organized in a database container, and this container could be managed parametrically using parametric design as an advanced way to explore and understand these sophisticated relations [3]. This paper hence presents a literature review on parametric design in architecture practice and put a focus on its applications in daylighting and solar radiation, which can have an essential impact on improving daylight availability and energy saving.
USING PARAMETRIC DESIGN TO OPTIMIZE BUILDING'S FAÇADE SKIN TO IMPROVE INDOOR DAYLIGHTING PERFORMANCE
This paper presents a performance oriented parametric approach for a façade's skin design to enhance indoor daylight quality. This approach utilizes daylight performance evaluation to search for skin design that improves the distribution of the daylight indoors by achieving the requirements of daylight metrics of both Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED V4) and Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) in early design stages. Parametric design procedure is proposed and consists of four integrated phases: (1) generate the skin, (2) analyse the skin's daylight performance, (3) evaluate the daylight performance and (4) search for the near optimum solution. "Genetic Algorithms" and "Exhaustive Search" as two different search and optimization techniques where implemented to understand the potentials of each one to be integrated in the proposed procedure in the forth phase. The study outlines the challenges and opportunities opened to architects to apply the proposed procedure to integrate daylight performance evaluation in early design stages where the most influential design decisions are taken.
Building Simulation Conference proceedings
Parametric approach proved great potentials in generating various alternatives and overcoming traditional scenarioby-scenario limitations, especially when combined with simulation tools. Parallel parametric simulation was suggested as generative-evaluated tool to optimize solar screen driven by daylight and thermal performance in 8 times faster than default runs. This paper proposes an Adaptive-Parametric-Algorithm (APA) for Grasshopper (GH) based on parallel parametric simulation to directly generate optimized alternatives of non-conventional solar screen for specific target performance. APA uses Divafor-GH to optimize various screen parameters for southoriented office space in Cairo, Egypt. The results proved APA ability to achieve numerous screens alternatives efficiently that all comply with both LEED-V4 and IES within optimal thermal performance. Moreover, a selection criteria was proposed, that could indicate optimal screen configurations which balance daylight and thermal performance based on daylight simulation only.
Energies
The recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) urge for the reconceptualization of our design of the urban built environments. However, current efforts to integrate urban environmental assessment into practice in Egypt are proving insufficient. This paper utilises the Ladybug tools simulation plugins to investigate the impact of changing the morphological characteristics of three-block typologies (scattered, linear and courtyard) and their associated parameters to understand their multidimensional relationship with environmental conditions, outdoor thermal comfort and energy use intensity. This study based in Cairo, Egypt, considers 3430 hypothetical geometrical configurations comprising of a variety of design parameters and indicators. The results show a strong correlation between the design parameters and the combined performance of thermal comfort and energy consumption (R2 = 0.84), with urban density having the strongest impact on both thermal comfo...
2006
With the increasing complexity of building design and performance evaluation, computational tools must be reconsidered to facilitate better solar design and application. The aim of this research is to demonstrate how reverse computation can play a significant role in building design. This approach has been used to explore a family of building design problems which deal with solar radiation falling on surfaces in obstructed situations and different locations. It was found that using the selected design tool (Ecotect), optimum solutions could be established for this family of problems based on reverse computation, starting with the performance requirements and leading to either a full range of tested solutions or simple optimum. The findings of this research are a first step in generating the form of buildings from climatic data and environmental performance constraints.
Solar Species: Energy Optimization of Urban Form Through an Evolutionary Design Process
Sustainability, 2024
This paper proposes design guidelines to enhance energy efficiency and energy generation potential in active solar buildings. Additionally, it presents a variety of optimized urban forms characterized by attributes such as shape, layout, and number of buildings on the plot. These urban configurations are classified into solar species, each associated with a distinct range of high passive and active solar potential. These results were achieved by developing and applying a simulation-driven, multi-objective optimization technique for the early-stage design of a residential building cluster in a temperate climate. This method leverages both passive and active energy indicators, employing a genetic algorithm to identify optimal forms that maximize active solar potential while also minimizing operational energy demand. The approach utilizes a parametric modelling routine that relies on vertical cores and horizontal connections to produce design iterations featuring irregular geometry, while ensuring structural continuity and means of egress. The findings reveal a significant variability in onsite energy generation, with optimized solutions differing by a factor of 2.5 solely based on shape, underscoring the critical role of active solar potential. Taken together, these results hint at the descriptive and predictive capabilities of these solar species, making them a promising heuristic model for characterizing urban form in relation to energy performance.
Future Cities: Proceedings of the 28th Conference on Education in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe, 2010
In this paper we address the design of large roof structures for semi outdoor spaces through an investigation of performance-oriented design, which aims at integrating interdisciplinary performance evaluations in the early stages of the design process. We focus specifically on the discussion of structural and solar energy performance of the structure. The evaluation of the structural performances based on modular bar structures. Regarding the solar performance, we focus on passive solar strategies to reduce the need for imported energies, and to improve daylight and thermal comfort under the large structure. In this context, the potential of parametric modeling is discussed with respect to performance-oriented design. Possible parametric approaches are presented for investigating the geometry of large roof structures through the generation of a large range of design alternatives, which are evaluated according to various performance criteria. In order to support the exploration of such large solution spaces, a method, denoted ParaGen, is presented, based on the integration of parametric modeling and genetic algorithms. The potentials of the method are shown through a case study.