Sustainable early design exploration of mid-rise office buildings with different subsystems using comparative life cycle assessment

Minimizing environmental impacts over a building’s life cycle is critical to achieving sustainable communities. Early design is the most critical step to improve construction’s sustainability, as the majority of important decisions have not yet been made. However, the implementation of sustainability assessment in early design is data- and effort-intensive, resulting in limited whole building life cycle assessments. Previous studies have mainly focused either on single residential structures, included only a subset of building components, or investigated early design parameters mostly associated with energy efficiency. Whereas, comparison of alternative building subsystems at early design received less attention. This study aims to provide and utilize benchmark data for the life-cycle impacts of mid-rise office buildings, focusing on the impact of building subsystem selection at early design exploration. Environmental impacts were compared across six professionally-designed archetypes comprising compatible combinations of foundation, floor, and structural assemblies for a site in Charleston, South Carolina. Detailed operational energy modeling was performed using the EnergyPlus framework, where a range of code-compliant envelope systems are studied and paired with other assemblies. Lastly, sensitivity assessment and statistical analysis are performed to quantify uncertainty associated with the use of such data for early design guidance. The results suggest that decisions associated with the use phase (such as envelope selection) dominates life cycle impacts and should be prioritized. Additionally, no single subsystem governs all embodied impacts across different buildings. Lastly, it is critical to consider a large number of alternatives at the early design stage, as excluding a combination of subsystems might close pathways to reaching a more environmentally suitable alternative during design iterations/optimization.

Supporting the use of algorithmic design in architecture: An empirical study of reuse of design knowledge

<p>This thesis tests the reuse of design knowledge as a method to support learning and use of algorithmic design in architecture. The use of algorithmic design systems and programming environments offer architects immense opportunities, providing a powerful means to create geometries and allowing dynamic design exploration, but it can also impose substantial challenges. Architects often struggle with adopting algorithmic design methods (translating a design idea into an algorithm of actions), as well as with the implementation of programming languages, the latter often proving frustrating and creating barriers for both novice and advanced software users. The proposition explored in this thesis is that the reuse of design knowledge can improve architects’ ability to use algorithmic design systems, and reduce the barriers for using programming. This study explores and compares two approaches as a means of accessing and reusing existing design solutions. The first approach is the reuse of abstract algorithmic ‘Design Patterns’. The second is the reuse of algorithmic solutions from specific design cases (Case-Based Design). The research was set up as an experimental comparative study between three test groups: one group using Design Patterns, a second group using Case-Based Design, and the control group. A total of 126 designers participated in the study providing sufficient numbers within each group to permit rigorous studies of the statistical significance of the observed differences. Results of this study illustrate that the systematic inclusion of the Design Patterns approach to the learning strategy of programming in architecture and design, proves to be highly beneficial. The use of abstract solutions improves designers’ ability to overcome programming barriers, and helps architects to adopt algorithmic design methods. The use of Design Patterns also encourages design exploration and experimentation. The use of the Case-Based Design approach seems to be more effective after designers and architects, who are novices in programming, gain more experience with the tool. It encourages more focused reasoning, oriented to the realisation of a particular (originally intended) design outcome. The contribution of this research is to provide empirical evidence that the reuse of abstract and case-based algorithmic solutions can be very beneficial. Results of this study illustrate that both reuse methods can be strategically integrated into design education and architectural practice, supporting learning and use of algorithmic design systems in architecture. The study also identifies potential weaknesses of each approach, proposing areas which could be addressed by future studies.</p>

Supporting the use of algorithmic design in architecture: An empirical study of reuse of design knowledge

<p>This thesis tests the reuse of design knowledge as a method to support learning and use of algorithmic design in architecture. The use of algorithmic design systems and programming environments offer architects immense opportunities, providing a powerful means to create geometries and allowing dynamic design exploration, but it can also impose substantial challenges. Architects often struggle with adopting algorithmic design methods (translating a design idea into an algorithm of actions), as well as with the implementation of programming languages, the latter often proving frustrating and creating barriers for both novice and advanced software users. The proposition explored in this thesis is that the reuse of design knowledge can improve architects’ ability to use algorithmic design systems, and reduce the barriers for using programming. This study explores and compares two approaches as a means of accessing and reusing existing design solutions. The first approach is the reuse of abstract algorithmic ‘Design Patterns’. The second is the reuse of algorithmic solutions from specific design cases (Case-Based Design). The research was set up as an experimental comparative study between three test groups: one group using Design Patterns, a second group using Case-Based Design, and the control group. A total of 126 designers participated in the study providing sufficient numbers within each group to permit rigorous studies of the statistical significance of the observed differences. Results of this study illustrate that the systematic inclusion of the Design Patterns approach to the learning strategy of programming in architecture and design, proves to be highly beneficial. The use of abstract solutions improves designers’ ability to overcome programming barriers, and helps architects to adopt algorithmic design methods. The use of Design Patterns also encourages design exploration and experimentation. The use of the Case-Based Design approach seems to be more effective after designers and architects, who are novices in programming, gain more experience with the tool. It encourages more focused reasoning, oriented to the realisation of a particular (originally intended) design outcome. The contribution of this research is to provide empirical evidence that the reuse of abstract and case-based algorithmic solutions can be very beneficial. Results of this study illustrate that both reuse methods can be strategically integrated into design education and architectural practice, supporting learning and use of algorithmic design systems in architecture. The study also identifies potential weaknesses of each approach, proposing areas which could be addressed by future studies.</p>

Integrating Sensory Experience in Parametric Architecture through a Phenomenal Lens

<p>‘Parametricism’ has come to play a major role in contemporary architectural design and is now considered the dominant style for avant-garde practice. This thesis argues that despite parametricism’s unique capacity to articulate programmatic complexity, visual and intellectualized imperatives at the loss of experiential imperatives have limited parametricism as a medium through which architecture is produced, promoted, and evaluated. Architect Juhani Pallasmaa believes that this leads to the deprivation of vital human existential questions that enable us to relate to our built environment and that provide meaning to that environment. This thesis explores how parametric architecture can further develop by addressing the deficiencies that Pallasmaa has described, to further incorporate a sense of temporality, experiential depth and personal belonging. Based on these critical examinations, the second half of the thesis includes design experiments which test the integration of sensory experiences within parametric design. Archives New Zealand has been selected as the vehicle for this design exploration because throughout history, archives have symbolically represented important spaces in cities to express the re-connection of our history and culture. Today, however archives are often perceived as little more than secular storage for objects and documents. The thesis tests how the interior design of a nation’s archives can be conceived through parametricism, while also incorporating symbolic and phenomenological imperatives. This thesis concludes with five interior design experiments that are each derived from this experimental design process. The five interiors illustrate the mediation between parametric and phenomenal imperatives. These experiments conclude that through critical application of sensory imperatives, we may reconnect our human existence within the parametric world.</p>

Integrating Sensory Experience in Parametric Architecture through a Phenomenal Lens

<p>‘Parametricism’ has come to play a major role in contemporary architectural design and is now considered the dominant style for avant-garde practice. This thesis argues that despite parametricism’s unique capacity to articulate programmatic complexity, visual and intellectualized imperatives at the loss of experiential imperatives have limited parametricism as a medium through which architecture is produced, promoted, and evaluated. Architect Juhani Pallasmaa believes that this leads to the deprivation of vital human existential questions that enable us to relate to our built environment and that provide meaning to that environment. This thesis explores how parametric architecture can further develop by addressing the deficiencies that Pallasmaa has described, to further incorporate a sense of temporality, experiential depth and personal belonging. Based on these critical examinations, the second half of the thesis includes design experiments which test the integration of sensory experiences within parametric design. Archives New Zealand has been selected as the vehicle for this design exploration because throughout history, archives have symbolically represented important spaces in cities to express the re-connection of our history and culture. Today, however archives are often perceived as little more than secular storage for objects and documents. The thesis tests how the interior design of a nation’s archives can be conceived through parametricism, while also incorporating symbolic and phenomenological imperatives. This thesis concludes with five interior design experiments that are each derived from this experimental design process. The five interiors illustrate the mediation between parametric and phenomenal imperatives. These experiments conclude that through critical application of sensory imperatives, we may reconnect our human existence within the parametric world.</p>