Algorithmic design as a methodological framework for optimizing insolation and wind flows at the stage of conceptual architectural form generation

Abstract

Contemporary architectural practice faces the need to account for climatic factors already at the early stages of design, when the key parameters of the future object’s spatial, functional, and environmental performance are established. The subject of this study is the methodological potential of algorithmic design as a tool for transforming conceptual design into an analytically grounded process. The aim of the article is to systematize and theoretically substantiate the methodology for applying the Grasshopper and Dynamo software environments to account for insolation and wind flows at the conceptual design stage. The study is theoretical and methodological in nature and is based on a comparative analysis of instrumental platforms, a synthesis of approaches to climate modeling, and an examination of the principles of multi-criteria optimization in architecture. As a result, a conceptual model of iterative integrated design is proposed, in which the analysis of insolation and aeration is considered an active form-generating factor, while design decisions are made within a space of trade-offs between climatic, energy-related, functional, and architectural-aesthetic criteria. It is substantiated that algorithmic design can be regarded as a methodological foundation for the transition to “computational sketching”, which ensures a higher level of coherence between design decisions and the requirements of sustainable and climate-adaptive design.