Early Stage Design of VC: A standardised approach to improve robustness and avoid vulnerability lock-in at the later design stages

The global increase in building cooling demands poses a challenge for designers striving for net zero energy consumption. The prevalent use of mechanical cooling underscores the necessity for designers to consider Ventilative Cooling as a viable alternative in the early stages of building design. Recent research findings suggest that the pre-design stage has the same influence for promoting Ventilative Cooling strategies as the schematic and detailed design stages for practitioners, yet limited impactful decision making occurs at this stage. We present the latest process flow diagram for early stage evaluation of ventilative cooling strategies and discuss its implementation in terms of the iterative nature of design and the role of the proposed ventilative cooling potential method. We also discuss the different needs of architects and engineers at the early design stages of buildings.