Cyclops

PAACADEMY provides online courses on the Cyclops Grasshopper plugin, teaching architects how to execute precise daylight simulation, solar radiation mapping and illuminance analysis.

Cyclops is a Grasshopper plugin for daylight and solar radiation simulation, providing architects with the tools to run illuminance analysis, radiation mapping, and solar access studies directly inside the parametric design environment. It enables quantitative daylighting performance evaluation at the level of detail needed to support design decisions rather than simply meeting minimum compliance standards.

At PAACADEMY, Cyclops is taught in Building Performance with Forma and Opossum as a critical layer in the environmental design workflow:

• Illuminance Analysis: Measuring exact light levels on interior floor plates to optimize window sizing and shading devices.
• Solar Radiation Mapping: Visualizing direct solar gain on building facades to inform material selection and cooling loads.
• Performance-Driven Design: Connecting Cyclops output data to optimization plugins like Opossum or Wallacei to automatically generate the best-performing facade iterations.