Indoor Thermal Comfort Improvement through the Integrated BIM-Parametric Workflow-Based Sustainable Renovation of an Exemplary Apartment in Seoul, Korea

Fabrizio M Amoruso,Udo Dietrich,Thorsten Schuetze

doi:10.3390/su11143950

Fabrizio M Amoruso, Udo Dietrich + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su11143950

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Abstract

Apartment buildings are the most common housing typology in South Korea. The mass construction of apartment neighborhoods during a period of rapid economic growth (1970–1997) involved the minimization of material use and quality, as well as industrialized construction processes. Accordingly, apartment buildings require essential renovation after only 20 years of operation. This study focuses on the improvement of thermal comfort for the renovation of an exemplary apartment building based on an integrated Building Information Modeling (BIM) and parametric software framework. The existing apartment was reconstructed with BIM software, and the virtual model was utilized for a parametric building energy simulation to calculate the thermal comfort condition of occupants during the entire year. The thermal comfort analysis results defined the criteria for the development of an enhanced building envelope system characterized by modular panels. The parametric energy simulation was executed for the renovated apartment condition with the enhanced envelope system, and the thermal comfort improvements were quantified by comparing the results for the apartment condition before and after renovation. This study aims to provide the tools and criteria for the comfort analysis of apartment occupants, as well as propose sustainable solutions for the improvement of thermal comfort in aged buildings with similar conditions, internal distribution, and construction components.

Highlights

The construction of apartment neighborhoods on a massive scale in South Korea began with the start of the “Han River miracle” (1968–1997) [1], the rapid economic growth initiated after the Korean War that elevated the country from a condition of poverty and external economic support to industrialization and a service-based economy [2]
This study focuses on the improvement of thermal comfort for the renovation of an exemplary apartment building based on an integrated Building Information Modeling (BIM) and parametric software framework
The research presented provides an iterative and modular BIM-parametric integrated framework for aged building renovation that addresses the quantification of indoor comfort improvements

Summary

Introduction

The construction of apartment neighborhoods on a massive scale in South Korea began with the start of the “Han River miracle” (1968–1997) [1], the rapid economic growth initiated after the Korean War that elevated the country from a condition of poverty and external economic support to industrialization and a service-based economy [2]. During the period of rapid economic growth, a multitude of national policies were developed to address the shortage of housing for the population displaced after the end of the Korean War [3]. Public reforms aimed at solving the housing shortage would in parallel aim to support the private construction business to foster economic growth, with the increasing liberalization of the real estate market [4]. The common apartment layout, originally developed at Sthusetaeinnadbiloitfy t2h0e191, 9116,0xsF, OisRbPaEsEeRdRoEnVItEhWe traditional Korean house, the Hanok [7], with multiple apar2tmofen30t units stacked on top of one another for more than 15 floors using reinforced concrete construction [8]

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