Computational Design for a Nonprofit—Data Driving Form and Performance

LUC WING: Good afternoon, everybody. Welcome to a computational design for a non-profit, data-driven form and performance. In today's class, we will go ahead and get through our introductions really quickly. We'll talk about what is the issue that we're facing. And why addressing this issue is so important. And how would we have achieved these kind of analysis and studies prior to this tool. And how Microdesk was able to step in and support BHI in achieving these goals. and what we were able to achieve here at the end. And then we'll wrap it up with how this workflow benefits BHI.

The learning objectives today will-- we'll learn how to be prepared for sustainable standards and parameters for design analysis studies. We'll also learn how we performed iterative studies to identify passive strategies as well as how we're able to compare, validate design decisions in real time. And learn how to leverage and utilize informed decision-making practices through a wider BIM ecosystem.

But now I'll go ahead and pass it over to my partner and let her introduce herself to you all.

ALLISON DENISKY: Hi, everyone. My name is Allison Denisky. I'm really excited to be here today and share a little bit about what my organization Build Health International does and the work we've been doing with Microdesk over the past few months.

So this is my second time speaking at AU and I've been an architectural designer at BHI for the past four years. We're a non-profit organization that builds and constructs health care infrastructure in Haiti and in sub-Saharan Africa. As you can imagine, we've been really busy with the urgency and needs with the recent earthquake in Haiti. So the right is just a quote from Jaresiah, a project manager at BHI, who's been on the ground in Haiti that really sums up what drives BHI's team every day. So we're doing the "things that many in the international community have deemed impossible. What this says to me is that there is room to further explore those preconceived notions about what is achievable in the realm of global health equity. There is more work to do. There is more boundaries to expand," which is a great segue way into the work. Luc's going to explain to you today and a good background of BHI's mission.

LUC WING: Thanks, Allison. So just real quickly I'll go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Luc Wing. I'm a sustainability researcher and evangelist. I'm actually an innovation lead here at Microdesk as well, but Autodesk Building Performance Analysis certified. And I've also been speaking at AU since about 2015. I did a little stint in London last year, which was awesome, and then have a few publications out in the last year you guys could check out.

But I really want to highlight this quote on the right. And I think it's super important on how we define what is a successful building. And this is by David Wann and it says "Reducing our levels of consumption will not only be a sacrifice but a bonus if we simply just redefine the meaning of the word success." So if we could redefine what we classify as successful project, I think we can start really seeing some great improvements.

I'll go ahead and pass it back to Allison real quick, and would you go ahead and like to introduce everybody to who Build Health International is?

ALLISON DENISKY: So Build Health International is a non-profit organization that designs, builds, and implements health care infrastructure in resource-constrained settings around the globe. We provide a variety of services, including architecture, engineering and construction, master planning and research, and then the procurement, shipping, and logistics of medical equipment to our building sites.

To date, BHI has worked on over 200 projects in 26 countries across the Caribbean, and Latin America, and Africa. We partner with the public sector, such as the ministry of health, as well as other nonprofits that are operating and running the health care facilities in the countries we work in, such as Partners In Health, St. Boniface Hospital, and CARE International.

Our team is comprised of a diverse group of health care planners, architects, engineers, site supervisors, and facility managers. So our work is really successful because of this cross-disciplinary approach to design and construction and this intense collaboration that drives every project through each phase. And this work would not be possible without the generous support of our partners like the Autodesk Foundation and Microdesk that are giving us access to the new tools that are allowing us to be so innovative in this field.

LUC WING: Thanks, Allison. So real quickly I'll go ahead and just introduce Microdesk and get that out of the way. All right, so Microdesk we've been steadily innovating project delivery for over 25 years now. And we're set on building upon a foundation and building a sustainable future as well.

So our services range from an array of workshops. We do project support, we have project management, and lots more. With over 230 AEC experts that range from registered architects, professional engineers, construction specialists, application developers-- additionally, we have teams dedicated to IT, asset management, and research and development management as well. So at Microdesk We have the vision, the tools, and the talent to help your firm stand from above the rest.

But all this is driven on our drive to build a culture that revolves around transparency and encouragement. So we understand that with globalization and urbanization are inevitable, the only way we can truly build back better is to do it sustainably. And, therefore, we must start addressing this topic collectively and as a group with-- through co-innovation, and co-research, and co-development, which leads us to our co-innovation lab.

So we focus on industry collaboration. And this is where we aim to support organizational co-research, co-creation, and co-development, like I just mentioned. This includes teaming up on research and grants well-- as well and ultimately to co-innovation together. And we are committed to unlocking new solutions and strategies by exploring and implementing multiple methods in which BIM can make projects more sustainable throughout an asset's lifecycle. So with that, let's go ahead and dive in. And I'll let Allison explain what some of the issues that we face are.

ALLISON DENISKY: So what is the issue? Why are we here today? So a lot of-- all of Build Health's projects really are located in hot and humid climates or hot and dry climates with little access to reliable utilities and resources. So health care infrastructure across Haiti and Africa will rely on both utility power and generators to ensure buildings are kept running through all the hours of the day. Often the municipal utility power will turn off at a certain time of the day and then the generator will kick on for the evening. Natural resources will also occasionally be supplemented, such as solar power to keep the building running.

So despite the extreme heat, on top of the hurricanes and earthquakes, it's really unrealistic to design a cooling system with high energy consumption in our buildings. What reliable utility the facilities do receive is better needed to power anesthesia machines, keep the labor and delivery ward well-lit, preserve perishable drugs in the pharmacy, and power AC systems in the really high acuity areas like the ORs and the PACUs.

So the BHI team has become really creative about addressing user comfort in the buildings or designing in the climates they're located in. So all of our lower acuity spaces, the inpatient wards, the interior waiting rooms, certain clinical exam rooms, they all have passive ventilation strategies at the forefront of their design concept. So this may mean long, narrow buildings to encourage cross ventilation, including a high series-- or a series of high and low louvers to encourage cool air to come in and hot air to escape, and then designing tall roof pitches to further encourage stack effect.

So the challenge, though, with these passive designs is ensuring they're achieving their intention. We don't really have a way right now to measure how effective they are. So we don't know actually how much cool air low louvers are bringing in, and how much hot air is being exhausted through our high louvers, and how much our roof overhangs are blocking sunlight at certain distances throughout the building.

So our passive cooling strategies are based on best practices from our past projects, which do work really well. But they don't necessarily take into effect the specific details of every new project and every new location they expect-- especially as BHI is expanding into new resources. We might miss an opportunity or miss an obstacle that's presented through the surrounding built context of a site, the microclimate of the specific location, or the occupancy of the building.

Why is this important for us to know? Well, one of the most obvious answers is that it ensures accuracy, that are design solutions are actually achieving our comfort goals, and they're not creating any new problems. One of our recent discoveries after taking analysis of a building BHI constructed and was being used as a emergency department, we noticed that a lot [INAUDIBLE] patients were boarding up the low louvers with cardboard. They were worried that the cold air coming in was going to make them even sicker. So this is important to keep in mind and make sure we're not creating any new problems with our ventilation systems, especially realizing that we're designing so far away from the communities we work in.

We can also maximize the potential of each site. So I just touched on this a little bit, especially as we're expanding to new regions. We might miss an opportunity or an obstacle that's really going to prevent ventilation or make it really effective in our new sites and new locations.

So infection control has really become a hot topic the past year with COVID. So ventilation can really help diminishing the transmission of diseases. So we can study to make sure that we're actually bringing in cool air and allowing it to escape instead of just recycling air within the space. And besides COVID, there's a lot of infectious diseases in the countries we work in that we don't really think about in the US, like tuberculosis.

With more accurate data we can be very considerate to the different measures of comfort. So my story earlier touches a little bit on this. We're designing for people that have different lifestyles and different cultures than people in Boston do. So we can really take this into effect and keep this idea in mind to really target this specific user group.

And then most importantly is the lessons learned. Through this exact data we can identify what works well in certain places and what doesn't and really continue to learn and grow and improve our designs for future projects.

So what have we been doing to date then? So we've done a few studies in the past about how well our ventilation studies have been working in our built projects. In 2018, the team produced a report of three buildings in Haiti analyzing their passive and mechanical ventilation systems. This was intended to be used as a learning exercise for future projects.

So in this study airflow, daylight, temperature, and sound levels were all measured in key clinical spaces on-site and compared with some results and studies done Insight 360. These results were also compared to climate conditions on the site, such as topography, solar orientation, wind direction, and concluded with the effectiveness of each passive system.

So the result ended up being pretty mixed for each building study. It was often dependent on the specific site conditions at each project that aided in the ventilation strategies or really prevented them from working well. It also was caused by a lot of the passive and mechanical ventilation strategies that we're consistently improving on over time from lessons learned, so we saw things get better and better in later projects.

Another study was done in 2019, this one a bit more focus on airflow. The air changes per hour were measured at the main sources of ventilation, such as louvers, windows, and fans, and a few of the projects BHI constructed in Haiti. So the results were then compared to international health care standards.

So the goal of this study was, again, to learn lessons of good ventilation practice for future design. The research team not only received quantitative data, though, from their work, but also the most valuable feedback they received was from speaking with the people using the space. Only the users will really be able to tell you what's working well and what's not working well, which, to reiterate, is so important when we're designing for people across the world from us. Pass back to Luc to talk about what Microdesk has done to date too.

LUC WING: Awesome. Thank you, Allison. So just trying to build upon that 2019 study, we wanted to be able to provide a software solution for these types of studies. So we utilized Autodesk Flow Design to help identify airflow patterns and to help us optimize louver location so-- as well as help identifying those pressures that you were speaking about as well, Allison.

So in this analysis we wanted to inform the inputs for those interior airflow calculations. So we ran the analysis for BHI as part of our 20-- AU 2022-- or 2020 session. So within Flow Design we were able to look at this example and we were able to optimize those louver locations, the airflow, with a few simple modifications. So this was effective in identifying areas that, as you said, performed well as we expected and also areas that maybe didn't perform well or not as we expected.

But, ultimately, the roof line was raised nearly a foot and that helped foster positive airflow and proper ventilation throughout the space. However, there are a lot of assumptions taking place in these types of analysis. So this method is valuable and it can help improve conditions, but there is still another level of information that we would like to get into that wasn't really being accounted for.

So, as you guys all know, CFD is a complex tool. And usually when speaking about occupant comfort, we're looking at conditioned spaces. So for these types of projects where we're usually 100% reliant on natural ventilation, we had to find a way of simplifying this process and that way the BHI can incorporate this type of workflow in-house, allowing this level of understanding on all projects while providing another level of detail to the end-- provide more accurate results than we are used to providing for them.

So just looking how we're able to build upon our past engagements with BHI, we did-- in 2019, we optimized a Haitian hospital to reduce operational energy and we investigated things for energy optimization. So we looked at a two-story building versus a-- two single story buildings. We optimized heating and cooling loads and located spaces with the greatest demands where they were protected by earth sheltering techniques. We also helped verify stack ventilation in their design, along with the continuous EUI check-- benchmarking. We also ran solar installation analysis along with daylighting analysis. And, finally, we provided a PV-- predicted PV plan to provide a path towards carbon neutrality as well.

But in 2020 we looked to Flex Autodesk generative design tool. And this helped to inform us of our daylighting strategies. So taking an iterative look on how the skylight layout will impact not only our visual comfort but as well as the building's overall performance.

So how does Microdesk able to step in and support BHI for this year's challenge? And not only just step up our analysis game from past years, but to really develop an easy-- use-- easy to use tool that have long-lasting impacts and our design and for those who occupy these designs. So we start off with an intense research and investigation phase where we really wanted to understand the user-defined parameters, the climate parameters, and, of course, baseline-- schedule some kind of geometry.

So the next move was to the analysis phase. And we looked at all of these different parameters, and these inputs, and how they can inform this design through analysis. So, finally, we help identify outputs for BHI and we are really-- and what we're really looking to achieve and understand about our design.

So, for this process, we identified to optimize the window to wall ratio to optimize occupant comfort through naturally ventilated facilities. So, finally, our biggest hurdle was to be able to have this analysis provide content for our construction documents and help the design team through the process and not just live in a black box.

So after clarifying this process with BHI and the goals that we needed to achieve, we dove into a tool and workflow investigation. We looked at three different options and decided which one provided the best opportunity for adoption and integration into BHI's daily life and daily workflows.

So after ruling out Dynamo and a generative design platform for this study-- although super powerful, has a lot of great benefits-- there was just missing some key analysis components in development within the Dynamo platform and just stuff that Revit simply can't handle on its own. So we then investigated third party tools that were out there. And there's some great products that provide really amazing results, but all too commonly learn CFD platforms are generally going to have a high cost associated with them. And us understanding that a lot of universities and students are utilizing Rhino and Grasshopper and those students will often be the interns driving these initiatives in offices. And a lot of firms do have access to this platform as-- anyways, as the kind of BHI does, but not to mention the capability to perform complex analysis related to building performance and ventilation. We really dove into Rhinoceros and Grasshopper.

Seeing that this was the clear path for us to go forward, and we're achieving our goals, and utilizing Ladybug and Honeybee toolsets as well. So, finally, the piece that was missing was the integration back into the design tool, which the team is most familiar with, which is Revit. So as a recent-- this was a problem, but not anymore with introduction to Revit inside. This allows the design team to use the tool that they're familiar with and package it with a familiar and easy to maintain scripting interface to really hone in and obtain climate analysis, understand the wind analysis, along with thermal comfort predictions as well. So once we've optimized this design in our conceptual tool belt, we can really pump this iteration back and forth from Revit.

So what were we able to achieve in this go round and do with this ability? Well, step one we wanted to define some zones within our model. And then we needed to obtain the climate data. So luckily Ladybug makes this super easy with-- you click on the node, it takes you to this website page, and then you can zoom in and out of your different energy files-- your TMY3, you have TMY2. And you can zoom in and out to your region, select the energy weather files, and then you pop it back into your script.

And the next aspect for getting the comfort chart is running this thing through an energy simulation. This allows us to understand the climate of our building together and how they work in one. And this helps us to find a baseline for the space conditions. So we gather all the outdoor temperatures as well, we set the thermal comfort parameters, and, as Allison mentioned earlier, that perceived comfort may different to those who are used to the region's extreme temperatures. So we built in that ability to adjust this range and account for that, if they have a higher tolerance or not.

So, finally, we want to be able to plot this thermal comfort chart for these spaces as designed with closed and open windows. So once we've obtained this geometry, set our climate design strategies, we can then plot this adaptive comfort chart. We'll get our charts and graphs as well as some important information that will help us apply tangible numbers to the performance and comfort levels of these spaces. So these are the percentage of people that are comfortable and the percentage of time people are too hot. We will take this data for the as design, but it doesn't give us a fully accurate picture or information regarding the site's context, like Allison explained, when we take those assumptions.

So in order to really refine this analysis and take in site context, we had to baseline the building and how it performs with the climate on the site. We wanted to take it a step further and really understand how it performs with that context and how it would impact these design decisions. So we scripted in some CFD simulation as well. And this is where we're able to utilize this kind of wind information from the wind rows and feed it into our script. This is further refining our climate data and giving us actual wind predictions to inform the design team on those key decisions being made. So this step really helped us understand our design even greater, allowing us to validate the space would receive optimal airflow, ultimately keeping the patients and occupants comfort throughout the hottest and even the coolest times of the year.

So for our original design we were able to plot the adaptive comfort chart and pull the average time the occupants were comfortable and the average time they were too hot. And we did this analysis with windows open and with windows closed to adjust for the swing and temperature throughout the year. And as you can see on our comfort chart we're about 66% of the time comfortable and 19% of the time too hot with the windows open, which is not bad. But with the windows closed, you can see we're getting into some extreme heat temperatures and a lot of discomfort. So this design was not ideal and we went through the iterative process to see all the other options that were out there.

One of the parameters we allowed for was 20% larger. And in this hot, arid climate, you could see the impacts of these large windows were negative. However, it provides good airflow you might think, the impacts from the heat gain are negative. And having windows this large are going to increase the time too hot in both these categories, even with your windows open or closed. So this was a poor performing design.

And so we kept looking through the iterations. And we noticed as they got smaller, we had better performance. So at 25% smaller from the original design in this hot, arid climate, you can see we're starting to achieve a little bit more manageable numbers where we have a 73% of the time that occupants are being comfortable and only 11% of the time they're going to be too hot, which is a vast improvement from the prior design and from the 20% larger. And so say these occupants are too cool, like Allison said, and they close these windows or shut their louvers, we still see that our windows closed occupant comfortable ratings aren't too bad, so only 50% of the time they're too hot. That could be acceptable for some of these designed spaces that we're working in where you have occupants that are used to really sub-African-- or sub-Saharan temperatures and heat.

So next we take it-- we kept going through the iterations and so we wanted to see what they look like as they got smaller and you can only see improvement. So what we're seeing in this kind of climate that maybe smaller winning windows that do promote airflow, but keep out the heat gain are going to be the most advantageous to these passive strategies. So with windows that are 50% smaller than our original design, we have a 77% time comfortable rating with the windows open and only 5% of the time occupants are going to be too hot. So with the windows closed, we're only at 49% at the time they're comfortable and 33% of the time too hot. These are much more manageable numbers and comfortable for everybody. And I'm sure Allison will agree when she goes to visit that they can all have a little more control of their space and be able to fluctuate these temperatures a little more freely.

But this final comparison, we wanted to really ladies out side-by-side and do kind of the versus challenge for our 20% larger with the original design, 25% and 50% smaller. So this mainly is to help us highlight the benefits and negatives from each of the designs and it really allowed us to start to rank and understand what these decisions mean to us. This includes materials, comfort levels, and this is all based on site and climate, and, of course, our performance strategies. So, Allison, do you want to go ahead and jump in and add how you as a designer would use and interpret this information to help guide your team.

ALLISON DENISKY: Yeah, thanks, Luc, for that. So if we were designing in a hot, arid climate somewhere in Eastern Africa, definitely based on these results we're going to go for something with a smaller window that has the opportunity to be open or closed. We then translate that into what type of window we would want to get. This could be an awning or maybe a jalousie window with the louvers that can be shut or opened. And then from here with these smaller windows we could then begin to layout where beds are going to go in the open wards, how the interior spaces, are going to be laid out based on what our window layout is going to look like. But the really key takeaway here is that we have all this information before we get really deep into the specifics of the design. So we can really use this to weigh our options and how this is going to affect any of the interior spaces before we get locked into some of those specifics.

LUC WING: Perfect. And then so how will this workflow benefit Build Health International and maybe those communities you guys serve?

ALLISON DENISKY: So it really comes down to saving time, costs, and resources. So the first thing to hit on is that we'll save so much time in the design process since all this information is given to us through a few hours of designing and clicks in the script. So it saves a lot of time doing trial and error, which means less time spent on the project and more time and money going back to our partner, who, again, are often nonprofits that are running these medical facilities in the low resource countries.

We can also prioritize local solutions for ventilation and then make up the difference for-- the difference needed with other solutions as needed. So, for example, in Haiti, we procure high quality windows from a specific manufacturer in Port-au-Prince but-- that has a lot of limited sizes. So we can input these sizes and styles into our design. And after running it through the script, if we find we're not getting enough airflow still, we can edit the roof form, or add ceiling fans, or enlarge the overhang as needed.

So using vernacular materials and resources will decrease a lot of the construction costs and go back and give business to the local economy, which is a guiding principle Allison BHI. So, overall, a tool like this will ensure a very well-rounded, thoughtful, and successful passive design strategy by not just studying one element in its singularity, but really taking advantage of everything-- the windows, the fans, the louvers, the roof shape, and the overhangs. So I see this really as being at the forefront of our A&E team's tool belt in our future projects.

LUC WING: Thank you. I love it. That's awesome. Thank you, Allison. And then I guess just to close things up today guys, we really just want to tell you all-- thanks to collaboration and this co-research and co-innovation process that Allison has taken part of with BHI and Microdesk desk. And really through the support of Autodesk Foundation, we know that through this collaborative process more is an inevitable and less can be in reality. And with really honing and working together, we have the opportunity of better, and creating better, and designing better spaces for everybody.

So, with that, we'll close it out today. We just like to tell everybody thank you. You guys can reach out to us on LinkedIn and also I'm on Twitter. And if you have anything, please feel free to stick around for the Q&A. Thanks, everybody.