Interactive tool visualising and optimising building envelope performances during the architectural sketch design

The PC software AMCE is proposing building actors (owner, project authors...) a Multiple Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) procedure to optimise the building envelope about cost and energy performances, during the sketch design, when most important choices are fixed, those having impact on future building's cost and use. Two main modules are linked, where any actor interactively goes in any time: the first one manages parameters describing the project requirements; the graphic pen-based module allows to draw the sketch; it calculates geometric parameter values and puts them back in the first module. Permanently informed on foreseeable performances, the user can any time search for optimal scenario giving best satisfaction (monoactor optimisation) or most preferred compromise (multiactors optimisation): at his disposal, he has at lot of graphs illustrating the performance sensitivity, to parameter variations, as well as an optimisation procedure using a genetic algorithm to find the most efficient Parameter set.