A Master's Thesis: The Feasibility of Honeybee within New Zealand

Hi All!

I know this is long in the running, and I keep forgetting to make a post (so I apologise!) but I thought I would take this time to post about my Master's of Building Science thesis published last year in May 2016 around the feasibility of implementing a program such as Honeybee into the building industry, using New Zealand as a case. Below is a short abstract of the study:

"Performance Sketching is the act of assessing the performance of an architectural sketch through the use of detailed building performance simulation (BPS) tools in the early stages of design. BPS tools offer tremendous potential for informing design to improve the passive performance of a building, but are inhibited by limitations and barriers to their use in the early stages of the design process – where the most influential design decisions are made. This paper presents an exploration of

the views and perceptions from the New Zealand building industry on the feasibility

of performance sketching using the plug-in, Honeybee for Rhinoceros/Grasshopper, as an example of a distributed modelling method (DMM). The study concluded that DMM cannot currently address all wants and wishes of users established in literature, but has potential. Future research efforts are required to focus upon: creating industry specific templates for building types; developing these templates to be adaptable for the different modelling operators of the proposed workflow demonstrated to the

participants within this study; and developing quality assurance standards for m

odelling and guidelines for model validation. Finally, the study concluded with future work required beyond tool development: improving education of architects; and introducing legislation."

My thesis can be found here: http://researcharchive.vuw.ac.nz/xmlui/handle/10063/5474

I also attach a much shorter summary of my thesis in the form of a conference paper that I presented at the Architectural Science Association Conference in Adelaide, Australia last year. The paper was awarded the best student paper on building performance simulation.

I would like to thank Mostapha, Chris, and the team in their help during my time learning the program! You guys have done an excellent job, and the program 'wow'ed all of the professionals that I showed the tool to.

As for what I have moved on to - I have since graduated with distinction and have been employed as a graduate at AECOM ltd. I am currently using the program on projects to enable architects to make more informed decisions that they don't normally have at the early stages of design. The program still has its challenges though, so you will see me on the forums a lot in the future !

If anyone has any questions or would like to know more, don't be afraid to ask. Find me on linkedn or contact me via here.

Attachments:

ASAElzineBraasch2016.pdf, 346 KB

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Permalink Reply by Leland Curtis on February 10, 2017 at 8:50am

Elzine,

Wonderful paper. Your work provides a concise overview of the barriers we all face in trying to implement these new workflows within the industry. I'll be sharing this with others!

Permalink Reply by Aurelien Keller on February 10, 2017 at 11:55am

Hi,

Thanks a lot for sharing this ! :)

I am myself trying to push my company to use HB/LB more and more to provide information in very early design so your paper seem very interesting !

Aurelien

Permalink Reply by Omid Rashidi on February 10, 2017 at 3:07pm

Elzine,

Excellent research!

Best wishes for your continued success.

Kind regards,

Omid.

Permalink Reply by Anton Szilasi on February 10, 2017 at 10:48pm

Elzine,

This is awesome to hear I'm glad that there is someone Honeybeeing down under! Vizz!

Permalink Reply by Devang Chauhan on February 11, 2017 at 4:59am

Hi Elzine,

Thank you for sharing this with us. Enjoyed reading the paper. It very well echoes the current sentiment in the industry. The paper made me recollect something a professor once shared. He said, "If you're an architect and you think you need a Sustainable design consultant then there's something wrong." I believe in what he said. It is an architect's responsibility.

I like the way engineers work. They always back their designs with analysis & calculations. I often think architects could do the same with right education. When I discuss this with other architects, the common response is, "But it may hinder the creative design process." However, I am not in agreement with that.

A great read indeed. Thanks a lot!

-Devang

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