In the EU, building energy consumption accounts for over 37% of final energy, bigger than industry (28%) and transport (32%) (Pérez-Lombard, Ortiz and Pout, 2008) and contributes enormously towards the threat of climate change. Thus, it is paramount to analyse the issues and opportunities in building design methods to reduce this impact and an urgent need for research into integrated performance-oriented methods to assist the designer. Parametric design has presented itself as a valuable optimisation method for architects in building design. Rather than working on a composition, containing individual objects with no pre-defined relationships, designers can create a computational parametric model based on an articulated internal associative logic (Peters, Peters and Kolsrevic, 2013). Architects have used this method to generate different design solutions in a quick and systematic manner in search of an optimal solution. This research primarily takes a critical literature-based approach, aiming to provide a critical evaluation of parametric design literature. The research will also include two case studies to provide a demonstration of the processes discussed in the critical literature review, the first one having used parametric design methods, The Al Bahr Towers in Abu Dhabi, the second not, The Terry Thomas Building located in Seattle. While the research found some notable challenges regarding the working method of parametric design, it revealed great potential from the process of parametric design for designing more energy-efficient buildings and an important research area to explore further. This research should interest designers, architects, engineers and researchers within the built environment domain.
Permanent link to this resource: https://doi.org/10.24384/q7ht-gj76
Havinga, Fynn
Supervisors: Resalati, Shahaboddin
School of Architecture
Year: 2019
© Havinga, Fynn Published by Oxford Brookes University