Abstract:
The first decade of the twenty first century has witnessed a tremendous increase in the demand of sustainable buildings mainly due to mounting energy costs and growing environmental concerns. BIM (Building Information Modeling) has been recently implemented by many Architecture, Engineering, and Construction firms due to its productivity gains and long term benefits. The most effective decisions related to the sustainable design of a building can be made in the planning and design phases. Since Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows for multi-disciplinary information to be superimposed within one model, it creates an opportunity for sustainability measures to be incorporated early in the design process.
This paper presents findings of a research project to investigate the feasibility of BIM for sustainability analyses. The sustainability assessment is based on the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System, a widely accepted national standards for sustainable building design in the United States. Based on the collected data, it is found that BIM can significantly aid in performing complex building performance analyses to ensure an optimized building design.