Evaluating Alternatives

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Image of My Model

Original Building From
Original Building From

Best Building Form
Best Building Form

Image of Your Results

Paste images or screenshots of the Summary Tables (created in Word, Excel, Google Sheets, or some other data table tool) showing the input values tested and the values computed for each of the reported parameters.

Unsorted Data (there are more iterations)
Unsorted Data (there are more iterations)
Sorted data from largest number of "points," but also meet the area min/max requirements. The designs at the top of this image are the best designs.
Sorted data from largest number of "points," but also meet the area min/max requirements. The designs at the top of this image are the best designs.

Description

Additional Attributes Measured:

  • Number of Panels Created
    • V Grid = 10
    • U Grid = number of floors
  • Sun Intensity
    • Get the normal vector of each panel, cross prod with the suns position
    • Add up only positive (0,1) values for each model
    • Comparison Metric: Sun Intensity/Number of Panels * 2
  • Number of Sun Clear View
    • Take Panels with only positive cross product values
    • Create Lines from these panels to the sun
    • Count number of these lines don't intersect with the surrounding buildings (using IsoVist Ray in GH)
    • Comparison Metric: Number of Sun Clear View/Number of Panels
  • Number of Clear View
    • Use all of the panels, and create a line from the center outwards
      • Only use X and Y components of the normal, ignoring Z
    • Count number of these lines don't intersect with the surrounding buildings (using IsoVist Ray in GH)
    • Comparison Metric: Number of Clear View/Number of Panels
    • Selection of "Best" Design

      After evaluating all of the potential designs (varying the center polygon rotation 0:10:90, varying height 200:50:450), the buildings Areas, Volume, Surface Areas, Number of Panels, Sun Intensity, Number of Sun Clear Views, Number of Clear Views, were exported to excel. From here the three comparison metrics described above were calculated in excel. These values are calculated as percentages to show how many of these panels are getting direct sun/views, but the true value is added together to the buildings number of "points". The building with the most points, but also falling within the 1.2-1.5m sqft requirements, is the best design. I chose this ranking scheme because the inhabitants of my building are really interested in seeing the best view, whether that is the sun or not being block from other buildings. Additionally, they want to have a large amount of sun intensity, as maybe this building is in a cool environment and is using the sun for passive heating.