Evaluation Metrics
The new evaluation metrics are more focused on serviceability and comfort for the occupants. Due to the structure being a high-rise structure, the effect of sunlight and wind are two major factors when it comes to serviceability and comfort. Therefore, the metrics I chose to evaluate was the maximum direct hours of sunlight on any part of the structure and the maximum wind speed the structure would experience.
Original Structure
Direct Hours of Sunlight Metric
In order to measure the direct hours of sunlight the structure would experience; the Ladybug package was downloaded into Grasshopper. From here, the location of the building was inputted by using the ConstructLocation block. The inputs into this block were the coordinates of the building, the time zone, and elevation. Then implementing the SunPath block the path of the sun over the structure was created. A series of hours that incorporated all hours of a year were inputted to create the path for the entire year. This could be altered if there was interest in a specific month, day, or even hour of the year. From here the DirectSunlightHours Block was used to analyze the amount of sunlight on a 10x10 grid across the surface of the structure. To obtain even more accurate results the grid could be made smaller. Then the maximum was determined by using the Bounds and DeconstructDomain blocks.
Maximum Wind Speed Metric
In order to measure the maximum wind speed along the structure, an EPW file was loaded into the software. This file contains collected weather data of San Francisco from EnergyPlus such as wind speed, temperature, and humidity. This file was then passed into the WindProfile Block to complete the analysis. In order to obtain the wind speed along the entire building the height of the building was input in meters. Then using the Bounds and DeconstructDomain blocks the maximum wind speed that the structure would experience was determined.
Optimization Approach
My approach to optimization was to select the structure that experienced the least amount of maximum wind speed and maximum direct hours of sunlight. This is because it is uncomfortable to be an occupant of high-rise structure and feeling the wind sway the building. Additionally, for occupants in the structure for long periods of time exposure to long hours of sunlight is uncomfortable. However, the main focus was on the maximum wind speed since it is a metric that cannot be easily fixed by installing curtains or blinds. Essentially, I wanted to minimize the maximum wind speed and direct hours of sunlight to achieve the goal of serviceability and comfort.
Results
Optimal Structure
The optimal structure is structure number 4 shown below:
