ASHRAE are one of the foremost industry pioneers in the decarbonization of the built environment and their new global Headquarters building in Atlanta, renovated to operate as a net-zero-energy (NZE) building, is testament to this. The project design team, which includes IESVE users, Integral Group, employed a range of innovative design strategies to achieve this net-zero energy ready building.

Subsequent building performance analysis from a group of ASHRAE Technical Committee 4.1 Members, including IES’ Liam Buckley, highlighted some of the simulation-aided design analysis on this ASHRAE Headquarters building. The following overview summarizes the many innovative categories worth highlighting from the project, in which an IESVE building performance model was able to support.


(1)   Net-Zero Energy Building

ASHRAE’s new headquarters is designed to operate as an all-electric at Net-Zero Energy (NZE) building, thanks to the installation of a 332-kW photovoltaic (PV) system. The PV system is a combination of three sub-arrays, which are sub-metered in the Building Energy Model shown below:

187 kW ballasted rooftop array on east & west wings
65 kW ground mount on a south-facing hill adjacent to the building
81 kW ground mount situated in an unused section of a car parking area

(2)   Simulation throughout Design Phases

Thanks to the PV installation, a limiting Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 21 kBtu/ft2 was targeted for this existing building refurbishment.  Iterative design options throughout the design phases resulted in a range of low-energy solutions. These include:  

A reconfigured window-to-wall ratio (WWR) and 18 new skylights.
Common Dedicated Outdoor Air Systems (DOAS) for outdoor air ventilation, coupled with enthalpy heat recovery.
Radiant panels and Ceiling Fans.
Demand Control Ventilation (DCV) in high occupancy spaces and Displacement Ventilation (DV).
Six water source-heat pumps (WSHPs)

(3)   Optimized Load Calculations using the ASHRAE Heat Balance Method

For over 20 years, ASHRAE has recommended the Heat Balance (HB) Method as the preferred method for calculating heating & cooling loads. With such a low-energy target in mind, a considerate zoning strategy and accurate load calculations are very important.  Included in the load’s analysis:

Horizontal and vertical solar shading on most windows.
Sensible Loads analysis at the zone and Latent Loads Analysis at the AHU.
Heat gains from the reversible ceiling fans.
Analysis of Adaptive Thermal Comfort for Occupants and Operative Temperature.
(4)   Exceptional Daylight Performance (Spatial Daylight Autonomy, sDA)

Of the many daylighting metrics available, Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA) likely best considers the annual sufficiency of indoor daylight levels. In the in regularly occupied spaces of the ASHRAE HQ, the working plane analysis areas are considered for sDA, for the percentage that meets a minimum illuminance level of 300 lux, for 50% of the operational hours per year. The 18 new skylights provide an exceptional daylight performance, which is especially impressive considering the simultaneous requirements from a thermal/energy perspective





ASHRAE Headquarters - Net-Zero Energy Building Design

Over the last 30+ years, IES has built a solid reputation as the leading global innovator in integrated performance-based analysis for the built environment.

The IES Virtual Environment (IESVE) is a powerful, in-depth suite of building performance analysis tools. It enables the design and operation of low/zero carbon, healthy and comfortable buildings. Whether working on a new build or renovation project, IESVE allows designers to test different options, identify best passive solutions, compare low-carbon & renewable technologies, and draw conclusions on energy use, CO2 emissions, occupant comfort, and much more.
There are various applications in the suite; each designed to provide sustainable analysis at levels suitable for different design team members and design stages. All utilize our Apache dynamic thermal simulation engine, and an integrated central data model. 

Building Energy Modeling (BEM) with the IES Virtual Environment software is the perfect industry design tool for electrification and decarbonization of the built environment. Various design strategies are available with decarbonization as an end goal, such as: passive design, energy conservation, energy efficiency, electrification, incorporating renewable energy technology, or energy storage.

From optimizing room and zone loads to detailed HVAC system and equipment sizing, IESVE HVAC software offers the most practical, efficient, and accurate tools available. IESVE can quickly and easily undertake CIBSE & ASHRAE heating and cooling loads calculations, with efficient inputs for 3D geometry, envelope, internal gains, external design conditions and location. Minimum ventilation requirements can be included, or local code minimum ventilation can be utilized. Reports can be generated in either spreadsheet or PDF format, and can be shared to help gain insights from in-depth results analysis, or iterate on building design. These calculations transition seamlessly into detailed HVAC system sizing and optimization.

IESVE can also be utilized for quick and easy CFD airflow simulation. An existing IESVE model can be used for early stage CFD simulations, without needing to import further data or export into other tools. MicroFlo-CFD performs ‘snapshot’ CFD simulation by importing boundary conditions from APACHE’s dynamic simulation, or allows manual boundary conditions to be added. Ventilation from passive sources (e.g. operable windows) or mechanical devices (e.g. diffusers) can be included in these simulations. MicroFlo-CFD can be utilized for a range of CFD use cases, such as: passive natural ventilation design, passive atrium design, data center design, hospital operating room design, HVAC design for occupant thermal comfort, external wind studies, or normal use ventilation of car parks.

There is also the option within IESVE to utilize Parametric Simulation. This feature empowers users to compare a large range of design possibilities, be it for a single-variant design study or a multi-parameter whole-building design perspective. The Parametric Simulation feature has access to a large number of model variables and is integrated into the full range of APACHE’s links (Solar, Daylight, Airflow, Loads/Sizing and HVAC Systems). Over a thousand permutations are possible with one model. 

With the IESVE software, you can undertake daylighting for LEED and BREEAM, electric lighting design, glare prediction, daylight harvesting, daylight autonomy, user-specified visualizations. IESVE can ensure good natural daylight and visual comfort, reduce lighting gains, and test how your lighting designs will look and perform. Daylight, sunlight and overshadowing analysis can be carried out, with results generated for climate-based daylight modeling and daylight autonomy. For lighting design, daylight harvesting and dimming control assessments can also be undertaken. All of this combined can help you meet the requirements of local codes and best practice guides. 

Complex solar shading calculations can also be undertaken within IESVE, to determine how solar rays pass through both external and internal openings.  The path of the sun is tracked across rooms and atriums into internal space allowing the exact location and impact of solar gain to be understood. Internal and external solar shading devices can be tested, along with assessing the shading or right to light impact of surrounding buildings and terrain. Any solar shading calculations can then inform Loads Calculations and Energy Simulations. 

IES also offers unrivalled interoperability with other CAD design and analysis tools. The smooth and robust two-way information exchange between IESVE and BIM platforms speeds up the design process and facilitates digital design. 

Virtual Environment (IESVE)

Discover how the Kusch Consulting engineering team streamlined their structural engineering projects, saving up to 20% in time using ClearCalcs.

Kusch Consulting is a structural engineering firm based in Australia that specialises in residential, commercial, and industrial projects. With a team of 32 engineers spread across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide, they handle a wide range of projects, from one-story residential homes to power station upgrades.

Richard Faulkner, Senior Structural Engineer at Kusch Consulting, first heard about ClearCalcs from another engineer who recommended it as an alternative to his existing software. Since then, Richard has introduced it to his team at Kusch Consulting, and over time, it has become an essential part of the team’s workflow. 

From quickly estimating beam sizes during initial project discussions to generating detailed reports during the design phase, ClearCalcs has made every step of the process easier and faster for Richard and his team.

A typical structural design project for an engineer like Richard begins with initial discussions with architects or clients to understand the project requirements. Richard often uses ClearCalcs early in this process for preliminary sizing and feasibility assessments. Once a project moves into the design phase, Richard uses ClearCalcs for detailed load analyses, calculations, and report generation.

Kusch Consulting x ClearCalcs

ClearCalcs is changing how the world is built with a platform that gives engineers and designers everything they need to streamline engineering design calculations. 

Built by engineers, and trusted by thousands, ClearCalcs’ comprehensive calculator library makes it easy to design to your local codes and standards. Our revolutionary drag and drop calculator builder and API enables anyone from a solo engineer to a product manufacturer to create, share, and automate everything from a single spreadsheet, all the way to a full engineering application.

ClearCalcs

Our team are experts on Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (wbLCA) and circular economy services for new construction projects. We provide clients with carbon reduction and material reuse opportunities to balance design, cost, constructability and carbon.

We are advancing the adoption of the circular economy through pioneering research and demo deconstruction projects. A focus on material reuse maximizes resource efficiency, minimizing waste to reshape the future of construction practices.

We work with public, private, and non-profit sector organizations to conduct research on wbLCA and circular economy policy in the GTA.  We are looking ahead to accelerate the adoption of the circular economy, bio-based materials, and high-performance buildings.

Ha/f Climate Design

Ha/f was founded to question the environmental impacts of the materials and systems used to build our buildings. Addressing how we build our cities will be one of the most important challenges to reducing global greenhouse gas emissions.

Ha/f Climate Design aims to halve greenhouse gas emissions from buildings this decade with help from One Click LCA’s tools.

Ha/f Climate Design successfully reduced 800 tons of carbon on the City of Toronto’s Paramedic Services Multifunction Station — without additional time or cost to the project.

“The power of One Click LCA is the database sitting behind it. You have access to more data, which leads to better decisions.” – Kelly Alvarez Doran, co-founder of Ha/f Climate Design

How Ha/f Climate Design used One Click LCA for an award-winning project with the City of Toronto

One Click LCA is the world-leading end-to-end sustainability platform for construction and manufacturing. The software platform decarbonizes and drives sustainability across the construction value chain with scientific, easy-to-use, automated life-cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental product declarations (EPDs) to calculate and reduce the environmental impacts of building, infrastructure, and renovation projects and products. The platform also allows assessment of circularity, life-cycle cost, and biodiversity. One Click LCA is used in 170+ countries, including by blue-chip enterprises like Skanska, WSP, Foster+Partners, Kingspan, Turner, ArcelorMittal, Arcadis, ARUP, Geberit, and Saint-Gobain, among others. It offers a unique global database with +250,000 LCA datasets; supports +80 standards and certifications, including LEED, BREEAM, GRESB and other national regulations; and seamlessly integrates with +20 of the most widely used BIM software tools, including Autodesk Revit®, Tekla Structures® and Bentley iTwin®. One Click LCA was founded in Helsinki, Finland in 2001, with a team of +200 people on all continents. Learn more at: www.oneclicklca.com 

One Click LCA

Gindi Studio is an architecture and interior design firm based in Tel Aviv, Israel that specializes in complex projects, such as office spaces, public interiors, and hotels. The studio's team of 20–30 architects, designers, and engineers combine architecture, interior design, graphics, and product design with advanced technologies like 3D VR, BIM, and parametric design to create innovative spaces. 

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‎Gindi Studio‎ - Facebook
2.5K לייקים 3.1K עוקבים Architecture & Interior Design Studio Based in Tel Aviv, Israel - "The Wow Makers" מעקב פוסטים אודות תמונות סרטונים Reels. אזכורים


Gindi Studio

Capacity Increase:
Gindi Studio, a renowned architectural design firm headquartered in Tel Aviv, specializes in
office space design and has catered to some of the largest corporations in Israel. Over the
years, the studio has witnessed a surge in demand for its services.

“We have a magic tool called qbiq. Using the platform, we are able to deliver preliminary plans at light-speed, increasing our capacity and allowing us to take on more projects than we could initially manage”
Vered Gindi, Founder

Gindi Studio: Capacity Increase

qbiq’s platform allows its users to input any space layout and design requirements and seamlessly receive a full planning package with multiple optimized layouts and 3D visualizations, immediately unlocking the full potential of a particular space.

qbiq

Rooms

13% Annual Revenue Increase: 
ROOMS by Fattal, a leading co-working chain, was looking to optimize their property's
potential to boost profitability. By utilizing qbiq, they were able to generate several layout
options for the floor, providing valuable insights into the space's efficiency and utilization,
ultimately maximizing revenue. 

“Though we had already constructed three floors in the building, qbiq identified 21 extra workstations that could be added
from our original construction plans” - Nadav Fattal, CEO

ROOMS Co-Work: 13% Annual Revenue Increase

SVR Commercial

Lease Signed - Deal Closed:
Vasha, a real estate agent, faced the challenge of leasing a 3,447 SF outdated property in
a post-Covid-19 market, where people were downsizing. To overcome this challenge,
Vasha utilized qbiq's capabilities to create multiple floor plans for the space and provide
realistic 3D virtual tours.

“I’ve done it - I finally leased suite 210! Thanks to qbiq, I pulled
off a seemingly impossible task. I had taken a dated and oversized space in a competitive market and turned it into a desirable one. It truly felt like magic” - Vasha Carter, SVR Commercial 

SVR Commercial: Deal Closed

Finding the perfect office:
Mavenir’s Global Facility Manager had to find just the right office space for
the global technology software corporation in Bucharest, Romania - quickly. With time
ticking away, he needed to find the perfect office space to set up Mavenir’s operations. 

“We are now building qbiq’s AI generated architectural plans.
This platform is a true gamechanger. I have saved a huge
amount of time and leg work” - Yehuda Adar, Mavenir

Mavenir: Finding the perfect office

Avison Young is a global commercial real estate services firm, headquartered in Toronto, with more than 100 offices in 19 countries. Avison Young was founded in 1978.

Avison-Young

Avison Young commercial real estate is a global real estate advisor invested in client success

Winning a Major Client in 24 hours: 
Guy Amosi, CEO of Avison-Young Israel, was in a tight spot. Competing against other brokerages to win a large transportation company as a client, he needed a standout strategy.
The challenge escalated when the client was unimpressed with their initial space offering...

Avison-Young: Winning a Major Client in 24 hours

Epic corporate center

Transforming EPIC Corporate Center into a Modern Plug & Play Office: 
Contract Workplaces, a leading provider in innovative office solutions, recently faced the
challenge of helping their client quickly convert unused space in EPIC Corporate Center, into
a desirable modern plug & play office. CW turned to qbiq to bring this vision to life.

"The transformation of the EPIC Corporate Center was a remarkable success. qbiq was instrumental in visualizing the potential of the space, allowing us to proceed with confidence. Since the layout was almost resolved, our architecture team was able to focus on developing the materiality and the look & feel of the space."
Caio Ferretti, Marketing Coordinator at CW

Transforming EPIC Corporate Center

Founded in 2007, Advenser is a trusted engineering service partner to the construction industry. Whether you are a builder, a general contractor or an architect, Advenser can fulfill your project requirements with tailored and customized solutions ranging from design development to As-built BIM modeling. With its engineering center located in India and well established in the USA, UAE, and Australia, Advenser delivers a proven combination of accuracy, affordability, and timeliness in all of its project undertakings.

Advenser Engineering Services

Advenser is a globally leading VDC/BIM and CAD service provider catering to the BIM & Drafting needs of the AEC industry. We work alongside Engineers, Architects, Project owners, GCs & Contractors spread across the globe, offering them BIM, VDC, VR, and Construction management services. With our engineering center located in India and Business offices in The USA, The Middle East, and Australia, we can be the one-stop solution for the CAD & VDC/BIM needs of the AEC industry. 
The East Stroudsburg University (ESU) partners with Advenser to offer a joint certificate in BIM Training. The course provides insight into the impact of digitalization, lean and collaborative approaches on the delivery and use of built assets.  


This construction project involved a 150,000 sq. ft. residential and commercial building including 140 multi-family dwelling units with 15% MPDUs as well as 7,000 square feet of retail space along the Arlington Road property frontage.

MEP BIM Case Study - 7001 Arlington Road

Autodesk Revit is a building information modeling (BIM) software used by architects, landscape architects, structural engineers, NEP engineers, designers, and contractors. 

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