(Sus)Tangible - “Sustainability that’s Tangible”
Figure 1. Image of potential building generations
- A link to a recorded video demo (2 minutes max) in which you demonstrate how a user would interact with and benefit from using your parametric design tool.
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A Brief Overview
This generative design tool is intended for use by any building stakeholder (owner, developer, architect, engineer, contractor, etc.) that wants to explore the relationships between building design, construction costs, and sustainable features. It will be an effective conversation starter for early design charrettes so everyone can be on the same page regarding specific building goals. Additionally, this tool will help stakeholders weigh costs and benefits of of different sustainable design choices.
User Manuel
The following section will briefly outline the inputs (both variable and constant) and the outputs of this tool. It will also provide background on the specific calculations within the tool as well as opportunities for further customization.
Figure 2. Dynamo logic for entire generative design tool
Variable Inputs
Bottom/Middle/Top Radius:
Size of the polygon at the bottom, midpoint, and top of the building.
Building Height:
Height of the building from the base to the roof.
Bottom/Middle/Top Sides:
Number of sides each polygon has for the bottom, midpoint, and top of the building.
Wall/Window R-Values:
R-value for the walls and windows of the building.
Window-Wall Ratio (WWR):
Value between 0-1 that determines the ratio between the windows and walls of the building.
Figure 3. Example of variable inputs within the Dynamo interface
Constant Inputs
Story Height:
Height of each building level
Construction Costs - Low/High:
Construction cost per square foot at the lowest level and highest level
Base Length/Width:
Length/width measurements of the building plot of land
Percent of Roof as Solar:
Percentage of roof area dedicated to solar panels
Figure 4. Example of constant inputs within the Dynamo interface
Calculations
Gross Floor Area
Figure 5. Dynamo logic for the gross floor area calculation
The gross floor area for the building was determined by the following inputs: base width, base length, building surface, building height, and story height. A rectangle was generated based on the size of the base and lofted based on the story height and building height. The area that was overlapped with the building at each level was then summed together for the total surface area. The outputs were for the total surface area and the surface area at each level.
Construction Cost by Square Footage
Figure 6. Dynamo logic for the construction costs calculation
The construction costs calculation was determined by the following inputs: value at the lowest level, value at the highest level, building height, story height, floor area, wall R-value, window R-value, building surface, and WWR. The first code block calculates the cost of construction per square foot by increasing the lowest value linearly until it reaches the highest value based on the building and story heights. The second code block takes this value as well as the floor area for each level and multiplies it together to get a base construction cost. Construction cost is then increased by the percentage of the surface area that is wall area and multiplied by the R-value and a factor of 0.4. This represents the cost increase of better insulation. The same is conducted for the window area and R-value but multiplied by a factor of 0.6 because windows are generally more expensive than walls. Including the window and wall R-values as well as WWR incorporates increased insulation into the cost of the building.
Green Space Percentage
Figure 7. Dynamo logic for the green space percentage calculation
The green space percentage calculation was determined by the following inputs: base width, base length, building surface. The green space percentage follows the same logic as the gross floor area calculation except only for the base floor - 0 is input for the z translation. Once the base floor area is calculated, it is subtracted from the area of the total plot of land to determine the amount of available space for green space. This is then converted to a percentage.
PV System Size
Figure 8. Dynamo logic for the solar PV system size calculation.
The PV system size calculation was determined by the following inputs: base width, base length, building height, building surface, and percent area solar. The PV system size follows similar logic to the green space calculation except for the top floor instead of the bottom floor. Building height is input for the z translation. Once the area of the roof space is calculated, it is then multiplied by the area of the roof that is dedicated to solar and converted to meters squared and then multiplied by the module efficiency and then multiplied by 1kW per meter squared. This determines the total PV system size in kW. Module efficiency can be increased or decreased as desired.
Average R-Value
Figure 9. Dynamo logic for the average R-value calculation
The average R-value calculation was determined by the following inputs: WWR, window R-value, wall R-value, building surface. To calculate the average R-value for the building a weighted average R-value was calculate based on the buildings surface area.
Outputs
Figure 10. Dynamo logic of the math rounding and outputs
Generative Study
The figure below shows the generative study window and the options to toggle variables and constants as well as the ranges of each input. It also shows the goals associated with each output. For the outputs - construction costs are aimed to be minimized while green space, PV size, and R-value and aimed to be maximized. Gross floor area is meant to provide additional background information on the project or be used as means to filter data based on the size of the project you desire.
Figure 11. Example of variable and constant inputs as well as goals in the generative study window.
Included below are some examples of the generative study based on the inputs and goals that were selected in the figure above.
Figure 12. Output of building forms across the generative design study
Figure 13. Spread of different inputs both constant and variable across the generative design study
Figure 14. Graph representing the relationships between the outputs across the generative design study
Video Demo
Thanks for a great 3 quarters Nico and Glen! And thank you Gabe for a great spring quarter! Have a fantastic summer!