The timing problem
Façade decisions get made early and reversed late. By the time a radiation study comes back from an environmental consultant, the geometry is locked, the panels are specified, and the contractor is priced. Changing the skin at that point costs real money.
At Hayball, environmental analysis was outsourced and slow. Performance feedback arrived after design intent had hardened. The information arrived at the wrong time to be useful.
What I built
Two tools. Same principle: bring the analysis into the design session, not after it.
Radiation Analytics Tool
A façade design tool integrating Ladybug Tools with a custom UI layer — built to run directly inside the parametric model as designers iterated form.
The tool provided:
- Real-time solar radiation feedback — updated as the form changed, not after a separate simulation run
- Panel-level granularity — radiation mapped to individual panels, not just averaged across the skin
- Visual overlays — colour-coded radiation maps rendered directly on the 3D model
- Context toggles — time of year, climate zone, building orientation, switchable mid-session
Radiation studies that previously required outsourcing and a multi-day turnaround became a five-minute in-session check.
Façade Design Tool
A parametric optimisation tool aligning panel-type selection with a project's design grammar — specifically developed for a Lyons-typology project.
The tool accepted eight panel types and a non-linear assembly grammar, then:
- Generated logical window arrangements across multiple facade conditions
- Tracked module count and types in real time as geometry changed
- Enabled immediate value engineering conversations — the designer could see the procurement implications of a geometry shift before it became a drawing issue
Decisions that previously required back-and-forth with the contractor were resolved at the design stage, with numbers on screen.
What changed
Designers made informed decisions early. That's the whole job. When a design team can see that a particular setback generates 40% higher radiation loads on the west face — before the orientation is locked — they redesign. When they can see that switching from panel type A to panel type C saves 12 modules per floor — before the facade package is specified — they switch.
Shorter iteration loops. Fewer late-stage surprises. Performance aligned with architectural intent, not retrofitted against it.
What I learned
Environmental analysis tools built by consultants are built for consultants — they produce reports, not decisions. A tool that lives inside the design workflow has to produce decisions. That means the output has to be legible to an architect at 2pm on a deadline, not to an engineer with time to read a 40-page radiation report.
The UI was as important as the physics.
Stack: Grasshopper · Ladybug Tools · Rhino · Python. Engagement type: internal tooling, in-house design technology function. Deployed across live projects at Hayball.