Ec-Co-Gen : An evolutionary simulation assisted design tool for energy rating of buildings in early design stage to optimize the building form

Résumé En

In the framework of the present study the software EcCoGen was developed from scratch, in order to assist the architects and engineers during the early design stages. More precisely, the environmental qualities of dynamic composite envelopes have been selected to guide the design through an evolutionary process. The main objective of the research presented here aims to attrack more interest in the initial phases of the design, seeking to specify a tool that facilitates and encourages the creativity in the framework of bioclimatic design. Having under consideration the established and structured knowledge about the design process, the thermal properties of composite dynamic envelopes and evolutionary methods, we propose a tool based on a Interactive Genetic Algorithm (IGA) that is implemented in the original modeller software. At this stage, regarding the energy consumption evaluation in the initial design phase the method that we used is developed based on common energy model simplifications, and original developed regression models; however, at this stage the evaluation is limited to simplified seasonal heat loss model. In addition, it takes into account the solar gains depending on the orientation and inclination of the dynamic envelope’s surfaces. Since this research focus on early design stages, the detailed description of the envelope is not possible. For this reason, the description of the inertia characteristics of the building remains approximate. Finally an original Graphical User Interface (GUI) is conceived.