ArticlePDF Available

Passive performance and building form: An optimization framework for early-stage design support

February 2016
Solar Energy 125(1):161-179

DOI:10.1016/j.solener.2015.12.020

Authors:

Kyle Konis

University of Southern California

Karen Kensek

University of Southern California

To achieve low and zero net energy performance objectives in buildings, designers must make optimal use of passive environmental design strategies. The objective of this research is to demonstrate the application of a novel Passive Performance Optimization Framework (PPOF) to improve the performance of daylighting, solar control, and natural ventilation strategies in the early design stages of architectural projects. The PPOF is executed through a novel, simulation-based parametric modeling workflow capable of optimizing building geometry, building orientation, fenestration configurations, and other building parameters in response to program requirements, site-specific building adjacencies, and climate-based daylighting and whole-building energy use performance metrics. The applicability of the workflow is quantified by comparing results from the workflow to an ASHRAE 90.1 compliant reference model for four different climate zones, incorporating real sites and urban overshadowing conditions. Results show that the PPOF can deliver between a 4% and 17% reduction in Energy Use Intensity (EUI) while simultaneously improving daylighting performance by between 27% and 65% depending on the local site and climatic conditions. The PPOF and simulation-based workflow help to make generative modeling, informed by powerful energy and lighting simulation engines, more accessible to designers working on regular projects and schedules to create high-performance buildings.

Workflow diagram showing sequential steps to initialize Passive Performance Optimization.

…

Example use of CADtoEarth to identify surrounding urban context of project site and import 3D building geometry into the simulation environment.

…

Adjustment of building floor plate using the form-finding component.

…

Parametric development of building massing from simple rectilinear footprint (left) to more complex forms with additional corners and the addition of an interior courtyard void (right).

…

+14

DOE baseline model (left) where all facades have the same WWR (33%) and the same model massing (right) with variable WWRs applied at the facade level.

…

Figures - uploaded by Kyle Konis

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Kyle Konis

Content may be subject to copyright.

Content uploaded by Kyle Konis

Content may be subject to copyright.

A preview of the PDF is not available

A Study on Optimal Opening Configuration for Art Museum Exhibition Space Considering Daylight Performance, Indoor Thermal Comfort, and Energy Consumption

Article

Full-text available

Nov 2023

Skylights are an efficient means of daylighting in exhibition spaces, but their design presents significant challenges. Considering that daylight utilization profoundly impacts both the visual and thermal environments while affecting energy consumption, the early application of multi-objective optimization strategies becomes imperative. However, many optimization studies provide numerical references only, without delving into the characteristics of opening distribution. This study introduces an optimized exploration approach for openings based on grid subdivision and material parameter selection, targeting Useful Daylight Illuminance (UDI), Energy Use Intensity (EUI), and Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfied (PPD). Simulations and optimizations were performed using Honeybee and Octopus, focusing on the optimal configurations of four typical skylights in Fukuoka, Japan’s climate. The results demonstrate that this novel optimization approach improves metrics for each case and challenges traditional perceptions of daylight systems. Flexible and diverse opening configurations, formed through irregular layouts and material combinations, help achieve more ideal holistic environmental effects under different climatic conditions. Thus, we should provide these research findings as design guidelines for similar scenarios.

Ten questions concerning planning and design strategies for solar neighborhoods

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2023
BUILD ENVIRON

Planning of neighborhoods that efficiently implement active solar systems (e.g., solar thermal technologies, photovoltaics) and passive solar strategies (e.g., daylight control, sunlight access through optimized buildings' morphology, cool pavements, greeneries) is increasingly important to achieve positive energy and carbon neutrality targets, as well as to create livable urban spaces. In that regard, solar neighborhoods represent a virtuous series of solutions for communities that prioritize the exploitation of solar energy, with limited energy management systems. The ten questions answered in this article provide a critical overview of the technical, legislative, and environmental aspects to be considered in the planning and design of solar neighborhoods. The article moves from the categorization of “Solar Neighborhood” and the analysis of the state-of-the-art passive and active solar strategies to the identification of challenges and opportunities for solar solutions’ deployment. Insights into legislative aspects and lessons learned from case studies are also provided. Ongoing trends in solar energy digitalization, competing use of urban surfaces, and multi-criteria design workflows for optimal use of solar energy are outlined, emphasizing how they generate new opportunities for urban planners, authorities, and citizens. A framework is introduced to guide the potential evolution of solar neighborhoods in the next decade and to support the design of urban areas and landscapes with architecturally integrated solar energy solutions.

The Right Algorithm for the Right Shape: An Algorithmic Framework for Efficient Design and Conception of Building Facades

Chapter

Oct 2023

Buildings are a critical element of civilization, within which we spend over around 70% of our lifetime, but also one of the main contributors to the greenhouse effect. It is therefore important to ensure their design guarantees good indoor conditions, while minimizing the environmental footprint. Among the different building elements, the facade is one that most influences these two requisites and thus its design requires, in addition to the traditional aesthetic and functional requirements, the integration of performance criteria from early design stages. However, there are still some barriers to this integration, such as the limited flexibility of design tools, the need for multiple analysis and optimization tools, and their high computational cost. Recent computational design approaches, such as Algorithmic Design (AD), have been facilitating the combination of creative processes with the search for better performing and more sustainable design solutions. However, these approaches require programming skills, which most architects do not have. To maximize its potential for architectural design, efforts should be made to reduce the complexity of AD and approximate it to the architects’ design practice. We address this by proposing an AD methodology and algorithmic framework for facade design that encompasses its different stages, from conceptual design to manufacturing, and requirements, such as aesthetics, environmental performance, comfort, and costs, among others, while supporting the variability and diversity typical of architectural design problems. By combining the framework’s ready-to-use algorithms, multiple design scenarios can be considered, and various design requirements addressed, helping to achieve the goals established by both the 2030 Agenda and Industry 4.0.

Energy-Based Design: Improving Modern Brazilian Buildings Performance through Their Shading Systems, the Nova Cintra Case Study

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2023

Current research applies an energy-based design model to improve performance in existing modern buildings, in Rio de Janeiro, from the 1940's, improving these buildings' shading systems. This article proposes a methodology tested through a case study, the Nova Cintra building. The methodology starts by analysing the original shading system performance, regarding insolation, illuminance and air temperature. Using these results, proposes two computacional methods to improve performance: (1) a combinatorial modelling process, recombining the existing shading systems positions in the building's north façade; and (2) a transformation process, using parametric and algorithmic-parametric modelling, to improve the existing shading systems performance. Both processes use optimization algorithms. The results of these modelling and optimization methods are compared with the results of the original system and suggests an improvement between 111.1% and 590.4% for insolation; between 360.9% and 84.4% for illuminance; and between 2.9% and 3.0% for air temperature, considering winter and summer solstices. This improvement aims at reducing the buildings' energy consumption and foresees the production of renewable energy from solar harvesting, to mitigate climate change.

Optimization and Prediction of Different Building Forms for Thermal Energy Performance in the Hot Climate of Cairo Using Genetic Algorithm and Machine Learning

Article

Full-text available

Oct 2023

The climate change crisis has resulted in the need to use sustainable methods in architectural design, including building form and orientation decisions that can save a significant amount of energy consumed by a building. Several previous studies have optimized building form and envelope for energy performance, but the isolated effect of varieties of possible architectural forms for a specific climate has not been fully investigated. This paper proposes four novel office building form generation methods (the polygon that varies between pentagon and decagon; the pixels that are complex cubic forms; the letters including H, L, U, T; cross and complex cubic forms; and the round family including circular and oval forms) and evaluates their annual thermal energy use intensity (EUI) for Cairo (hot climate). Results demonstrated the applicability of the proposed methods in enhancing the energy performance of the new forms in comparison to the base case. The results of the optimizations are compared together, and the four families are discussed in reference to their different architectural aspects and performance. Scatterplots are developed for the round family (highest performance) to test the impact of each dynamic parameter on EUI. The round family optimization process takes a noticeably high calculation time in comparison to other families. Therefore, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) prediction model is developed for the round family after simulating 1726 iterations. Training of 1200 configurations is used to predict annual EUI for the remaining 526 iterations. The ANN predicted values are compared against the trained to determine the time saved and accuracy.

A Generative Design Exploration Methodology for Integration of Structural, Environmental, and User Agencies in an Early Design Stage

Article

Nov 2023

Anahita Khodadadi

This article presents a generative design exploration methodology utilized to assist designers in problem structuring and decision-making in a multi-disciplinary setting. This novel design exploration methodology is based on the hybridization of a genetic algorithm (GA) and the Theory of Innovative Problem Solving (TRIZ). This methodology allows investigation of unexpected solutions, application of innovative ideas for resolving contradictory design objectives, and continuous interaction between designers and the search engine. In this study, the design case of a mid-rise apartment complex is used to examine the capacity of the proposed multi-agent design exploration method. Accordingly, both quality and numeric performance-based values of the design alternatives, including the visual appearance of the complex and apartments’ shadows over one another, structural and energy efficiency, and life-cycle impact of the building’s structural system, are investigated to demonstrate the usability and benefits of the developed method.

The impact of aspect ratio of buildings implementing Horizontal light pipe and shading systems on daylight performance

Article

Nov 2023

A Reliability-Based Decision Support System for Resilient and Sustainable Early Design

Chapter

Oct 2023

Optimizing energy and daylight performance of vernacular dwellings for contemporary architecture: a parametric analysis

Article

Oct 2023

An Evaluation of Tools, Parameters, and Objectives in Building Facade Optimization Research

Article

Oct 2023

TILTED GLAZING IN BUILDING SIMULATIONS AND ITS EFFECT ON FORM-REFINEMENT OF COMPLEX FACADES

Conference Paper

Full-text available

Aug 2012

Contemporary high-rise buildings can have complex façade configurations, but existing building simulation programs may not have either the capability or user-friendliness to help architects make better decisions early in the design process that could reduce energy use for these forms. This is especially true with faceted and curvilinear building facades where the glazing is not necessarily vertical. Building codes and software often cannot handle these more unusual curtain wall constructions and dynamic geometries. Consideration of these aspects will become increasingly important as parametric forms become more common. Advances in technology have been improving the building design process. One of the important competencies of building professionals is controlling the tremendous amount of data and information that is now associated with buildings. Intelligent software programs allow architects to study design parameters in the design phase, and some of the programs can even suggest design solutions. The ability to use the appropriate software programs and integrate them with design intuition has become one of the most important criteria for a technology-savvy architect in the burgeoning filed of computational design. This paper focuses on tilted glazing and the effect of its angular dependence on direct solar heat gain (DSHG). Spreadsheet calculations were conducted, and the results were linked to an algorithm developed in Grasshopper to demonstrate form refinement of faceted building facades with an emphasis on the angle-dependent DSHG of glazing. This tool can be used at the outset of design or later as one of the components of an energy simulation program where architects can fine tune their initial ideas for the massing of a building. It can help them determine a better tilt angle of glazing for the building and its overall geometry in a specific climate.

Measured daylighting potential of a static optical louver system under real sun and sky conditions

Article

Full-text available

May 2015
BUILD ENVIRON

By utilizing highly specular surfaces and engineered profile geometry, optical sunlight redirecting systems integrated into the overhead “clerestory” zone of the building facade present the potential to enlarge the daylighting zone by redirecting the luminous flux incident on the window deeper into the space than conventional shading systems. In addition, by developing system geometry to redirect daylight to specific zones within the space, optical light redirecting systems have the potential to avoid the glare conditions commonly produced by conventional facade shading systems that direct significant amounts of daylight below head height into the occupant's field of view. In this case study, side-by-side comparisons were made over solstice-to-solstice changes in sun and sky conditions between an optical louver system (OLS) and a conventional Venetian blind set at a horizontal slat angle and located inboard of a south-facing, small-area, clerestory window in a full-scale office testbed. Daylight autonomy (DA), window luminance, and ceiling luminance uniformity were used to assess performance. The performance of both systems was found to have significant seasonal variation, where performance under clear sky conditions improved as maximum solar altitude angles transitioned from solstice to equinox. Although the OLS produced fewer hours per day of DA on average than the Venetian blind, the OLS never exceeded the designated 2000 cd/m2 threshold for window glare. In contrast, the Venetian blind was found to exceed the visual discomfort threshold over a large fraction of the day during equinox conditions (from 40 to 64% of the test day between August 22 and October 12). Notably, these peak periods of visual discomfort occurred during the best periods of daylighting performance. Luminance uniformity was analyzed using calibrated high dynamic range luminance images. Under clear sky conditions, the OLS was found to increase the luminance of the ceiling as well as produce a more uniform distribution of luminance over the ceiling. Compared to conventional venetian blinds, the static optical sunlight redirecting system studied has the potential to significantly reduce the annual electrical lighting energy demand of a daylit space and improve the quality from the perspective of building occupants by consistently transmitting useful daylight while eliminating window glare.

Visual programming for building information modeling: Energy and shading analysis case studies

Article

Nov 2015

Karen Kensek

Although visual programming is being broadly implemented in other disciplines, it has only relatively recently become an important supplement to three-dimensional modeling programs in the architecture, engineering, and construction industry. Currently, Grasshopper in conjunction with Rhino is a leading example of a visual programming environment that is strongly supported by a user community that is developing additional functionality, but Grasshopper does not yet work directly with building information modeling (BIM) software. Dynamo is relatively new, but shows considerable promise in becoming a constructive tool to complement BIM, 3D modeling, and analysis programs because it includes parametric geometries and works with Revit, a leading BIM software program. Three case studies are described: extensibility of Dynamo through the use of a building energy simulation package, controlling a virtual model’s response through light level sensors, and interactively updating shading components for a building facade based on solar angles. They demonstrate that one can work directly within building information models (BIM) using a visual programming language through updating component parameters. These case studies demonstrate the feasibility of a workflow for sustainable design simulations that is different than that more commonly used -- having a separation between design and analysis models and using a neutral file format exchange such as IFC or gbXML to transfer data. As visual programming languages are still a bit uncommon in the building industry, a short background is provided to place them within the tool set of other customizable tools that designers have been developing.

Designing to Reduce Construction Costs

Article

Dec 1976

Boyd C. Paulson Jr

This paper describes interrelationships between engineering design, construction, and operation costs for a facility, and shows how the ″level of influence″ over those costs decreases precipitously as the project evolves. The level of influence is by far the greatest during engineering and design, while actual expenditures at that stage are relatively small. The level of influence concept can be helpful in forming contractual arrangements that minimize the suboptimization of costs for one party at the expense of overall project costs and benefits. Contractual arrangements should be drawn so as to assure that current construction and operations knowledge will be injected in the design process. ″Construction Management″ and ″design-construct″ , if appropriately tailored to the needs of a particular situation, can be helpful for this purpose. A second important conclusion is that efforts to suboptimize design costs by requiring competitive bidding for professional services are likely to produce much higher project costs in the long run.

The early design stage of a building envelope: Multi-objective search through heating, cooling and lighting energy performance analysis

Article

Sep 2015
APPL ENERG

The majority of decisions in the building design process are taken in the early design stage. This delicate phase presents the greatest opportunity to obtain high performance buildings, but pertinent performance information is needed for designers to be able to deal with multidisciplinary and contrasting objectives. In the present work, an integrative approach for the early stages of building design is proposed to obtain detailed information on energy efficient envelope configurations. By means of genetic algorithms, a multi-objective search was performed with the aim of minimising the energy need for heating, cooling and lighting of a case study. The investigation was carried out for an open space office building by varying number, position, shape and type of windows and the thickness of the masonry walls. The search was performed through an implementation of the NSGA-II algorithm, which was made capable of exchanging information with the EnergyPlus building energy simulation tool. The analyses were conducted both in absence and in presence of an urban context in the climates of Palermo, Torino, Frankfurt and Oslo. In addition, a preliminary analysis on the Pareto front solutions was performed to investigate the statistical variation of the values assumed by the input variables in all the non-dominated solutions. For the analysed case study, results highlighted a small overall Window-to-Wall Ratio (WWR) of the building in all locations. Pareto front solutions were characterised by low WWR values especially in east, west and north exposed façades. The area of the south facing windows was higher compared to the other orientations and characterised by a higher variability.

Energy assessment of office buildings in China using China building energy codes and LEED 2.2

Article

Jan 2015
ENERG BUILDINGS

Building performance simulation in the early design stage: An introduction to integrated dynamic models

Article

Jun 2015
AUTOMAT CONSTR

Kristoffer Negendahl

Fener: A Radiance-based modelling approach to assess the thermal and daylighting performance of complex fenestration systems in office spaces

Article

Feb 2015
ENERG BUILDINGS

A new Radiance-based modelling approach called Fener is presented. The motivation is to be able to perform detailed analyses of complex fenestration systems (CFS) from the energetic and daylighting points of view in a computationally efficient manner, so the benefits of innovative products can be easily quantified. The model couples daylighting and thermal simulations in a time-step basis, so that shading control strategies that depend on thermal variables, such as indoor air temperature and energy load, can be simulated without iterating between full-year simulations of a thermal model and a daylighting model. Fener is a single-zone energy model that uses the three-phase method and bi-directional scattering distribution functions (BSDF) to predict the transmitted solar irradiance and indoor illuminance of office spaces with CFS. An evaluation of the model is presented. Fener is tested against EnergyPlus and classic Radiance for different fenestration systems and sky conditions. Cooling and heating energy demand, transmitted solar irradiance and indoor illuminance are compared. As an exemplary application, Fener is used to assess the performance of an innovative perforated lamella system together with a control strategy that depends on indoor air temperature.

Building Information Modeling

Book

Apr 2014

Karen Kensek

This is a design guide for architects, engineers, and contractors concerning the principles and specific applications of building information modeling (BIM). BIM has the potential to revolutionize the building industry, and yet not all architects and construction professionals fully understand what the benefits of BIM are or even the fundamental concepts behind it. As part of the PocketArchitecture Series it includes two parts: fundamentals and applications, which provide a comprehensive overview of all the necessary and essential issues. It also includes case studies from a range of project sizes that illustrate the key concepts clearly and use a wide range of visual aids. Building Information Modeling addresses the key role that BIM is playing in shaping the software tools and office processes in the architecture, engineering, and construction professions. Primarily aimed at professionals, it is also useful for faculty who wish to incorporate this information into their courses on digital design, BIM, and professional practice. As a compact summary of key ideas it is ideal for anyone implementing BIM.

U.S. energy savings potential from dynamic daylighting control glazings

Article

Nov 2013
ENERG BUILDINGS

Daylighting controls have the potential to reduce the substantial amount of electricity consumed for lighting in commercial buildings. Material science research is now pursuing the development of a dynamic prismatic optical element (dPOE) window coating that can continuously readjust incoming light to maximize the performance and energy savings available from daylighting controls. This study estimates the technical potential for energy savings available from vertical daylighting strategies and explores additional savings that may be available if current dPOE research culminates in a successful market-ready product. Radiance daylight simulations are conducted with a multi-shape prismatic window coating. Simulated lighting energy savings are then applied to perimeter floorspace estimates generated from U.S. commercial building stock data. Results indicate that fully functional dPOE coatings, when paired with conventional vertical daylight strategies, have the potential to reduce energy use associated with U.S. commercial electric lighting demand by as much as 930TBtu. This reduction in electric lighting demand represents an approximately 85% increase in the energy savings estimated from implementing conventional vertical daylight strategies alone. Results presented in this study provide insight into energy and cost performance targets for dPOE coatings, which can help accelerate the development process and establish a successful new daylighting technology. Published by Elsevier B.V.