Figure 4 - uploaded by Dr Boris Ceranic
Content may be subject to copyright.
Lower ground floor Due to the unique nature of the project and special arrangements with Building Control detailed drawings are still being produced, although the works on the site have already commenced (June 2014 start, June 2016 completion). Hence, once the BIM model is finalised and a full drawings package and performance specification produced, the model will be exported to for final energy analysis and building regulations compliance calculations.
Source publication
![Figure 1: Concept of BIM and SBE Integration [3]](profile/Dr-Boris-Ceranic/publication/278317877/figure/fig1/AS:339218686595072@1457887445943/Concept-of-BIM-and-SBE-Integration-3_Q320.jpg)
The purpose of sustainable design analysis in the building design process is addressed – its principles, integration, implementation, advantages and pitfalls. The benefits of full integration of sustainable design analysis with building information modelling (BIM) is also explored, with the author reflecting on interoperability and uptake issues. A...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... Lower ground floor containing an ensuite master bedroom, two ensuite guest bedrooms and a bed/study room; lower entrance hall, utility and a garden store accessed externally (see Fig 4). The building exemplifies both proven and emerging green technologies alongside passive energy saving measures, such as a passive stack and earth tube natural ventilation. ...
Citations
... BIM has been playing an essential role in achieving better and more capable building efficiency, since "sustainable design analysis could be referred to as rapid and quantifiable feedback on diverse, sustainable alternatives and 'what if' questions posed by a design team and client during the early stages of the project." [76]. In addition, a good approach that would help to establish the standards for a more integrative design, is a chronologic design [77] that looks to the following aspects: These programs and tools aim to transform how we think about every single act of design and construction as an opportunity to positively impact and integrate the different building retrofits and energy efficiency conditions in order to obtain a more cohesive sustainable building. ...
Energy-efficient building retrofits must be approached from three perspectives: law regulation approach, financial incentives approach, and practice approach. The concepts of zero energy building and life cycle energy building are presented as the basis for energy retrofits. Multi-criteria boards to assess the decision-making process are reviewed, analysed, and categorised under an architectonic perspective. Some examples are presented, with different packages of measures, from deep to non-invasive energy retrofits. Passive and active energy generation systems, together with control and management strategies, are the physical elements identified with the potential to improve buildings’ energy efficiency. From a practice approach, this literature review identifies the concept of performance-based architectural design to optimise the planning and design of buildings’ energy retrofits. In addition, tools such as Building Information Modelling are described as part of optimisation processes, as they enable designers to rapidly analyse and simulate a building’s performance at the design stage.
... Although these sets of studies could suggest the proportional significance of embodied impacts of buildings, it is difficult to determine the factors contributing to these proportions especially as they were based on a single case study of buildings. Understanding the key determinants of embodied and operational impacts would require sensitivity and comparative analyses of different design scenario [12,8]. ...
Despite the increasing significance of embodied impacts of buildings, efforts to reduce their environmental footprints have been concentrated on the operational impacts of buildings. This study investigates the changing significance of embodied carbon over the entire life cycle of whole buildings. A case study of an office building
was modelled with Revit, and sensitivity analyses of the modelled building were performed by varying the material specification and energy use pattern for seven other typologies. Using Revit, BIMWASTE tool, ATHENA Impact Estimator and Green Building Studio, comparative life-cycle analyses were carried out for the eight building typologies.
The study suggests that notwithstanding the enormous impacts of the operational stage on life-cycle carbon of fossil fuel-based buildings, embodied impacts could vary between 8.4% and 22.3%. A key determinant of the proportional impacts of embodied energy is the nature of materials used for building construction. Similarly, embodied impacts of buildings become more significant and could contribute up to 60% of their life cycle impacts as they become more energy-efficient during their operational stage. As the study confirms the varying significance of embodied energy as construction materials and energy use patterns change, it implies the need for policy measures based on a whole life assessment methodology, instead of the usual ways of giving sole importance to the operational impacts of buildings. With buildings becoming more energy-efficient during their
operational stage, there is an urgent need for an increased focus on the embodied impacts of buildings, especially as renewable energy resources are becoming widely adopted.
... As defined by Ceranic (2013), "sustainable design analysis (SDA) could be referred to as rapid and quantifiable feedback on diverse sustainable alternatives and 'what if' questions posed by a design team and client during the early stages of the project". Its key purpose is to increase benefits of the project in terms of environment and cost, by making relevant design choices in the initial phase of the project, on the basis of timely feedback on different aspects such as building materials, construction specifications, energy consumption and generation, CO2 emissions, water use and harvesting, waste and pollution management. ...
In this research, a novel use of building materials and their impact on the building performance and its climatic adaptability is explored, based on a complex real word case study of a unique low energy sustainable building project. In particular, an innovative use of sycamore and its suitability as a structural and constructional timber has been investigated and reported, considering that is deemed not appropriate for structural applications by current standards. A research method of in-situ longitudinal study has been adopted, concentrating on the performance monitoring and assessment of its structural performance and conditions in which it might deteriorate. On the system level, the climatic adaptability of the building as a whole has been analysed via dynamic performance simulation and compared to the in-situ measurements. This was important in order to develop a holistic building performance monitoring strategy, but in particular, to understand the impact of building microclimate on the sycamore frame and hempcrete components of the external load-bearing wall. So far research has concluded that sycamore can be used as structural and constructional material in building design, but due attention has to be paid to construction detailing and provision of a breathable, low humidity environment with an effective resistance to decay and insect attack. This includes measures that ensure a low equilibrium moisture content conditions, effective ventilation provision and appropriate service class uses.
... The usefulness of such studies is often questioned due lack of a benchmark that considers alternative material specifications and compares the life cycle impact among buildings. Other studies have evaluated how material choices affect building energy efficiency by the application of sensitivity analysis and multiple option scenarios, including Ceranic (2013), Azhar, Nadeem, Mok, and Leung (2008), and Autodesk (2008). Although those studies explore the energy performance impact of different material specifications and provide information on the impact of material specifications, they are limited to the building operation stage, and do not address the impacts from material manufacturing, transportation, construction, maintenance and demolition (Ajayi, Oyedele, Ceranic, Gallanagh, & Kadiri, 2015). ...
Despite the apparent simplicity of existing BIM-LCA tools, there is a lack of integration with the main BIM software, and the double-effort of design development and parallel simulations is a barrier to their implementation in the design process. Moreover, simplifications on these tools may provide misleading results to the designer. The main aim of this research is to develop an integration interface of manufacturer-based LCA data into a BIM platform by combining applications of existing and consolidated tools (namely, Autodesk Revit and Dynamo, and Microsoft Excel), in order to obtain environmental profiles for decision-making in the initial design stages, requiring less time, effort and ad hoc experts. The methodological procedures were aggregated into the following system development and testing phases: (a) input data organization, (b) creating new parameters on BIM software, (c) visual programming, (d) results analysis for decision-making and (e) simulation of social housing. The results of the developed tool provided complete results automatically, not requiring the designer to make changes in the software or interfaces. Some limitations were identified during development and application, due to the lack of LCA data availability by manufacturers, the complexity of data programming importation and extraction on BIM software for different construction subsystems, and the complexity of LCA results analysis and understanding encountered by non-experts. Regarding the latter, the research concluded that broad knowledge dissemination is still necessary to improve awareness regarding this environmental assessment methodology, in addition to determining the most advantageous environmental performance parameters, as a reference point for comparison.
... While this group of studies has set some frameworks for whole building life cycle assessment, the lack of a global benchmark for comparing the life cycle impact of each building [10], as well as the failure of the studies to consider alternative material specifications, raises doubts about the usefulness of their findings. Other groups of studies have been carried out to evaluate how different material configurations affect the energy efficiency of buildings using various sensitivity analysis and 'what-if scenarios', including (among others) Ceranic [11], Azhar et al. [12], and Autodesk [13]. Again, apart from showing the impact of using different building material specifications over its energy performance, these studies are limited to the operational stage of building, thus leaving out the environmental impact of other stages such as material manufacture, transportation, construction, maintenance and demolition. ...
This study aims to evaluate the extent to which building material specification affects life cycle environmental performance, using a building information modelling (BIM)-enhanced life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. A combination of the BIM-based design and analysis tool Revit Architecture, the energy simulation tool Green Building Studio (GBS) and the LCA tool ATHENA Impact Estimator were used for the assessment. The LCA was carried out on a life case study of a 2100 m2 two-floor primary-school building, as well as a variability analysis, by varying the material specification in terms of whole building materials. The life cycle performance of the buildings was primarily evaluated in terms of its global warming potential (GWP) and health impact.The findings of the study show that irrespective of the materials used, buildings that are based on renewable energy perform better than those based on fossil fuels over their life cycle. In terms of building materials, both environmental and health preferences of buildings congruently range from timber, brick/block and steel to insulated concrete formwork (ICF), in descending order. The study suggests that as buildings become more energy efficient during operational stages, serious attention needs to be given to their embodied impact.The study lays out a methodological framework that could be adopted by industry practitioners in evaluating life cycle environmental impact of different BIM-modelled material options at the building conception stage. This has the tendency to ensure that the highest proportion of life cycle environmentally beneficial material combinations are selected during specification and construction.
This article demonstrates the evolutionary development of a series of inter-varsity, interdisciplinary, collaborative architectural design/management workshops, using industry-standard BIM software, within a community of academics, students and practitioners in Danish, Irish and UK architectural technology (AT) universities. This article, per the authors, proposes that the current digital revolution in the architectural, engineering, construction and operations/owner-operated (AECO) sectors, necessitates a planned change process to simulate 21st century, interdisciplinary, professional practice in academia. The action research methodology of this is outlined. After each of the four dynamic and cyclical stages, the reflective practitioners discuss their development of the professional curriculum: defined as an active-learning process. The students are active collaborators: joint change agents in a process of transformational learning as future employees and ambassadors for the benefits of collaboration utilizing information communication technologies (ICTs).
In this paper the method for sustainable design analysis (SDA) integration with building information modelling (BIM) is explored, through the prism of a complex case study based research. BIM model federation and integration challenges are reported, including issues with combining geometry and managing attribute data. The research defines SDA as rapid and quantifiable analysis of multitude of sustainable alternatives and ‘what if’ questions posed by a design team during the early stages of the project, when the benefits of correct decisions can significantly exceed the actual investment required. The SDA concept and BIM integration findings are explained from conceptualisation to calculation stage, emphasising the importance of an iterative over a linear approach.
