Bioclimatic Design of Green Buildings

Abstract

Technological development of digital processors and simulation software of different kind has made it possible nowadays to simultaneously handle complex systems of equations behind buildings’ environmental performance. Thanks to simulation software, environmental performance of alternative design solutions can be modeled already during the early stage of the design process. This has made it possible to optimize buildings’ form and construction towards maximum energy efficiency opening to new architectural scenarios. Bioclimatic design is a regionalist approach to the practice of architecture based on a reasoned use of numerical tools of different kind. Climate data and human comfort requirements are generally used as the numerical basis for defining effective design strategies that could be implemented throughout the design process. As such, bioclimatic design represents a powerful tool for defining hypothesis whose effectiveness can be further investigated thanks to the use of simulation software. With the advent of parametric modeling tools, numerical equations developed for climate analysis and modeling buildings’ environmental performance could be used as generative algorithms for the architectural design of high performative buildings. In comparison with more conventional approaches where alternative design solutions are simply modeled, on the basis of an intuitive approach, and then tested, parametric modelers make it possible to automatically generate forms where the solution to specific numerical problem is already embedded. Thanks to parametric tools, bioclimatic design entered in the last years into a new era where its potential can be further enhanced also in connection with the development of new materials and components. In this chapter, we will explore, through literature review and the use of different case studies, the transition of bioclimatic design from a science, developed on the basis of empirical observation, into a numerical platform for the generation of advanced building concepts through parametric modeling tools.