A Visual Analytics-Based Methodology for Multi-Criteria Evaluation of Building Energy Design Alternatives (OR-16-C051)

Designing energy efficient buildings has been traditionally viewed as an optimization problem with a few stipulated constraints which could be tackled by mathematical methods relying on detailed computer simulations. Recently it has been argued that the conceptual building design process should inherently and explicitly contain an interactive process which captures the synergy between automated performance prediction with the human capabilities to perceive, evaluate and ultimately select one (or a few) suitable solution(s). The need to address multi-criteria requirements makes it even more valuable for a designer to know the “latitude” or “degrees of freedom” he/she has in changing certain design variables while achieving preset criteria such as energy performance, life cycle cost, environmental impacts, etc.