Bim for Sustainable Design
Automation in Construction 20 (2011) 217–224
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Automation in Construction j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a u t c o n
Building information modeling for sustainable design and LEED® rating analysis
Salman Azhar a,⁎, Wade A. Carlton a, Darren Olsen a, Irtishad Ahmad b a b
McWhorter School of Building Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA Department of Construction Management, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Today, there is a high level of demand for sustainable buildings. The most important decisions regarding a building 's sustainable features are made during the design and preconstruction stages. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) is the most widely adopted sustainable building rating system in the United States. For projects pursuing LEED® certification, designers have to conduct in-depth sustainability analyses based on a building 's form, materials, context, and mechanical–electrical–plumbing (MEP) systems. Since Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows for multi-disciplinary information to be superimposed within one model, it creates an opportunity to conduct these analyses accurately and efficiently as compared to the traditional methods. In this exploratory research, a case study was conducted on Salisbury University 's Perdue School of Business building to demonstrate the use of BIM for sustainable design and the LEED® certification process. First, a conceptual framework was developed to establish the relationship between BIMbased sustainability analyses and the LEED® certification process. Next, the framework was validated via this case study. The results of this study indicate that documentation supporting LEED® credits may be directly or indirectly prepared using the results of BIM-based sustainability analyses software. This process could streamline the LEED®
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Automation in Construction j o u r n a l h o m e p a g e : w w w. e l s ev i e r. c o m / l o c a t e / a u t c o n
Building information modeling for sustainable design and LEED® rating analysis
Salman Azhar a,⁎, Wade A. Carlton a, Darren Olsen a, Irtishad Ahmad b a b
McWhorter School of Building Science, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA Department of Construction Management, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Today, there is a high level of demand for sustainable buildings. The most important decisions regarding a building 's sustainable features are made during the design and preconstruction stages. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) is the most widely adopted sustainable building rating system in the United States. For projects pursuing LEED® certification, designers have to conduct in-depth sustainability analyses based on a building 's form, materials, context, and mechanical–electrical–plumbing (MEP) systems. Since Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows for multi-disciplinary information to be superimposed within one model, it creates an opportunity to conduct these analyses accurately and efficiently as compared to the traditional methods. In this exploratory research, a case study was conducted on Salisbury University 's Perdue School of Business building to demonstrate the use of BIM for sustainable design and the LEED® certification process. First, a conceptual framework was developed to establish the relationship between BIMbased sustainability analyses and the LEED® certification process. Next, the framework was validated via this case study. The results of this study indicate that documentation supporting LEED® credits may be directly or indirectly prepared using the results of BIM-based sustainability analyses software. This process could streamline the LEED®
References: [11] [1] Autodesk, Inc., Autodesk® Ecotect™ Analysis. Online at, http://usa.autodesk.com/ adsk/servlet/pc/index?siteID=123112&id=12607162. 2009. [2] Autodesk, Inc., Building information modeling for sustainable design. Online at, http: //www.federalnewsradio.com/pdfs/Building Information Modeling for Substainable Design-white%20paper.pdf. 2005. [3] Autodesk, Inc., Improving building industry results through integrated project delivery and building information modeling. Online at, http://images.autodesk. com/adsk/files/bim_and_ipd_whitepaper.pdf. 2008. [4] S. Azhar, BIM for sustainable design: results of an industry survey, Journal of Building Information Modeling 4 (1) (2010) 27–28. [5] S. Azhar, J. Brown, BIM for sustainability analyses, International Journal of Construction Education and Research 5 (4) (2009) 276–292. [6] S. Azhar, J. Brown, A. Sattineni, A case study of building performance analyses using building information modeling, Proceedings of the 27th International [12] [7] [8] [9] [10] [13] [14] [15] [16] [17]