Computer-Assisted Learning of Energy Implication of Architectural Design

Early decisions taken by the architect during the conceptual design stage greatly influence the energy performance of a building. Unfortunately, most architects do not seriously consider such performance when comparing alternatives for a building's form and orientation. This is largely due to the way architecture students learn about buildings' energy. Simple charts and some rules of thumb are preferred over complex calculations used by engineers and energy specialists. While common buildings' energy software provides a lot of help in simplifying these calculations, they are not suitable for the conceptual design stage. This paper presents an experiment conducted by the author to use purpose-made software. The software is designed to help architecture students learn the impact of the conceptual design decisions on buildings' energy performance. The paper describes the capabilities of the software as well as the context and the results of the experiment.