You are kindly invited to the seminar entitled “Performance-Driven Architectural Design: Integrating Environmental Simulation into Early Design Decisions” organized by the Department of Architecture.
Date: 24 February 2026, Tuesday
Place: Zoom
Time: 12:30–13:30 (Istanbul time)
Title: Performance-Driven Architectural Design: Integrating Environmental Simulation into Early Design Decisions
Abstract:
This lecture presents research exploring how environmental performance can actively inform architectural design under changing climatic conditions. Rather than evaluating buildings only after design decisions are finalized, the projects investigate how thermal comfort, natural ventilation, solar radiation, and energy performance can become generative drivers of architectural form and spatial organization.
Drawing on a series of research projects ranging from climate-responsive courtyard studies to computational investigations of natural ventilation and building-scale energy modelling, the presentation demonstrates how simulation-based methods can bridge architectural intuition and quantitative analysis. Case studies include airflow and thermal comfort analyses across residential and educational buildings, comparative studies integrating emerging AI-assisted workflows, and calibrated energy modelling developed for digital twin applications.
The talk argues for a shift from performance verification toward performance-led design processes and outlines a future research agenda focused on integrating microclimate, vegetation, and human-centered environmental analysis into architectural education and practice. By embedding environmental analysis into early-stage design thinking, building science can become a creative driver of sustainable architecture rather than a post-design evaluation tool.
Bio:
Mohammad Mahdi Mohammadi is a PhD candidate in building science at Poznan University of Technology, Poland. His research focuses on performance-driven architectural design, integrating energy simulation, solar radiation analysis, and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to investigate thermal comfort, ventilation, and airflow in buildings. He has collaborated with Empa (ETH Zurich) on building-scale energy optimization and calibrated energy modelling for digital twin applications. His work examines how environmental analysis can inform architectural decision-making from the earliest design stages, bridging building physics and architectural practice. His broader research interests include climate-responsive architecture, sustainable building technologies, and the integration of simulation-based methods into architectural education and design workflows.
This is an online seminar. To request event details please send a message to department.