Material Based Urban Modeling: An Approach to Integrate Smart Materials in a Near-Zero Community Design

Abstract

This article outlines a research agenda to incorporate smart materials into district-scale urban building energy modeling frameworks. This research agenda aims to design eco-communities driven by the near-zero emission objective. Two strategic materials, polyurethane and polycarbonate, were selected for testing. Tests were conducted to evaluate to what extent these smart materials, when embedded in multi-scale systems from construction components, to buildings, to a community, would enhance total urban energy performance. A conceptual framework of holarchies is proposed to articulate subsystems of an urban system. This framework explores the multiple-scale and cross-sectorial relationship of material properties and their building spatial configurations. An experimental test case uses Building Information Modeling (BIM) to construct databases from the various levels of the urban system from M (material), to P (products and building component) and B (building systems). It is then connected to N (neighborhood) by incorporating Urban Energy Building Modeling (UBEM). This connection considers contextual factors such microclimate and landscape features. After conducting the M-P-B-N multi-scale modeling experiment, emerging system properties will be derived and turned into design principles for informing future design decision-making.