BP

PA W
Workflo
ows
Beiing delib
berate about your analyysis proccess usin
ng BIM can
c
go a long way
w
tow
wards bo
oth savin
ng you time
t
and
d improvving the
e usefuln
ness and
d validityy of
you
ur resultss.
With softw
ware too
ols it can be ea
asy to present
p
i
impressiv
ve-lookin
ng analyysis
ressults and graphs without knowing
g if the re
esults are
e valid, and
a whatt to do with
w
the
em. Thatts not good. These
T
wo
orkflow diagram
ms can help
h
you
u use va
alid
ana
alysis as an integ
grated an
nd iterative part of
o your design
d
prrocess.
Kno
owing Goalls and Metrics
The
e first step of the ana
alysis proccess is crea
ating a clea
ar picture of what yo
oure trying
g to learn and
wha
at aspects of the design youre trying opttimize. That can help you underrstand wha
at tools to use,
and
d what to lo
ook for in the
t analysiis results. Just this can save a lo
ot of time.

Usin
ng Tools fo
or Simulation & Analyysis
Oncce you kno
ow your go
oals and metrics,
m
you
u can startt running simulations
s
s and doin
ng analysis. Its
besst to first do
o some ba
ack-of-the napkin calculations tto have an idea of wh
hat the resu
ults should
d be
befo
ore you ru
un the sim
mulations. If your simulation results are
e way off, you know
w somethings
wro
ong.
The
e first thing
g youll do in the softtware is crreate a mo
odel that trries to app
proximate physical
p
reality
as well
w as posssible - or as well ass is necessary for the
e precision
n of the sim
mulation. Having
H
started
with
h an idea of what yo
oure tryin
ng to solve
e, youll be
e much be
etter prepa
ared for do
oing this. (See
App
proaching BIM for An
nalysis).
The
en youll siimulate th
he building
gs perform
mance base
ed on the model youve create
ed. Simula
ation
eng
gines are like big calcculators tha
at produce
e a quantittative set of
o results based on bu
uilding ene
ergy
use, lighting le
evels, or aiirflow.
At a fundame
ental level, the results of simu
ulations arre just num
merical vallues (wattss, footcand
dles,
tem
mperature). To communicate an
nd make de
ecisions fro
om these results, you
u need to v
visualize th
hem
with
h charts, graphs, or color grrids overla
aid on yo
our model. The mo
ost effectivve method
d of
visu
ualization d
depends on
o what yo
oure simullating, wha
at decision
n youre tryying to ma
ake, and what
w
storry youre trrying to tell.
Som
metimes th
he visualiza
ation tools you need are built into the software, and
d sometim
mes youll need
n
to do
d some exxtra work to
t get the results
r
in the format you need.

Dessign Optimization Deccisions

The
e results off your simu
ulation are
e only usefful if you analyze
a
th
hem and ca
an use the
em to imprrove
the design. Th
his means comparing
g your ressults with other
o
desig
gn optionss, industry baselines and
besst practicess, and yourr expected results.
Its importantt to pay attention
a
t patternss and ano
to
omalies in the resultts, identifyy sensitivityy of
dessign parameters, and understan
nd the role of various parts of th
he systemss.
You
ur analysis should fo
ocus on understandiing and im
mproving the
t
variab
bles that are driving the
performance and cost of
o your dessign. The to
ools just provide
p
info
ormation you need
d to know how
to interpret it and make appropria
ate decision
ns.

By following
f
tthis process, youll be
e prepared to make an
a informed design decision.
d
You
u may ch
hoose to change the shape or confiiguration of your design to
o improve
e its
performance. Or you co
ould decide that the results vallidate that the design
n is good. BIM can allow
you
u to make changes and
a
quicklly compare
e design options
o
so that you can move
e forward with
w
con
nfidence.

You
ull find workflow map
ps like thiss throughout the site.. Here are some exam
mples.

--------------The
e original in
nspiration from
f
this work
w
came from an A
Autodesk University
U
Presentatio
P
on by Asbjo
orn
Levring and D
Daniel Nielssen in 2011
1. Their pre
esentation can be see
en here.