It may seem like common sense that where you are in the world can be as important as building type when forming a design strategy, but in the last century we seem to have forgotten. The importance of place cannot be over-emphasized when designing sustainable buildings. Below are some examples of simple studies that can be done to help inform multiple iterations of building form, orientation, and thermal zoning strategies: Some methods involve surrounding buildings and general site conditions such as: grade, elevation, and sun exposure. Some early simulations may not even require a complete building, simply a single room, and you can derive much feedback without having a building at all. Early in the design process information is usually scant, and designers simply want to test different schemes within Ecotect. It is a misconception that all aspects of building performance analysis require intense modeling and enormous amounts of data input. Using Ecotect solely as an evaluation tool-after the design process is well into development- can have only a minimal effect on design decisions. My reasoning is straightforward: early decisions are cheap and you can discover opportunities you didn’t realize were there. So, when is the right time? When should Ecotect be employed? The most benefit will come from incorporating BPA, using Ecotect, at the right time in your design process. The first step to using Ecotect effectively is to discover where the tools may be used in the design process and integrated into a BIM workflow.
ECOTECT WEATHER GRAPH TRIAL
A 30-day trial of the application is also available from the same site, to aid in getting used to the concepts of the tool and how it may be used to perform BPA.
ECOTECT WEATHER GRAPH INSTALL
The training packages will install as help files, and will add themselves to the application’s Help menu.
While not comprehensive to all the capabilities in the Ecotect toolset, more are being developed. Since Ecotect both supports models created in other tools and has its own purposebuilt modeling environment, designers can work in ways that feel most natural to their processes.Īs a supplement to instructor-led training there are downloadable training packages available from Autodesk, by visiting and selecting the link for Training in the sidebar. Coupled with the fact that all input and output data can be displayed within the context of the model, in some cases simultaneously, this enables rich feedback that helps make quick decisions concurrent with the design. Where Ecotect improves on many other building performance analysis (BPA) tools is its inherently familiar 3D graphical design environment. In fact, an annual subscription to Ecotect Analysis 2010 is bundled with access to GBS. It may feel like Autodesk is competing with itself again, but these tools can work together to satisfy different simulation needs. In addition to Ecotect, Autodesk offers Green Building Studio (GBS) (), a web service for wholebuilding analysis also acquired in 2008. More than eye candy, though, its results and output can be a fantastic way to get your ideas across to clients and to the extended design team, see Figure 1. It has a very graphical interface and the analysis feedback looks good enough to eat. Where this product differs from those is in its decidedly architectural focus. Part of an acquisition slightly more than a year ago, Ecotect brings a very powerful suite of tools to the already rich landscape of design analysis typically reserved for engineers. For those of you not yet familiar with this application, it is one of the latest offerings from Autodesk focused on sustainable design analysis.
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