A shape grammar approach to climatically adaptable facade systems with real time performance evaluation.

Abstract

New computational techniques have been introduced to assist the design of adaptable building facades and to help quantify relationships between the building envelope and the environment. Designers increasingly use generative design approach for form-generation of building envelopes, and the organisation of components over a predefined form. In this research an original shape grammar approach for façade systems generation is proposed, with a rule-based method for the creation and exploration of complex shape composites based upon a set of simple initial shapes and predefined rules of composition. This is in order to explore a form finding of set of different building façade configurations before merging generated data into a simulated process of real-time daylighting and heat gains performance evaluation. The developed models adapt via responding to the data-regulation protocols responsible for sensing and processing building performance data in real time. The research reports on the prototype system development and testing, allowing continuous evaluation of multiple solutions and presenting opportunity for further improvement via multi-objective optimisation, which would be very difficult to do, if not impossible, with conventional design methods