Heat loss parameter estimation of the Prêt-à-Loger house through calibrated Building Performance Simulations

The calculation of a residential Energy Label in the Netherlands and the payback time of an energy refurbishment are often affected by various inaccuracies between theoretical and actual achieved energy consumption. Even if improvements are attempted on either of them, significant problems occur such as the accuracy of input data for the...

StructuralComponents 4: Conceptual building models with structural design justification

The adoption of computation in the building industry has led to the development of a range of tools intended for design. Although commonly used for detailed analysis (FEA) and documentation (CAD/BIM), few tools address the needs of the early design stages for flexibility and quick, insightful feedback and documenting the justification of design...

Embodied Optimisation Tool for low-rise office buildings in steel

This thesis investigates the development and application of a computational tool that optimises the conceptual stage design of a building to have minimum embodied energy and some aspects of the operating energy, depending on the adaptability required. For this purpose, a parametric computational framework for sustainable building design was...

Computational Reuse Optimisation

Application development for reusing structural stadium elements in a new project and configuration through implementation of a genetic algorithm.

Computational Modelling tools for the promotion of Design for Deconstruction

This Master’s thesis is focused on the ambiguous topic concept of Designing for Deconstruction and its application within the construction industry. The aim of the research is to investigate the feasibility of the concept by pointing out the main topics of interest that could influence its overall performance and propose a strategy that will...

EnergyFacade: Operational energy optimizing tool for conceptual facade design

This Master’s thesis investigates the possibilities for the implementation of Building Performance Simulation in the early design stage by discussing the development of the EnergyFacade tool, an early stage façade design toolbox based on the principles of parametric and associative design, which were found to provide a suitable solution strategy...

Parametric Massing Optimization Tools

The separation between architect and engineer is a relatively recent event, in comparison to the long history of human constructions. In modern times the separation of the two professions and the involvement of engineers in later design stages has proved problematic, because of the large effort needed to make changes in later design stages. On...

StructuralComponents: A client-server software architecture for FEM-based structural design exploration

StructuralComponents allows an engineer to quickly compose an early-stage structural concept and immediately analyse its performance. It follows the Conceptual Story method in an attempt to deal with imprecision and uncertainty. This thesis represents the third in a series of MSc theses on StructuralComponents, which as its general problem...