Link to Student
Journal Entry For
Module 7 - Study Your Options
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Step 2 - Generative Design Study
- Evaluators:
- Surface Area and Volume:
- Cost: Cost of building surface area, floor area, windows were included and calculated as follows
- Solar Insolation:
Custom node solar_insolation_surface was created as discussed in previous Modules. Shaded surfaces can be found in the Revit file which were create using “Box” mass element to simulate the surrounding buildings. We need to have more insolation values for both roof and wall so that we can produce more solar energy and more solar heat gain to minimize heating loads in the cold climate like Boston, respectively. Note: Location was set to Boston
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Step 3 - Generative Design Study Results
- Scatter Plots:
- Surface area vs Volume for different number of sides: Area and volume are linearly dependent and for a given volume surface area will be less for profile with more number of sides (blue color). So, to minimize surface area and maximize volume we need to have higher number sided-polygon
- But the problem with more number of sides is the cost will be high as shown in the below scatter plot:
- The amount of solar incidence on windows (solar insolation) is highest for buildings with 5-sided polygon profile (pentagon: light green color code)
- And the window solar insolation value remains more or less the same with increase in opening ratio
- The energy generation potential of PV panels when placed on the roof will be higher for buildings with lower number of sides. And it is also cheaper compared to their higher number sided polygon building counterparts.
- From some of the above analysis, we can say that the trade-offs are not consistent for all the evaluators. So to tackle this, weights must be assigned to each evaluator to find the optimal solution
Image of the dynamo graph:
