INDEPENDENT STUDY

I started this process with the intent to use Ecotect to analyze a given model or set of models and inform me as to what exterior materials I ought to use on a selected face or structure. However, as I continued my research via readings, tutorials and personal interaction with the program my goals shifted. I understood firstly that the program was not going to be able to look at my building as say "use this" or "change this", but that through a series of answers in the forms of diagrams, graphs and numbers, the program would give me the information I needed to make these changes myself. Secondly, I became more interested in the process of shadows, shading, winds and climate and the sun path path and the way these factors inform design, particular design in process as opposed to a completed design. I believe that the overall goal that I stated in the beginning of this project, to become familiar with the basics in Ectotect and couple this with other existing knowledge to produce better design projects in the future, was ultimately accomplished. 


The primary thing I have learned from this experience is to not be afraid of technology. I tend to stray from computer programs like Revit or FormZ but found that this does not need to be the case. I found I was able to ease into the program and get comfortable with it rather than feel intimidated by it like I often do with other programs. I was able to extract the major things that I was looking for with little problems and look forward to exploring the program further on my own. I think the quality of some of the models I used hindered some of the processes, but in the end I was able to find a suggested type of shading and solar device. I ended up using this suggestion and researching it outside of the program and found one that would be ideal, which I have posted below. More importantly, Ecotect is able to teach and inform the user. I did not know what several of the different diagrams I produced meant or how to read them. Ecotect shows the user the information visually, but also provides legends and clear cut text telling you what you're looking at and how to use the data. For me this was a great relief, but it also turned out to be a second level of learning that I did not expect. Following and learning through Ecotect was easy and (I found it) enjoyable. Autodesk has produced a software that is capable of changing the way and process by which we design and remodel. It offers huge incentives for both architects, builders and building occupants alike, and I completely see it playing a larger role in the future. 

AEC ONLINE

MORE ON SUN PATHS AND SHADING

At this point I've spend a great deal of time familiarizing myself with Ecotect. I've gone through a plethora of tutorials, some dealing with my initial concentration on shadows and daylighting and others not. Not only have I developed a good understanding of the Ecotect program, but I have also been able to develop a new design process for myself. With my beginners level of knowledge in Ecotect I will readily be able to use these tools to quickly test initial designs and concepts as I go along. This is a means to a better, more sustainable, and more user friendly final product. 


After I ran several tests on my large urban model, I opened and imported a scaled mass model of the building I designed for a particular parcel on this site this past semester. I ran through the same checklist of tasks, changing first my longitude, latitude and time zone. I continued to once again assign solar reflectors, display shadows, including shadows from and on selected objects, display a sun path and a diagram of shadow ranges. This went about three times faster as it was my second or third time around. In addition I tried and accomplished (some with more difficulty than others!) the following with this model: Attaining prevailing winds and climate data, finding a solar envelope, assigning materials and editing settings on the Visualisations Panel. This last exploration was much more useful than I expected it would be. Most of this the selections and changes on this deal with personal preferences, but I still found them useful. I did have several problems calculating and creating a solar envelope, though through a long series of trials and errors arrived at one that I am highly skeptical of. On the other hand, I do not know much about this topic, so my skepticism may come from my lack of familiarity with solar envelopes and other thermal calculations. 


The following two images show daily and annual sun path diagram accompanying the model. Both images are taken at noon on the first of the month. The first image is in April, the second in September.

The diagrams and data produced by the "prevailing winds and climate data" analysis looked like the following: 

The colors in the graphs I were able to produce in my several tries all varied significantly form that in the example that I followed, but I believe this has to do with the drastic difference in climate and location, as well as building type. While I am examining a 400 foot mixed use building, the guide I followed was doing his analysis on a single level home in Australia. Therefore it makes much more sense that I will have greater winds. For those who are unfamiliar with this diagram, it essentially shows the frequency and velocity of winds in a given direction during a specified period. I chose to set my period to the Spring season, though you can look at specific periods of any given day or at a whole year. 

A SIDE NOTE: SUN PATHS

Ecotect is a program that generate many data, analysis and diagrams. There are many people that do not understand how to read or use this information. Ecotect is user-friendly in its versatile nature. The program is capable of sophisticated calculations and performance requests, but is also able to guide new users in the right direction. The help toolbar in this program is one of the most useful I've encountered on any program. To take things onto another level entirely, the help website even shows how to read, interpret and use the diagrams generated by Ecotect. Here, page after page explains how to read and use a sun path diagram and take this into design considerations. For me this was very helpful because I had forgotten completely how to use Sun Path diagrams. This gave me an understanding of how to read and use the information that Ecotects analysis gave me. 

Sun Path Diagram

SHADOWS AND REFLECTIONS

After taking some time to better acquaint myself with the tools and taskbars in Ecotect I read some of the program's help literature and briefly scanned some Autodesk forums. This helped me preview things a bit and get a better grasp on what difficulties I might be looking at and how to approach them. I found the tutorials and help guides from the Square1 website (posted in the second case study) to be the most straightforward. These made navigating the program pain-free and rather easy. My last post detailed my experience with various formats for importing and exporting models into Ecotect. The model I used in my following explorations was one of the models I imported from Sketchup. To do this, after exporting as an OBJ (*.obj) I simply had to go to file > import > 3D models and then select Wavefront(*.obj) as the file type. A preview of the model you select appears in a small window below this file type selection. Once I had the visual confirmation I clicked "Okay" and was on my way!


The readings recommended to change the date and time right away, though I found this was unnecessary. These were both correct upon my import. It is however, very important that before beginning any analysis or calculations that you adjust your longitude, latitude and time zones. This is because the path of the sun through the sky varies significantly for different locations around the world. Therefore it is important you configure these correctly to your site if you plan on generating shadows or working with incident solar radiation. This was also very easy to do. Ecotect has two tools, one that allows you to click on a world map, and another that allows you to search by typing in your desired location, that make this process very easy. I was able to set my location to Toledo, Ohio in a matter of minutes. Also, be sure the box is checked so that the time zone automatically updates with your change of place. My time zone was automatically set to New York. This feature is great. Additionally, when you go to the "Projects" tab there is a box with a compass-like feature to aid the placement/orientation of your model on site. This site configuration allows you to specify the North-Offset, as well as the altitude. Here you can also set your terrain to either exposed, rural, suburban or urban. This was already set to urban, so I simply fixed my North-Offset so it was oriented correctly and moved on. 


Assigning date, time, latitude, longitude and time zone was quick easy. I proceeded to follow and carry out on my own the task of assigning solar reflections using the model provided in the Ecotect teaching package. This was more practical to do because singular reflective surfaces such as bay windows, rather than whole 400 foot glazed facades, are used in the tutorial. Afterwards, I re-opened my imported Sketchup model and proceeded to use Ecotect to display shadows on selected buildings, the sun path, daily and annual sun paths and shadows and shadows from (created by) selected buildings (objects). 


I also learned how to highlight shadows and display shadow ranges. "Highlighting" allows you to highlight shadows from a particular object in a different color. Shadow range diagrams, which are also called butterfly diagrams, are used to visualize the shadows that occur over the range of a given day (or for a selected range of time during a given day). 




Pictures generated showing model with sun path and projected shadows for the months of February, July and October:


February:

July:

October:

Isolated Sun Path Diagram: Stereographic Diagram:

TAKING THE FIRST STEP

Starting new project usually requires a list of tools that you’ll need to complete the task at hand. In this case that list looks like this:

Google Sketchup 6.0 (or higher)

Autodesk Revit 2010

Autodesk Ecotect 2010

Patience (lots)

I already had the other programs, but surprisingly Ecotect took under thirty minutes to download on my wireless connection and maybe another ten or fifteen minutes to install. Success!

The following steps admittedly required much more patience on my part. Importing into Ecotect is actually very easy, once you have the right format. To my surprise, you can export from both Revit and Sketchup and load directly into Ecotect. For the sake of design, this is a great feature. While Revit is extremely useful and has many great qualities that Sketchup does not, for myself and many of my peers, Sketchup is the preferred program for modeling very basic and preliminary designs. 

To export your model from Sketchup, simply go to file >> export >> 3D model, and save it as an OBJ (*.obj).

When you export from Revit, it is recommended you export the model as gbXML. For myself, this did not work.

The 3D model I am using consists of a few urban blocks given to my architecture studio by an urban design firm we worked with in the fall. In this Sketchup model of downtown is a particular building I have been researching and looking to remodel. I believe it might be due to the complexity, size or perhaps preset parameters of this model that I encountered several problems when trying to export or import. In an effort to simplify the model I deleted many blocks and unnecessary buildings and detailed elements. This certainly helped.

After playing around with formats for exports I ended up with the following: I took the simplified 3D urban model I had and exported it directly from Sketchup as an OBJ. I took this same model and also imported it into Revit, and then exported it once, unsuccessfully as an XML, and then again, successfully as a DXF. In addition, I downloaded an example file from the square one website. I used this in most of my trials because of the simplicity and clarity of it.

Following a few successful and unsuccessful imports, I chose one of the working files and continued by watching a series of tutorials. I then proceeded to try these tasks on my own and found them to both rather easy and very useful in their results.  


One of my successful imports!

CASE STUDY THREE

New Autodesk Tools Help Simplify Energy-Efficient Building Design and Renovation
http://investors.autodesk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=117861&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1282730&highlight=

CASE STUDY TWO

Square One: Development site for Building Performance Analysis and resources