Using BIM to Facilitate Generative Target Value Design for Energy Efficient Buildings

Buildings are one of the major energy consumers and the biggest producers of greenhouse gases, accounting for close to half of all energy emissions in construction industry. Construction stakeholders have been increasingly focusing on the broad idea of sustainable building design and construction technologies. The goal of sustainable design extends beyond project design development to take into account its significance at an early stage, before any detailed design, or even before a decision is taken to move forward with development. Although Building Information Modeling (BIM) and energy simulations have been integrated into early design processes, the integration method has not yet been further explored to enable multi-criteria design analysis (e.g., energy and solar performance) by varying design options to a defined energy target. This study proposes a BIM-based Target Value Design method to inform optimal energy-efficient building designs. The proposed methodology is primarily used for preliminary sustainability analysis such as solar and energy analysis. Campus building A is used as a case study to demonstrate the potential of the method and results showed a potential of 1,240 kBTU/sf/year reduction in annual energy consumption compared to the traditional sustainable design approach. The suggested new design workflows will substantially facilitate early design decisions of project clients, architects, civil engineers, and urban planners.