TR193: The Value of Design Strategies Applied to Energy Efficiency

Today, advanced design strategies supported by iterative engineering performance calculations expand the number of alternatives designers can analyze by orders of magnitude. Yet, in the face of vast, under-constrained design challenges with wide ranging and often-subjective implications, it is not possible to replace building design with automated search. Saddled with limited time and resources, building designers are left to choose among strategies of varying costs and capabilities to assist in the generation and selection of alternatives. Designers require assistance in the selection of strategies that are effective in promoting sustainability.

This paper develops a method to compare the value of distinct design strategies. Using the Design Exploration Assessment Methodology (DEAM), the paper demonstrates that designers face non-trivially distinct challenges, even in the well-defined arena of design for energy efficiency. It evaluates and compares the effectiveness of strategies such as point-analysis, screening, trend analysis, and optimization, identifies associated process costs, and presents a method to assess the relative value of information that each strategy provides for a given challenge. Findings empirically rank six strategies for two challenges and demonstrate the relatively high value of trend analysis for energy-efficient design. The implication is that advanced computer analysis strategies should be pursued to support high performance design and motivates future research to assess value of various strategies in the context of broader and often more qualitative fields of sustainable design.