Technological advancements in synchronous collaboration: The effect of 3D virtual worlds and tangible user interfaces on architectural design

This paper presents and evaluates two current advancements of collaborative technologies for architectural design. The paper focuses on technologies that support synchronous design collaboration, in particular, 3D virtual worlds for supporting remote design collaboration, and tangible user interfaces (TUIs) for enhancing co-located design collaboration. Both technologies enable designers to collaborate by interacting with 3D models as the design representations. The paper analyzes the effect of these technologies on design collaboration and cognition through a comprehensive interpretation of the results from two independent studies. These two studies, using protocol analysis and each focusing on a different mode of design collaboration, provide the foundation for characterizing the designers' cognition, communication and interaction when using the new technologies. The 3D virtual worlds study investigates remote design collaboration in a 3D virtual world in order to understand the changes of design behavior when designers are physically remote but virtually co-located as avatars within their design representation in the form of a 3D model. The TUI study measures the effect of a tabletop system that integrates TUIs together with augmented reality (AR) on designers' cognitive activities and design process in co-located design collaboration. Finally, the analysis and comparison of the results converge in a set of recommendations for the future development of collaborative design technologies.     

云南地区卷烟工厂采光优化设计

卷烟工厂具有建筑面积大、室内进深大的特点。加之考虑到工艺和视觉工作要求,工厂对室内光环境要求较高。以云南某卷烟复烤联合工房为例,运用Ecotect建立原自然采光设计方案的建筑模型,导入Desktop Radiance进行采光系数计算,分析原设计方案中存在的问题,提出自然采光设计方案优化结果;分析优化方案对室内照明能耗和空调能耗的影响,同时,提供自然采光产品的性能参数指标。提出自然采光模拟分析技术在卷烟工厂采光优化设计中的研究与运用思路。     

ThermalOpt: A methodology for automated BIM-based multidisciplinary thermal simulation for use in optimization environments

This paper describes ThermalOpt—a methodology for automated BIM-based multidisciplinary thermal simulation intended for use in multidisciplinary design optimization (MDO) environments. ThermalOpt mitigates several technical barriers to BIM-based multidisciplinary thermal simulation found in practice today while integrating and automating commercially available technologies into a workflow from a parametric BIM model (Digital Project) to an energy simulation engine (EnergyPlus) and a daylighting simulation engine (Radiance) using a middleware based on the open data model Industry Foundation Classes (IFC). Details are discussed including methods for: automatically converting architectural models into multiple consistent thermal analytical models; integration/coordination of analysis inputs and outputs between multiple thermal analyses; reducing simulation times; and generating consistent annual metrics for energy and daylighting performance. We explain how ThermalOpt can improve design process speed, accuracy, and consistency, and can enable designers to explore orders of magnitude larger design spaces using MDO environments to better understand the complex tradeoffs required to achieve zero energy buildings.     

Simplified daylighting energy savings for non-daylighting building energy simulation programs

The California Legislature mandated the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish and periodically update energy efficiency standards for new buildings. To this end, a sensitivity analysis was conducted by the Standards Development Office of the California Energy Commission for nonresidential buildings. The purpose of this parametric analysis was to determine which variations in building parameters actually have significant energy impacts.A “generic” building model was developed and implemented in conducting this sensitivity analysis. The generic model was used as an analytical tool in modeling the energy impact of building parameter variations, as well as architectural and mechanical energy-saving measures on the energy use of each module. It is recognized that the level of significant energy impact is equivalent to, or bounded by the accuracy of the energy analysis tools in predicting energy usage in actual buildings. For the computer program used, DOE 2.1A this accuracy is within ±5%.Since DOE 2.1A and most of the other building energy simulation programs do not have daylighting algorithms, another calculation tool was used to determine daylight availability and lighting power reduction on an hour-by-hour basis for each orientation. This is accomplished with a daylight reduction factor (DRF).Quicklite, a simplified daylighting program, calculated footcandle (lux) levels based on outdoor ambient light levels, physical room dimensions and properties. To assess the impact of the Quicklite calculated footcandle (lux) levels on artificial lighting use, a control scheme was assumed, and a DRF was calculated based on annual sky conditions by climate zone.Once the DRF values are known for each orientation, the electric lighting schedule can be modified. A new profile number, representing the proportion of installed lighting switched on at that hour, replaced the daily lighting schedules when daylighting was utilized (09:00 – 17:00). To test this methodology, a sensitivity analysis was conducted between DOE 2.1A with Quicklite modifications and DOE 2.1B which has a daylighting preprocessor. The results displayed a 3.6% variation in total energy use.We conclude that daylighting calculations for design days using simplified programs can be used to approximate daylighting energy savings in building energy simulation programs that allow zoned lighting schedules but do not calculate daylight contributions.     

An interactive expert system for daylighting design exploration

Architects increasingly use digital tools during the design process, particularly as they approach such complex problems as designing for successful daylighting performance. However, while simulation tools may provide the designer with valuable information, they do not necessarily guide the user toward design changes which will improve performance. This paper proposes an interactive, goal-based expert system for daylighting design, intended for use during the early design phases. The expert system consists of two major components: a daylighting knowledge-base which contains information regarding the effects of a variety of design conditions on resultant daylighting performance, and a fuzzy rule-based decision-making logic which is used to determine those design changes most likely to improve performance for a given design. The system gives the user the ability to input an initial model and a set of daylighting performance goals in the form of illuminance and daylighting-specific glare metrics. The system acts as a “virtual daylighting consultant,” guiding the user toward improved performance while maintaining the integrity of the original design and of the design process itself. Two sets of case studies are presented: first, a comparison of the expert system results to high performing benchmark designs generated with a genetic algorithm; and second, an evaluation of the expert system performance based on varying levels of esthetic constraints. The results of these case studies indicate that the expert system is successful at finding designs with improved performance for a variety of initial geometries and daylighting performance goals.     

Interactive expert support for early stage full-year daylighting design: A user's perspective on Lightsolve

Designing spaces that are able to balance illumination, glare and solar gains over a year is a real challenge, yet a problem faced every day by building designers. To assist them, a full year, climate-based daylighting simulation method, called Lightsolve, was developed, providing design guidance regarding daylight performance by combining temporal performance visualization over the year with spatial renderings. This paper focuses on the user's perspective for Lightsolve. After a summary of its foundational concepts, it discusses the results of several user studies conducted in educational contexts. As a core element of the paper, the results of an original, design-oriented user study on Lightsolve's expert system are discussed, conducted to determine how well its decision-making algorithm would work when independent human interactions were included. It demonstrated that the expert system shows a high educational potential and is generally successful as a performance-driven design guidance tool, respectful of its non-deterministic nature.     

Building performance assessment of user behaviour as a post occupancy evaluation indicator: Case study on youth housing in Egypt

Youth housing prototypes are widely spread all over Egypt as a cheap economic housing for youth which are designed in a number of different shapes. A post occupancy evaluation (POE) has been conducted to one of these prototypes to assess some modifications spontaneously done by users to the original design for the sake of enhancing building performance, e.g., creating new openings to improve lighting and natural ventilation thermal comfort, and making sunshades to control direct sunlight and thermal radiation. These assessments have been validated using simulation techniques i.e. CFD, thermal and daylight simulations, to compare natural ventilation, thermal comfort, and daylight energy efficiency in the original designs to that in the user modified. A wind tunnel test has been conducted to validate the standard k–epsilon turbulence CFD simulation in addition to daylighting in-situ measurements to validate natural lighting. The outcome of this research could be widely used as an important feedback tool in the future designs of the same prototype to evaluate user behaviour role in building performance efficiency. The research showed that some of these behaviours has improved thermal comfort by 60% to 87% from the original design while daylight efficiency has been improved by 31.8% to 41.4% while sensible cooling loads’ improvement ranges from 27.4% to 77.2% for the northern zone and 29.9% to 91.6% for the southern one, and thus, it could be used as a reliable POE feedback tool.     

Assessment of daylight in rooms with different architectural features

Results are presented from a parametric study that assessed the amount of daylight in rooms with different architectural features: the orientation, window size and visible glazing transmittance, room depth, external obstruction angle and site. Annual lighting simulations were run in order to understand how the daylight availability within a space changes as a function of the architectural features. A sub-dataset of the full result database is examined in detail for north- and south-facing rooms in Turin, north-west Italy, with a visible glazing transmittance of 70%. Each feature is analysed for its influence on the daylighting conditions. A simple graphical tool is presented to promote an easier reading of the results. This was developed to provide a synthesis of information to the design team. It shows the influence of preliminary design solutions on the amount of indoor daylight. This allows a design team to assess indoor daylighting from the earliest design phases onwards and to determine which combinations of architectural features are able to provide high, acceptable or low daylight levels within a room.     

The influence of the user on the results of multizone air flow simulations with COMIS

The multizone airflow simulation program COMIS was evaluated within an International Energy Agency research program. One of the steps in the evaluation procedure is to test the user–code interface, consisting not only in the appearance of the computer screen, but also in the user guide or any other tutorial or help system. The user–code interface of COMIS was then tested through round robin tests. Two types of problems were submitted to several users: a simple and well-defined problem and a real world problem. This study first allowed great improvements of the user guide. While results for the well-defined case were very close to each other, large differences were observed for the `real world' case. Results of simulation largely depend on the user options, and users easily make modelling errors when the studied case becomes complex.     

Development and Evaluation of a Tangible Terrain Representation System for Highway Route Planning

Abstract:   In recent years, mixed or/and augmented reality, which aims to integrate virtual space with real space, has received a significant amount of attention in research and development. In particular, the concept of a tangible interface is an interesting research area in this growing field of study. This article develops and evaluates a tangible terrain representation system (TTRS), a tangible interface that recognizes the terrain in three dimensions and provides a more efficient approach to highway route planning and design. The developed system represents a terrain surface by controlling the shape of a stretchable screen using 64 actuators (8 × 8) and by projecting an aerial photograph on a screen. In applying TTRS to highway route planning, the user establishes control points using a magnetic positioning device and projects the image of a highway alignment on the TTRS. The developed system was evaluated by comparing its usability to an alternative system (virtual reality-based visual three-dimensional representation) using a group of evaluators at Miyagi University, Japan. The article concludes that TTRS is an effective tool for terrain representation and highway route planning and design .     

An exterior illuminance predictive model for clear skies in mid-western Argentina

Accurate assessment of the daylighting resource is essential for a proper design of naturally lit architectural spaces. Many regions of the world, including those of South America, do not yet possess recorded data of exterior illuminance, predictive analytical models being the only available tool for such assessment. Several models were studied comparatively before developing the one presented in this paper. It was designed aiming at the inclusion of variables that precisely define the local atmospheric conditions and the albedo, thus allowing for its generalised applicability, in conjuction with the solar position as defined by latitude, Julian day and solar time.     

Energy nomographs as a design tool for daylighting

The purpose of this paper is to inform commercial building designers about an energy analysis tool which can aid them in making appropriate decisions about daylighting. The energy nomographs are an energy design tool which calculate the annual energy consumption of commercial buildings, including lighting, heating, cooling, domestic hot water, fans, pumps, and miscellaneous items. This paper specifically discusses the daylighting aspects of the tool. The calculation procedure is presented with an example to explain how this design tool can be used to make good energy decision eearly in the design process.     

Effectiveness of daylighting design and occupant visual satisfaction in a LEED Gold laboratory building

Using daylight as primary light source has been widely recognized as an important strategy to reduce building energy demand and enhance indoor environment quality. However, to design and operate a building to make full use of daylight, which is a dynamic light source, to meet diverse occupant needs remains a challenge. This paper reports a post-occupancy study of the visual environment in a laboratory building on a university campus, and puts a spotlight on the building occupants as it examines the effectiveness of the daylighting design and systems integration in creating a visual environment to support occupant comfort and satisfaction while reducing artificial lighting demand. Results show generally high satisfaction with daylit work environment and positive effect of the horizontal shading strategy. Issues about the integration between daylighting and electric lighting systems and level of occupant control are identified and discussed for improving the effectiveness of daylighting and enhancing the quality of the visual environment in the building of study. A multiple-tool methodology is developed and tested, which included occupant surveys, interviews, illuminance measurements, continuous data loggers, fisheye-lens camera and glare-identifying software, and documentation of spatial settings, systems features, and user behavior.     

双向建筑中庭天然采光与建筑设计的研究

通过研究双向建筑中庭的形状、高度、面积及中庭的天窗面积、玻璃材料与中庭天然采光之间的关系,为建筑师设计中庭提供理论依据。     

Improving building facade design using integrated simulation of daylighting, thermal performance and natural ventilation

The opening of building facade has a strong influence on energy consumption. However, making full use of solar energy and natural wind to reduce energy consumption is a challenge for architects. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of the facade design on energy consumption from an operable aspect. The evaluation comes from an integrated approach combining daylighting, thermal performance and natural ventilation. The study is based on computer simulation technique utilizing simulation tools EnergyPlus and Fluent. To facilitate the use of EnergyPlus, a simple graphic user interface has been developed by Matlab. The interface can set the parameters of EnergyPlus and process the wind pressure coefficients calculated by Fluent. With this interface, three type facade configurations with different areas or position changes have been modelled. The results show that opening area, compared with opening positions, exerts a greater influence on energy consumption. The opening position changes have a positive influence; however, this influence is small: at around 2%.     

An interface system for computerized energy analyses for building designers

This paper describes research on a computer model for building energy simulation. The main goal of this effort has been to provide building designers a better design tool for energy optimization in their building design processes. With the rapid development in computing technology, today's expectation for computer-aided building design (CABD) systems have matured to an advanced level—to the point where designers are open to the idea of computers helping them in the thought process and not just being used to manipulate and represent geometric shapes [J. Pohl et al., 1992. A Computer-Based Design Environment—Implemented and Planned Extensions of the ICADS Model. Design Institute Research Report, CADRU-06-92, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.]; [J.A. Clarke, A.D. Irving, 1988. Building Energy Simulation: An Introduction, Energy and Buildings, 10 (1988), Elsevier, pp. 157–159.]. By its very nature, design is a multidisciplinary and creative activity which encompasses all the relevant areas to be considered during the design process. Thus, the CABD system of today is expected to be a general purpose integrated system, rather than a domain-dependent isolated graphics system [J. Pohl, L. Myers, A. Chapman, J. Cotton, 1989. ICADS: Working Model Version 1, Design Institute Research Report, CADRU-03-89, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA.]. This research effort embodies a prototype interface system for a building energy simulation model (ENERife). This interface system is not a simple layer between user and simulation model, but rather, a general interface strategy to control simulation models and relevant databases to be integrated into CABD. The system includes a user interface module, system interface module, general database handling module, automated input processor, building matrix system, and a result analysis and recovery system.     

四向建筑中庭天然采光与建筑设计的研究

天然采光有利于节省照明能耗,改善建筑空间的光环境质量.通过研究四向建筑中庭的形状、中庭高度、中庭面积、中庭的天窗面积、玻璃材料与中庭天然采光之间的关系,为建筑师设计中庭提供了理论依据.     

三向建筑中庭天然采光与建筑设计的研究

天然采光有利于节省照明能耗,改善建筑空间的光环境质量.通过研究三向建筑的中庭形状、中庭高度、中庭面积、中庭的天窗面积、玻璃材料与中庭天然采光之间的关系,为建筑师设计中庭提供理论依据.     

Effects of daylighting options on the energy performance of two existing passive commercial buildings

Results are presented from a study of south facing roof apertures on two buildings from the U.S. Department of Energy's Non-Residential Experimental Passive Buildings Program. This study is part of a broad effort to evaluate the energy, functional and economic performance of all twenty buildings in the program based on on-site observations and physical data. The work reported here supplemented the basic building data with illumination data from physical models and from the buildings themselves, and with additional observations and measurements. Energy analyses were performed in order to examine more comprehensively the daylighting systems incorporated into the buildings, especially as they relate to (a) interaction between heating, cooling and lighting requirements; (b) integration of the electric lighting and daylighting systems and (c) functional effectiveness and occupant interaction with the daylighting system.Results of this study provide quantitative information on the energy benefits of the daylighting systems as designed and used in the two buildings examined. The daylighting strategies are shown to provide substantial energy savings over similar non-daylit buildings. In both buildings, manual control of the electric lights is used; the evaluation demonstrates that in these buildings this proves to be an extremely effective strategy. Factors contributing to this result are discussed in terms of the observed behavior of the occupants and functional requirements of the buildings.     

Interactive Evolution: A Prototyping Framework for Engineering

Abstract: Interactive evolution is a powerful method combining the strength of simulated evolution with the judgment of a human user. This technique can serve as a useful tool for achieving flexibility and complexity in architectural design and civil engineering applications. Operators such as recombination, mutation, and expansion are used to evolve variations and improvements on an existing set of models with only a moderate amount of user input and detailed knowledge. One of the main advantages of this method is that it has the potential to optimize a preferred model and to produce many variations from a limited dataset of models. In addition, since it generates constrained variants reflecting the user's preferences, it provides both the architect and engineer with a creative design tool. I present the IDEA system, an interactive X-window tool, for this purpose. This method is exemplified within an architectural design situation through the design of houses, bridges, and urban planning.