Proceedings of the 9th Arab Society for Computer Aided Architectural Design (ASCAAD) international conference 2021 (ASCAAD 2021): architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges.

The ASCAAD 2021 conference theme is Architecture in the age of disruptive technologies: transformation and challenges. The theme addresses the gradual shift in computational design from prototypical morphogenetic-centered associations in the architectural discourse. This imminent shift of focus is increasingly stirring a debate in the architectural community and is provoking a much needed critical questioning of the role of computation in architecture as a sole embodiment and enactment of technical dimensions, into one that rather deliberately pursues and embraces the humanities as an ultimate aspiration

Uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis techniques in building performance simulation to support conceptual building and system design

Due to advances in computing and modeling, the Architecture Engineering and Construction (AEC)industry has arrived at an era of digital empiricism. Computational simulation tools are widely used across many engineering disciplines for design, evaluation and analysis. Experts in the field agree that design decisions taken during the early design stages have a significant impact on the real performance of the building. Nevertheless, building performance simulation is still hardly used during conceptual design. The European Commission has targeted a 20% reduction of CO2 emissions, a 20% increase of energy efficiency and a 20% increase in the use of renewable energy by 2020. These ambitious aims have resulted in the recasting of the Energy for Buildings Directive, demanding nearly-zero-net energy-buildings for new buildings and major refurbishments by 2020. The formulated aim requires for the first time an integrated design of the building’s demand and supply systems. The current research was triggered by the above observation. It uses semi-structured interviews and critical reviews of literature and software to establish the reasons that prevent Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) consultants from adopting Building Performance Simulation (BPS) tools and to identify the needs of practitioners during the conceptual design stage. In response to the identified needs, a rapid iterative development process is deployed to produce a prototypical software tool. Finally, the tool is heuristically tested on expert users to evaluate its capability to support the conceptual design process. The results obtained from interviews and reviews highlight that HVAC consultants work with an increasing number of design alternatives to prevent dysfunctional buildings. The complexity of design problems is increasing on the one hand due to the need for an early integration of engineering discipline’s and on the other hand due to the challenges in meeting the even more stringent requirements of new buildings. Furthermore, design teams run the risk of only identifying suboptimal solutions for the design problem when they limit themselves too early to a small number of design alternatives. The use of simulation tools helps facilitate a quick turnaround of performance evaluations for a great number of design alternatives early in the design process. By doing so, performance simulation tools have the potential to supplement design experience and support decision making. However, simulation tools are perceived by many as too detailed to be readily used for conceptual design support. Research findings suggest that tools for the early design stages are required to enable parametric studies and to provide facilities to explore the relationships between potential design decisions and performance aspects. Tools need to be able to dynamically scale the resolution of their interfaces to fit the different levels of information density characteristic of the different design stages. In addition, they need to be flexible enough to facilitate expansion of the system representations with innovative design concepts as the design progresses. Due to the need for parametric studies and the exploration of the relationships between potential design decision and performance aspects, this research explores the extension and application of BPS tools with techniques for uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis for conceptual design support. This endeavor requires (1) the evaluation and selection of an extension strategy, (2) the determination of the format and availability of input to techniques for uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis, as well as (3) developing knowledge regarding the extent and content of the design option space. To avoid the need to modify the source code of BPS tools, an external strategy is applied that embeds an existing simulation engine into a shell with extra features for statistical pre and post-processing by Latin Hypercube sampling and regression based sensitivity analysis. With regards to the model resolution, results suggest that it is more beneficial to use detailed models with adaptive interfaces rather than simpler tools. The advantages are twofold. Firstly, the BPS tool can use an existing validated simulation model - rather than a specifically developed abstract model with limited applicability. Secondly, the model is able to provide consistent feedback throughout the lifetime of the building. Within the iterative process, the conceptual design stage has some distinctive tasks, such as to explore the option space and to generate and evaluate design concepts. The option space is multidimensional, due to its multi-disciplinary set-up and wide-ranging interests of the participating practitioners. An empirical study as part of the research demonstrates the presence of at least two attributes, four subsystem categories and four relationships. Depending on the experience of the practicing designer, components, attributes and relationships are used to a very different extent. While experienced HVAC consultants seem to work mainly with relationships when compiling a design concept, novice designers prefer to work with components. The sampling based analysis strategy requires knowledge about the uncertainty of the parametric model input in the form of probability distribution functions. On the basis of a survey on internal gains for offices, this thesis concludes that current design guidelines provide useful data in a suitable format. Measurements conducted in an office building in Amsterdam confirm the trend towards decreasing equipment gains and the proportional increase of lighting gains. However, in the absence of data to derive a probability density function, this research suggests the definition of "explanatory" scenarios. It is common practice to use "normative" scenarios as input in building performance studies aiming to prove compliance with building regulations. The use of "exploratory" scenarios is less common. Scenario based load profiles have to meet three characteristics. They have to be: (1) locally representative; (2) up-to date and (3) need to match workplace culture. As part of this thesis explanatory data sets were developed representing climate change scenarios for The Netherlands. The exploratory scenarios facilitate the robustness assessment of the future performance of design alternatives. Tests with the Dutch data sets confirm that neither the current reference data nor the projected reference data provide valid results to predict uncertainty ranges for the peak cooling load as a potential robustness indicator. A simulation based comparative robustness assessment of three HVAC concepts over 15 and 30 years is reported. The results indicate a robust future performance for the floor-cooling based design alternative with respect to thermal comfort and cooling energy demand. The software prototype shows that detailed simulation tools with features for uncertainty propagation and sensitivity analysis provide the facilities to explore consequences of potential design decisions on performance aspects. In addition, they enable parametric studies and create the possibility to quantify parameter interactions and their collective impact on the performance aspect. Heuristic usability evaluation of the software prototype confirms the value to design practice. 85% of approached HVAC consultants state that the uncertainty of performance aspects is an important parameter to support conceptual design. More importantly, 80% of the practitioners consider the prototype to have great potential to reduce the number of necessary design iterations. This thesis concludes that simulation tools that quantitatively address uncertainties and sensitivities related to conceptual building design generate value by (1) providing an indication of the accuracy of the performance predictions; (2) allowing the identification of parameters and systems to which performance metrics react sensitively and in-sensitively, respectively; and (3) enabling a robustness assessment of design alternatives

Digitised engineering knowledge for prefabricated façades

Façade design is a multidisciplinary activity requiring the balancing of many conflicting design requirements. Very often, however, the designed façade does not respond to these requirement, as relevant design and manufacturing knowledge, normally originating downstream in the design process, is not properly used upstream in the process. The inability to respond to this challenge increases the environmental impact of the construction sector, which is currently covering nearly 40% of the global emissions. Also, improving the stagnant sector’s productivity is of paramount importance today, as it is deemed to be nearly as half as that of the manufacturing sector. This research has thus investigated ways to collect, store, represent and digitalise the engineering knowledge that underpins the design of façade products for façades that are better designed. The work has involved a close collaboration with the British general contractor (and façade manufacturer) Laing O’Rourke. The research has explored ways of using design and manufacturing knowledge and it has developed a digital tool and tested its functionalities. In the first part, after a review of the state-of-the-art in knowledge-based approaches in other fields, the digital tool, and relevant methodology, are developed. The tool informs the user about the expected performance and manufacturability of the façade product under analysis. The boundaries of traditional research were also pushed beyond the proof-of-concept by validating the digital tool in both simulated and real-world scenarios. The goal was to understand how people can develop a design solution while being supported by a digital tool. It was found that using such tool increases the user’s awareness about the consequences of the his/her choices in less time. In the last part of the research, the tool was used to develop a novel optimisation algorithm, by including considerations about aesthetics and manufacturability, in parallel with the traditional performance-based approach. The application of the algorithm to a case study has shown that it is possible to improve existing solutions in terms of performance, without affecting aesthetic and manufacturability significantly.EPSRC, Laing O'Rourk

Proceedings of the COST Action TU1403 : Adaptive Facades Network Final Conference

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

efnMOBILE 2.0 / Efficient Envelopes

Based on the experiences of efnMOBILE 1.0 the hands-on student workshop activities and exhibitions took place in different evironments and locations encouraging new technologies and methodologies. Like efnMOBILE 1.0 the new workshop series efnMOBILE 2.0 provides the European Facade Network (efn), its conferences and the connected professional community with a local platform for communication, exhibition, innovative development and interaction. efnMOBILE 2.0 is reaching out to be developed from a European communication and technology exchange instrument into an international tool to exchange with the global facade community. All events of efnMOBILE 2.0 follow an overall theme: ‘Efficient Envelopes’. Focusing towards adaptive and transdisciplinary approaches to improve the building envelope’s thus the building’s performance through human-centered solutions in facade technology. The task is to inspire the upcoming generation of architects, designers and engineers to allow themselves to follow uncharted paths of development, think outside the box, to build showcase examples, and to come up with ground-breaking solutions – for a better design as it relates to climate, health and an overall building design approach. The concept is supposed to foster the dialogue around sustainable design and development and to increase awareness and actionable solutions for sustainable design. In 2016 and 2017 efnMOBILE 2.0 has been present at three annual conferences of efn: Lucerne 2016, Delft 2017 and Detmold 2017 and additionally at the glasstec fair 2016 in Dusseldorf (Germany), and in 2017 at the University of Antwerp and the ICBEST conference in Istanbul (Turkey). Each event includes a three-to-five-days-workshop on location – to inspire and innovate - followed by a period designated to design development and engineering, and concludes with a final presentation to the professional public at fairs, conferences or in the educational context. During each event, the participants build mock-ups of different scales, do field research or intercultural exploration. To reach this goal the project contributes to the following outcomes: increased knowledge sharing between the various European research and education centres and between those centres and industry and further international actors. development of novel concepts and technologies and/or the new combinations of existing technologies. development of new knowledge such as effective evaluation tools/methods for adaptive facades. start of new collaborations and research projects in the area of facades technologies. This time efnMOBILE 2.0 also included an international online survey on facade education with responses from more than 200 participants. The survey addressed practitioners and scholars and was focussing on the needs and expectations of facade industry and consultancy. The results of the survey will help to further improve the existing programs and to develop new programs overseas. efnMOBILE 2.0 has been made possible through the funding of the ALCOA Foundation. The editors and the efn-members like to thank ALCOA Foundation for supporting this initiative to make building envelope design and connected educational programmes more efficient and successful by creating a platform for organized sustainable creative thinking

Passive Energy Conservation Management in Retrofit Buildings: An Integrated Assessment-optimization Approach under Cost Uncertainty

A significant share of the total primary energy belongs to buildings. In many buildings, improving energy performance of buildings is of particular importance in new construction and existing buildings. Building refurbishment is considered a practical pathway towards energy efficiency as the replacement of older buildings is at a slow pace. There are various ways of incorporating energy conservation measures in buildings through refurbishment projects. In doing so, we have to choose among various passive or active measures. The energy usage can be significantly reduced by adopting passive measures. These methods might not need additional capital investment. An integrated building renovation approach, in which passive methods are implemented, can reduce the energy consumption of building, compensating the additional cost of new technologies. This thesis aims at developing an integrated assessment-optimization framework to provide a decision support for prioritization and selection of building refurbishment measures with energy conservation potentials by considering the cost uncertainty. Firstly, a literature review is carried out to ascertain the state of the art in the retrofit decisions in buildings at the presence of several decision criteria. possible and available passive measures are investigated and identified based on four energy control principles. Secondly, the analytic network process (ANP) is reviewed as a multiple criteria decision-making method capable of incorporating the interdependencies among decision criteria to arrive at an overall assessment (relative scores) for alternative retrofit measures. To incorporate uncertainties in formulating the initial cost of materials, a fuzzy set approach is adopted. Then, the scores resulted from the assessment phase are formulated a utility objective function to be maximized alongside the cost objective function(s) that are minimized. The fuzzy numbers representing the cost uncertainties are incorporated into the cost objective function using alternative methods of graded mean integration, aggregate approach and interval approach. Various Solution approaches are then utilized for the multi-objective models to deal with the conflicting objectives including distance to ideal, compromise programming and goal programming. The cases of linear and integer assumptions about decision variables are investigated. The applicability of the proposed three-stage assessment-optimization approach under uncertainty is then illustrated through the case study of a typical building in order to verify its applicability and usefulness and the solution scenarios are explored and compared The proposed framework can assist decision makers in choosing the best passive measures in the planning phase of the building refurbishment addressing the complexities arising from multiplicity of feasible measures and their varied characteristics.Finally, in terms of the impact of the above research, it worth mentioning that 40% of final energy is used in buildings and the use of passive measures as a means of refurbishment for building stocks could create significant energy efficiency gains

Computational Design of Cold Bent Glass Fa\c{c}ades

Cold bent glass is a promising and cost-efficient method for realizing doubly curved glass fa\c{c}ades. They are produced by attaching planar glass sheets to curved frames and require keeping the occurring stress within safe limits. However, it is very challenging to navigate the design space of cold bent glass panels due to the fragility of the material, which impedes the form-finding for practically feasible and aesthetically pleasing cold bent glass fa\c{c}ades. We propose an interactive, data-driven approach for designing cold bent glass fa\c{c}ades that can be seamlessly integrated into a typical architectural design pipeline. Our method allows non-expert users to interactively edit a parametric surface while providing real-time feedback on the deformed shape and maximum stress of cold bent glass panels. Designs are automatically refined to minimize several fairness criteria while maximal stresses are kept within glass limits. We achieve interactive frame rates by using a differentiable Mixture Density Network trained from more than a million simulations. Given a curved boundary, our regression model is capable of handling multistable configurations and accurately predicting the equilibrium shape of the panel and its corresponding maximal stress. We show predictions are highly accurate and validate our results with a physical realization of a cold bent glass surface

Natural ventilation in double-skin façade design for office buildings in hot and humid climate

This research seeks to find a design solution for reducing the energy usage in high-rise office buildings in Singapore. There are numerous methods and techniques that could be employed to achieve the purpose of designing energy efficient buildings. The Thesis explores the viability of double-skin façades (DSF) to provide natural ventilation as an energy efficient solution for office buildings in hot and humid environment by using computational fluid dynamic (CFD) simulations and case study methodologies. CFD simulations were used to examine various types of DSF used in office buildings and the behaviour of airflow and thermal transfer through the DSF; the internal thermal comfort levels of each office spaces were analyzed and compared; and an optimization methodology was developed to explore the best DSF configuration to be used in high-rise office buildings in the tropics. The correlation between the façade configurations, the thermal comfort parameters, and the internal office space energy consumption through the DSF is studied and presented. The research outcome of the Thesis has found that significant energy saving is possible if natural ventilation strategies could be exploited with the use of DSF. A prototype DSF configuration which will be best suited for the tropical environment in terms of its energy efficiency through cross ventilation strategy is proposed in this Thesis. A series of comprehensive and user-friendly nomograms for design optimization in selecting the most appropriate double-skin façade configurations with considerations of various orientations for the use in high-rise office buildings in the tropics were also presented