Sustainability, Climate, Daylight & Energy

Use measurable targets and verified methods; distinguish early design indicators from formal simulation/certification results.

Preflight

• Location/climate file or authoritative climate data, orientation, massing/envelope assumptions, occupancy/use and project sustainability targets.
• Available energy/daylight/LCA model outputs, material quantities, certification framework and consultant inputs.

Keep verified facts, project assumptions, design options, and unresolved questions visibly separate. If a required input is absent, record it as UNKNOWN rather than inventing it.

Workflow

1. Translate climate into passive-design priorities: orientation, form, glazing, shading, thermal mass, ventilation and landscape/water strategies.
2. Define metrics and baselines before comparing options; state model/method and all major assumptions.
3. Coordinate daylight, overheating, energy, operational carbon and embodied carbon tradeoffs rather than optimizing one metric blindly.
4. Record strategies in drawings/specifications and identify where specialist simulation or certification evidence is required.

Deliverables

• Climate/passive-design strategy
• Option performance matrix
• Daylight/solar/energy/carbon study brief
• Sustainability action and evidence register

Verification

• Every metric states source, method, units and assumptions.
• Simulation outputs are not compared when models, weather files, geometry or boundary conditions differ materially.

For file/model changes, compare the result against a pre-change baseline and report changed items, skipped items, failures, and checks actually run.

Professional boundaries

• Do not claim LEED/BREEAM/Passivhaus/WELL or other certification without the responsible assessor/process.
• Do not present simplified calculations as code compliance or final energy modelling.

If a live CAD/BIM/GIS/analysis tool or MCP integration is available, inspect the current document/model and tool version before write operations. Prefer read-only inspection, dry runs, bounded samples, new output paths, and native undo/transaction mechanisms. Never claim a model or drawing was changed unless the tool confirms it.

If the native application is unavailable, produce a reproducible plan, script, structured data, SVG/DXF artifact, or exact in-application procedure instead of pretending to have operated the software.