Tools for low-energy building design: An exploratory study of the design process in action

Building designers face increased pressure to design low-energy buildings. Consequently, there is a growing interest in providing computational support for low-energy design via building performance simulation. This article presents an ethnographic study that investigated the design process of five low-energy buildings in England and Wales. The study was informed by design science literature and phenomenology of technology. The investigation analysed the methods deployed by designers to embed low-energy performance during design problem-solving. The findings illustrate how experience-based methods and simulation tools were used to inform low-energy building design. The work identified some of the challenges faced by designers to incorporate simulation methodologies during a routine design process. It illustrates the status of simulation tools as boundary objects that mediate the communication and negotiation between design team members. The work advocates considering the design problem-solving patterns and preferences in the development and improvement of support methods for low-energy design.  Building designers face increased pressure to design low-energy buildings. Consequently, there is a growing interest in providing computational support for low-energy design via building performance simulation. This article presents an ethnographic study that investigated the design process of five low-energy buildings in England and Wales. The study was informed by design science literature and phenomenology of technology. The investigation analysed the methods deployed by designers to embed low-energy performance during design problem-solving. The findings illustrate how experience-based methods and simulation tools were used to inform low-energy building design. The work identified some of the challenges faced by designers to incorporate simulation methodologies during a routine design process. It illustrates the status of simulation tools as boundary objects that mediate the communication and negotiation between design team members. The work advocates considering the design problem-solving patterns and preferences in the development and improvement of support methods for low-energy design.