Abstract

This paper explores the design, coupling, and application of algo-rithms relying on grid-based or voxel-based representations of build-ings. Such algorithms may encourage the adoption of building per-formance simulation in design practice by avoiding the time-consuming and somewhat arbitrary process of manually partitioning a building’s interior into polyhedral spaces. They also support detailed visualizations that may open up new possibilities for design tools. This paper presents two grid-based methods: a hierarchical path-finding algorithm to support detailed simulations of individual occu-pants, and a very simple heat transfer algorithm to motivate future al-ternatives to zone models. The coupling of the pathfinding and heat transfer algorithms demonstrates the need for a simulation framework supporting different time advancement patterns. The coupled model is applied to simulate a building with individual occupants that move be-tween rooms and open windows in response to temperature changes.