Trees, shade sails, pergolas, lighter paving: each measure cools a street in a different way and at a different cost. To choose, you need the effect of each one on the same site, at the same hour. This example shows how an AI design agent used Infrared Core to compare variants for a hot street and square in Vienna, and which mix it chose.
This is an example at screening grade, run on the Infrared engine on staging. It shows the method, not a final design.
The site and the goal
The focus area is the Quellenstrasse in Vienna, a street with a small square. The design hour is a hot summer afternoon, 26 June at 14:00. Today, 69 % of the focus area is at a felt temperature (UTCI) of 36 °C or more, and only 1.7 % of it is in shade.
The goal for the agent: bring the share of space at 36 °C or more down, with a realistic budget.
How the agent works
The agent follows the same loop that a designer would follow, but it runs each step in seconds:
- Intake: read the site, the hour and the goal.
- Propose a variant: place trees, shade sails, pergolas or new ground surfaces.
- Simulate: run the thermal comfort model on the changed 3D scene.
- Measure: read the mean felt temperature in the focus area, the share at 36 °C or more, and the cost.
- Adjust and repeat, then compare the best variants.
The variants it compared
| Variant | Cooling of the mean felt temperature | Construction cost |
|---|---|---|
| Trees only | −1.24 K | 75 to 250 k EUR (best cooling per euro) |
| Shade sails, pergolas and new surfaces | −0.75 K | 176 to 507 k EUR |
| Chosen: 25 trees, 2 shade sails, 3 ground patches | −1.32 K | 110 to 341 k EUR |
The chosen design
The chosen design adds 25 new trees (13 large trees on the square, 12 medium trees in the street), 2 shade sails and 3 ground patches.
| Measure in the focus area | Today | Chosen design |
|---|---|---|
| Mean felt temperature (UTCI) | 35.90 °C | 34.58 °C |
| Share at 36 °C or more | 69.0 % | 39.2 % |
| Shade cover | 1.7 % | 24 % |
| Cells at least 2 K cooler | 23.7 % |
Trees alone gave the best cooling per euro. The chosen mix adds sails and ground patches for a little more cooling.
What was not possible
The agent also reports what it could not reach. The target of less than 35 % of the area at 36 °C or more was not met: the best design reached 39 %. The target of 50 % shade cover was not met either (24 %). A felt temperature of 32 °C is not reachable with shade alone at 14:00. Measures that the run did not simulate, such as misting, fountains and changes of air temperature, are listed as open.
Run a study like this
Each variant is one run of the thermal comfort models on the same 3D scene. Because a run takes seconds, an agent or a designer can test many variants in one session. Read how the engine computes felt temperature in Advanced thermal comfort, see a second variant study in Depave or plant trees? Memphis, or start with the API and SDK.