“MULRES-ENERGY” — A CAD tool for determining the optimum configuration of multifamily residential buildings

We present a new method and the design tool MULRES-ENERGY that allows the presentation and energy usage evaluation of all possible solutions for grouping apartment units into a multifamily residential complex. This design tool may help the designer to determine the best massing configuration of the building, and its preferred proportions and orientation. Successive application of the model to many cases leads to a nomogram, in which all possible solutions of building configurations are presented, for example the number of units in the building, the number of floors, the number of apartments in each floor and the building's orientation. Since the nomogram presents all possible solutions, it does not impair the freedom of the architect to create a variety of new solutions, on the contrary, it can inspire new innovative ideas.