Many of our early design decisions will have a major impact on whether or not a building will use energy

and materials efficiently. Consequently, the effect of these decisions needs to be quantitatively assessed during schematic design and design development. Ecotect is a tool that helps architects to do this. It is a 3D application that assists us in analysing many aspects of a buildings performance, such as solar exposure, thermal performance, acoustics, lighting or shading, with a particular emphasis on creating energy efficient, sustainable designs.

ECO-TECH-ECOTECT
HAND-OUT SUBMISSION WED 21 SEP 2011 FRI 7 OCT 2011

Submission: A4 report (print-out and pdf)

PART 1 SITE

A 3D Ecotect model will be used to consider site conditions and orientation, and evaluate if the proposed building envelope represents a suitable design response. Different variants are to be tested and compared rather than a single solution. As a result a series of analyses, drawings and diagrams will be produced that will be presented in the final report.

DIGITAL STUDIO | VC5 | DSA | DIT | 2011 2012 marcin.wojcik@dit.ie

GETTING STARTED
Free download http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/download/item?id=13140033&siteID=123112 Basic navigation Panning, zooming and orbiting - in the 3d editor tab: right click to orbit hold down the middle mouse button to pan use the scroll wheel to zoom in and out zooming - use the buttons in the lower right hand corner to zoom to grid, zoom extents, etc.

SETTINGS AND PREFERENCES

Grid Check your grid settings by going to the Display Settings panel in the right hand side. Select an appropriate grid size for the scale of your model. User preferences (File menu/User Preferences) In the Cursor Snap tab select Align, Orthographic, Grid, Points, Mid-Points, and Intersections. These can also be changed by clicking on the lower left hand corner of your screen. You can also use the following shortcuts A, C, G, I, L, M, O, and P to toggle the snaps on and off. Under Modelling settings, change the selection highlight to Fat Line. In the Localization tab make sure that under General the SI Decimal option is selected. Make sure that Model Dimensions are set at mm (this can also be m for a site model), and Currency symbol is set to .

MODELLING
It is possible to import models for daylighting and shading analysis studies. Use the 3ds file format and check the box Remove Duplicate Faces. For thermal studies, you should model directly in Ecotect. Use the 3D Editor tab for modelling. Every zone needs to be closed. If you imagine that it was filled with water, there should be no leaks. Wall thicknesses are not necessary for thermal analysis. Model all zones as touching (recommended). If tracing a plan choose the centre line of all interior walls, and the exterior edge of perimeter walls. Stairs should be modelled with a void in the ceiling of the zone below and a void in the floor of the zone above. Each riser should be modelled as a plane. You only need to model the treads. Remember to keep the model simple. While modelling, you should check your surface normals, by clicking on Display / Surface Normals [Ctrl + F9]. You can turn these off by clicking Display/ Model [F9]. Its easiest to isolate zones to help see the arrows. Ensure that these always point to the exterior. To reverse normals, click on Modify / Reverse Normals [Ctrl + R]. Moving Items: use the Move icon (upper left) or the nudge command. The nudge command will move the item a default number of units in the axis you type, using the buttons, x, shift+x, y, shift+y, z, shift+z. X moves the item over the amount of units specified under Cursor Snap. Child Objects: Use a panel to model a sliding door To insert a child object, such as a window, door, or void, first selec the wall, and then press the insert button. You can also select the item, and click Child Object in the toolbar at the left hand side. Ensure that the windows and voids are placed in the objects in the Visualise tab. Roofs: Use the pitched roof icon for pitched roofs Create a roof from scratch by using planes To link items (parent and children), select the items to be linked and click Ctrl + K. Nodes You can use nodes of each plane to modify the geometry. To turn nodes on, select an item, and click F3. This will highlight all nodes of selected item. From here, you can select nodes by clicking on them, using a window to highlight multiple nodes, or using the control and shift button to add or delete nodes from your selection set.

KEYS AND KEYSTROKES

F3 F5 F6 F7 F8 F9 x / shift x y / shift y z / shift z ctrl tab select nodes plan view side view other side view perspective view check normals - all arrows should be facing out nudge object in this axis by grid snap (shift x nudges in the negative direction) nudge object in this axis by grid snap (shift y nudges in the negative direction) nudge object in this axis by grid snap (shift z nudges in the negative direction) toggles between 3D Editor and Visualization

DIGITAL STUDIO | VC5 | DSA | DIT | 2011 2012 marcin.wojcik@dit.ie

TASKS
Location and orientation of the site. Click on the Project page tab, which displays a summary of project information. You can specify the location of the project by loading the Weather Data file. To the right of this page, you can confirm if the latitude and longitude are correct, and also set the time zone. Below this, you can specify which way is north, and the local terrain. This is used when performing thermal and ventilation calculations. Prevailing winds. Return to the 3D Editor page tab, go to the Calculate menu and click on Prevailing Winds. Use the Prevailing Winds dialog box for further information, such as what times of the day these winds are present. You can also view other climate data in relation to your model, such as wind temperature, rainfall and relative humidity (note that as different weather stations around the world have varying procedures for recording climate data, the Ecotect climate data file may not contain all of this information).

Solar orientation and shading aspects of the model. To reset the model view, press the F9 key, and then F8 to return to a perspective view. Resize the modelling grid to fit the model by clicking the Fit Grid to Objects button if nessessary. Go to the Display > Shadows menu. This displays the shadows that would be cast by the building on the ground plane. Ecotect uses different shades of grey to differentiate between shadows and sunlight penetrating or reflecting into a space. You can also analyse the shadows and shading for particular days. Based on the geographic location specified, Ecotect automatically works out key analysis dates, such as the winter and summer solstice (click the Set Current Time/Location button, and choose Winter Solstice). The shadows update automatically, and you can adjust the time to the left of this button.

DIGITAL STUDIO | VC5 | DSA | DIT | 2011 2012 marcin.wojcik@dit.ie

3D stereographic sun-path diagram. A 3D stereographic sun-path diagram allows us to see the position of the sun in relation to the model. Click on the Shadow Settings control panel to the right of the main window. Check the Display Sun Path checkbox. In the corresponding diagram overlay, click and drag the sun (or use the Up/Down buttons to the right of the Time field in the toolbar) to interactively adjust the shadows. Now also check the Annual Sun Path checkbox. You can adjust the time position of the sun as before, and hold down Shift while you drag the sun to change the date. In the Shadow Settings control panel, click the View from Sun Pos button, and then click on the Visualise page tab. This allows you to visually analyze which surfaces are most exposed to the Sun at different times of the year, which could be used to determine the optimum locations for positioning solar panel arrays.

Overshadowing Overshadowing of adjacent properties is regulated by law and needs to be addressed in an early schematic design. Perform the Solar Access (Shading, Overshadowing and Sunligh Hours) and Right-To-Light (Solar Envelope) analyses using the wizards in the Calculate menu. Display the results both on objects in model and on the Analysis Grid (Analysis Grid control panel).

Spatial visibility Perform the Spatial Visibility analysis using the wizard in the Calculate menu. Use the Analysis Grid (Analysis Grid control panel).

DIGITAL STUDIO | VC5 | DSA | DIT | 2011 2012 marcin.wojcik@dit.ie