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From Separation to Incorporation -
A Full-Circle Application of Computational
Approaches to Performance-Based
Architectural Design
Yuhan Chen, Youyu Lu, Tianyi Gu, Zhirui Bian, Likai Wang(B), and Ziyu Tong
Nanjing University, Hankou Road 22, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
wang.likai@nju.edu.cn
Abstract. In performance-based architectural design, most existing techniques
and design approaches to assisting designers are primarily for a single design
problem such as building massing, spatial layouts, or facade design. However,
architectural design is a synthesis process that considers multiple design problems.
Thus, for achieving an overall improvement in building performance, it is critical to
incorporate computational techniques and methods into all key design problems. In
this regard, this paper presents a full-circle application of different computational
design approaches and tools to exploit the potential of building performance in
driving architectural design towards more novel and sustainable buildings as well
as to explore new research design paradigms for performance-based architectural
design in real-world design scenarios. This paper takes a commercial complex
building design as an example to demonstrate how building performance can be
incorporated into different building design problems and reflect on the limitations
of existing tools in supporting the architectural design.
Keywords: Performance-based architectural design ·Computational design ·
Building performance ·Design optimization ·Research design
1 Introduction
Performance-based design has become a trend in architecture and has been widely
applied to building massing, floor plan layouts, and façade design. When confronting
the complex challenge of designing a high-performance building, computational design
approaches and tools are becoming an indispensable component in achieving a
performance-based architectural design. Over the past decade, there have been a fast-
growing number of design tools and methods proposed by researchers and developers,
such as Galapagos (Rutten 2013) and Octopus (Vierlinger 2013) to offer architects
assists in the building design process. However, the applications or studies of using
these tools are often too targeted: they typically focus on one specific design problem,
such as massing generation (Wang et al.2020a), floor plan layouts (Dino 2016), or
© The Author(s) 2022
P. F. Yuan et al. (Eds.): CDRF 2021, Proceedings of the 2021 DigitalFUTURES, pp. 189–198, 2022.
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5983-6_18
190 Y. Chen et al.
facade design (Wright et al.2014). While the relevant studies show that using compu-
tational optimization or other computational techniques such as simulations can help
to improve the performance of the building design, there are few attempts at or inves-
tigation on incorporating these computational techniques into real-world architectural
design scenarios and reflecting on the gap between research and practice.
Since architectural design is a process that needs to synergize different design prob-
lems, the exploration of using different computational design tools, from beginning to
end, in all aspects and elements of architectural design is essential to make performance a
real driving factor consistent in a whole architectural design circle. In this regard, it is per-
tinent to examine how to incorporate these existing computational design techniques and
approaches in a complete design circle. Hence, this paper presents a full circle application
of different computational design approaches based on an undergraduate design studio
project, intending to explore a new design paradigm for performance-based architectural
design.
In addition, as an initial attempt at combining different computational techniques
and approaches in a complete architectural design task, the study bears many limitations
from the practical point of view. However, it should be stressed that the contribution of
this paper is to demonstrate an example of how computational design techniques and
approaches can be applied and promoted a research design (design by research) paradigm
in architectural design, where these techniques and approaches serve as a means of
systematic inquiry of the design problem, helping the designers overcome data-poor
situations, and eventually, synthesizing building performance into the design process. At
the same time, while the study does not advance computational design approaches from
the technical perspective, the example presented is also aimed to provides an opportunity
for the research community to inspect the gap that needs to be filled between research
and practice. Thus, in the conclusion of the paper, we discuss the deficiency in the current
computational design approaches and techniques that we identified during the presented
design process.
2Method
In order to make building performance a driving factor in architectural design, we apply
computational design techniques and approaches to different design stages/problems
and try to improve the performance using different computational design methods. The
design process still follows the ordinary architectural design process, from stages of
building massing design, to spatial layouts, and, finally, to facade design. In each design
stage, different computational tools are used (Fig. 1). Beyond performance concerns, we
also try to incorporate other architectural design intentions such as functions, aesthetics,
and building codes or regulations into the computational design.
First, for the building massing design stage, EvoMass (Wang et al.2020b), a plug-
in for agile building massing generation and exploration, and DIVA, a radiance-based
performance simulation tool in the Rhino-Grasshopper, are used. Unlike typical appli-
cations of performance-based design only considering performance factors, the archi-
tectural design intentions are also transformed into constraints and objectives for the
optimization.
Second, for floor plan design, performance simulation based on DIVA is first carried
out to evaluate the indoor environment quality in the different sections of the building. On
From Separation to Incorporation - A Full-Circle Application 191
Fig. 1. The proposed design process
this basis, different functional spaces, such as exhibition and office rooms, are arranged
primarily according to the environmental quality requirements of these spaces.
Finally, the building’s facade design is generated by a combination of methods of
generative design and performance simulation to achieve an adaptive building skin that
can well respond to the surrounding urban environment as well as the local climate
condition.
3 Case Study
To illustrate the efficacy of the proposed design process, a case-study design of a com-
mercial complex building in Shanghai is presented to elaborate on how different com-
putational tools are used (Fig. 2). Located in Shanghai, the site has a park on its north
and is surrounded by several high- and middle-rise buildings on its south, west, and east
sides. The building’s surrounding urban environment poses a huge challenge to achieve
a favorable performance in the design. Thus, the primary objective of the case study
focuses on the daylighting performance of the building and its impact on an adjacent
public park. In the following part of this section, the process of our application utilizing
multiple computational tools to each of the design stages/problems that lead to the final
design work will be introduced.
3.1 Building Massing Design
At the outset of building massing design, design intentions are specified to define the
overall properties of the building massing and then guide the process of optimization
search for satisficing solutions. The properties include the range of its overall size and
maximal gross floor area. These intentions consider the site and the program (Fig. 3):
First, the building massing design that will be transformed into an office complex build-
ing which needs to meet the basic functional requirements since we conceive the final
design as a practical project. Second, the performance of the building is expected to be
192 Y. Chen et al.
Fig. 2. Site overview
Fig. 3. Intentions in relation to the settings for optimization
maximized, and its negative impact on the park is to be minimized. Third, other require-
ments and intentions related to the formal characteristics of the building need are also
considered.
In the building massing design optimization process, functional requirements, per-
formance requirements, and formal characteristics are all transformed into quantifiable
indicators that can be encapsulated into the fitness function.
For functional requirements, although building performance is our primary design
goal, functional requirements are still the most important concern in architectural design.
In this case study, the functional indicators evaluating against each of the generated
building massing designs including total area, building density, floor area ratio (FAR),
and the number of floors (Area: 15000 m2, Density: 0.5, FAR: 5, Number of Floors: 8).
For performance requirements, due to the building plot situated in a complex urban
environment, this study focuses on the building massing design’s performance on day-
lighting and thermal comfort quality of interior space of the generated building design
From Separation to Incorporation - A Full-Circle Application 193
and its impact on the park. The evaluations were carried out based on the DIVA sim-
ulation tool in the grasshopper platform. We took the average value of annual natural
lighting and the average solar heat radiation value of the park as the two fitness-related
values affecting the generation and optimization of the building massing and intend that
the generated volume can have higher overall fitness.
For formal characteristics, we determined that as urban architecture and a public
building, the design should be spatially and formally interesting, friendly for use, and
open to urban space. Considering that the building is faced with the main road on its
entrance, we hope that the entrance of the building can retreat and form a semi-outdoor
public space for pedestrians. In addition, we hope that the volume of the building will
display richness in shape so that we have more chances to provide shared and activity
spaces.
Note that, in a similar way to ordinary architectural design, our design process
was also an iteratively reflective process (Schön 1992), where we found unintended
consequences from optimization results and, thereby, added up new intentions into the
optimization. In other words, these intentions were iteratively included in the design
process alongside using optimization, and it took us several iterations to reflect on the
on-progress optimization result, reformulate our optimization design problem (fitness
functions), and gradually reach the final design.
In the optimization stage, all the above-mentioned fitness-related values are used
for optimization. The final fitness function consists of multiple variables and can be
expressed as:
Fitness =SI ∗sDA ∗num_roof ∗p_area ∗p_den ∗p_entrance ∗num_roof
Among these parameters, SI and sDA respectively represent the solar irradiation
received by the park and the daylighting value of the building, p_area the punished value
of the total area, p_den represents the punished value of density, p_entrance represents
the punished value of the projected area of entrance, and num_roof represents the number
of roofs.
As shown in the fitness function, we use a penalty function to control the result of
optimization. If the values of building area, building density, and entrance area exceed
the preset values, the penalty function will be used to punish the excess part, resulting
in a lower value of its fitness. In this way, the more the values exceed the expected
value, the lower the value of the variable in the formula will be. As such, we managed to
interfere with the optimization process by controlling the significance of the parameters
contributing to the value of fitness.
We used the optimization algorithm embedded in EvoMass, called SSIEA (Wang
et al. 2020c), for running the optimization. SSIEA is a diversity-guided algorithm that
can produce optimization results with variants showing large design differentiation. The
diversity in the optimization, on the one hand, helps us to extract more information
from the optimization result and obtain a better understanding of the design problem.
On the other hand, the design diversity in the optimization result also provides more
optional design solutions that we can choose from when considering other unquantifiable
concerns. Figure 4shows the optimal design variants found by the last iteration of design
optimization that can generally satisfy all our intentions and performance concerns, and
we selected one design variant for further design development.
194 Y. Chen et al.
Fig. 4. Final building massing design optimization results (red-dotted rectangle: the selected
design)
3.2 Floor Plan Design
In conventional floor plan design, the relationship among different functional spaces is
the priority, but in this study, we treat performance equally important: we started from
the analysis of natural light accessibility simulated by DIVA and allocated each of the
functional spaces according to each volume’s characteristics.
Based on the design variant selected in the building massing design stage, we first
adjusted the volume to make the spatial logic clearer. We found the selected design
solution consists of five interlocking blocks: three large volumes enclosing and spinning
clockwise, located on the corners of the building plot, one small vertical volume inserted
into the former three, and a last horizontal one connecting all the vertical ones.
According to the daylighting simulation results, we arranged the function of each
block according to its daylighting quality as well as functional requirements. (1) Accord-
ing to the natural lighting simulation, the small vertical volume has the worst daylighting
quality and situates at the intersection of all other blocks. Thus, it is most suitable to
serve as the vertical circulation; (2) for the three large volumes, the southern one has
better daylighting, therefore used as a shared functional space, (3) the northern one has
its lower part directly accessible to the urban street interface, therefore chosen as the
cultural space such as book store and coffee shops facing the city, (4) the western one
relatively independent with an unfavorable daylighting condition was used as the office
area; (5) as for the horizontal volume, the large and unobstructed plan, and northward
lighting makes it suitable for the exhibition that requires a coherent and flowing space. In
this way, several large functional spaces are sorted out, and then other subordinate spaces
and functions such as fire escalators, restrooms, and receptions were placed (Fig. 5).
From Separation to Incorporation - A Full-Circle Application 195
Fig. 5. Development of floor plan design
3.3 Facade Design
Facades are an important element in architectural design and play a critical role in indoor
thermal comfort and daylighting. Hence, we developed an algorithm that can generate
a facade based on the solar irradiation received by the surface of the volume. Based on
the solar irradiation intensity, the algorithm calculates the specific window-to-wall ratio
of each facade surface, so as to make the facade more responsive and adaptive to the
environment (Fig. 6).
Fig. 6. The generation process of the façade pattern
First, based on the building volume and the interior functions that have been defined
so far, each of the facade surfaces is assigned with different types of facade schemes
according to the function or thermal requirement of the space. For instance, the three-
story cantilevered large space involving assembly functions such as exhibition and view-
ing, full glazing curtain walls are used. In contrast, the facade of other spaces for com-
mercial and office rooms on the south side of the plan, its relationship with thermal
comfort should be considered.
Second, we used the DIVA to calculate the total solar irradiation on each facade
surface in summers and winters, and do the difference calculation, visualize the results
through an RGB image, and use the color value to express the difference. The darker the
part is, the smaller the difference, on the contrary, the brighter, the greater the difference.
Because the received solar irradiation in summers is always higher than that in winters,
if the difference of heat radiation between summer and winter of the facade surface is
196 Y. Chen et al.
small, it means that this part of the facade surface is less overheated in summers while
can be also heated in winters. Thus, using a large window-to-wall ratio is more favorable.
If the heat radiation difference is large, it is not suitable for large window-to-wall ratios,
as the window may allow excessive solar irradiation to enter the building in summers
while its role in passive heating in winters is trivial.
Finally, with the data controlling the window-to-wall ratio for each of the facade
surfaces, we modularized the facade and set each facade unit to 3.7 ×1.0 m. To avoid
repeated facade patterns, we assigned a random number to each facade unit and compare
this number to the window-to-wall ratio to decide whether this unit is windows or walls.
3.4 Final Design Work
Figure 7shows the final design work of this case study. The final design work presents
many underlying architectural implications related to building performance. For exam-
ple, in regards to the building massing design, the building shows a strong tendency
towards strip shape volumes, which is more favorable for daylighting due to shallow
floor plans. In addition, the building massing has a lower northwest corner in the build-
ing height that allows more sunlight to reach the park. In regards to the floor plan and
facade design, the design of the facade surfaces (fully glazing curtain walls or fenestra-
tions) reflects the function, daylighting, and thermal comfort requirement of the space
behind it.
Fig. 7. Artistic impression of the final design work (left: pedestrian perspective, right: bird view)
Other than the performance consideration, the design work also shows architectural
features reflecting our design intentions. The multiple building volumes allow for more
rooftop terraces that provide space encouraging social events, viewing, and relaxation.
The entrance with a large overhanging structure shows a friendly gesture to pedestrians
on the streets and in the park and welcomes them to enter the building. The building
facade, serving as the interface between the building and urban environment, not only
ensures that each section of the building has desirable daylighting and thermal comfort
conditions but also satisfies the visual requirements of different functional spaces. For
example, higher openness to the exhibition area but more privacy for the office rooms.
From Separation to Incorporation - A Full-Circle Application 197
4 Discussion and Conclusion
The preceding sections illustrate an example of how different computational design
techniques and approaches can be applied to an architectural design task from beginning
to end with using building performance as a driving factor. While the example shows the
potential in existing techniques and approaches to assist designers in overcoming data-
poor situations and achieving a performance-informed, it is more important to reflect
on this process and identify the gap between the functionality of these techniques and
approaches and the need in design processes.
The most significant issue when we reflect on our example is that the detachment
of design objects and design stages. During the design process, the three design objects
were designed separately, and the interaction among these objects was ignored, despite
its importance, which has been demonstrated recently (Zhang et al. 2021). This, on
the one hand, is because the tight design schedule did not allow us to undertake more
iterations to bring the new design information found in the later design stages (floor plan
and façade design) to the preceding design stage (building massing design). On the other
hand, it also lacks applicable approaches that can incorporate these design objects in a
integrated design process. Thus, linking these design objects in one design generation
process is a possible solution to address this issue. The second issue is the lack of handy
design tools. Apart from the building massing design, the other design stages required
us to spend a great amount of time and effort to establish design simulation and design
generation workflows from scratch, which not only slowed down the design process but
also made the design exploration inefficient due to the tedious and repeated workflow
establishing process. Thus, transforming the state-of-art into agile and flexible design
tools could a crucial step to bridge the gap between research and practice.
To conclude, this paper demonstrates the usage and efficacy of computational design
techniques and approaches in performance-based architectural design and promoting
a research design process. While the potential of the computational design techniques
and approaches in supporting sustainable building design has been clearly proven in
this study, we also argued that there is still a large gap between the state-of-the-art
and practice. Hence, this study also attempts to an opportunity to inspect and evaluate
existing techniques and tools from a designers’ perspective as well as to understand what
designers are expecting in the future.
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