My building so far has been somewhat of a challenge trying to nail the type of building envelope that suits it. Originally, I had the proposition of making the roof a curtain system; however, after complexities and the realization that my floor plan changed, a curtain roof system would very much be unideal.
The building envelope as is, involves some R53 walls with metal framing material insulated with concrete. The metal would be recycled / reclaimed metal and the concrete would see the wall construction seemless.
Additionally, I decided to model the lobby entrance as a fish bowl, i.e. a curtain wall system wrapping around the front to incite enthusiasm and curiosity as to what it has to offer within its confines. My vision going forward is best shown through this sample:
The sides of my walls face East and West, both of which receive a lot of sunlight during the summer times. As such, I want to both optimize the natural lighting while also providing a building envelope that is not 100% strictly curtain wall. Here, I want to emulate the strip of windows on the side of the façade to match the room layout of all the floors. I am having difficulty modeling these windows on a slanted wall as the editing of profiles makes it rather tricky.
I think I have figured out a temporary solution with my vision, however, I am seriously considering simplifying the model.
An analysis in Insight shows that I am on track, in my part of the design, for what I want to achieve with sustainability. I am below the Arch 2030 value but just above the ASHRAE 90.1 value. Ultimately, my target is to have my maximum energy output of the building see the inefficiency, what I will call a higher kBtu/ft^2 / year, be the Ashrae 90.1 value. That way, the improvements on the buidling overall will be with the equipment rather than the design.