A TALE OF TWO CITIES

Cost-Driven design optimization is introduced through two case studies: 1) a design prototype of a large scale housing community for social mix of its tenants in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and 2) the one of a luxurious high-rise condominium with maintaining a decent level of its maintenance fee in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. For both cases, the computation of the optimization was performed with regards to targeted financial concerns which are as follows: 1) marketing value, construction cost, and government subsidy (incentives) for the case in Addis Ababa and 2) maintenance fee and construction cost for the case in Honolulu. Design factors are employed as a guide for computational outcomes in the optimization of both cases. The computational outcomes become the basis for projecting three-dimensional forms as design alternatives. Its application process is delineated within the integrated environment of parametric modeling applications.