For my two added evaluation metrics, I decided to implement a “solar panel potential” rating for each design iteration as well as a wall angle output to see how difficult it would be to design the column system as the tower height increases.
Similarly to my Module 5 submission, the input parameter that changes is the angled tower height.
Original Form:
Final Design Choice:
Before showing the results table that led to this being selected as the final design, here’s a look at the design script and custom nodes created:
Main Script -
Evaluation Node -
Custom Node 1 (SolarPanelPotential) -
Custom Node 2 (WallAngle) -
Summary Table -
Conclusions -
Though I’m only taking the class for 2 units, I still decided to make a final design choice based loosely on a Single-Objective Optimization Scheme. First, my reasoning for selecting the two new evaluation methods that I did was the importance of renewable energy in future construction projects. A great way to lower the carbon footprint of a structure is to add solar panels, but to do that you want the most efficient placement. In general this comes down to surface area and orthogonality to sun rays which can be calculated in Dynamo.
The reason the angle of the walls was important to include for me was because a 90 degree structure is able to be designed with a simple column and beam layout. The more angled the walls get, the harder it is to design for the outside columns and room layouts become awkward. I wanted to find the compromise between too large of an angle and the added square footage/cost.
In the end, I opted for a higher cost design to maximize solar panel potential while not going below a wall angle of 70 degrees to avoid difficult structural design.