CASE Learning: DIVA 101

Environmental analysis has quickly become a mainstream capability for design practices.  As issues of environmental performance grow in importance (and popularity), designers have been in need of tools that allow them to develop concepts with the aid of analysis data.

Analysis tools have typically existed as separate applications requiring the designer to develop cumbersome workflows for converting and rebuilding geometry.  DIVA for Rhino does away with many of these pain points and provides an interface for connecting Rhino models directly into powerful analysis engines.  This workshop focuses on the many uses of DIVA within a Rhino-based design workflow.

Contact CASE about the DIVA 101 Workshop!

DIVA for Rhino

DIVA is a popular environmental analysis plug-in for Rhino.  The tool provide direct connections from Rhino to Radiance, DaySim, and EnergyPlus simulation engines.  As users design, they are able to run a wide variety of visualizations and metrics on their design such as Solar, Daylight, and Thermal.  All of this occurs through the Rhino interface.  Additional DIVA tools are also available through Grasshopper for more advanced applications.

This workshop provides an overview of all the different simulations a designer can perform with DIVA.  Designers will modify analysis models, test different metric settings, create visualizations, and learn how to interpret results.  Thematically, the workshop will leverage design models of the Swiss Re tower that are used in the Rhino 101 and Grasshopper 101 workshops.

The workshop begins with model set-up and basic solar study visualizations of the building mass and site context.  Following the initial model analysis, designers will then proceed to perform visualizations of interior spaces to study metrics such as glare.

Shadow study visualization using a time lapse image capture.

Interior glare study using Radiance visualization.

The workshop then proceeds to perform node-based analysis of the model and import the results within Rhino.  The workshop explores the uses of solar and climate-based metrics.

Node-based solar analysis on selected zone of the exterior facade.

Node-based interior daylight factor analysis on a single floor plate.

Finally, the workshop will explore the uses of DIVA's Thermal analysis with EnergyPlus for single-zone simulation.  A brief overview of using Grasshopper for more advanced analysis will also be introduced.

Thermal analysis results for a single-zone model. (graphed in Excel)