An Optimization Framework And Tool For Context-Sensitive Solar-Driven Design Using Cellular Automata (SDCA)

This article develops a framework and computational tool that integrates cellular automata (CA) as a generative design (GD) system into the solar radiation incident (SRI) simulation. It automates generating and optimizing urban building form considering the surrounding morphological context. The proposed framework is tested for designing the building form located at dense urban districts at multiple locations where abundant shadows are cast on the target building from neighboring structures. Findings indicate that this framework can automatically produce forms with increased solar energy gain by buildings in urban environments for suggestive use in the early-stage design. Comparison studies upon the equal-volume control forms indicate that the proposed framework can maximize SRI on building surfaces for renewable energy generation applications through form generations by up to 24%. The proposed framework and toolkit aid architects in building form-finding with increased solar-energy harvesting through optimizing context-sensitive exploration at early-stage design.