43|40 (First Place)

Overview:

In the Lowdown Showdown (LDSD) competition, the team 43 | 40 innovated its energy modeling workflow. The team critiqued its existing workflow, kept what was valuable, brainstormed and implemented improvements, and determined a long term path forward to optimize energy modeling workflow.

The following steps summarize the workflow that was developed and used during the competition.

1. A front-end loaded design process was used.
2. The building was designed using Autodesk Formit and Revit, supported by the integrated energy modeling tools Insight and Green Building Studio (GBS).
3. Detailed energy modeling was completed using eQUEST from the Autodesk Insight energy model files.
4. Hourly energy model results were exported to R, a programming language, for additional analysis.

A long term path forward was developed to optimize energy modeling worflow. This is summarized as follows, and includes items that were infeasible during the competition.

1. Continue using the front-end loaded design processes and R / LaTeX dynamic reporting process described in the above workflow summary.
2. Make a team-wide transition to Autodesk.
3. Explore parametric design methods using tools such as Rhinoceros, Grasshopper or Dynamo in combination with energy analysis programs.
4. Continuously improve the energy modeling workflow.

Team Poster