A Simplified and Scalable Heat Flow-Based Approach for Optimizing the Form, Massing and Orientation for High Performance Building Design (OR-16-C049)

Early stage design has fundamental impact on building performance as they place significant limits on later design options. The objective of this study was to develop a simplified and scalable approach for optimizing the form, massing and orientation in early design stage. In this approach, a reference building was first defined with pre-selected building materials and assemblies and HVAC system for the intended climate and site conditions. The energy performance of this reference building was estimated by whole building energy simulation such as EnergyPlus at the same time. Heat fluxes and irradiation fluxes received by these interior surfaces of enclosure were also extracted from the reference building simulation.