Abstract
Increasing applications of parametric design and performance simulations by architectural designers present opportunities to design more resource- and energy-efficient buildings via simulation-based optimization. But Architectural Design Optimization (ADO) is less widespread that one might expect, due to, among other challenges, the problematic integration of optimization with architectural design. This problematic integration stems from a contrast between "wicked" or "co-evolving" architectural design problems and optimization problems. To mitigate the contrast between architectural and optimization problems, this paper presents Performance Explorer, an interactive, visual tool for performance-informed design space exploration (DSE).
Performance-informed DSE emphasizes selection, refinement, and understanding over finding highest-performing design candidates. Performance Explorer allows interactive DSE via a visualization of a fitness landscape, with real-time feedback provided with a surrogate model. Performance Explorer is evaluated through a user test with thirty participants and emerges as more supportive and enjoyable to use than manual search and/or optimization.