Sustainability Certification Systems as Goals in a Generative Design System
SimAUD 2021 Conference Proceedings: Symposium on Simulation for Architecture and Urban Design
Niko McGlashan, Curtis Ho, Simon Breslav, David Gerber, Azam Khan
April 2021
10 Pages
Sustainability of the built environment has become a critical concern globally. However, a core challenge in achieving sustainability is the variety of goals and tradeoffs to consider in the architectural design process. In this paper, we propose a novel design process that attempts to address both of these issues. We developed a prototype system that implements these concepts by automating several metrics from the LEED, AIA 2030 Challenge, and WELL systems, within a generative design framework. We then discuss implications for the certification systems and generative design systems. First, a myriad of certification systems for environmental, economic, and social sustainability in buildings have been developed, collecting the variety of goals that need to be considered into goal-sets. Second, the complexity of tradeoffs, and the interactions between them, can be optimized by a generative design system that seeks to improve certification scores in these goal-sets. By creating design systems that can generate the variations needed to explore the interactions between tradeoffs, these computational systems can help in finding designs that increase levels of sustainability as verified by certifications.