In this class, we will present the use of Autodesk CFD for a new building project with a goal for net-zero energy compliance. The building and construction industries are responsible for about 40% of the global energy use and about 30% of the global carbon emissions, contributing to climate change. Energy-optimized building design is one of the green building principles that, by 2030, could reduce the carbon footprint and achieve reduction of building-related emissions by 50%—and deliver net-zero buildings by 2050. In an endeavor to design energy-efficient buildings, adoption of new technologies for enhancing indoor environment quality, thermal quality, and lighting quality are imperative. And implementation of such technologies needs validation for performance. Modeling and simulation software such as Autodesk CFD could be used to estimate the performance of the built environment and compare different design decisions in order to realize the opportunity to reduce energy consumption and, therefore, carbon emissions.

We'll discuss using Revit energy modeling and Green Building Studio cloud-based service to improve sustainability and produce better buildings. This will include a demonstration of a custom Dynamo mass-making tool that translates a design intent spreadsheet into Revit masses. We'll introduce beginners to conceptual energy modeling and provide a step-by-step process guide, including useful hints and potential pitfalls. We'll use real-world examples to demonstrate our energy modeling process, and we'll include comparisons with other common energy modeling software to demonstrate the accuracy and effectiveness of Revit energy modeling.

In this class you will learn how to set up your Revit software model for energy analysis within Revit and export out for analysis within Green Building Studio web-based energy analysis service. Learn where to go and what to do in order to set up the Building Information Modeling (BIM) information you need to generate a complete energy analysis. If we have enough time, we will look at Energy Analysis for Revit software from within the cloud.

One of the unrealized promises of Building Information Modeling (BIM) has been integrated energy analysis. Autodesk Revit software brings us one step closer to modeling every building, every time. The Autodesk 360 Energy Analysis for Revit service, powered by Autodesk® Green Building Studio® software, is the perfect tool to optimize load and 8760 energy calculations in project workflow. Full energy analysis does not require recreating an architectural model’s project geometry. Your firm can deliver better performing buildings, faster.

New subscription-based features in Autodesk Revit software provide significant enhancements to integrated whole-building energy simulation powered by the Autodesk® Green Building Studio® cloud service. This demonstration will highlight the automatic creation of accurate energy model geometry from detailed Revit software elements, such as walls, floors, roofs, windows, etc. This eliminates the time and effort required to rebuild a separate energy model, leaving more time for design iteration and optimization. This class will also show how other energy analysis data, such as thermal properties of building materials and building/space function, can be defined in Revit for use in the energy simulation and how the Autodesk Green Building Studio cloud service supports a more collaborative energy analysis process between architects and engineers, leading to greater accuracy and better design optimization from the earliest stages in the process. Finally, the extensive validation work conducted on this new feature will also be presented. While knowledge of Revit will be beneficial for attendees, it is not a requirement.

This hands-on lab covers Autodesk® software workflows to quickly create 3D building models and perform conceptual energy analysis using existing building geometry, operational characteristics, and local weather data. Resulting energy reports can indicate which buildings perform poorly compared to modeled energy use; managers can then prioritize retrofits and renovations by evaluating various energy conservation measures. We examine use cases and workflows for each solution and use Autodesk® Green Building Studio® to explore potential energy savings and sustainable design alternatives. We also cover best practices, benefits, limitations, and workarounds of various modeling methods. We use examples of real projects, including a U.S Department of Defense project. Attendees get hands-on experience building 3D models of existing structures, running energy reports, and exploring design alternatives to save energy and water and reduce carbon emissions and operating costs in this hands-on lab.

The process of building detailed energy models with results that attain the levels of accuracy required by utility incentive and green certification programs is typically tedious and convoluted. In response, Autodesk has implemented new energy analysis features for Autodesk® Revit® MEP 2013 and Autodesk® Green Building Studio® software that alleviate some of the difficult and time-consuming aspects of energy modeling for both existing buildings and new construction projects. Using an energy model created to simulate the energy performance of the Autodesk San Rafael, California, headquarters, this class will walk you through the detailed energy modeling process and show you how to use these new features to save time and increase your productivity.

One of the most difficult aspects of performing energy analysis on existing building projects is calibrating the simulated results from the energy model to the building's actual energy use. Accurate calibration depends on utility billing data or trended performance data from the Building Energy Management System (BEMS) being properly integrated into the energy model. To the novice, this process can easily double the modeling effort, killing a project’s budget. In the first part of this session, you will learn how to build a simplified energy model in Autodesk® Vasari Beta 1.0 software and calibrate the model to monthly utility data in Autodesk® Green Building Studio® web-based software. The second half of the class will cover how to calibrate the simulated results of the DOE2 energy model to the actual building’s energy performance as captured by a properly configured BEMS system. Both of these strategies will be covered in a case study on the Autodesk headquarters building in San Rafael, CA.

Are you new to design visualization? Are you having a hard time understanding the language needed to communicate or produce the daily requests for images or videos? Do you not know how a photorealistic image is constructed from a software perspective? Through various software examples, you will learn the basics of design visualization. This lecture will help you understand the language used to create images or videos that will communicate your designs. Get an overview of the Autodesk, Inc., design visualization portfolio. This class will work from concrete examples directly related to 3ds Max Design software, Maya software, Showcase software, VRED software, Navisworks software, Ecotect Analysis green building software, InfraWorks software, Revit software, Inventor software, AutoCAD software, and the Fusion 360 3D CAD design app.

Discover decarbonization design strategies for building design, as well as a data-informed workflow for implementing these strategies to decarbonize the training Revit House. We’ll use Revit software, the Revit One Click plug-in, and One Click LCA to show you how to extract and manage quantitative and material data to measure the embodied carbon emissions associated with the design of the Revit House. After examining the results, and discovering the carbon hotspots, we’ll decide on appropriate decarbonization strategies, aiming for a 40% reduction in line with the World Green Building Council goal. We’ll then apply those strategies to the Revit House. Integration between Revit and One Click LCA has streamlined the data-informed workflow and provides carbon data when the designer needs it. The designer can use this data to make design decisions and subsequently deliver measurably lower carbon buildings.

Revit software and Insight software are getting popular among architects due to the rapid feedbacks on energy/daylight analysis when updating the design at the early stage. But how can we ensure the best results? How can we apply the methodology in detailed design phases and integrate the engagement from engineers? This class will present how Revit and Insight were used in designing a net-zero project in New York from concept development to construction document. See the rules and tips that the design/energy team concluded in building up the graphical model with proper system settings in Revit for promising analysis results from Insight and Green Building Studio. Learn why the team determined to use Insight for future high-performance projects after comparing the accuracy (reliable results), efficiency (time saved), versatility (controllable variables/outputs), and accessibility (quicker learning times) between Insight and the competing tools (that is to say, IES VE and Ladybug) in multiple design stages.

We tend to focus on designing and constructing new buildings, yet they represent only 2% of United States commercial buildings. Greening operations and maintenance (O&M) of existing facilities is critical, and more architecture, engineering, and construction professionals should be involved in the entire building lifecycle. The Building Information Modeling (BIM) processes and tools that we use for design and construction are essential to an O&M assessment and ongoing facility management. Revit®, Autodesk® Vasari, and Autodesk® Green Building Studio® all help with planning facility changes, in identifying heat islands, and for designing solutions. Whether a building model exists for a facility or not, point cloud data can be brought into Navisworks® to verify existing conditions. Cloud solutions from Autodesk, such as BIM 360™ Field help tremendously for verification, BIM viewing, and retro-commissioning. Come and learn how DPR Construction has approached BIM for the lifecycle.

Revit software and Green Building Studio web-based energy analysis service provide us with in-depth and overwhelming data in relation to building performance. Currently, however, organizing the data and decision-making is mostly a user responsibility. For example, although Revit software's full analysis provides us with lighting and thermal analysis, the results are not synchronized. To be more exact, the lighting part of the full analysis uses lighting power density (LPD), which is only related to the area and disregards other features such as window properties (even window size) or orientation, and so on. Using the Dynamo visual programming language extension and cloud-rendering services (illuminance calculation is currently a render operation) provided by Autodesk, Inc., it is possible to gather and organize illuminance values for the internal space. From there it is easy to calculate the internal lighting load, and accordingly it is possible to achieve a fully concerted thermal and lighting analysis, which is crucial in decision-making (especially in the design phase).

With the new functionalities and plug-ins for Revit software—such as Lighting Analysis for Revit software, Green Building Studio web-based energy analysis service, the Tally app, and the Dynamo visual programming language extension—new potentials have emerged during the last year. These developments have not only led to much easier workflows, but also to a more holistic analysis of the building performance and urban comfort studies. In this lecture, these new potentials, workflows, and methods for visualizing simulations are shown based on various consultancy tasks and a research project that seeks to add knowledge to architects' design processes as supported with simulation tools. The research project also included a workshop where participants tested methods on unskilled architectural students. We will wrap this all up in the lecture and relate it to model detail levels, instead of the typical schematic design process related to design phases. In many cases, this does not reflect the actual design process. Design development is done in various detail levels at the same time, especially in the early design phases.

Annually, the embodied carbon of building structures, substructures, and enclosures are responsible for 11% of global GHG emissions. Architecture 2030 sets ambitious targets that call for 40% embodied carbon reduction today, and 65% by 2030. This is a great challenge, but also a great opportunity for the global architecture and building community. By integrating embodied carbon reduction strategies into the design process, you can develop a competitive edge, expand your service offerings, and get involved early in the projects. This class will first walk you through the key steps to establishing that strategy - measuring and optimizing embodied carbon from early stages to post construction. It will then demonstrate how to automate the process using the integration between your existing design tools, like Revit or Dynamo, and One Click LCA with its manufacturer-specific data (EPDs), to deliver results complying with any green building certification schemes like LEED and BREEAM.

How “green” is your green building? This session intends to answer this fundamental question and to reveal the “real” carbon impacts of various design decisions on early stage building design. Annually, embodied carbon is responsible for 11% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 28% of global building sector emissions. Currently, architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) firms mostly focus on reducing operational emissions without much regard for embodied emissions. This talk will focus on the importance of quantifying the impact of material selection at early stage design on EC, and to integrate the results with Insight 360 software. We’ll illustrate the fundamentals of EE and EC, and we’ll demonstrate through case studies how Dynamo workflows and various carbon databases can be used to provide a visual, high-level carbon feedback to the designer. The intention of this talk is to empower the designers to make better carbon-informed decisions without compromising energy performance for their Architecture 2030 projects.

In this workshop, attendees will learn about the advantages of using and preparing BIM (Building Information Modeling) models (Revit software, ArchiCAD, Bentley), and then we’ll import the models into BPS (Building Performance Simulation) software (BIM 360 Insight software, Ecotect, Green Building Studio, Radiance, Design Builder, and so on) in an interesting and exciting practical session.

Energy analysis has typically been a complex and time-consuming endeavor. At its foundation lies an Energy Analytical Model (EAM) and while advances in BIM have made significant gains in collaboration and productivity, EAM creation is still largely a skilled manual effort and subject to wide variability in BIM and energy analysis practices. A new feature in Revit 2014 Energy Analysis software that uses architectural building elements now greatly simplifies and standardizes EAM creation and subsequent analysis. This class provides background on what an EAM actually is, current industry practices and standards, and a comprehensive walkthrough of numerous worked examples directly in Revit 2014 to highlight how this new feature actually translates different architectural building elements and configurations into a high quality EAM, all without having to add, rebuild, or do any other bespoke model preparation, thereby helping you to deliver higher performing buildings more cost effectively and with greater confidence.