BILD 422 Assignment 2

GENERAL

This project is focused on the creation and documentation of a process for early design analysis of a real design project. It is intended to be part I of a two-part process. Part II will be Assignment 3, which is the development of a systematic way of examining multiple design options via (cloud-based?) parametric analysis based on the design analysis tools developed in this assignment. In Assignment 2 you will examine to an appropriate depth, at a minimum, the design analysis topics explored by your class in project 1 and relevant to the IBPSA modelling competition. You will explore, by applying research analytical techniques to a design, the important construction parameters in the design of a real building at preliminary design stage in New South Wales, Australia. The goal will be to identify how to construct an early design analysis process that shows where the greatest potential exists: 1) for improvement in the achievement of a zero carbon operational goal; 2) for improvement of the embodied carbon investment in the project; and 3) for improvement of the well-being and performance of the occupiers of the building.

The goal of Assignment 3, will be to build a process that might examine multiple design options rapidly through parametric analysis, rather than the one-off design options explored in Project 2.

AIMS OF THE PROJECT

The aim of this Research Paper is to provide students with the practice at reasoning a case based upon sound building science theory and evidence gathered through empirical test or equivalent.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Students who pass this course should be able to:

1. Obtain knowledge and comprehension of:
   1. a range of basic sustainable engineering systems, and
   2. the philosophies and strategies of sustainable engineering systems design.
2. Develop their ability to:
   1. understand the design of complex sustainable engineering installations, and
   2. develop and demonstrate their abilities to assess performance and measure sustainable engineering systems in a given medium-large scale building.
3. Produce detailed and supportable design proposals that encompass a refined ability to:
   1. orally and graphically communicate their design of complex sustainable engineering installations, and
   2. appropriately use representational media and communicate essential research findings and design outcomes.

SUBMISSION

• Report of approximately 4000 words documenting the results of a Sustainable Engineering Systems Investigation of a Design
• Contents to include:
  1. Documentation of the modelling tool and model used to test the building
     performance
  2. Description, based on the class literature reviews, of the likely design alternatives to be explored in Assignment 3, identifying how the model has been built to facilitate this exploration
  3. Quantitative identification of the important construction or form features
     affecting the building performance
• To be submitted electronically via blackboard

ASSESSMENT CRITERIA

REFERENCES

See the online reading list for the course linked in Nuku: the whole list is under the Resources on Writing menu item on the left of the Nuku page. Subsets of that fuller list have been linked to the weekly learning activities menu item under the relevant weekly headings to assist with managing the full content.

HAND IN DEADLINES

The following hand in deadline plan is a written version of the deadlines entered into the hand in links on the syllabus:

• Assignment 1 Literature Review 12 March 2025 Before 10pm
• Assignment 2 – Project 1 Design Analysis 7 May 2025 Before 10pm
• Assignment 3 – Project 2 Design Alternatives 30 May 2025 Before 10pm
• Assignment 4 Participation 31 June 2025 Before midnight