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Automating Microclimate Evaluation and Optimization during Urban Design: A Rhino–Grasshopper Workflow

Abstract:
Though building-scale energy demand and indoor thermal comfort have been extensively covered by recent studies, the automation of middle- and larger-scale outdoor microclimate evaluation in parametric design is less covered. The relatively slow computation and the need for sophisticated expertise are some of the current issues. This paper proposes a Rhino–Grasshopper custom script to automatically compute spatial indicators for a quick thermal comfort estimation. The Galapagos evolutionary algorithm is used to optimize thermal comfort and select the best combinations of spatial indicators. In a summer case study located in Shantou, China, the proposed workflow was three times faster than a non-automated indicator calculation in ArcGIS, while the optimization method achieved 25% to 33% reduction in land areas under extreme heat stress. This automated process applies to existing states and new urban designs. It is adaptable to customized prediction models under different climatic zones.

Authors
Komi Bernard Bedra, Jian Zheng, Jiayu Li, Zhaoqian Sun, & Bohong Zheng

Keywords
Microclimate evaluation; automation; spatial indicators; thermal comfort; evolutionary optimization; Rhino–Grasshopper

Publisher
Sustainability 2023, 15(24), 16613, 6 December 2023

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