Green BIM by Alex Nguyen

ARC6812 - BIM, Management and Analysis Final Project

GreenBIMIntegrated DesignProcess Office Tower

Binh Vinh Duc Nguyen - 170119713 MSc Digital Architecture and Design School of Architecture University of Sheffield

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. PROJECT STATEMENT

2. PROJECT BACKGROUND

2.1. Literature review 2.2. Case studies

02 02

3. PROPOSED STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BIM APPLICATION

3.1. Project proposal

3.2. Creating the adaptive component

3.3. Dynamo radiation analysis

3.4. Evaluating and analysing the result 3.4.1. Insight Lighting Analysis 3.4.2. Insight Heating and Cooling Load calculation 3.4.3. Insight Building Energy Cost 3.4.4. Revit reports: Heating and Cooling Load calculation 3.4.5. Revit schedules: Shading panels

10 11 11 12 12 13

4. REFLECTION AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT

REFERENCES

APPENDIX: DIGITISED BUILDING INFORMATION DATABASE

Green BIM Integrated Design Process

1. PROJECT STATEMENT Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a revolutionary development that is quickly reshaping the Architecture – Engineering - Construction industry through the way buildings are conceived, designed, constructed and operated (Hardin, 2009). Bene ts in using BIM include the availability in project management and integration (Ghaffarianhoseini, 2017), in which the design proposal is tested and shared by different stakeholders, thus providing chances to alter it towards better results. On the other hand, BIM allows building data to be extracted and automatically calculated, making it a powerful tool for phasing, coordinating, and communicating planned work to a variety of audiences (Kymmell, 2007). As sustainable architecture emerged and widely developed during the last decade, its connection to BIM has created a new concept: “Green BIM” (Lu, 2017), or collaborative design in sustainable architecture. With its innovative applications in building data management, BIM provides a new design approach in which energy efficiency performance can be analysed to facilitate the accomplishment of established sustainability goals (Wong, 2015). is integrated method requires data transferring interface that connects to energy analysis tools, for example, EnergyPlus (Sanguinetti, 2012); and evaluation based on green building certi cate system (Jun, 2015). Parametric platform is also a necessary factor for proposal comparison throughout the design process (Wang, 2010). e main purpose of this study is to test the potential of BIM application in an integrated design process towards Green BIM, or collaborative sustainable design. e study is conducted on an undergraduate studio project, which is an office building in New York, USA. ere are 3 steps that will be performed: 1. Creating a parametric adaptive system, in this case, a solar shading façade that directly connects to the building’s sustainability (Aksamija, 2016). 2. Altering the façade through simulation and analysing, using Dynamo plugin and local climate data. 3. Evaluating the façade’s effectiveness by analysing building performance data and comparing to LEED certi cate system, using Revit EnergyPlus plugin – Insight. After this study, a basic understanding and assessment of the Green BIM design process can be achieved, which will be the fundamental for future research and development. Pattern-based adaptive component

Conceptual mass

Revit architecture project context

Dynamo simulation and analyst

Insight analyst and evaluation

Figure 1: e design process Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 2: e original building design 2. PROJECT BACKGROUND 2.1. Literature review Studies in BIM sustainable applications focus into three main categories, namely: (1) BIM-support in building life cycle, (2) in sustainable element analysis, and (3) in green building assessment (GBA). While some researchers stated that BIM is more powerful in improving building management and scheduling rather than life cycle sustainability (Bynum, 2012), it was considered eﬀective in sustainable elements analysis, such as energy performance, CO2 emissions and lighting. In term of GBA process, BIM software can help users understand the requirements and provide necessary building operations towards the target certi cation (Azhar, 2011). e green building design process is also a popular topic. Sanguinetti and Abdelmohsen (2012) studied an integrated approach in which the BIM model was used in diﬀerent types of analysis without the need of modifying the building model. Hubers (2012) looked into the parametric ability of Revit, stating its potential application in sustainable co-design. e same viewpoint is shared by Wang (2010), whose research is about the BIM-based parametric design method of kinetic building components. Aksamija (2016) provided a climate-based design method for high-performance building facades, using BIM software and its available simulation platform. Most of the studies suggest that BIM is a high potential design approach which has gained increasing importance in the AEC industry. However, while it could be a key application in sustainable building development, green BIM faces some challenges that need to be studied further, mainly in its weak interoperability to users and other platforms (Lu, 2017). 2.2. Case studies Since the design goal is towards sustainability with indoor comfort management, double-skin façades are preferred, which provide air gap thermal insulation and support natural ventilation. Two case studies below are among this type of façade, using tensile structures with visual attractiveness. Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Despite its complex in design and construction, this kind of structure is highly adaptive to large and public buildings, as they are lightweight, easy to clean and very eﬀective in reducing the transmission of radiant heat from the Sun (Kamal, 2016). a. Static air buﬀer

b. External air curtain

c. Natural ventilation

Figure 3: Double skin façade’s seasonal air ow operating method: (a) Static air buﬀer as winter air ow operating method; (b) External air curtain as summer air ow operating method; (c) Natural ventilation as summer air ow operating method. King Fahad National Library Located in Saudi Arabia, the building has a symbolic facade which is based on the rhomboid textile. Inserted white membranes, supported by a three-dimensional, tensile-stressed steel cable structure, act as sunshades and interpret the Arabian tent structure tradition in a modern, technological way. At night the façade glows with changing colours and becomes the city’s cultural lighthouse. is structure has a solar penetration level of 7% and at the same time makes it possible to look both in and out. Given exterior temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius, the membrane façade, which was optimised in relation to the local sun path by means of complex, three-dimensional light refraction, combines the required protection from the sun with maximum light penetration and transparency.

Figure 4: e library’s exterior Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 5: Details of the façade shading panels. Bankstown Library and Knowledge Centre In this library in Australia, the tensile façade is not only working as a sun-shade device, but also a visual attraction. Colourful screen elements diﬀuse natural light into the library while still allowing views into and out of the building. e building follows sustainable design principles that provide innovative high performance environmental systems. Sophisticated environmental control systems maximize the use of natural light and indoor air quality for human comfort as well as saving energy. Salvaged materials from the town hall have been recycled and incorporated into the library, establishing a sense of continuity between old and new features.

Figure 6: e library’s exterior

Figure 7: e library’s interior Green BIM Integrated Design Process

3. PROPOSED STRATEGIES AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE BIM APPLICATION 3.1. Project proposal e office tower has total 28 oors, with the office area located from the 6th to 28th oor. e initial idea is to create a rhomboid-grid based adaptive component that acts as a sun-shading system for those office spaces. A complete Revit architectural project with surrounding buildings as masses is used for prefabricated performance evaluating and analysing, which will be compared with the nal design proposal.

Figure 8: e initial detailed Revit le with site massing

Figure 9: Initial LEED v4 EQc7 opt 2 Lighting Analysis using Insight ( oor 15-20) (LUX) Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Located near the equator, the building is expected to receive direct sun light from all its four sides throughout the year. erefore, the shading system will be designed to cover all faces of the oﬃce spaces. e idea of the adaptive component is developed from the case study, in which its open degree is determined by the distance between each arc’s mid-point and the frame’s corresponding segment

Figure 10: Idea of controlling the open-and-close mechanism Following the project statement, the design process will begin with creating the component. A radiance analysis will be conducted in Dynamo to analyse each panel’s open degree. A conceptual mass will be used for this step and then will be copied into the architectural project, where building performance and life cycle cost evaluating will take place.

Architecture Project

Honeybee radiation analysis

Conceptual Mass

Components modiﬁcation

Analysis and evaluation

Adaptive component

Figure 11: Detailed work ow Green BIM Integrated Design Process

3.2. Creating the adaptive component e component is created on the rhomboid-grid, which has three parameters showing its dimensions: x (Width), y (Height) and z (ickness). While x and y are reporting parameters depending on the target surface, z is a user-customized value, which is the overhang degree of the panel (Figure 12). e tensile surface is stretched from the upper to the under layer of the rhomboid frame, whose steel structure also has a parametric value: Structure Radius.

Figure 12: e adaptive component and its parameters As mentioned before, the adaptability of the component is based on its open degree, or Driver. is number is the normalized parameter of the point on the line connecting the corresponding centre point of the rhomboid frame's segments and the maximum opening point (Figure 13). e maximum opening (M) is calculated from the dimensions of the frame (x and y), to ensure that the arcs will not intersect with each other despite being applied into diﬀerent frame sizes. e mathematical formula and its parameters are shown in Figure 14.

Driver = 0.01

Driver = 0.25

Driver = 0.5

Driver = 0.75

Driver = 1

Figure 13: Diﬀerent open degrees based on the Driver value x

y M

Figure 14: e formula calculating M value (maximum opening) based on grid dimensions Green BIM Integrated Design Process

As a result, the Driver, or open degree now has its value varied from 0 to 1 (0 - closed, 1 - opened), which can be easily used to control each panel’s opening after Dynamo radiation analysis. Additional reporting shared parameters are also assigned for future scheduling, for example, the panel’s dimensions, maximum opening and current opening degree. 3.3. Dynamo radiation analysis A conceptual mass is created based on the dimension of the Revit architectural project with rhomboid-based texture. is mass is then copied into a separated Revit conceptual mass le for Dynamo analysing. Individual side analysis For easier controlling, each side of the building is analysed individually before combination. Dynamo’s Honeybee plugin is used to analyse each panel’s radiation value, then these values will be exported into CSV les for later use. ere are seven steps involving in this analysing: 1. Importing all the adaptive components (curtain panels) into Dynamo 2. Getting location points, creating polygons and surfaces with centre points. 3. Importing the mass face, getting corresponding normal vectors of polygon centre points 4. Creating the analysis grid 5. Creating the sky matrix with WEA data (from EPW le of New York) and target HOY 6. Creating the Honeybee Surface including both the target panel surfaces and surrounding building masses. Ÿ 7. Preparing the Annual Radiation Recipe and run Radiance Analysis. Ÿ 8. Get cumulative values and write to CSV le. Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

e analysing values can be graphical display by colours on Dynamo (Figure 15). By taking the surrounding buildings in account, the oﬃce tower is not separated from its site in radiation analysis. After completing al four sides, four CSV les are now ready for the next step.

Figure 15: e Dynamo function generating Radiance Analysis on the building’s North elevation Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 16: Preview of the four CSV les, each le is an elevation of the building. Combination of four sides and assigning the result to Revit e four CSV les are imported to Dynamo, and then combined into a single data corresponding to the arrangement of panels. e whole list is then re-mapped into new values, which range from 0.99 to 0.01. is new dataset is assigned to change panels’ Driver value. is means the smaller radiation value, the more open the panel will be.

Figure 17: e Dynamo function combines four sides of the building, re-maps values and assign them into panels’ Driver parameter.

Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 18: e nal conceptual mass e conceptual mass is then copied in to the Revit architectural project for data analysing.

Figure 19: e nal Revit architectural project 3.4. Evaluating and analysing the result Diﬀerent value analysing is processed by both Revit Reports / Schedules and Insight – An EnergyPlus plugin for Revit, namely: Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Insight analysing: Ÿ Lighting Analysis Ÿ Heat and Cooling Load calculation (in BTU/h) Ÿ Building Energy Cost Revit reports and schedules analysing: Ÿ Heat and Cooling Load calculation (in W and L) Ÿ Shading panels schedule Both platform requires a 3D Energy Model, with clear de nition of Mode (using both conceptual mass and building). erefore, spaces and zones need to be created inside the office space. In addition, the shading panels also need to have appropriate materials (PTFE and steel) and properties. 3.4.1. Insight Lighting Analysis is analysis is corresponding with the LEED v4 EQc7 opt 2 certi cate system. A clear difference can be seen in Figure 19. While the initial proposal (without shading device) has almost full sun light in the office area, in the nal design, the light is spectacularly in controlled.

Figure 19: Side to side comparison of Insight light analysis, 6 are of the initial proposal (without shading components).

oor to 27

oor. e left oor plans

3.4.2. Insight Heating and Cooling Load calculation e result in Figure 20 clearly shows the decrease in Heat and Cooling Load after installing sun shading devices. Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 20: Comparison of heating and cooling load: Before installing shading components (left) and after (right) (BTU) 3.4.3. Insight Building Energy Cost While the nal design costs 27.2 USD/m²/year which is within the ASHRAE 90.1 standard, the initial proposal is 3 USD higher (30.2 USD/m²/year) and does not meet the standard. With the building area is almost 30,000 square metres, the diﬀerence in expenditure can make up to 90,000 USD per year.

Figure 21: Energy cost comparison: Before installing shading components (left) and after (right) (USD/m²/year) 3.4.4. Revit reports: Heating and Cooling Load calculation e Revit report requires space elements whose boundaries are exterior walls, thus to take the shading façade in account, the space between two layers of the double-skin is also added into calculation. erefore, the nal design has higher values in total area and volume, yet it still shows eﬀectiveness in much lower heat and cooling load values. Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Figure 22: Comparison of heating and cooling load in Revit report: Before installing shading components (left) and after (right) (W) 3.4.5. Revit schedules: Shading panels î &#x201C;is schedule is made from shared report parameters of shading panels, which can be used for manufacturing. Its elds include panelsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; dimension (x, y, z), maximum and current opening length, and a calculated opening percentage.

Figure 23: Shading panels analysis Green BIM Integrated Design Process

4. REFLECTION AND FUTURE DEVELOPMENT roughout the study, a green BIM design process is tested, showing BIM’s applicability in different aspects of architectural design: (1) combination of parametric design in BIM environment; (2) support of simulation and analysis of various sustainable elements by EnergyPlus plugin; and (3) the integration of green building assessment with BIM. ese applications have proved that BIM can be effectively used in sustainable design. In fact, using BIM platforms to facilitate green built environment has received growing attention in both academic and practice industry (Lu, 2017). Because sustainability is a concept that involves in the whole building life-cycle, future studies of green BIM need to sough its applicability in different phase of the design-build process. In fact, it was discovered that while BIM is mainly perceived as a vital tool for the design stage of green buildings, its potential value for the construction, facility and operation management phases has been increasingly recognized (Wu, 2017). However, since this study only considered the façade design, which is at the nal stage of the whole design process, its BIM application is still limited in analysis and management. To successfully applying BIM in real-life practice, every stalk-holder need to have computational knowledge and good communication through BIM software, which requires investment in time and expenditure. erefore, despite its great potentials in sustainability, BIM application rate is still limited in big companies and large projects (Azhar, 2015). Another limitation of BIM is mostly in its lack of versatility. BIM data is difficult to be directly used in a speci c sustainability analysis, but requires many modi cations, for example, the re-generating of spaces and zones. is is one of the factors that weakens the design bene ts (Sanguinetti, 2012).

Figure 24: e nal design elevations comparison In recent decades, BIM has become increasingly important in the Architecture – Engineering Construction industry. With its ability to eﬀectively evaluate and analysis the building sustainable elements during the design process as feedback, BIM-based integrated design approach can reduce the signi cant costs and time required for geometry modelling (Sanguinetti, 2012). However, to successfully applying BIM in the sustainable design process, there are still several technological and managerial challenges ahead (Azhar, 2015).

Green BIM Integrated Design Process

REFERENCES Ahn, K. U., Kim, Y. J., Park, C. S., Kim, I. & Lee, K. (2014). BIM Interface for Full vs. SemiAutomated Building Energy Simulation. Energy and Buildings, 68(PART B), 671–678. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2013.08.063 Aksamija, A. (2016). Design Methods for Sustainable, High-Performance Building Facades. Advances in Building Energy Research, 10(2), 240–262. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17512549.2015.1083885 Azhar, S., Carlton, W., Olsen, D., Ahmad, I. (2011). Building information modeling for sustainable design and LEED® rating analysis, Autom. Constr. 20 (2), 217–224. Azhar, S., Khalfan, M. & Maqsood, T. (2015). Building Information Modelling (BIM): Now and beyond. Construction Economics and Building, 12(4), 15–28. Retrieved from http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/AJCEB/article/view/3032 Bynum, P., Issa, R, Olbina, S. (2012). Building information modeling in support of sustainable design and construction, J. Constr. Eng. Manag. 139 (1), 24–34. Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Tookey, J., Ghaffarianhoseini, A., Naismith, N., Azhar, S., E mova, O. & Raahemifar, K. (2017). Building Information Modelling (BIM) Uptake: Clear Bene ts, Understanding Its Implementation, Risks and Challenges. Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, 75(November 2016), 1046–1053. Hubers, J. C. C. (2012). Collaborative Design of Parametric Sustainable Architecture. Journal of Civil Engineering and Architecture, 6(7), 812–821. Retrieved from https://www.engineeringvillage.com/share/document.url?mid=cpx_6e3d60132ca77003bM138a2 061377553&database=cpx Jun, H., Kim, I., Lee, Y. & Kim, M. (2015). A Study on the Bim Application of Green Building Certi cation System. Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 14(1), 9–16. Retrieved from http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-84921306384&partnerID=tZOtx3y1 Lu, Y., Wu, Z., Chang, R. & Li, Y. (2017). Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Green Buildings: A Critical Review and Future Directions. Automation in Construction, 83(February), 134–148. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2017.08.024 Lu, W., Fung., A., Peng., Y., Liang., C., Rowlinson., S. (2014). Cost-bene t analysis of Building Information Modeming implementation in building projects through demysti cation of time-effort distribution curves. Build Environ 82:3, 17–27 Sanguinetti, P., Abdelmohsen, S., Lee, J., Lee, J., Sheward, H. & Eastman, C. (2012). General System Architecture for BIM: An Integrated Approach for Design and Analysis. Advanced Engineering Informatics, 26(2), 317–333. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.aei.2011.12.001 Wang, J., Li, J. & Chen, X. (2010). Parametric Design Based on Building Information Modeling for Sustainable Buildings. International Conference on Challenges in Environmental Science and Computer Engineering, CESCE 2010, 2, 236–239. Wong, J.K.W., Zhou, J. (2015). Enhancing environmental sustainability over building life cycles through green BIM: a review, Autom. Constr. 57, 156–165. Wu, W. & Issa, R. R. A. (2015). BIM Execution Planning in Green Building Projects: LEED as a Use Case. Journal of Management in Engineering, 31(1), A4014007. Retrieved from http://ascelibrary.org/doi/10.1061/%28ASCE%29ME.1943-5479.0000314 Green BIM Integrated Design Process

APPENDIX: DIGITISED BUILDING INFORMATION DATABASE Below is the database used in the nal design analysis and evaluation Shading panel Honeybee radiation analysis output (CVS les)

Insight lighting analysis oor schedule (Integrated in the Revit architecture project)

Heating and cooling load calculation(Integrated in the Revit architecture project)

Green BIM Integrated Design Process

Heating and cooling load calculation(Insight cloud calculation)

Shading panel schedule (Integrated in the Revit architecture project)

Green BIM Integrated Design Process