Temperatures are increasing all around the world due to climate change and are predicted to continue to rise in the future. This rise in temperature is worrying especially for urban areas around the world that already suffer from increased temperature due to the urban heat island effect. In order to adapt to these changes buildings often get outfitted with mechanical cooling, solving the temperature problems indoors but making the outdoor temperature rise even more and thereby creating a vicious cycle of increased demand for cooling and increased mechanical cooling. This research aims to search for a way to ensure indoor thermal comfort in a passive way without worsening the UHI-effect. This is done by creating an alternative design for a case study that is planned in a Dutch urban center and measuring its impact on the urban microclimate and its indoor thermal comfort performance in a future climate scenario. The alternative design is put together by designing and testing different compositions of passive measures found in the existing literature. These passive measures compositions are then analyzed by software simulation to assess their performance and the effect they may have on the urban microclimate and in turn what this changed urban microclimate means for the implementation of the passive measures. The final result is a building design that not only ensures indoor thermal comfort in current and future climate scenarios but also makes its surroundings more comfortable which in turn results into more manageable microclimate. Turning the vicious mechanical cooling circle into a passively cooled virtuous circle.

Currently the on-site logistics of construction projects are very inefficient. The construction industry is very fragmented and there are a lot of different information and material processes, therefore it is difficult for a main contractor to get control of these all. It is assumed that if the main contractor gets control of the logistics, the logistics will become more efficient. One of the ways to get control is with BIM. Building Information Modelling combines the data of all stakeholders in one model and can help to streamline the logistics. The goal of this research is to show contractors how they can get change their traditional processes into a supply chain that is managed with BIM and get control of their logistics. The research design that was selected is that of a single-case study. The case that is selected is project Bètatoren, a medium-sized construction project that is built by Waal. This research focusses on Waal, but includes also other parties. Two subcontractors and two suppliers of project Bètatoren have been selected, in order to research the whole supply chain. Also, experts from other construction companies are involved for the validation of this research. Case study research shows that currently the logistic information and BIM are disconnected. The logistic information is send from the subcontractors and suppliers to the main contractor and back, but this happens mainly in 2D. This is partly due to the fact that there is a mismatch between the information processes and the production processes. As a result, information is missing in the BIM-model. This information should be completed, but that does not happen. No one takes responsibility and therefore the current information processes are fragmented and uncoordinated. The main contractor controls the process but does not coordinate the information, neither does anyone else. Based upon a literature study and case study research several steps have been defined which the main contractor must take in order to manage the logistics with BIM. First, the main contractor must take the responsibility and control the changes in the process. He must actively lead the supply chain and demand collaborative behavior from the subcontractors and suppliers. Secondly, the main contractor must make sure that the information processes and BIM are connected, and that the logistic information is incorporated in both. This includes, inter alia, linking the planning to the BIM-model. Thirdly, the main contractor must make sure that the BIM-model aligns with the logistics on the construction site. The information flows and the BIM-structure should be connected to make supply chain management with BIM feasible. According to the research, the process of changing a traditional supply chain into a supply chain management with BIM is both financially, organizationally and socially feasible for the main contractor. Concluding, if the main contractor takes control, actively coordinates and structures the information flow and focusses on connecting the logistic information and BIM, he can get control of the logistics.

A design strategy for an temporary Olympic arena optimized for a post-event use in steel construction has been researched. Three strategies have been considered, namely relocation, adaptation en up-cycling. A research by design was conducted with a parametric model, where two optimized designs have been compared. Applying several reuse strategies increases material use, but also increases the number of reusable members in a steel construction.

The Netherlands faces climate change due to global warming and earthquakes due to gas production. To decrease both earthquakes and CO2 production, the government aims to half the gas production in the coming four years and aims for an entire stop by 2030. Over 80% of Dutch houses are heated with gas; 20% were built in the late post-war era (1960-1974) and these houses consume the most gas due to low levels of insulation. As most of these houses are very similar in construction they have a high potential for large scale refurbishment strategies. Therefore, the aim of this study was to create three strategies with each a different level of improvement, applicable to multiple building types of late post-war era houses. A row house was used to develop and test the strategies and a semi-detached and a free-standing house were used to test the versatility. Testing was performed with Design Builder and Uniec 2.2, both energy performance programs. Based on a literature review and analysis of the case study, the strategies developed were a basic insulation strategy (A), Energy Performance Coefficient (EPC) ≤ 0,4 strategy (B), and a Net Zero Energy Building (NZEB) strategy (C). Strategy A consists merely of basic insulation techniques and the upgrading of old heating systems, which lowers gas consumption with roughly 50% and has a payback time of roughly 15 years. The second strategy aims to lower the EPC to 0,4 or less as is required for newly built houses and consists of higher-level insulation techniques and the use of solar power for heating and electricity. This decreases gas consumption with roughly 75%, electricity consumption with over 45%, has a payback time of roughly 15 years, and a better balanced investment vs. yearly savings. Strategy C adds exterior insulation and installs a hybrid electric boiler, an air heat pump, and solar collectors resulting in a (nearly) NZEB and gas-free house. A very large investment is required for this strategy but the approximate 20 year payback time makes it worthwhile. The free-standing house was very similar in construction and the three strategies can easily be applied. Strategy A showed similar results, and remarkably both B and C showed both a higher reduction and shorter payback time than with the row house. With strategy C a NZEB could easily be achieved. The semi-detached house has an a-typical construction, monumental status, and air heating system and would require a specific strategy focussing on internal insulation and complete replacement of the heating and ventilation system. In conclusion, typical post-war era houses can easily be refurbished with these three strategies whereas a-typical houses will require a specific strategy. From a long-term societal perspective, I recommend the NZEB strategy. From the homeowner’s perspective, the EPC ≤ 0,4 strategy is probably the best achievable given the required investments. If we really want to reduce global warming and reduce gas consumption, major steps still have to be taken by the government and industry.

A community for young people to settle down in the city, where they can meet friends and enjoy a happy balanced life. It provides living facilities with quality as well as possibilities for social life. A natural controllable indoor climate and a flexible structure system are integrated within the design which achieves good integration of the architectural elements and the energy-efficient system. It advocates natural ventilation and using natural resources. The concrete megastructure acts as the first layer to support the building while the infilling wooden elements create different spaces based on the function, and they can be moved to a new position if the future function changed. So that the flexible structure system provides small spaces for living as well as big spaces for social events and working.

Earth, Wind, and Fire (EWF) is a natural ventilation system developed by Dr Ben Bronsema for office buildings in the Western European climate. Powered by nature: ground temperature & gravity for cooling, wind for energy generation & ventilation, and sun for the heat and natural draft, this system claims not only to use little energy but also naturally purifies while humidify/dehumidify the air. No study has been done to see the performance of the system in a warmer climate, such as Tokyo. This thesis intends to answer that question.The dynamic duo of EWF: air supply system called Climate Cascade (CC) and air exhaust system called Solar Chimney (SC) are sized and calculated using 2 separate Excel models, from which the key parameters are identified, and design choices can be made. It was clear that as Tokyo’s temperature is warmer than Amsterdam’s, the focus needs to be given to cooling rather than heating. The challenge: space is limited in Tokyo hence the proposal of making SC a plug & play unitized system.Armed with a case study integrating EWF into a relatively new 10-story medium-sized office building in Tokyo, the study explored and compared 4 different systems: the existing energy-conscious VRF system, conventional VAV system, EWF with a chilled ceiling, and EWF through chilled beams.In conclusion, EWF can contribute to energy reduction (40%) without compromising thermal comfort in comparison to the conventional VAV. Regarding VRF, further research needs to be done to properly simulate EWF with HR in the dynamic simulation software used. Moreover, EWF contributed to ventilation energy reduction in all cases evaluated, as well as improving thermal comfort.

In the past decades Mumbai has experienced a huge increase of citizens who, drawn by the economic opportunities of the big city, come to Mumbai for chances of a better life. The city is struggling with the effects that this has on the city. A big part of its population reside in informal settlements, living under impoverished circumstances. This graduationproject revolves around improving these circumstances through the development and design of durable, affordable, qualitative social housing that is able to reach high densities while maintaining a qualitative level of living.

Mycelium composites are a novel material type. Mycelium is the ‘root’-network of a fungus and can be used to grow shapes on substrates of agricultural waste fibres. A few designs exist that use the material and information on material properties is limited. The goal of this thesis is to find out how mycelium composites can be produced, designed with and perform in an acoustic building product. A literature study on material properties shows acoustic absorption and thermal insulation are suitable functions for this material. The thesis describes impedance tube tests done on samples of mycelium and existing acoustic building products, reverberation room tests done on larger panels and shows microscopic images of the surface and sections. By growing the panels myself, a lot of hands on experience is gained, which was used to gather input for designing acoustic building products. Balancing acoustic absorption with mechanical properties and connecting the panels to the wall are important issues that have to be addressed, while there are opportunities in creating shapes and in sustainability. The designed panel was compared with existing mycelium, other bio-based and more conventional products in terms of acoustics, safety, health, durability, sustainability and price.

This research has two major purposes: (1) to design a roadmap for the energy transition towards energy neutrality of the built environment for the city Delft, with technical interventions, based on local potentials, integrated at all scales of the city and (2) to develop a general approach that can be applied to other Dutch municipalities. The final result is based on both design-by-research (literature study) and research-by-design. The thesis exists out of three parts. The first part includes the literature study that forms the basis of the later designed approach and roadmap. This literature identifies the available energy sources and technologies that can be used to match the demands with the supplies and an analysis the existing methodologies. The approach for the energy transition of Dutch municipalities is defined in part II. This approach exists out of 8 steps; starting with the analysis of vision and targets. Followed by the status quo/the starting point. In the next step the local energy potentials are determined, resulting in a scenario for the energy transition of a certain city. Finally the roadmap is designed. In the last part of this thesis the approach is implemented to the roadmap towards energy neutral Delft.This results in an proposal for the energy systems and interventions. On basis of the results there is concluded that by working through all scales while defining the energy systems and interventions according to the local characteristics and energy potentials an integrated and realistic roadmap towards an energy neutral built environment in 2050 is designed for the city Delft; at the same time the designed approach can also help other municipalities to achieve their energy transition goals. This thesis hopes to make a contribution to the energy transition of Dutch municipalities in order to achieve their transition goals by making the design process of the roadmap more concrete with clear steps and tools and the case study for the city Delft.

Glass is a versatile material applied in a large number of industries. It can for example be found in everyday household items, inside high tech machines or it can be used as part of mechanical structures in buildings. This research focuses on using structural cast glass components for a dome design forming a sustainable living habitat for Lori parrots in a moderate climate while being minimum invasive for the local environment

The world is increasingly urbanised. Especially in those countries that are in rapid development, the migration to the city is extreme. This is the case for Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia. Its population growth exceeds the number of newly built housing, and the housing that exists is unfit for a majority of the urban population. People create their own solution and move to informal neighbourhoods: neighbourhoods where they build their own houses and earn their money on the streets. While the conditions in the informal settlements are far from optimal, people can live their life and create their own opportunities. Somehow, they make a living that they cannot make in formal housing units: either due to the rent they cannot afford to pay, or due to the inability to earn an income in the way they do in the informal neighbourhood. In this way of living the life in the informal neighbourhoods, temporality plays an important role. People are versitale, can adapt to different situations, different circumstances. They can build up a process, starting something from scratch with the resilience to improve it, one step at the time. The streets are vital: pedestrian flows are economic opportunities. Converting any moment, any place into an opportunity that fits the situation the best: from a kitchen to a shop through the window, from a outdoor stall to an outdoor cooking spot, from a place of moving and travelling, to a place for gathering and meeting. Spaces can transform, dwellings can transform, adapt to circumstances, adapt to serve the opportunity that seems most succesful. It is this temporal element that makes them resilient. But these people are also vulnerable. With the current neighbourhood conditions, a lack of good quality housing, a lack of a well patterned street-network, a lack of services and hygiene, a lack of legal ownership, the dangers are clearly visible: fire, flooding, eviction and disease are potential enemies, created by their living situation. These people, of which there are so many in a city like Addis Ababa, deserve a home that caters their needs, actively engages them to use their abilities to improve their neighbourhood with the right acces to services, streets, economic opportunties. How can we use the theme of temporality to create such dwellings? In this project, a built environment is envisioned that combines the informal way of living (earning an income, having social relations), with a good quality of dwelling. It provides a framework in which people can built their dwellings tehmselves, keeping them affodable, and being able to constantly adapt the home to what they need most. It generates outside space as well as people flows on lower as well as higher levels to increase the economic opportunities for all of the people living in the area.

Efficient local air recirculation at ceiling level promote the performance of purifiers and anti-epidemic efficiency of mixing ventilation in a small shared rooms

A building manager of a small monument in Alkmaar wants to give the monument a new function as a restaurant. His idea is to place a glass structure over his monument, like a huge cheese bell, in Alkmaar as a famous cheese city. The main question that is central in this research is: “How can a full glass dome structure be built, to cover ‘Het Kruithuisje’ in Alkmaar, The Netherlands, in which the thermal comfort is maintained in the most passive manner, without impeding the visual benefits of glass?”. To answer this question this research is divided into four parts: literature, designs, analysis and final design and conclusion. Various coarse designs will be made that will be analyzed. Based on the analyzed designs, a final design can be made in which the structural performance and thermal comfort are known. These results will lead to a design with building plans that can ultimately be built, with guidelines, recommendations and conclusions for possible upcoming similar structures. A dome structure, or a cupula structure, is a form of shell structures. A shell structure is a structure where the surface can bear the loads, because the surface is shaped and supported in a certain way (Flügge, 1973). Glass can be used as a construction material, but it has a number of properties as standard that are not entirely suitable for a construction material. To make glass a safer construction material and to give it a greater bearing capacity, it must be strengthened. The dome is a suitable shape for constructing glass structures because most of the internal dome forces are in compression. A shell structure can be built in as a completely smooth surface or built from various separate components. To build this entire construction, the shape must be divided into panels. To approximate the dome shape hot bended double curved panels will be used. To be able to build with glass, connections are needed between the various glass components. (Santarsiero et al., 2016). To achieve high transparency and low peak voltages, a combination of adhesive connections and dry assembly connections can be used. Designing with glass creates problems, especially for thermal comfort problems. These problems can be easily solved by using a lot of energy, which is not a sustainable solution. With passive strategies, a large part of this requested energy can be removed. In order to take away as much energy as possible in a passive manner, there must be compromised on transparency.

Urban energy systems are the key elements of combating the climate crisis as the energy transition is crucial to curb greenhouse gas emissions in urban areas, one of the main drivers of climate change. As such, there is a great effort in Amsterdam to phase out natural gas use by 2040, and to become carbon neutral by 2050. It is a great challenge since the existing centralised energy systems are specifically built on the transportation and use of large amounts of fossil fuels while renewable energy has many limitations due to the volatility of its sources, lack of capacity for energy load and storage. Yet, since renewable energy sources are locally available everywhere, the establishment of decentralised renewable energy infrastructures based on local sources can help overcome these limitations. On this basis, this research explores the possibility of developing such systems through a case study in the historic centre of Amsterdam where many local challenges like urban monumentality pose risks for the energy transition. The research is structured around the use of Smart Urban Isle approach as a methodological tool to reveal local potentials for energy reduction, reuse and production, and to design energy concepts based on these potentials to reduce the reliance on external energy input. The results of the case study show that it is possible to cover the heat and cold demand with local sources and to cut almost half of the external energy input into the site without bringing any significant pressure onto the power grid. This outcome is highly promising as it proves that such local interventions can make great contributions to the energy transition process by significantly reducing the tension on the regional and national energy systems for the replacement of fossil fuels. As for the field of architecture and urban planning, the results implicate that the bioclimatic design principles, mixed-use of buildings and urban spaces, and small-scale and decentralised urban infrastructures based on the circular economy and self-sufficiency principles are crucial to achieve higher energy efficiencies and more local energy inputs.

This study analyzes the impact of the facade design on the energy performance, daylight and thermal comfort of residential high-rise buildings in temperate climates, with the help of energy simulations. The advantages of different facade design strategies are assessed based on the Cooltoren building in Rotterdam by V8 Architects. The aim is to find the most optimal facade parameter combinations in terms of performance and indoor comfort and to provide facade design guidelines for Architects and Engineers to consider similar passive design solutions in the design of nZEB residential high-rises in temperate climates. The following facade parameters are considered as variables for the optimization process: window to wall ratio, glazing type, shading system, natural ventilation strategy, thermal insulation and energy generating systems. These variables lead to 480 possible facade design combinations which are assessed using Grasshopper components and compared with Design Explorer. Based on the results, a facade redesign is proposed for the analyzed case study and general design guidelines are provided for similar residential high-rises. This study proves that the facade design plays an important role to reduce the energy demand, produce energy and improve the indoor comfort conditions. Based on the results of the optimization process, the primary energy demand of a high-rise building located in a temperate climate can be reduced with up to 30 kWh/m2 with an optimized facade design alone.

This research concentrates on creating wellbeing by performance; behaviour and technical performance of materials and products in office buildings. This research is focused on the case study conducted at; the headquarter of a bank in the Netherlands, whereby the building users are criticizing the indoor comfort. Moreover, the building materials are end-of-life and the building is using a large amount of energy. The following research question is answered: ‘How can the indoor comfort be improved in a circular way, by creating an optimal floorplan including the interior and technical aspects for, the case study, one pilot floor of the headquarter of a bank in the Netherlands, while taking the energy consumption into account?’ Within this study different research methodologies are applied. The first research method is literature study and reference projects to gather knowledge about the indoor comfort with the following possible stressors; indoor air quality, thermal comfort, light and visual quality and acoustic comfort and circularity within the building environment. This information is derived from the Dutch regulations, certification rating systems, the case study and articles with the same theme. The literature study and reference projects are analysed to draw up criteria which the measurements and the design of the floorplan must meet. The second research method is material analyses to identify the materials and products which are used in the interior of the case study and how they can be improved to contribute to the indoor comfort, circularity and energy efficiency. The third research method is analysing the existing survey conducted in 2019 by the company Leesman. Analysing this survey can profile the building users and rate the satisfaction level of their workplace, activities, and facilities. The last research method is analysing the performed measurements. To study the current situation of the case study by testing the indoor comfort stressors on the criteria prepared with literature study and reference projects. These measurements are performed with 24 GreenMe cubes which records the indoor comfort values every ten minutes for three weeks, which resulted in 3024 measurement points within ten categories of the indoor comfort stressors. The research results are translated into a circular and indoor comfort framework and floorplan design including the interior and technical aspects. The analyses results show that it is desired to renovate the headquarter of the bank in the Netherlands. This conclusion is based on the following results of this study, first of all most of the materials and products are not demountable. Therefore it cannot be cleaned well and it pollutes the air. Moreover, it is not fully circular when only the materials are obtained sustainable, but cannot be reused or remanufactured after its first lifecycle, when they are not demountable or additives are added. Secondly, the building users are not satisfied with the indoor comfort within the headquarter of the bank. According to the satisfaction and importance level of the indoor comfort stressors. The indoor air was rated with 28,6% satisfaction and 71% importance, thermal comfort with 19,1% satisfaction and 80,7% importance and acoustic comfort with 13,9% satisfaction and 75,1% importance. These results show a low satisfaction level, while the building users rated these facilities as very important. Furthermore, the measurements results show that the indoor comfort stressors exceed the permitted values during office hours. The carbon dioxide concentration is measured 1,7% above 800 ppm, total volatile organic compounds is measured 0% above 120 ppm. In addition, the temperature under 20°C and above 24°C is measured 10,5% and the relative humidity under 30% and above 70% is measured 14,6%. Moreover, the light level under 500 lux is measured 72,2% and flicker light under 0Hz and above 50Hz is measured 2,6%. Lastly, the average background sound level above 57dB is measured 2% and average installation sound level above 35dB is 0%. These values needs to be improved according the program of requirements of the case study. The analyses emphasize the importance of the renovation of the case study. Measures are recommended to improve these values. The measures have been compiled on the basis of the circular and indoor comfort framework and the developed ‘Circular Indoor Comfort Step Strategy’. This strategy is as follows: 1) Improving the source 2) Improving situation without energy 3) Improving situation with renewable energy 4) Improving processes The measures are categorized in interior aspects, improving the building users activities, and technical aspects, improving the indoor comfort stressors. Every measure contributes to the environment and supports the wellbeing of the building users. One of these measures is a green wall, which is mostly composed from raw materials from biological cycles and contributes to the mental state of the building users. Moreover, it improves the indoor air by filtering the air, thermal comfort by increasing the relative humidity, and the acoustic comfort by absorbing background sound. This product is sold as ‘product as a service’, whereas the producer keeps the responsibility and reuse every part after its first lifecycle to new products with the existing raw materials. This research shows that a big difference can be made by performing small interventions to maintain the current situation and increase the existing value. Moreover, these interventions have a positive influence on the satisfaction level of the building users, meeting the Dutch and the bank’s regulations and rating certificates to renovate and create a healthy circular headquarter.

In the Netherlands, the residential buildings consume the highest percentage of primary energy among the various building sectors. With around 80% of the Dutch housing built before 1995 a huge portion of the energy share is tapped in the old housing stock. While new housing constructions had to be nearly energy neutral as of 2020, a large portion of the existing housing stock has a higher relative energy consumption. The old housing stock thus needs urgent energy-retrofitting that is instrumental in reaching the goals targeted by the Dutch government by 2050. The Earth, Wind & Fire (EWF) system developed by Dr. Ben Bronsema (2013) during his PhD research can play an effective role in this aspect. Therefore, the research focussed on investigating the applicability of the Earth, Wind & Fire system for the Housing buildings in terms of energy-efficiency and thermal comfort potential. A case study building is selected to carry out the said investigation. Several design strategies were incorporated for the case study building to design the EWF system with highest technical performance. The study also incorporated dynamic simulations to evaluate the energy performance of the building after installing the EWF system. The study concluded that the integration of the Earth, Wind & Fire system has a great potential to reduce the energy consumption of the apartment buildings and improve the indoor comfort of the building and thus is a highly effective energy-retrofitting system for the housing buildings. The efficiency of the EWF system in improving the performance of the apartment buildings is thus highlighted. The effectives of the EWF system in reducing the energy consumption is dependent on the existing façade of the apartments and thus it is essential to refurbish the poor-performing façade to maximize the benefit. Thus, the study also concluded that apart from the installation of the EWF system several more improvements are needed in the existing buildings to achieve the goal of a nearly energy-neutral design.

Due to the strong increase in densification in cities worldwide and the takeover of infrastructure, the public domains in the city often lose their intrinsic tranquility. In a bustling working city like Rotterdam, the public quiet and social places are under pressure. The focus of this graduation plan lies on the urban neighborhoods Bospolder and Tussendijken, characterized by many different nationalities, ages and backgrounds, which often causes mutual misunderstanding and frustration among residents. From the field analysis and research it emerged that there is a lack of quiet social meeting places in the neighborhood. In this graduation plan a distinction is made between the hard and the Soft City. The Soft City is characterized by soft architecture that invites its users to appropriate the space and in this way enters into a relationship with its users. The hard city shows itself in the entire planned city; the almost inhuman city. The focus of the graduation research and design is on the 'Soft City': a changeable intermedia between people and architecture. The addition of a new soft elements, based on the idea of 'the Soft City', could strengthen the identity, peace and connection amongst citizens of the districts and thus offer a solution to the mutual misunderstanding, feelings of insecurity and frustration among residents. The design assignment will result in three interventions of public quiet meeting places at different scale levels in the urban fabric of Bospolder/Tussendijken.

Improvement of design performances requires exploration of a larger amount of analyzed design solutions in the early design phase. Computational design systems use parametric modeling, building performance simulations and genetic algorithms to iterate through a large amount of design alternatives, converging towards optimal design solutions. Computational design systems proposed by most existing researches do not enable interconnected analysis of quantitative and qualitative design performances, however. Consequently, they are rarely used in the field of architecture. This thesis proposes a visual analytics system that visualizes design geometries and performances of a large data set of design alternatives in a highly interactive data environment. The visual analytics system is developed conjointly to the concept design of a nearly Zero-Energy sports hall. The sports hall is designed using a computational design system that generates a large set of design alternatives and analyzes energy performances, visual comfort performances and thermal comfort performances of each alternative. This thesis develops a prototype of the visual analytics tool to visualize a data set of sports hall design alternatives. Peer review and user experience determine whether the tool as a whole and whether its data analytics methods suit the design-making process of practitioners in the field of architecture. The functionality of the computational design system is assessed by its suitability to facilitate a performance-driven design process. The computational design system proposed in this thesis uses multiple parametric models to create a varied set of design alternatives. The proposed visual analytics system is a game-like 3D environment. This environment integrates and displays a Self-Organizing Map with other data analytics methods and all designs’ geometries in a single viewport. Multiple means of interaction facilitate deduction of qualitative and quantitative performances. The visual analytics system is intuitive in use because of the use of metaphorical visualizations of data analytics methods. Peer review and testing of the visual analytics system indicate that the computational design system proposed in this thesis is generally able to improve design performances. The computational design system is effective in facilitating comparison of design alternatives and in use as a frame of reference throughout the design processes. Furthermore, the visual analytics system has potential in use for educative and documentation purposes.

Current building operations can be improved through smart predictive operation based on weather and use patterns in order to save energy with minimal impact on the building fabric and daily use. The existing literature has investigated implementations, and potential savings through combining with variable tariffs, however, this thesis addresses the issue of how different buildings differ in their suitability for such smart control. In this thesis, a digital twin of a school is created and adjusted to test differences in building fabric factors. These are combined with multiple Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) agents, which are trained to operate the schools more efficiently by controlling the heating set-point as well as natural ventilation of the buildings in order to save energy while maintaining comfort. The DRL agents vary in their ability to observe future weather as well as their internal network model architecture. The results show a high energy saving compared to a simple baseline, despite the few building controls available to the agents. In addition, some algorithms out-compete even rule-based controllers, which were tested as a stricter baseline. The results also confirm a theory revealed through the literature review, that buildings with higher energy input, storage and control have a larger potential for energy savings. Additionally, the types of DRL models used also greatly influences the agents’ ability to perform well, and generally more advanced models performed better. The findings can be used to access a building’s suitability for and potential benefits from such predictive smart control.