A “design process” includes many steps needed to design and construct a built environment. This includes everything from initial data-mining and schematic design all the way through to construction and post-occupancy evaluation. As built environments become more complex, building performance demands increase, and work schedules compress, project teams need to be more effective and efficient at every stage of this process.
This Innovation Incubator “Design Object Morphologies” examines model building within Perkins&Will Architects. The first part of this research explored model building knowledge bases across our studios to understand how we fabricate models, what they look like, the resources they require, how we pay for them and why out clients love to see them. The second... Read more »
Considering the increasing role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Architecture and Urban Design, in this Innovation Incubator we explore how AI can be leveraged to provide environmental analysis and trained to assist Perkins&Will in creating sustainable urban design proposals. Specifically, we propose to create an AI model to automate and speed up initial environmental analysis... Read more »
Researchers in the Process Lab have developed the Design Optimization Toolset (DOTS), a user-friendly, freely accessible generative design plugin for Rhino Grasshopper. DOTs allows designers to interactively develop design alternatives that reconcile project-specific constraints with the geometric complexity of architectural forms. Perkins&Will designers have applied DOTs in space planning, site parcellation, massing, and urban design... Read more »
Moisture performance in building assemblies affects building indoor air quality and integrity. Building on Perkins&Will’s implementation of WUFI for hygrothermal analysis, we propose a parametric workflow and extension of WUFI that allows architects to explore different wall assembly permutations specific to their project and check for potential moisture and mold issues. The back-end process of... Read more »
Passive House design requires users to create a complete building model to determine the energy performance of both the whole building and its individual elements. It makes traditional PHPP modeling a dilemma at the initial design stage when design decision making through optimization is necessary, without feeding too much design details. This research explores an... Read more »
The construction of zero energy buildings has been an impactful response to global warming and energy crises. Despite numerous approaches to model net-zero-energy buildings, it is still a challenge for building designers to evaluate the possibility of achieving this goal during the architectural design phases. This article, therefore, aims to offer a systematic framework for... Read more »
In our endeavour to build equitable, inclusive and resilient communities, collaboration and collective ownership of design is key. Phygital-UP is a co-design environment that supports equitable, inclusive, effective, and dynamic stakeholder engagement in both physical and virtual environments. Phygital-UP offers both the design team and the stakeholders the ability to work together in a synergistic... Read more »
Perkins and Will is at the forefront of innovation and technology in Architecture, and to keep this trajectory we must look forward into market innovations and emerging technologies. This project analyzes a patent-pending shading technology for its ability to increase performance of buildings in multiple locations in comparison to standard shading strategies. This patent-pending technology... Read more »
This paper explores through professional case studies how design solutions produced by expert teams compares to those developed through systematic parametric analysis. While the expert intuition of either single designer or teams helps to rapidly identify relevant aspects of the design problem and produce viable solutions, it has limitation to address multi-criteria design problems with... Read more »
In order to stay innovative, it is crucial that we keep asking ourselves the disruptive questions, which form the basis of great architecture. The more we share knowledge, talk about and discuss architecture on a daily basis, the more likely we are to remain critical, come up with innovative solutions, create social engagement and bring... Read more »
Energy analysis at the early stage of building design is a critical, yet difficult task in performance-based design. The difficulty arises from the complex, iterative, and uncertain nature of building design and the challenges of integration with well-posed energy assessment tools. The purpose of this article is to first review characteristics of performance-based design and... Read more »
