What is proposed in aecsimqa is Quality Assurance (QA) procedures for designers and simulationists that eventually will be codified and incorporated into the environmental design decision support tools (eddst’s) themselves. These procedures are to ensure that the ‘black box’ of a digital simulation of building performance yields information that designers feel they can trust.

Background research demonstrates that architecture practitioners and building performance simulation specialists both mistrust the eddst’s they learn to use during their education. This lack of trust means that the full benefit of simulation is not being realised because of a lack of systems to establish how real is the 'realistic' simulation. To address the issues identified in the practitioner surveys portion of this research, a Quality Control (QC) reality test is proposed as the single most important feature needed in any Quality Assurance process. This is a reality test that examines whether the ebuildings constructed with an eddst behave in a believable manner - like a ‘real’ building.

The proposed Simulation QA (SimQA) approach is an internet web service. It is a database of the databases available on the internet of Quality Assured performance data. Each time a person sets up a new Quality tested eddst input file or measures a building, it becomes another “data point” - another database listed in the SimQA metadata.

Also required in a robust QA process is the development of international norms for the simulation of building performance. www.aecsimqa.net is proposed as the venue for the development of an international documentation standard for simulation.

Finally, modern computer-based building performance simulation has not rid the design profession of its traditional problem with design tools: that they evaluate completed designs. The proposed database will make web-accessible a set of tested building designs and their associated performance measures. Placed at the designer’s fingertips this will reveal insights into how their current building design should perform. It should be possible to generate initial design ideas based on systematic study of the successful precedents!

References:

Thesis: Simulation of Imagined Realities: it was hypothesised that lessons for the improvement of eddst’s could be found in a systematic examination of the problems encountered by design teams with a range of currently available eddst’s. The research plan was to establish through surveys and case studies how practising architects who have tried to use building eddst’s assess the effectiveness of these tools. A range of different types of eddst was examined, each addressing a different aspect of the environment in buildings.

The research did not achieve its original goal of developing a formula for the generation of new eddst’s for architects in the fields of building acoustics, lighting, thermaldesign and aerodynamics. What was found is a more fundamental common denominator underlying building design eddst’s: the need for built-in Quality Assurance measures that assure not only the architect, but also the simulationist and the client of the reality of the ebuilding performance predictions.

It was found that contrary to their general reputation, designers do want detailed quantitative environmental information. They want to be able to discuss costs and benefits of decisions. However, they also want to be able to understand and trust this information. The output from eddst’s must therefore also be qualitative in the sense that it communicates the quality of life resulting from a design decision.

A SURVEY OF USERS OF THERMAL SIMULATION PROGRAMS Michael Donn, Paul Bannister, Jacky Lee, Nigel Isaacs www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS1997/BS97_P037.pdf

QUALITY ASSURANCE - SIMULATION AND THE REAL WORLD Michael Donn. Centre for Building Performance Research (CBPR) www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS1999/BS99_P-05.pdf

WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE? - QUALITY CONTROL IN SIMULATIONS OF ... Russell Maunder, Michael Donn, Sam Curtis and Steven Lee. Centre for Building Performance Research. Victoria University of Wellington. PO Box 600 ... www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS2001/BS01_1041_1048.pdf

A DESIGN PROPOSAL FOR AN INTERNET BASED SIMULATION QUALITY CONTROL ... Michael Donn, Robert Amor and David Harrison. Centre for Building Performance Research www.ibpsa.org/proceedings/BS2001/BS01_0731_738.pdf

ibpsaNEWS volume 17 number 2 - October 2007 Simulation Quality Assurance - Challenges for the simulation community: Michael Donn, Centre for Building Performance Research www.ibpsa.org/Newsletter/IBPSANews-17-2.pdf

ibpsaNEWS Volume 8 Number 1 Mike Donn. School of Architecture, Victoria University, New. Zealand. www.ibpsa.org/Newsletter/IBPSANews-08-1.pdf

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