ON-DEMAND WEBCAST

Climate Analysis for Architects Video, 68 minutes


Watch this Premium Content Video!

Join Now - $19.95/mo

Already a premium member?
Log in now

Firm or campus member?
Click here

Design simulation made easy

Kjell Anderson wants to change the way you think about computer simulation of buildings.

For a lot of people, computer modeling is synonymous with energy modeling, and climate data is something you just input to your energy model. Anderson wants you to do energy modeling for your buildings, and he wants you to do it early—as BuildingGreen has advocated—not just for "keeping score" at the end.

He wants to open your eyes to a whole suite of design energy simulation tools that are surprisingly accessible to the average designer or architect and that come before energy modeling, and can actually help generate forms.

Anderson will demonstrate tools that are so easy that they can be used on every project regardless of budget or sustainability objectives, typically taking 3 to 5 hours once you have your system down—and almost no time for projects in a city where you have already done an analysis.

Design solutions you probably hadn’t thought of

Anderson, the author of Design Energy Simulation for Architects: Guide to 3D Graphics (Routledge, 2014), will show in this webcast, with live demonstrations, exactly how he and the LMN Tech Studio perform climate analysis, why, and how it has had immeasurable impact on projects.

By looking at free, publicly available climate data using easily accessible software tools, Anderson has opened up huge energy savings that might not otherwise be considered for an energy model.

For example, Anderson will show how he has created "solar roses" for projects revealing which climates have cloudier afternoons versus cloudier mornings, which may influence the proper orientation of buildings and solar arrays.

He has found surprising results, like the residential project in India that is considering an unconventional north-south orientation to catch prevailing winds, while taking advantage of the cloudy summer monsoon season to reduce solar loads.

"It looks cool"

Anderson presents these tools in a way that designers will find inspirational and generative, opening up new solutions—rather than relying on old rules of thumb that can make green buildings look too much alike.

As part of this webcast, Anderson also covers these topics:

  • How to generate useful output with cool graphics—which Anderson uses on the first few pages of a client package
  • Which tools to use, and why. We’ll cover tools including Ecotect, DIVA for Rhino and Rhino plugins Grasshopper, Ladybug + Honeybee, and the LMN Climate Visualizer (free).
  • How to easily run climate analyses with future weather data—for the 100+ year building
  • When in the design process to do this analysis
  • How long it actually takes—less than you would think

Kjell answers your questions and shares his practical experience

Anderson answers audience questions about how to use these tools—and show how he has successfully integrated them into LMN projects and client proposals.

Links and tutorials

Also by Kjell Anderson:

Design Energy Simulation for Architects (Routledge, 2014)

 

Presenters

A lifelong Washington resident, Kjell Anderson practices architecture at LMN Architects and works with the LMN Tech Studio (see their blog) in Seattle. When he's not designing buildings and simulating energy performance, he spends time with his wife and daughters, plays the violin/fiddle, and is active in local and national sustainability and AIA initiatives.

Tristan is editor of LEEDuser.com, a website that provides how-to resources for LEED certification teams. Tristan is also Editorial Director for BuildingGreen, publishers of LEEDuser as well as Environmental Building News, GreenSpec, and BuildingGreen.com.