Mass Models: Two alternate Energy Analysis Model Studies

This post was updated on March 29, 2017, and is part-one of a four-part series on Energy Analysis Modeling.

Suppose you have two alternate building design options, both created using masses, and you want to evaluate and compare the energy performance of your designs. Well, I have good news for you; you can create two energy analysis model (EAM) studies in Revit, in about 5 minutes.

And, if you're working in Revit 2017, you have access to Insight 360, which lets you see the building's performance overall (EUI) in addition to the specific impact of various design factors, such as a range of alternate insulation values or wall/window ratio. 

The goal of this post is to help you establish an energy efficient direction for the design at a conceptual stage. We will go in depth with Revit building elements and things like the thermal properties of materials later in this four-part series. 

To start, I want to focus exclusively on managing thermal conceptual values applied to various mass surfaces and generalized energy loading according to building type. For example, the weather station data is specific to the building's location and the study factors in the surrounding context.

All classroom activities on the ground level

Classroom activities stacked

When using masses for your energy analysis model you will be asked to select values from a compact dialog that assigns your design assumptions. These can be values related to:

• Energy loads such as occupancy (i.e., office, school, or residential)
• Geographic location and a local weather file
• Percentage of glazing on surfaces
• Thermal conductivity of the masses faces (i.e., Walls, Floors, Glazing, and Roofs)

This process will enable you to compare the energy performance of both of your designs and select the one that works best for you.

Once you have decided on the best design option, you can refine the masses by adjusting values per surface or by assigning occupancy per mass zone - I will explore this workflow later in the series. For now, watch my video, Revit: Energy Model Studies and Insight 360, and let’s see which building design option makes most sense, purely from the energy use point of view.

Don't forget to stay tuned for parts two through four of this series, where I will be covering Mass Overrides for Surfaces and Zones, Building Elements with Masses, and Building Elements and Material Thermal Properties.

For more information on the software solutions, training, and consulting Ideate provides, please visit the Ideate Inc. website.

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Jim Cowan

AEC Senior Application Specialist

Jim Cowan’s extensive AEC design industry experience, Autodesk design solutions expertise, and status as an Autodesk Certified Instructor have made him a sought after university curriculum developer, instructor, and presenter. Jim’s areas of expertise include eLearning, interoperability between solutions, and overcoming barriers to the adoption of Building Information Modeling (BIM). Educated in Architecture at Edinburgh College of Art/Heriot–Watt University and in Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba, Jim has a special focus on sustainability issues: daylight analysis, sun studies, lighting analysis, modeling buildings, and conceptual energy modeling (models with shading devices). You can learn more from Jim on his YouTube Channel.

Listen - Analyze - Synthesize: A Business Process

When determining customer needs, there are three areas of concentration:

• Listening 
• Analyzing 
• Synthesizing 

If you are having trouble with figuring out what the customer is trying to say or determining a customer's need, you are probably missing one of the three parts.

LISTENING 

In general, we all could do better at listening. Listening to what the customer: says, and more importantly "does not say." 

Customers, like most people, do not want to admit to issues until they are way past critical stage. Some gentle questions, open-ended, will usually get the customer to speak more directly to their pain, and therefore business need.

If you are always convincing people you are right, you are not listening to their needs. I think lively exchange is the best. Lively exchange focuses on a conversation that elicits emotion from the customer. Give the customer every opportunity to express their needs.

Ask open-ended questions (open-ended questions cannot be answered with yes, or no, or one-word answers). Ask clarifying and follow up questions. Take excellent notes. Those notes would include your thoughts, strategies, and tactics too.

ANALYZING

The next step is to analyze what you heard. Sometimes this can happen during the conversation, but I found it is more effective to focus on information gathering during the conversation and it is better to analyze after the conversation. Why? Because by reviewing your notes after a bit of time passing, it gives you a better analysis. Your brain should be working behind the scenes to analyze the information.

Make sure to:

• Think about what business issues you are trying to solve, including the desired deliverable.
• Discuss with internal sources (salespeople, internal technical resources, etc). 
• Re-read your notes to reveal key themes.

SYNTHESIZING

Synthesize is defined as combining various components into new whole; to combine different ideas, influences, or objects into a new whole. So the act of synthesizing is a process of 'connecting the data' you have gathered into a new whole. What does the 'new whole' consist of?

• An understanding of the problem to be solved in a clear and definitive way. What is the business problem to be solved. 
• What is the defined solution to the problem. As you should note, the solution needs to solve the problem. 
• How will you know when the problem is solved. How will the customer know? This would correlate with the Conditions of Success. 
• An understanding (even if just in a broad way) the major tasks required to accomplish the solution.

A colleague of mine suggested that this is mostly a vetting process, and I quite agree. Part of the process may conclude in that you cannot solve the business problem, the customer does not have a compelling event, or there is not adequate schedule or budget to solve the business problem.

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David Haynes, NCARB, PMP, LEED AP
Ideate Director of Consulting

David is a Registered Architect, Project Management Certified Professional, who previously had his own architectural practice and was President of a commercial design–build construction company for 15 years. A graduate of University of Arizona, he has worked as an Architect, contractor, developer and as a national construction manager for a national retailer. David currently provides business process analysis, data integration, and change management solutions for AEC clients across the United States involved in the design and construction industry. Follow David on Twitter: @dhaynestech 

Get it. Know it. Use it.

This post was originally published on David’s blog Connecting the [Data]…