Do I need prior experience with Ladybug, Cyclops, or Wallacei to follow this workshop?

No. While some familiarity with Grasshopper is recommended, the workshop will introduce the essential functions of Ladybug, Cyclops, and Wallacei.

What kind of building will we be working on during the sessions?

The focus is on office building typologies, specifically chosen for their design freedom and facade complexity. You'll apply tools in a real-world context within an existing urban environment.

Will I learn how to perform real-time performance testing and design feedback?

Yes. Cyclops and Ladybug are used together to enable rapid, interactive feedback loops for daylight, radiation, and sustainability metrics.

What is Wallacei used for in this workflow?

Wallacei is used to run evolutionary simulations, helping you optimize form and facade parameters based on performance goals

Does the workshop cover sustainability beyond just daylight and radiation analysis?

Yes. In addition to performance metrics like daylight and solar exposure, the workflow includes broader sustainability considerations such as early-stage energy modeling and carbon emission awareness

Full Access Workshop Aug 23 & 24, 2025 8 Hours Intermediate

Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei

Name: Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei
Price: 102.00 EUR
Availability: InStock
Rating: 5.00 (6 reviews)

This workshop focuses on using Cyclops, Ladybug, and Wallacei for sustainability analysis and performance-driven optimization from massing to facade.

Olaf Olden

Verified Account

3 courses5.0

About Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei

This workshop introduces a streamlined workflow that enables quick feasibility assessments of form studies. Using Grasshopper 3D, Ladybug/Honeybee, Cyclops, and Wallacei, the process allows for seamless transitions from initial design iterations to detailed facade optimization with minimal effort.

Ladybug, in combination with Cyclops, facilitates near-instant interactive testing, making it easier to explore various design scenarios. The communication between meshes and SubD modeling enables the handling of complex forms with ease, providing greater flexibility in shaping and refining architectural designs.

The core of this approach lies in Grasshopper logic, which efficiently structures data and supports smart computational decisions, ensuring optimal model setup and performance throughout the design process.

What you will learn

Optimize daylight performance in combination with possible heat stress and glare issues.
Apply radiation simulations to assess and balance solar gains and shading strategies.
Optimize views while integrating them into facade performance assessments.
Highlight viewpoints and rationalize them for benchmarking.
Use sustainability metrics across design scales, from massing to detailed facade elements.
Facilitate a smooth workflow from massing studies to facade rationalization by utilizing structured Grasshopper logic.
Apply evolutionary solvers to optimize form and facade parameters iteratively.
Set up early-stage energy modeling workflows to support informed design decisions.
Set up Carbon emissions for building elements for the integral approach and awareness.

Methodology

In this workshop, we will focus on an office building typology, known for its freedom in facade articulation and emphasis on transparent, expressive envelopes. Set within an existing urban context, the design will respond to both site-specific and neighboring conditions.

We will begin with form studies, utilizing form factor metrics to assess massing efficiency and envelope performance. SubD modeling will support the transition from mesh-based studies to more complex, organic forms. Form and facade articulation will be linked through an efficient Grasshopper setup.

Next, Ladybug and Cyclops will drive interactive, data-driven evaluations, enabling rapid testing of sustainability KPIs such as daylight and solar exposure.

For detailed facade analysis, Ladybug will assess cumulative radiation, balancing solar gains and shading needs. Finally, we will utilize an evolutionary solver to optimize key design and facade parameters, refining the building iteratively toward enhanced environmental and contextual performance.

Participants will work individually throughout the workshop. A form study of the facade rationalization script will be provided, with predefined guidelines for setting up the geometry. This workflow and its limitations will be explained during the introductory lecture.

Once the facade rationalization is in place, we will explore shading strategies and building specifications, including glazing properties and material selections, assessing their impact on the project's sustainability KPIs.

Course Content

12 Lessons

Screenshots

Software & tools

Highlights

Student projects

New administration Building in Majes - Arequipa

@aponcedeleonsv

Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei

Project

New administration Building in Majes - Arequipa

Oct 6, 2025

About this work

Impat of a new administration Building located in an existing campus at the Province o Majes, Arequipa, Peru.

Rhinoceros 3D Grasshopper 3D Wallacei Ladybug

Alvaro Ponce de Leon S.Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei

View project

Instructors

Olaf Olden

3 Courses5.0

Olaf Olden is a sustainability technologist whose work explores the intersection between sustainability and parametric design. He completed his master’s degree at TU Delft in 2021, following his initial studies at the University of Applied Sciences in Arnhem. Driven by a longstanding goal to contribute to a more sustainable built environment, Olaf has shaped his career around this mission.He began as a sustainability consultant, focusing on the social and environmental performance of buildings, public spaces, and BREEAM certification processes.

This experience led him to a similar role at MVRDV, where he further developed his expertise. A pivotal chapter in his professional journey was his time at OMRT, where he gained in-depth experience with parametric design, a central pillar of his work today.

Currently, Olaf works as a Sustainability Technologist at UNS, where he develops practical tools that enable architects to embed sustainability into their design processes. He also shares his knowledge as a teacher at TU Delft and through his own company, MisterMetric. Alongside this, he runs a YouTube channel under the same name, aiming to make parametric design and sustainability concepts more accessible to a broader audience. Through all of these efforts, he hopes to contribute to the conversation about how technology can drive a more responsible future for architecture.

Design Integration with Cyclops, Ladybug & Wallacei FAQ

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Reviews

Purchase or enroll in this course to leave a review.

5.0avg6 Reviews

6 Comments

Luca

Excellent and useful course, brilliant work!

Oct 25, 2025

Alvaro Ponce de Leon S.

I found a quite useful pack of information in this course. Congratulations for the PAACADEMY team, so hope to see an update of this modeule soon!

Oct 8, 2025

Wael Alanazi

-This course will always be a valuable reference for me in simulation work. -The content is well-structured and practical.

Oct 7, 2025

Marco Kohler

The course was very engaging and met my expectations. With the provided files, we are now able to test the methods in our upcoming projects. The only drawback is that the calculation of CO₂ emissions for building elements was not included in the script. Will there be a future workshop dedicated to this topic, or could an example script be provided that demonstrates how to optimize the building’s carbon footprint?

Oct 6, 2025

Ikhsaniyah Kharisma

Great

Sep 11, 2025

Ignas

Usefull environment analysis course

Sep 6, 2025