Parametric design: a case study in design-simulation integration

Climate change and rising energy costs necessitate a shift in how buildings that efficiently provide comfort are envisioned. With initiatives now aiming at bringing energy simulation into the mainstream of environmental design, the applicability of state-of-the-art simulations in formally non-constrained creative production needs to be re-evaluated. To this end, a teaching experiment that includes multi-domain simulations as drivers into the early architectural design process has been conducted; Master of Architecture students create a community centre with low energy use and high daylight utilization, presented in case studies. Performance increases are achieved by making appropriate morphological choices only; form and energy are thus linked in a tectonic fashion. A novel design-simulation process model that acknowledges both creative and analytic thinking is derived and discussed in the context of on-going integration attempts.