Automated translation of architectural models for energy simulation
Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design
Proceedings of the 2012 Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design
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Architects today rarely use whole building energy analysis to inform their early design process. During this stage of design, the team is responsible for macro-level decisions (such as basic form and orientation) that can have the most significant effects on energy use. So why are so few architects using energy analysis tools at this stage? In many cases, this is because the tools available to perform energy analysis are too complex and time-consuming to learn and use during the fast-paced conceptual design phase because of the time needed to model and analyze the design. Often energy analysis tools are separate, standalone applications that require a separate thermal model to be authored. This adds more time and complexity and limits the number of professionals experienced with these tools. Understanding the results and using them in presentations is also quite difficult in current tools. This paper describes a system that can alleviate these problems by automatically generating an energy model from an architect's basic massing model. Our approach allows an architect to focus on modeling the building form, rather than the thermal zones that are the focal point for most energy modeling software on the market today. The architect's massing model can then be modified and the energy model stays in sync, allowing comparative analyses to be made quickly and easily.