Environmental Simulation Tools in Architectural Practice. The impact on processes, methods and design

Today almost every building is designed with the use of Environmental Simulation Tools (ESTs). Sustainability and its implementation of simulation tools, oftentimes called Performative Design (PD), appear to have changed not only the shape of buildings but also the shape of architectural practice and the design methods. The research, based on interviews, surveys and dialogues with international architecture practices, focuses on sustainable design and highlights how simulation is used as a decision-making tool and how it acts to generate design solutions. SOM, HOK, William McDonough, Kirien Timbarlakein the US, Foster and Partners, BDP and Aedas in the UK, 3XN, Henning Larsen and CF Moller in Denmark, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) and Mario Cucinella Architects (MCA) in Italy, and Bennish Architecten in Germany are notable examples of firms that have brought about significant changes in building design in the past decade through their implementation of sustainability simulation. The majority of the architecture firms above have set up special research groups that are dedicated specifically to sustainable design and the use of simulation tools. New models of collaboration with consultants and researchers are emerging and impacting the design process. The evidence shows a trend in moving from a traditional, sequential design towards a more interdisciplinary, circular model, integrating simulation across professional boundaries. While architectural practice has begun to transform since the implementation of simulation tools, it is also possible to observe, in turn, how ESTs are adapting to the nature of architectural design. Finally, the role these tools play in integrating the concept of sustainability into the design process is discussed. It is an irrefutable fact that the simulation of energy and sustainability-related parameters has become a frequent part of the criteria for shaping the basic form, program and fabric of buildings in current design practice. Noted should be the way in which simulation is used creatively to achieve design ideals and a building performance that not only meets but surpasses the target established by rating systems such as LEED, BREEAM and DGNB.