[Student Award] Ramona Sadek on Heat Island Effect Simulation Tools

Congratulations to Ramona SADEK, one of my master's students in architectural engineering, School of Engineering at Liege University who was designated by the jury of the Nova Tectum Prize 2021-2022 as a winner of the competition. The thesis was supervised by Prof. Aurélie de Boissieu and Shady Attia.

The Nova Tectum 2021 – 2022 prize aims to reward four master theses bringing added value to the housing sector.

Mrs. Ramona Sadek's graduation work is entitled "Urban heat islands: how to adapt digital tools to architectural design?" She studied more than six simulation software that evaluates the urban heat island effect using the Sustainable Building Design Lab's usability framework: #UserFit. For further reading, check the abstract below.

Abstract: Urban heat islands (UHI) rise the temperature in cities and are increasingly dangerous for humans and the planet. However, few designers include this phenomenon in their design and use existing digital tools. This research aims to highlight the brakes and levers to the consideration of UHI in France. The objective is to identify the problems of usability of software by architects and the points of improvement. Two methods are used: qualitative interviews targeting actors in the field (architects, urban planners, developers) and usability tests comparing two widespread software programs: ENVI-met and Solène Microclimat. It was found that in their current state, these software are not easily usable by architects. The importing phase of the 3D models is particularly critical and their interfaces would benefit from being more self-descriptive. However, these improvements will always be limited by the will of the designers. This is confirmed by the discussions, which identify the implementation of environmental regulations as an important lever. Thus, technological advances must imperatively be accompanied by a change in mentalities.

To download and read the thesis: https://lnkd.in/exHkDXBw

For further details on the Nova Tectum Prize check this link: https://lnkd.in/eAsSwW_j

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#urbanheatisland , #simulation, #usabilitytesting, #userexperience, #urbandesign, #PET, #UTCI, #userinterface