One of the key challenges facing today’s designers is understanding and tackling how to incorporate sustainable design principles into existing workflows and processes. There is now a general appreciation of just how powerful building performance analysis and energy modelling can be within this. However, the questions now are; what capabilities are available, how do the results inform me and what tasks should I be doing when?
As a general rule, the most impact is made when analysis and modelling is incorporated right from the earliest stages, well before key design decisions are set in stone. High quality analysis information can quantify and inform iterative decisions for both new, refurbishment and in-use projects, allowing the team to effectively develop creative sustainable solutions. Analysis can then be used to further refine the design as it progresses.
The 4 tiers of the IES <Virtual Environment> increase in level of detail, but all have the same rigor and analysis engine behind them. The capabilities of VE-Ware, VE-Toolkits, VE-Gaia and VE-Pro cover a wide variety of sustainable tasks and analysis that you need to undertake at different stages of a building’s design and lifecycle. Investigate some of the key tasks and analysis capabilities on the following pages.
Climate
Natural Resources
Energy
Solar
Light
Carbon Footprint
Water
Building Metrics
Systems/Renewables
Thermal Comfort/Loads
Sustainability Compliance
(LEED/BREEAM/Green Star/Local Regulations/Energy Certification)
Airflow CFD
Egress
Value/Cost
