SHELL: 27.8% Energy Efficiency. Custom Grasshopper Add-In. MSc Thesis Worthy of Mention.

The Brief

What if a building envelope could simulate thousands of iterations and evolve to the one that performs best?

SHELL connects parametric envelope geometry, environmental simulation through Ladybug and Honeybee, and Multi-Objective Evolutionary Algorithms through Wallacei into a single automated workflow. It generates, evaluates, and evolves envelope configurations simultaneously across solar radiation, daylight factor, and thermal comfort, replacing manual iteration with a process that links envelope form directly to measured environmental performance.

The Approach

Two Phases. Prototype First. Full Simulation Second.

The tool operates in two phases. In the first, a prototype tests unit iterations on a simplified model, evaluating Ternary, Quaternary, and Hexa envelope configurations across solar radiation, daylight factor, and thermal comfort, running many iterations through the Wallacei evolutionary engine to generate a Pareto front and highlight the optimal one.

In the second phase, the optimal unit type is applied to the real building envelope, linking geometry directly to environmental performance. Every parameter that affects performance is connected: facade orientation, unit framework depth, curtain depth, curtain opening ratio, and translucency. The result is an envelope evolved through computational simulation, not selected by intuition or precedent.

Outcome

The Result

SHELL delivered a 27.8% energy-efficiency improvement, peer-reviewed at Politecnico di Torino and awarded Worthy of Mention by the Architecture Commission in 2023. Within the thesis, the envelope system was applied to the Adaptive TRIO tower, where the Ternary unit returned the best performance among three panel types (Ternary, Quaternary, and Hexa) for Milan's climate, achieving a documented 145 kgCO₂/m² of facade embodied carbon. The tower was shortlisted in the SKYHIVE International High-Rise Architecture Competition.