  A building design aiding tool for space allocation and thermal performance
optimization is being developed to help practitioners during the building space
planning phase, predicting how it will behave regarding energy consumption and
thermal comfort. The tool evaluates, ranks, and optimizes generated floor plans
according to thermal performance criteria, using the dynamic simulation program
EnergyPlus. The tool is currently able to use a wide variety of EnergyPlus
objects, allowing for various template and detailed HVAC, DHW, and thermal and
electrical energy production systems and components, as well as numerous
internal gains types, construction elements and energy saving controls, to be
accounted for and simulated in the generated buildings. This paper presents the
tool overall concept as well as the main features regarding dynamic simulation.
Some performance results are presented for distinct systems to illustrate the
use and potential of the tool.
