Design Journal Entry - Module 8 - Part 2 - Lavinia Pedrollo

TEASER IMAGE

VIDEO DEMO - TUTORIAL

If you have issues visualizing this video (it is heavy as it is displayed in 1080p!), please do any of the following:

• Check the video at the end of this Notion page in lower resolution (480p)
• Download the video from my ACC folder on your local machine. I have uploaded the same video in two file formats: .MOV and .MP4.

A CATCHY ACRONYM

README

Tool Overview

OptiBuildGen is designed to empower users to create building designs and select the best design options by leveraging parametric design and generative optimization techniques using Dynamo. This tool allows users to simulate a project site environment, create diverse building designs, and explore numerous design options based on variables such as footprint shape, dimensions, height, position, orientation, and facade material. By integrating multiple performance criteria, OptiBuildGen facilitates informed decision-making and promotes efficient, sustainable design practices. Intended users include architects, VDC managers, urban planners, architectural engineers, design consultants, real estate developers, and clients.

Problem Statement

Design professionals often face the challenge of balancing multiple conflicting objectives such as cost, aesthetics,functionality, and sustainability, while adhering to site limitations and design constraints (like the maximum allowed grossfloor area). These challenges are further complicated by the need to incorporate various datasets, such as geographic information, material properties, energy consumption data, environmental impact assessments, and cost assessments. Managing numerous design iterations and facilitating effective communication between stakeholders adds to the complexity. 

OptiBuildGen aims to streamline this process during the early design phase by providing an integrated platform that optimizes building designs based on multiple performance criteria, facilitating more informed decision-making, and promoting efficient and sustainable design practices.

Features Overview

1. Environment Setup Customization

• Site Constraints: Define and modify the building's placement area by adjusting length and width parameters, ensuring the design respects the spatial limitations of the project site.
• Obstacle Buildings: Place, move, and rotate surrounding buildings to simulate real-world conditions and accurately assess the impact on the main structure.
• Viewpoints: Position specific locations to analyze sightlines, ensuring key views such as landscapes or oceans are preserved.

2. Generative Design with Dynamo

• Inputs and Functions: Easily manage inputs and functions within Dynamo to generate site surroundings and building elements. This includes defining the geometry, dimensions, height, orientation, and position of the building footprint.
• Evaluators: Four key outputs are evaluated (note that a more detailed explanation was already given in my Module 8 - Part 1 - Submission):
• Construction Cost: An estimate of the total cost required for building construction. Cost parameters and formulas can be customized in Dynamo to reflect specific project requirements and economic conditions.
• Solar Efficiency Index (SEI): A measure of how effectively the building design harnesses solar energy. SEI can be calculated at a finer resolution by adjusting the spacing of calculation points in Dynamo, allowing for more detailed analysis of solar potential.
• Number of Sightlines: An assessment of the number of unobstructed views from the building to important external features / viewpoints. The number of sightlines can be calculated at a finer resolution by increasing the number of rays departing from each point, enhancing the accuracy of visual impact evaluations.
• Embodied Carbon Estimate: An estimate of the total carbon emissions associated with the materials and construction processes. Materials and their coefficients can be added or modified in Dynamo to better align with sustainability goals. I have added the following materials and their embodied carbon coefficients so far:
• Building Walls Materials:
• Concrete: 0.2 kg CO₂e/kg
• Timber: 0.05 kg CO₂e/kg
• Brick: 0.3 kg CO₂e/kg
• Glazing Materials:
• Double-glazed Glass: 1.1 kg CO₂e/m²
• Triple-glazed Glass: 1.6 kg CO₂e/m²
• Building Roof Materials:
• Metal Roofing: 0.15 kg CO₂e/m²
• Asphalt Shingles: 0.2 kg CO₂e/m²
• Clay Tiles: 0.25 kg CO₂e/m²

3. Optimization Process

• Optimization Methods: Choose from four optimization methods in Generative Design of Dynamo. I recommend these two methods:
• Optimize: For resource efficiency, this method adjusts parameters to find the most efficient design.
• Space Evenly: For exhaustive exploration, this method distributes designs evenly across the parameter space.
• Material Selection: Select wall, roof, and glazing materials with different embodied carbon coefficients to calculate the embodied carbon estimate, allowing for informed decisions about sustainability.
• Parameter Customization: Customize parameters such as building height, story height, displacement, and various footprint radii and rotations to generate diverse design options. These design variables serve as the initial conditions for the generative optimization process.
• Outcome Generation: Generate thousands of design outcomes. Apply filters to results to identify the best design based on optimization criteria, ensuring the selected design aligns with project goals.

How To Use - Step-by-Step

1. Open Revit: in Revit, start by defining site constraints, placing obstacle buildings, and setting viewpoints.
2. Open Dynamo: use Dynamo's interface to manage inputs and functions. Evaluate key outputs using the built-in evaluators.
3. Open Generative Design Tool (Dynamo):
1. Choose the elements surrounding the building that you want to consider for optimization, and select appropriate materials for walls, roofs, and glazing.
2. Define parameters to vary and set the number of variations for each variable parameter.
3. Run the generative design tool to explore a wide variety of design options.
4. Select the best design based on construction cost, solar efficiency, sightlines, and carbon estimate using filters and graphs provided by the generative design tool.

Final Notes and Debugging Tips:

• When adjusting the size of the constraint area (red rectangle) in Revit, ensure you also update the x and y displacement and building footprint parameters in Dynamo (the code may run into errors otherwise)! This will ensure that the proposed design remains within the specified boundaries. Future versions of the code can add automated adjustments for these parameters.
• To calculate the Cumulative Solar Insolation value at a finer resolution (at the expense of your machine’s computational power), increase the following value:

• To add or modify the materials and adjust their embodied carbon coefficients, click the down arrow of the drop-down menu, as shown below

• If you want to modify the construction cost constants and formulas, you can do so by changing the formula in Dynamo. The same holds for constraining the building’s maximum elevation:

• To modify the number of radii departing from each point, as well as starting and ending angles, please modify this part of the code:

• As a result of a bug in my Dynamo generative design tool, I had to copy a file from the 2023 Class Examples to create my custom generative design file. While I was able to modify all of the content, the preview image and description remained unchanged. Consequently, when you create a new study in the generative design tool using my submission file, you'll still see the old preview image and description.

• In case you cannot view the video tutorial in 1080p, I attach the same video here, but in .MOV format and 480p! 😄