Gaps and requirements for automatic generation of space layouts with optimised energy performance

Abstract

Due to the critical need for reducing carbon emissions, the demand for energy-efficient building design is urgent. Studies have shown that space layouts affect energy performance considerably. Energy performance optimisation is able to improve energy performance significantly. However, in order to apply energy performance optimisation to space layouts (EPO), abundant layout alternatives are needed. With the development of computational methods, automatic generation of space layouts (GSL) helps to generate abundant layouts quickly. Therefore, combining GSL with EPO is expected to be greatly helpful for energy-efficient design. This paper investigates 10 relevant studies combining GSL and EPO and analyses their gaps. Furtherly, we extend the analysis to the research on GSL and EPO. 7 GSL methods are categorised and evaluated based on 66 studies, and the requirements for the combination with optimisation are inspected. Regarding EPO, the requirements for energy performance assessment and optimisation are analysed.