Summary
For this submission, I decided to evaluate the building in two ways: (1) the approximate heating load of the building, and (2) the ratio of minimum to maximum floor areas.
The approximate heating load was calculated using the building’s gross floor area and gross surface area. The approximate heating load from occupants was estimated to be around 400 BTU/sqft of floor area, 200 BTU/sqft of floor area for lighting, and the approximate heating load from the windows was estimated to be around 200 BTU/sqft of window area.
Because vertical continuity is important for a building both in terms of its structural integrity and for efficient MEP systems, I wanted to be able to see what the ratio between the largest floor area and the smallest floor area was for this structure. For this structure, the largest floor area was the ground level. By evaluating these ratios, the user can select the one with the largest ratio as the most efficient.
Screenshots of the Model
Screenshots of the Code Space
Screenshot of the Tabulated Data
Below is a summary of the data, formatted in Excel.
