Simulation based design for sustainable and contextual architecture

Abstract

The built environment is a highly complex ecosystem that involves many interdependent systems. To ensure the optimum working built environment the increasing emphasis on building performance is influencing building design, its processes and practices. As a result the silver lining between the appearance and performance of building design is blurring and distinctions between geometry and analysis is getting lesser. Now to what extent performance actually influences design and what performance means in architecture has become a major concern as there has been a shift of orientation in architectural theory and practice, from what the building is to what it does. Making a built environment most workable and energy efficient- these two have become the most important issues to address while designing a building in any location because that’s what will make the inner ecosystem run better for a better world altogether. For instance, a building, situated in a particular location, which is zero energy efficient and has optimum work environment can be completely proved unsuitable and even harmful in another context. Therefore it is mandatory to realize the contextual impact on the building itself whereas analyzing the building’s impact on the environment within and outside is equally important. This is when the emerging emphasis on SBD (simulation based design) in architecture for better building performance becomes absolute. With the help of simulation based analysis at early design stage a building design can evolve more efficiently in performance towards users and environment thus ensuring sustainability. In this paper, a comparative analysis of a building’s built environment in two different contextual situations has been done with the help of different simulation software (e.g. Ecotect, Vasari) to find out the necessary changes to make that building’s design adaptable, in terms of form, façade, orientation, material etc, for those respective contexts.