Emad Mushtaha

Virtual reality was investigated with various computational design approaches to improve users’ ability to communicate, share, and grasp the design’s requirements to better conceptualize ideas during various design and review stages. The study aims to show how computational design and virtual reality are utilized to forecast challenges, address design problems/limitations in a specific study space, and validate results. A case study of the main Architectural Engineering department building at the University of Sharjah (UoS) campus in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, was considered. The study focused on indoor daylight intake, ventilation, functionality, user comfortability, structural integrity, coherency and consistency, and performance optimization as factors to further evaluate and aid in the selection process of the optimal design. Consequently, innovative computational design tools were used in the study’s methodology to assess offered alternatives, such as altering and fabricating the building’s skin to deal with the challenges described above and improving the selected room’s visual and environmental conditions, such as optimal daylighting and ensuring users’ comfortability. The users’ immersive experience resulted in more accurate visualization and navigation around the to-be-built environment, allowing for more significant analysis and comprehension that further validated the results obtained. The chosen case study thus demonstrated the potential for computational design, mixed reality techniques, and strategies to enable an efficient process that ultimately verifies approaches taken toward a much more optimal solution through better visualization and contextualizing.

A marathon is a grueling endurance race, and runners are at risk of heatstroke. Therefore, the thermal environment of the marathon course should be accurately assessed. Solar radiation, a factor in the thermal environment, is particularly affected by the surrounding environment. In this study, we proposed a method to calculate wet-bulb globe temperature (WBGT) in a short period of time using geographic information system (GIS) data, considering changes in solar radiation. WBGT is used as an indicator of heat stroke. This method was used to assess the risk of heat stroke due to weather conditions, span of time, and location on the marathon course of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. According to the analysis results, in Sapporo, trees and buildings can suppress WBGT by about 2 °C, but on days when the average temperature exceeded 26 °C, WBGT exceeded 21 °C from 5:00 to 13:00. On the contrary, even in August, the hottest month of the year, there were days when WBGT was almost always below 21 °C from 5:00 to 13:00. In other words, it is concluded that the risk of heat stroke can be reduced if the marathon is held in accordance with the weather conditions of the day. In addition, by mapping and identifying locations where there is little change in attenuated WBGT, it is possible to identify locations where the thermal environment should be improved.