Using Building Performance Information in the Design of Floor Plans

This research focuses on a new workflow between Space Layout Planning (SLP) and Building Performance Simulation (BPS) fields for the early stages of building design aimed at reducing energy needs of a building and improving indoor environment quality. Parameters of environmental performance requirements such as temperature, view, acoustic, etc. from different international norms were selected. The purpose is to link these performance parameters to a graph file. This graph supports schematic design tasks during the creation of architectural floor-plans. Programming tests were run to add the information to the graph. A prototype for the early stages of the design is presented. In this prototype, designers can visualize performance information during schematic design of floor-plans of a building. A study case is presented to demonstrate the usability of the concept. GOALS AND HYPOTESIS The aim of this research is to link the comfort parameters and the space layout planning during the early stage of design through an innovation in BIM platform. The hypothesis is as follow: is it possible to visualize variables of performance parameters during the stage of Space Layout Planning within a BIM environment? This paper describes the first part of the research, and it deals with the visualization of such variables. The first was to define the parameters to be considered. Several internationals norms and assessments schemes were reviewed (BREEAM-UK, LEED-USA, DGNB-Germany) and some common attributes to define performance parameters were extracted. From this analysis one can conclude that aspects such as Daylighting, view, acoustic, etc. are considered to evaluate the quality of the space. Finally some Chilean norms are reviewed to acquire real data to be used in a case study. All these variables must be considered in the early stages of the design. In this stage architects made schematic design and this is basically rectangles arrangements, each rectangle represents a required area or room. Architects move and resize these rectangles until they fulfill the most of design the constraints (aesthetic, client needs, construction regulations, etc.). After that, in the stage of design development, these rectangle shapes are drawn as walls, windows, doors. Then the final result is a floor