Futureproofing for AEC: A Predictive Design Recommendation Tool for Changing Climate Scenarios in the Built Environment

With the exponential increase in global temperature and the recently perceived influence of extreme climatic events, the time has arrived to examine the need for an adaptive response. In the United States, the building industry accounts for about 36% of total energy usage mainly due

to the fluctuating demands of heating and cooling - yet people are still thermally uncomfortable. (1)(2) At present, there are different practices through which upgraded performance in buildings can be attained at various phases of a project. However, there are not many existing approaches to incorporate the influence of climate change on the shift of energy requirements. This research

addresses this through the futureproofing of buildings and making the ongoing adaptation of highperformance

buildings to climate conditions an imperative. In this respect, this project looks to minimize the discrepancy between the predicted performance of a building energy analysis versus

the actual performance of said building over time - as it attempts to cut down on the factor of uncertainty of climate looking at a heuristic model to project future weather data.

This is achieved through the development of a design decision tool to be used by building and sustainability professionals in the early-stage design process that provides building design recommendations based on current and predicted climate data.