This seminar aims to empower students with the theoretical background and the technical expertise to inform architectural design in an urban case study site using environmental simulations.
The undoubtedly significant contribution of buildings’ performance to the devastating effects of climate change has in the past decades driven research and development efforts in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. To enable the shift towards more performance-aware design, environmental simulation tools have become more readily available through the constant development of new interfaces that incorporate state of the art simulation engines in mainstream CAD frameworks. Architects and urban designers have at their disposal today, as part of their design workflows, a wide range of analytical tools that allow them to assess the environmental performance of their designs, in order to make informed and sustainable design decisions. Further to the incorporation of simulation tools the recent developments in optimization and generative design methods are fundamentally changing the computational design workflow and enable the exploration of vast design spaces, unconceivable by manual processes.
This seminar aims to empower students with the theoretical background and the technical expertise to inform architectural design in an urban case study site using environmental simulations. Either on empty unused land plots or the rehabilitation of existing infrastructures, the projects will have synergy with the rest of the digital tools seminars, allowing the students to apply the knowledge received into a practical and speculative design proposal. This hands-on investigation will enable students to apply evidence-based solutions to complex environmental design problems using state-of-the art software and analytical techniques.
At course completion the student will:
Yazd, formerly known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd province in Iran. located 270 kilometers (170 miles) southeast of Isfahan, this ancient city is situated in the heart of the central Iranian desert. Having survived through multiple generations in an environment defined by scorching hot and dry summers, juxtaposed with bone-chilling winters, the cities … Read more
Site & Location This project is in San Francisco, California which is located on the west coast of the United States of America. The site is in downtown area on the north-west part of the city surrounded by high-rise buildings. Climate Summary San Francisco has mild temperate climate with the temperature typically in between 5 … Read more
The project is located in Shanghai, China. The first is the basic climate analysis of Shanghai. The warmest month in Shanghai are 06,07,08, the coldest three months are 12,01,02. According to the UTCI comfort analysis, the outdoor environment is relatively uncomfortable in summer and winter. According to the analysis of the wind environment, wind direction … Read more
The aim of this blogpost is to summarize the tasks and tools practiced during the course of the S1 Seminar: Digital Tools for Environmental Analysis and reflect on the overall learnings, advantages and disadvantages of each. During the course of the semester, I have explore tools for analysis and optimization of elements related to sun, … Read more
Environmental Analysis should be performed on every project, although that has not been the case. Previously, it was only the largest architecture and engineering firms that could afford to have staff specialize in utilizing the manual and complex software for energy modeling and climate analysis. With the advent of Ladybug Tools more and more designers, … Read more
This project depicts a study case considering a series of climatic aspects relevant for architectural strategies. This analysis occur in a subtropical humid zone located in Porto Alegre, extreme south Brazil, comprehending extreme temperatures and constant high humidity, the insertion of architecture in this climatic zones has to respect its natural constraints and be sensible … Read more
Introduction As my final submission, I decided to create an environmental school in response to the urban environment. A project that harnesses the mass of the building in a way to enhance spaces for a variety of purposes is the idea behind the design. As a starting point for architectural massing, very basic elements are … Read more
Environmental Analysis of Residential Building in Vancouver, Canada Site Location: White Spot Restaurant in Georgia Street, Vancouver Preliminary Concept Climate analysis via Ladybug and other plug-ins in Grasshopper. DAYLIGHT ANALYSIS To create a Daylight Analysis we can use different plug-ins in Grasshopper but one of the plug-ins that we can use is called Ladybug. We … Read more
Introduction Professor Ivan Sutherland at the University of Utah supervised several doctoral students in the 1970’s and 1980’s who later created many of the biggest leaps in computer graphics. These include Ed Catmull who founded Pixar and developed Catmull-Clark Subdivision, Alan Kay who worked on the first graphical user interfaces and the first laptop, Jim … Read more
The project’s land plot is located in a dense high-rise populated area in Vancouver, Canada. Thus, an idea for an urban vertical park emerges from the limitation of space and the parallel increased need for vegetation. Initially the climate analysis for Vancouver Canada commenced with an in depth identification of the coldest and warmest months … Read more
St-Clotilde is a parish located in Geneve, Switzerland. Climate data is sourced from IWEC Database of LadyBug in Grasshopper In Geneve the temperature varies between -1º C and 26º C most of the year, but temperature can reach lower and higher peaks. Humidity plays a major role in Geneva as well. In fact, the average … Read more
This presentation is related to which kind of instruments we learned and how to use it during a project. The project that I am analayzing is located in Belfast, north Ireland. The environmental analysis show us that the city have an oceanic climate. With mild winters, cool summers. and the rains and the cover sky … Read more
The project is located in Istanbul. It is the city I dream to develop design projects in the near future. I used this chance to practice the basics of an environmentally informed design in a city where the built environment is dense, the buildings always in very close proximity and the topology is hilly. It … Read more
The Köppen Climate Classification subtype for this climate is “Bwh”. (Tropical and Subtropical Desert Climate). The average temperature for the year in Abu Dhabi is 81.0°F (27.2°C). The warmest month, on average, is July with an average temperature of 95.0°F (35°C). In Abu Dhabi, the summers are long, sweltering, oppressive, arid, and partly cloudy and the winters … Read more
This blog post summarizes what I learned during the environmental analysis seminar. The relation between climate and architecture, especially in Singapore, the city where I live, and I used it for my case studio. My first take was to learn of the existence of the Köppen Climate Classification, in which Singapore falls into the category … Read more
The climate analysis of Stockholm, Sweden leads to the optimization of a new building with twisting floors for human comfort and solar gain.
S1_Environmental Analysis The theme of the design is to provide a comfort and pleasant place coping with the hot and damp weather – A Cooling Paradise Comfort Data suggest that ventilation and cooling down are the keys to tackle problems, the later is directly used for informing retail strategies Conclusion: Tropical climate in Philippines is … Read more
Taking this city as case study, I implemented multiple climatic analysis tools in combination with a sensible assessment of results in order to achieve the best environmental performance of the site. As first approach, diagrams of climate factors were collected to compare them to west Europe conditions. Damascus {33°30’42.6″N 36°18’18.7″E} Köppen-Geiger: cool arid climate (BWk)Weather last … Read more
What do you get if you combine an umbrella with a funnel? A Fumbrella of course! Combining the idea of using an umbrella coupled with a water collecting funnel to create a Fumbrella. This new urban infrastructure is parametric in that it opens and closes according to both solar radiation and rainfall. It is well … Read more
