Archetypal

python for building simulation archetypes

Retrieve, construct, simulate, convert and analyze building simulation templates

Important

Meet the next generation: idfkit

The story of archetypal continues in a brand-new, modern project: idfkit — a faster, cleaner, and more powerful toolkit for working with EnergyPlus IDF models in Python. And it doesn't stop there: idfkit is growing into a whole family of tools for building simulation workflows, all available at idfkit.com.

Everything you loved about archetypal is being rebuilt with a sharper focus, a friendlier API, and a roadmap packed with new features. If you build, transform, or analyze IDF models, idfkit is where the action is. New features, bug fixes, and active development now live there — come check it out, star the repo, and join us!

👉 Website: idfkit.com 👉 GitHub: github.com/idfkit/idfkit

archetypal will continue to exist but will receive only limited maintenance going forward. Over time, its scope will be narrowed to the IDF complexity reduction feature used to generate UMI template libraries. For everything else, migrate to idfkit and enjoy the upgrade. 🚀

Overview

Archetypal is a Python package that helps handle building archetypes.

Changes since v2.0.0

The conversion of EnergyPlus IDF models to Trnsys TrnBuild Models (compatible with the multizone building model) is now part of a distinct package known as the trnslator.

Features

Here is a short overview of features that are part of archetypal:

1. Building Complexity Reduction: A utility to transform a multizone EnergyPlus model to a two-zone normalized model. Such models are called building archetypes and are the foundation of the UMI Energy Module. This tool will allow any EnergyPlus model to be imported into UMI and drastically speedup the UBEM process.

Installation

Recommended to use a conda environement running python 3.8. Pip install should work on all platforms (linux, macOS and Windows). First,

conda create -n venv python=3.8

-n venv is the name of your environement; it can be anything. Then,

pip install -U archetypal

Local Development

1. Clone this repo locally

git clone https://github.com/samuelduchesne/archetypal.git

2. Install dependencies:

cd archetypal
conda env create

This will create a new environment named archetypal. Don't forget to activate the environment.

3. Run Tests:

python -m pytest tests/

4. Generate Documentation:

make html