Ecotect Workshop
Introduction
Ecotect is a visual environment for architects to work with environmental performance issues. It is designed for early stages of conceptual design, and encourages play and tinkering to understand environmental factors and interactions, rather than as a pure validation tool.
Ecotect works on the principle of "progressive data input", meaning that it is prepared to give visual feedback/results even with very little information. This is a departure from most energy analysis tools, that require all aspects of a scenario to be spelled out in detail (material qualities, climate, geometry, hvac systems and loads, user scenarios, etc). This means that simulation can be done earlier, and as the model is refined results become more accurate.
Ecotect provides for both statistical and geometric methods - ecotect employs both in solar and acoustic calculations as well as thermal models. Some analysis tools lean more heavily towards one or the other, for instance thermal calculations in some cases just use the summed area, and ignore specific geometric characteristics. In some cases, adjacenct surface area or solar exposure is considered, adding another layer. Some simulations, specifically ray-casting acoustic and soloar analysis, invest heavily in the specific geometric character of the space, requiring more detailed models.
From the SquareOne website: ECOTECT is the most user friendly and fully featured building performance analysis and design tool on the market today. It combines an interactive building design interface and 3D modeller with a wide range of environmental analysis tools for a detailed assessment of solar, thermal, lighting, shadows & shading design, energy & building regulations, acoustics, air flow, cost & resource performance of buildings at any scale. ...and even more importantly, it has been written and developed by designers for designers, to be as useful at concept stage as it is during final design development.
Download the demo here: Ecotect Trial
Resources
| Dr. Marsh's Natural Frequency | http://naturalfrequency.com/ |
| Foundation tutorials for Ecotect | http://www.squ1.com/archive/ecotect/tutorials/tutorials.htm |
| Weather data for the world | http://eere.energy.gov/buildings/energyplus/cfm/weather_data.cfm |
| Lua's wiki | http://lua-users.org/wiki/ |
Tutorials
Day 1 Modeling in Ecotect
Day 2 Raycasting in Ecotect (Acoustics and Lighting)
Day 3 Computational Fluid Dynamics and Radiance in Ecotect
Day 4 Shading Device Design
Day 5 LUA Scripting in Ecotect