Teaching design simulation

The democratization of information and communication technologies (ICT) has promoted integration of computing in the design studio and of design activities in the CAAD courses. In addition it has also shifted the focus of CAAD courses from technical skills and general theoretical issues to current, specific design issues, such as the relationship between geometric modeling and construction, design communication and design analysis. CAAD courses (especially advanced ones) increasingly attempt to introduce these issues and corresponding advanced ICT in a design context that outlines the possibilities of these technologies and the underlying computational design methodology and bring research closer to teaching. One such issue is design analysis, especially in the early design stages when many fundamental decisions are taken on the basis of incomplete and insecure information. Simulation provides the computational means for projecting building behaviour and performance. The paper describes the application of a specific simulation technique, computational fluid dynamics (CFD), for the analysis of airflow in and around buildings in the context of an advanced CAAD course. In this course students are required to design a multifunctional exposition building. Even though students are unfamiliar with the particular CFD system, as well as with part of the simulation subject matter, they are able to produce descriptions of their designs with effectiveness and efficiency.