Digital workflow for climate resilient building façade generation

Figliola, A (2023) Digital workflow for climate resilient building façade generation. Building Research & Information, 51(3), pp. 257-278. ISSN 0961-3218

Abstract

The contribution presents the results of an applied research aimed at developing an operative methodology and its corresponding data-driven and user-friendly computational workflow for the design of climate-resilient building façade (CRBF) able to adapt to the variation of the environmental conditions through morphology configuration. The research consists of an expansion of an already defined computational workflow proposed to design performance-based architectures and applicable in the early stage of the design process. As far as the façade design is concerned, the contribution foresees to obtain a series of intermediate objectives that contribute to the achievement of optimized design solutions for unitized multifunctional façades which presents different benchmark parameters in relation to the specific design phase and the climate zones in which the façade can be located. The research proposes a case study located in Abu Dhabi (sub-tropical, arid climate) to explore the relationship described above. The research was carried out in two consequential phases, early-stage and mid-stage, involving various benchmarks and different optimization processes that all together describe the complexity of building façade. The design of modular and parametrically façade demonstrates the reliability of the proposed methodology in ensuring benchmarks achieving and optimizing performative aspects, defined according to site's climate analysis.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: brute force parametric analysis; climate-resilient façade; digital form-finding; genetic optimization; performance-based design
Index terms: design process, performance-based, complexity, environmental conditions, workflow, configuration, methodology, variation, case study, operative, design phase, parametric analysis
Subjects: contractual condition, performance measurement, management, research methods, systems engineering, design methods, practitioner, data collection methods, environmental science, data analysis and analytics, professional practice
Topics: Contract Administration, Design Practice, Quality Management, Roles and Professions, Sustainability, Business Strategy, Research Practice, Engineering Principles
Descriptive scope: 5 PCTEA

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