I am excited to share this Autodesk Forma series, sponsored by Autodesk.
In this first episode, I share the basic steps required to get started with Forma. This includes specifying a location and importing context (e.g. roads, buildings, and property lines) and then developing a design using massing tools that track floor and parking area metrics.
Once the concept model is complete, the newly released Solar Energy analysis feature is presented. After quickly generating total solar and PV potential data, I then pushed the Forma model into Revit and compared the results using Revit's Solar add-in tool. Be sure to check out a previous blog post I wrote comparing Revit's Solar tool with NREL PVWatts: https://bit.ly/3fmVpVR
In this episode, I share the steps required to get original geometry from both Revit and Rhino into Forma. This includes using a public beta Rhino connector Autodesk developed to streamline the process while still being able to track area metrics in Forma!
With a hybrid Forma model containing Forma, Revit (as a detailed OBJ), and Rhino geometry, I cover two more analysis workflows within Forma: Noise and Sun Hours. The noise feature projects traffic sound (in decibels) onto surfaces within the project area. If the required traffic data is not available, e.g. speed limit and Average Daily Traffic (ADT) numbers, it can be derived from various sources such as state DOTs and OpenStreetMap, which are two examples I cover.
In this episode, I share the steps required to perform rapid AI-assisted wind analysis and detailed CFD-based wind analysis. The rapid analysis works in real-time, responding to each modification to the proposed design. The computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis can take 30 - 90 minutes to process in the cloud but produces more accurate results suitable for official documentation.
Workflows: Using Forma's Proposals feature, it is possible to develop multiple design solutions within the same project, run various analyses, and then compare the results to find the optimal passive solution.
In this episode, I share the steps required to perform an early embodied carbon analysis using a new Forma extension developed by Autodesk in collaboration with EHDD based in San Francisco, California (ehdd.com). Also included is a 3-minute excerpt of my interview with Jack Rusk, Director of Climate Strategy at EHDD, in their offices this past February 2024. Watch for a link to the full 30-minute interview in the near future.
Using the massing and location of a building developed in Autodesk Forma, the Embodied Cardon tool facilitates the selection of basic envelope and structural systems. With this information defined in a Forma proposal (i.e., design option) EHDD's C.Scale engine, which uses real-world data and machine learning, Forma provides an embodied carbon equivalent baseline or benchmark that can be used to guide decisions throughout the project. Current limitation to be aware of, referenced in the video: Multiple massing elements used to represent a single building or connected structures will not only overestimate the envelope a little (because it's counting an extra wall, floor, or roof area of touching surfaces), it will underestimate structure because it will not consider that one chunk of a building is supporting another.
At the end of this episode, I share some related work Lake|Flato is doing on embodied carbon and mass timber. This work is part of Investigations, a self-funded research program. lakeflato.com/vision/investigations
You must be a registered user to add a comment. If you've already registered, sign in. Otherwise, register and sign in.