Workshops
SimAUD 2020 workshops will take place on Thursday, April 15. Please refer to the program for respective times and ZOOM meeting rooms where the workshops take place.
To attend a workshop, please register for the conference, and select a workshop option.
SimAUD 2020 Workshops:
☛ Using ClimateStudio for Daylight and Energy Analysis
☛ Welcome Machine: workflows for the at home fabricator
☛ Urban Thermal Comfort: UTCI, PET & PMV Simulations in Envi Met through Grasshopper
Using ClimateStudio for Daylight and Energy Analysis
Timur Dogan, J. Alstan Jakubiec
April 15th 10-1pm, limit 35 participants
Abstract:
In this workshop, participants will learn to use ClimateStudio for analyzing the daylight and thermal
performance of buildings. ClimateStudio is a new tool from Solemma that vastly improves the speed of
daylight calculations and the accessibility of thermal analysis. Its simulation workflows help designers
and consultants optimize buildings for energy efficiency, daylight access, electric lighting performance,
visual and thermal comfort, and other measures of occupant health. ClimateStudio is a plugin for
Rhinoceros 3D and Grasshopper 3D, is free for teaching and research, and is also available for
commercial use.
The workshop will be split into two portions. In the first (approximately 120 minutes), the instructors
will give a detailed overview of daylight, electric lighting, and thermal analysis workflows using
ClimateStudio. Participants will learn to undertake annual climate-based daylight analysis for visual
comfort, electric lighting independence, and LEED compliance meeting the IES LM-83 standard with
dynamic shades. The analysis of electric lighting and physically-based renderings for visual quality and
glare will also be demonstrated. Thermal simulations for energy use intensity and thermal comfort
analysis will be briefly demonstrated. Grasshopper workflows will be briefly demonstrated in addition.
In the second part of the workshop (approximately 60 minutes), advanced participants will have the
opportunity to undertake a design and simulation task using ClimateStudio. Participants with less
background in Rhinoceros 3D can participate in a crowdsourced energy and daylight simulation game.
In the second part of the workshop (approximately 60 minutes), advanced participants will have the opportunity to undertake a design and simulation task using ClimateStudio. Participants with less background in Rhinoceros 3D can participate in a crowdsourced energy and daylight simulation game.
Requirements:
None Specified.
Welcome Machine: workflows for the at home fabricator
Zach Seibold, Erin Hunt, Nathan King
April 15th 10-1pm, EDT
Abstract:
The translation from design to realization is mediated by a range of tools and processes whose development is informed over time by material properties, skill, technology, and culture. As a whole, these systems are the vehicle by which design teams, manufacturers, installers, and ultimately users engage the materiality of architecture. Parallel technological developments relating to the way in which things are designed (digital modeling, simulation, generative design, etc.) and the way things are made (automation, computer-controlled equipment including robotics, advanced materials, etc.) have afforded new opportunities and challenges related to the realization of new forms in architecture, part customization, user-centered design, and enhanced building performance.
While these technological advancements have radically increased the diversity of achievable material effects in design and architecture, the industrial fabrication technologies at the core of this production method are only just being considered as a venue for design intervention or creative exploration. Additionally, access to standard industrial machines, typically housed in large-scale fabrication facilities, has been fundamentally disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The enhanced collaboration that geo-referencing of data provides, leads to an understanding of the design problem that comes from angles that were not clear or not visible at all before. Coupling this design workflow with other existing Grasshopper plugins in the realm of simulation and modeling, will lead to a design process that is based on real world data (that can be directly picked by the designer/engineers) and that can be directed towards a predicted optimum design. The user will have at the end of the workshop an overview of how to manage data from multiple sources in a geo-referenced model and how to use the model as a starting point for predicting how different design options will behave according to climatic simulations seeded by data of the place in question.
Within this context, this workshop positions material systems and the numerically controlled machines which manipulate them as a venue for speculative design research in an at-home setting. It is intended for students, researchers and practitioners interested in methods for designing, prototyping and simulating custom, numerically-controlled material processes.
Participants will learn the detailed steps for machine implementation and gain an understanding of performance possibilities. The workflows will be demonstrated via the assembly, programming, simulation and operation of a modular, digitally controlled 3-axis fabrication machine developed by the workshop team as part of a course at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design.
A second phase will focus on strategies for the development of a novel material process and will leverage the machines fabricated in the first phase to prototype a machine designed to generate a specific material effect. It will examine the specific demands and opportunities of at-home fabrication research.
Requirements:
To achieve the best experience, participants are asked to have windows-based laptop running Autodesk Fusion 360 and Rhino/Grasshopper 6.0+. Additional software will be provided by the instructors.
Bios:
Zach Seibold is a Lecturer in Architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Research Associate with Harvard's Material Processes and Systems (MaP+S) Group and Laboratory for Design Technologies. His research asks how emerging fabrication techniques and material technologies can impact the production of architectural form. Seibold's work has included the development of integrated digital workflows for novel fabrication methods ranging from 3D printed ceramics to magnetically-controlled casting processes. He received a Master of Design Studies with a concentration in Technology from the Harvard Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University.
Erin Hunt is pursuing a Master in Design Studies in Technology at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. She is a computational designer whose research interests include applications for additive manufacturing technology. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Iowa State University.
Dr. Nathan King is active in industry, practice, academia and policy, and works to create opportunities at their intersection. King is senior industry engagement manager for the Autodesk Technology Centers where he develops applied research within Architecture, Engineering and Construction, and contributes to the development of strategic initiatives related to robotics, automation, and the future of construction. King is currently a faculty member at Virginia Tech where he is co-director of the Center for Design Research (CDR) and leads design technology and impact design initiatives. He is a regular lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and University of Pennsylvania Weitzman School of Design in robotics and autonomous systems in design
Schedule:
The workshop will be held on Thursday April 15th from 11am - 2:00pm EDT and will be organized according into the following section:
1. Context - Lecture and discussion (15 min)
2. Machine simulation Fusion360 (30 min)
3. Hardware - parts and assembly (60 min)
4. Programming and operation (60 min)
Urban Thermal Comfort: UTCI, PET & PMV Simulations in Envi Met through Grasshopper
Joy Mondal
April 15th 2-5pm
Abstract:
This workshop is designed for researchers and practitioners interested in the temporal and spatial
variability of urban heat island effect, and in quantifying the decrease or increase of the impact of
the effect on urban thermal comfort through changes in design, material specification and/or
addition of vegetation and water bodies.
In the complex world of urban microclimate, climatic parameters, built structures, surfaces,
vegetation and water bodies constantly interact with each other. These resulting interdependencies
affect the primary microclimate attributes of an urban scene such as radiation, air and radiant
temperature, wind speed, or humidity. These attributes coalesce at the human body as an individual
sensation of the local climate conditions. Envi Met offers an hourly analysis of the heat and energy
fluxes coming from the environment for any position within the model domain. Using sophisticated
bio-meteorological indices of urban thermal comfort such as Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI),
Physiological Equivalent Temperature (PET), and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV), the overall thermal
sensation of a person standing in the virtual environment shall be simulated for any given urban
scenario.
The workshop shall use Grasshopper to extract shapefiles from map, build a 3D urban scene using
the shapefile, assign materials, export and simulate the scene in Envi Met, and visualise the
simulation result. Participants shall be able to quantify the decrease in primary attributes of an
urban scene (radiation, air and radiant temperature, wind speed etc.) and, consequently, its derived
attributes (UTCI, PET and PMV) through changes in 3D models, materials, vegetation, and green
walls and roofs. As a result, participants will be able to identify areas in an urban scene that are
either too hot or too cold, and subsequently optimise the areas’ urban thermal comfort through
changes in design parameters.
Requirements:
Familiarity with Grasshopper will be helpful.
Participants need to have their own laptop / PC that runs following software:
1. Rhino 7 (Grasshopper is included) https://www.rhino3d.com/download/
2. Envi Met Lite https://www.envi-met.com/buy-now/
3. DragonFly https://github.com/ladybug-tools/dragonfly-legacy
4. Ladybug Tools https://www.food4rhino.com/app/ladybug-tools
5. GHSHP https://www.food4rhino.com/app/ghshp
Democratization and Knowledge Management of a Simulation based
Design Process using core tenets of SPDM and Analytics
Nachiket Kasareka
April 15th 2-5pm
Abstract:
A plethora of factors like complexity of building designs, reduction in time from design to completion, constraints imposed due to energy management and sustainability, lead companies to adopt simulation based design as a cornerstone of their design development process. As simulation and modeling capability matures, the impact of simulation is felt across the lifecycle of designing from early stage conceptualization to smart buildings.
Adoption of simulation further leads to a more holistic design approach where architects, designers, structural simulation engineers and energy simulation engineers are all involved in the decision-making process using simulation as a backbone.
This presents a challenge of enabling effective use of simulation based design tools, simulation data and analytical decision-making methods such as optimization and machine learning to various stakeholders in the design development cycle.
In this workshop we explore the use of a web-based collaboration and simulation data management platform to democratize virtual design development workflows.
The process begins with creating an automated process of your simulation models either by integrating a Grasshopper Script in our platform or individual simulation tools for energy modelling like EnergyPlus.
We explore the ability of such a platform to enable decision making by using mathematical optimization and analytical decision-making techniques based on mathematical modeling and AI. The platform also enables traceability and knowledge management of design decisions, supporting models and workflows in an intuitive web-based interface.
The workshop further explores an easy no code way of creating a web app to democratize your simulation models for access and execution through a light front end web app.
This 3 hour workshop is designed for designers, architects, building physics
engineers and energy modelers. The participants will walk away from the
workshop with a clear understanding of how Simulation Data Management,
Collaboration and Democratization would help them generate more value
from their simulation based design process.