LEARNING BUILDING PERFORMANCE SIMULATION AS NOVICE USERS IN ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Abstract

The present study aims to explore students’ attitudes towards learning Building Performance Simulation (BPS) as novice users in architectural design programs and to discuss how BPS tools for the early stages of design can better respond to users’ demands. To achieve these goals, a BPS platform developed for the early stages of design, Sefaira, was taught to the junior students enrolled in an architectural design program. After learning the tool, the students were invited to an online survey asking about their experiences of learning the tool, and a total of 52 students voluntarily participated in the survey. Although learning the software was challenging and had limitations, the respondents found that learning BPS was helpful for developing and testing their design ideas.