Performance-oriented Design Assisted by a Parametric Toolkit - Case study

Abstract

Ongoing development of Budapest Zoo includes a Biodome building which is going to be the largest building of its kind in Europe. The Biodome was designed by Mérték Architectural Studio, supported by ABUD Engineering Ltd providing sustainability design. This paper describes a parametric method developed particularly for this project focusing on performance-oriented design. The parametric approach was used not only for describing and designing the complex geometry of the Biodome but helped structural engineering and sustainability design also. Several geometry variations were generated by the parametric system and these were run through preliminary structural simulations by built-in plugins. Therefore, the structural form resulting from the preliminary analyses was already close to optimal and the structurally ideal version could be identified at a very early design phase. The parametric system could also inform the sustainability de-sign process directly. To find the version of the building with the smallest ecological footprint, Life Cycle Assessment was carried out on different building material scenarios. Solar radiation and shading analyses were performed to optimise building energy consumption by using integrated simulation tools. As a result of the parametric definition and combining different design and engineering parameters into one parametric system we got an integrated tool for performance oriented design.