Performance-Based Building Design for Solar Energy Production: A rooftop-PV-integrated building design generation and optimization workflow

The application of rooftop Photovoltaic (PV) panels to building design plays a critical role in achieving net-zero and sustainable buildings. In recent studies, computational design optimization has increasingly been utilized to optimize the PV array configuration to enhance the performance and power production of PV panels. However, existing studies often lack consideration of building massing forms in optimizations involving PV panels. In response, this study presents a performance-based design optimization workflow leveraging explicit and implicit design generation strategies that incorporate building massing forms and rooftop PV panels to achieve an integrated and adaptive generation of PV-attached building designs. To demonstrate its efficacy, a case study is presented to showcase how the approach can assist designers in identifying building massing forms that are most conducive to maximizing solar energy production. The findings of this study highlight the potential integration of PV panels into the early-stage building design process and its role as a driving factor for performance-based architectural form-finding processes.