IHBE Faculty Research

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Energy, Scheming: . Macintosh Software for Preliminary Design
(Center for Housing Innovation, University of Oregon, 1991) Brown, G. Z.; Sekiguchi, Tomoko
This paper describes software for the Apple Macintosh microcomputer that aids architecture students and professionals in incorporating energy considerations in the earliest phases of the design process. The user interface is a "sketch pad" environment that has been designed to foster design activities rather than analysis and allows users to input a building by drawing it at any level ofdetail. It provides a schematic evaluation of the building's energy performance and a complete annual energy loads'analysis. Calculation algorithms are simplified, both to speed up the computer's response time and to minimize the amount of sPecification the user must be burdened with. By seeing evaluations of their work frequently and easily, users may make preliminary decisions about a design idea and develop a familiarity with, and an intuition for; the effect of energy considerations on their design process.