"Hello. Thesis title for obtaining a PhD in Architecture:
Developing an Algorithm for Optimizing Energy Consumption in Educational Buildings
Do you think I should model a BREP of a single classroom or a 9-classroom school with a central corridor? Which one provides more accurate analysis?
And should I use Python for creating the BREP model?"
This quite the early design stage. I would suggest modelling as much of your floorplan as possible, as energy between rooms is shared (that means that energy won’t be dispersed equally through all walls, but mostly towards the outside where the temperature varies more). If your goal is to develop a new algorithm though it can be useful to run a couple ot test simulations with just one room to speed up the process and see what changes with your code, before simulating more complex geometry.
About the Brep part, I’d suggest just modelling it in Rhino and importing it into Grasshopper, but if you want to adapt its form to thermal condition (maybe through an optimization algorithm as you’ve said) then you need to have in all made in GH, possibly with sliders controlling some room dimensions or windows ratio, but I’m not too sure about that: you should define the scope of your research and act accordingly.