Building Design Phase Research Articles

Taxonomy supporting design strategies for reuse of building parts in timber-based construction

PurposeThe reuse of timber building parts, when designing new buildings, has become a topic of increasing discussion as a proposed circular solution in support of sustainable development goals. Designers face the difficulty of identifying and applying different design strategies for reuse due to multiple definitions, which are used interchangeably. The purpose of this study is to propose a taxonomy to define the relationships between various concepts and practices that comprise the relevant strategies for reuse, notably design for disassembly (DfD) and design for adaptability (DfA).Design/methodology/approachLiterature reviews were conducted based on research publications over the previous 12 years and located through the Web of Science and Scopus.FindingsA taxonomy for the design process grounded on two strategies for reuse is presented: DfD and DfA. Based on previous work, the taxonomy aims to build a vocabulary of definitions in DfD and DfA to support other researchers and practitioners working in the field.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited to the design phase of timber-based buildings. It does not take into account the other phases of the construction process, neither other kind of construction methods.Practical implicationsThe application of the taxonomy can facilitate communication between different actors and provide a way for building product manufacturers to demonstrate their reuse credentials, enabling them to produce and promote compliant products and thereby support design for reuse strategies.Social implicationsThis paper could contribute to a closer collaboration of all stakeholders involved in the building process since the very early phases of the conceptual design.Originality/valueThis paper contributes a comprehensive taxonomy to support the deployment of circular reuse strategies and assist designers and other stakeholders from the earliest of phases in the building’s life cycle. The proposed definition framework provided by the taxonomy resolves the longstanding lack of a supporting vocabulary for reuse and can be used as a reference for researchers and practitioners working with the DfD and DfA.

Energy Consumption Analysis Using Weighted Energy Index and Energy Modeling for a Hotel Building

Energy consumption is an essential and vital issue for commercial hotel buildings. Regulations and codes are commonly used to regulate the energy usage of the building. However, the energy index used to evaluate energy performance does not include the usage of hotel buildings for different service purposes. This study utilizes a comprehensive approach involving data collection, field measurement, regression analysis, and building energy modeling to investigate the energy performance in hotel buildings. The study finds that ambient temperature and occupancy rate are key factors in energy consumption, resulting in a weighted energy index for public areas and guest rooms with an R-square of 0.8314 and 0.9184, respectively. The measurement data are also used to perform the energy modeling, and the data are validated. Studies on different regions, occupancy, orientation, window-to-wall ratios, and U-values are evaluated and simulated to determine the energy consumption, which might be useful for the hotel building design phase. In addition, it also evaluates the energy-saving potential, including chilled and condenser water temperature, COP, and indoor temperature settings. The study finds that implementing various studies could result in significant energy consumption and savings, with higher chilled water and lower condenser water temperature having a particularly prominent impact. The study concludes that energy modeling approaches can be useful tools for identifying and implementing energy-saving strategies.

Based on ANN and many-objective optimization to improve the performance and economy of village houses in Chinese cold regions

The number of studies considering building performance optimization (BPO) in the building design phase is steadily growing, but many of the existing studies do not consider the applicability of many-objective optimization algorithms when increasing the objective dimensions. This article first compares the NSGA-II, IDBEA, MSOPS-II, and NSGA-III algorithms. Then, the algorithm most suitable for many-objective optimization is combined with Artificial natural network(ANN) and TOPSIS-AHP to complete the optimization of four dimensions of building energy consumption (EC), useful daylight illuminance (UDI), comfort time ratio (CTR) and energy-saving envelope cost (ESEC) for village houses in cold regions of China. The results show that the NSGA-III algorithm performs well in terms of convergence speed, convergence, diversity, and uniformity when solving many-objective problems compared to the other three algorithms. Finally, four optimization strategies were selected using the TOPSIS-AHP method.

Investigating DesignBuilder Simulation Software's Validation in Term of Heat Gain through Field Measured Data of Adjacent Rooms of Courtyard House

New designing techniques have been used recently in design phases of buildings to adapt human thermal comfort. Due to wide range of energy consumption within a building, it is impossible to make a proper decision about the impact of different energy efficiency strategies without simulation tools. Architects need to understand the accuracy and precision of simulation software to use them as valuable tools to predict energy consumption. This research aims to investigate the validity of DesignBuilder simulation software by using the actual traditional house in terms of heat gain. In this study, the comparative method was used to determine the differences in heat gain in a traditional courtyard house in Kerman that was simulated using DesignBuilder software and measured experimentally. This study also reveals that the difference between simulation results and empirical measurement is not more than 10%. It can be concluded that DesignBuilder has enough validity to calculate the amount of heat gain in the rooms adjacent to courtyards.

MAINTENANCE METHODOLOGY IN THE FACILITY MANAGEMENT SYSTEM AS A BASIS FOR BIM TECHNOLOGY

Currently, we need to ensure sustainability in the construction industry. The main tool that could ensure this is BIM Technology. It is this technology that can be a decisive basis for planning the maintenance of building structures because its content includes complex parameters of building structures. In practice, planned maintenance of buildings is carried out based on tracked data of facility managers. Streamlining their work by using spatial and topological relationships and by identifying the problem of building maintenance is offered by BIM technology. Using the proposed methodology, selected life cycle costs can be determined in a simple and fast way, i.e., also future maintenance costs, already during the building design phase. The goal of the paper is to propose a methodology that can become an effective tool in deciding on the material solution of building structures.

Reflections on the Evidentiary Basis of Indoor Air Quality Standards

Buildings are expected to provide healthy and comfortable indoor environmental conditions for their users. Such conditions have diverse dimensions, including thermal, visual, air quality, auditory, and olfactory aspects. Indoor environmental quality standards, guidelines, and codes typically inform professionals in the building design and operation phase in view of procedural, contractual, and legal boundary conditions. Given this critical role of standards, it seems significant to examine the applicability and scientific validity on a regular basis. In this context, the present paper focuses on the standard-based definition of indoor air quality (IAQ) indicators and their respective values. Hence, the main aim of this effort is to study several common national and international IAQ standards in view of the scope to which they include direct or indirect evidence for the validity and applicability of their mandates and requirements. To this end, selected IAQ standards were assessed via a structured schema that includes not only basic information, quality indicators, and suggested and recommended value ranges, but also any reference to scientific studies. The findings of this effort identify certain issues with the transparency of the chain of evidence from the results of technical literature and standard-based IAQ recommendations. Moreover, recommendations are made for the development of future transparent and evidence-based IAQ standards and guidelines.

Quantification of Construction Waste in Early Design Stages Using Bim-Based Tool

Construction and demolition waste represents a growing environmental, social, and economic problem, and has become a priority for European and worldwide policies. The early quantification of construction waste is essential for the minimisation of its production and the improvement of waste management. This requires the development of design-based tools that enable a better understanding of the expected waste produced during the construction phase. Building Information Modelling (BIM) methodologies have gained recognition in the Architecture, Engineering, Construction, and Operations (AECO) sector, largely due to their capacity for data simulation, storage, and management during the building design phase. This study presents a software application, called WE-BIM Add-in, to quantify construction waste (CW) while designing the BIM model in Revit. A validated CW quantification model which enables waste types and quantities per building element to be predicted in detail according to the European List of Waste (LoW) is integrated into the Revit workflow. Design alternatives could be effortlessly simulated in real time to assist practitioners in decision-making during the early design stages. Two alternative structural systems of a Spanish residential building were compared: a reinforced concrete structure, Option 1 (O1), and a steel structure, Option 2 (O2). The results were obtained automatically: O2, in addition to reducing 56% of O1′s waste, would have increased the waste recycling rate by 49%; and displayed in Revit, thereby remaining consistent with those of other studies that compare prefabricated systems with in situ systems. This work provides a basis for future research into the automated estimation of construction waste in BIM which could become a useful tool in waste-prevention policies.

Human-in-the-loop methods for occupant-centric building design and operation

A comfortable indoor environment should be one of the main services buildings provide. However, technical building systems are typically designed and operated according to fixed set-point temperatures determined by the ‘one-size-fits-all’ principle assuming universal thermal comfort requirements, which has been questioned in the last fifty years. Designing and implementing comfortable set-point modulations that consider occupant feedback would be beneficial in terms of increasing comfort, potentially reduce energy consumption and significantly support the clean energy transition. An exploratory study aimed at predicting the thermal preferences of human subjects exposed to a dynamic thermal environment is presented. Using data acquired from a laboratory experiment where subjects were exposed to precisely controlled thermal ramps in an ‘office-like’ climatic chamber, cluster-specific and population-averaged methods are designed to handle the group-level residual during the prediction of the thermal preference votes. The results show that both approaches are valid strategies for modelling thermal preference votes and are effective in supporting a concrete occupant-centric building design and the building’s operation. Furthermore, the population-averaged approach is suitable for the occupant-centric building design phase, where the target is an ‘average’ occupant. The cluster-specific method is best suited to meet the needs of a specific occupant and is suitable for implementation in the operational phase of the building.

Statistical Analysis of the Variability of Energy Efficiency Indicators for a Multi-Family Residential Building

During the building design phase, a lot of attention is paid to the thermal properties of the external envelopes. New regulations are introduced to improve energy efficiency of a building and impose a reduction of the overall heat transfer coefficient; meanwhile, this efficiency is more influenced by the efficiency of the heating system and the type of fuels used. This article presents a complex analysis including the impact of: heat transfer coefficient of the envelope, efficiency of building service systems, the type of energy source, and the fuel. The analysis was based on the results of simulation tests obtained for an exemplary multi-family residential building located in Poland that is not equipped with a cooling system. The conducted calculations gave quantitative evaluation of the influence of particular parameters on building energy performance and showed that the decrease of heat transfer coefficient of building boundaries, in accordance to the Polish regulation for 2017 and 2021, gave only 11% of reduction on usable energy demand index. On the other hand, it was found that modification of the heating system and heat source can significantly influence the values of the final and primary energy consumption at the level of 70%. The application of heat pumps has a greater influence on the final and primary energy consumption for heating indices than other parameters, such as the building’s envelopes.

Variant-scenario approach to the substantiation of instruments for Technosphere Safety of the advanced development territory

One of the directions of Technosphere Safety is to find ways of rational management of energy resources during the operational stage of the project. The studies of domestic and foreign sources show that the achievements in the field of resource conversation are the priorities of state and business under modern economic conditions. A special attention should be given to energy saving technologies that allow to solve a wide range of issues concerning the Russian economy and related to poor energy efficiency of many businesses. In the article content of the terms «energy efficiency» and «energy saving» is analyzed; the energy component of the modern economy is evaluated; the key issues of Technosphere Safety on the level of development of modern building technologies are identified; the importance of the transition to energy-efficient technologies in the building design phase in accordance with the principles of the international standard ISO 26000 «Guidance on social responsibility» by the development of project documentation of the investment project that is positioned on the status of public importance for the priority development areas; the variants of the energy efficiency activities are presented.

Take the Right Seat: The Influence of Occupancy Schemes on Performance Indicators of Lighting in Open Plan Offices

Work processes and sociological structures can differ significantly between organizations. These organizational aspects determine user behavior, which in turn exerts considerable influence on the key performance indicators of artificial lighting systems. Accordingly, the use of generalized assumptions about user behavior in the building design phase can lead to large discrepancies between design and operation. In the following work, the possible influences of different occupancy schemes, an essential aspect of user behavior and shaped by the organization, on energy demand and workplace-related daylight dose are evaluated. For this purpose, calculations are made based on real measurement data of an open-plan office with zoned lighting. Multi-level calculation models are used to determine improved user distributions in the room to ensure optimization according to the desired target criteria. The results show that occupancy schemes have a significant impact on energy demand, contributing significantly to overall building performance, but only slightly to workplace-related light exposure rates in terms of total daily light dose. A correlated influence on the target criteria could not be demonstrated, but given the minor influence on daily light dose, the optimization of planning and operation can be focused on energy efficiency.

Green glass space based design for the driven of sustainable cities: A case study

• Green glass space was proposed driven by energy efficiency and thermal comfort. • Seasonal operation characteristics and design parameters of GGS were explored. • GGS can decrease heating energy consumption by about 50% compared with N-GGS. • ADPI is above 85% and PD is below 1% at various heights and angles of GGS. • The optimal design parameters of GGS are at a height of 0.9 h and an angle of 90°. Demand for thermal comfort is high in regions characterized by hot summers and cold winters. Active solutions commonly used to improve comfort level in buildings may increase energy consumption, which hinders the sustainable development of cities. It is of great significance to balance the comfort and energy during the building design phase. Passive solutions present the potential in energy saving, such as glass curtain wall. However, it is difficult to ensure thermal stability in building because of the unsteady heat exchange through glass curtain wall, further affecting the balance. In this work, transitional space consisting of glass façade, i.e., green glass space (GGS), between indoor and outdoor environments is proposed to achieve a favorable balance. The impacts of design parameters (i.e., height and angle of green glass space) are investigated on both thermal comfort and energy efficiency, which are carried out in a case study. Numerical simulation is validated by experimental data. Air distribution performance index (ADPI) and percentage of dissatisfied (PD) are used as indicators to evaluate thermal comfort. Energy saving coefficient is put forward as an index for energy efficiency of green glass space. Results showed that (1) green glass space can decrease heating energy consumption by approximately 50% compared with non-green glass spaces, (2) air distribution performance index is above 85% and percentage of dissatisfied is below 1% at various heights and angles, and (3) optimal design parameters of green glass space are achieved at a height of 0.9 H (H is the building height) and an angle of 90° This study can provide an important reference of design strategy for the sustainable development of green building and cities.

Waste Management in a Sustainable Circular Economy as a Part of Design of Construction

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industries are the producers of the most significant waste stream in the European Union. Known EU initiatives propose to deal with the issue of construction and demolition waste (CDW) according to the principles of a circular economy: the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, and recycle). CDW is generated during the whole life cycle of construction. The lack of information about the quantity of CDW during the design phase of building needed for sustainable design of construction was identified as a research gap. The aim of our research is to quantify construction and demolition waste during the construction design phase in a circular economy. The proposed method is based on the generation rate calculation method. This paper describes the proposed methodology for quantifying selected types of construction waste: excavated soil, concrete, and masonry. This information is essential from the point of view of a sustainable circular economy. The main contributions of the paper were identified during the decision-making process of sustainable building design, during the audit of CDW management, and during building information modelling as a support tool for CDW management. As early as the construction design phase, there is the possibility of choosing technologies, construction processes, and materials that have a higher degree of circularity in the economy.

A hierarchical reference-based know-why model for design support of sustainable building envelopes

In current complex building designs, sustainability assessments are often performed after project completion, with limited impact on building performance which results in missed goals in terms of quality, cost, and time. We address this problem by proposing a hierarchical reference-based know-why model to answer the research question “what is a suitable decision support model to successfully integrate the sustainability requirements in the early design phase of buildings?”. The model presents a process that incorporates a life-cycle perspective and calculates design alternatives based on a defined reference and the DGNB building certification system. The results show that criteria synergies and trade-offs can be identified, leading to improved design by engineers and better building performance. Our findings pave the way for full integration of the model into building information modeling, combined with artificial intelligence. This can help manage the complexity of the sustainable design process on the path to carbon-neutral buildings.

Optimization and prediction in the early design stage of office buildings using genetic and XGBoost algorithms

Incorporating intelligent optimization algorithms in the early stages of office building design facilitates a better response to the local climate. The indoor and outdoor thermal performances of office buildings, such as solar radiation, indoor lighting, and outdoor thermal comfort, must be jointly evaluated during the conceptual design phase. Based on the technical framework of “performance-based generative architectural design”, this study constructs a data-driven workflow for comprehensive performance assessment and rapid prediction of office buildings. The method was then applied to an office building in the hot summer and cold winter regions of China. Based on a total of 6000 data samples generated by the iterative process of genetic optimization, this study achieved a precision of 0.77, recall of 0.59, and F-1 score of 0.75 for categorical prediction by the XGBoost algorithm. The method facilitates the optimization potential of integrated solar and thermal performances in the early design phase of office buildings while significantly improving the efficiency of interaction and feedback between design decisions and their performance evaluation.

How to Assess Sustainable Planning Processes of Buildings? A Maturity Assessment Model Approach for Designers

Over the past decades, it has become apparent that increasing demands in the construction industry have repeatedly led to project delays and increased project costs in practice. These demands have increased as a result of international and national action plans that have been developed to achieve the climate target paths and, therefore, the necessary reduction of CO2 emissions in the construction industry. We address this problem by developing a sustainable construction maturity model (SCOMM) to answer the following research question: “What is a holistic quality assurance tool for the early design phase of buildings to monitor (sustainable) planning practices in order to achieve better certification results?”. The model includes a self-assessment procedure for the building design process, based on Software Process Improvement and Capability dEtermination (SPiCE) and the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) building certification system. The results show that systemic interactions between sustainability criteria can be identified in the early design phase, allowing the quality of planning practices to be evaluated and early project management to be implemented to achieve the best certification results. Our findings will enable clients and users of the construction industry to better manage the complexity of the sustainable design process and avoid undesirable developments in building projects.

Critical Factors in Process Quality of Engineering Construction Projects during Building Design Phase

Quality in construction is an important topic in the design phase due to the quick change in technological advancement. The current study focuses on the identification, measurement, and analysis of the critical elements which impact the process quality of building construction projects during the design stage in Pakistan. Elements were graded using the conservative Relative Importance Index (RII) and Grey Absolute Decision Analysis (GADA). The findings indicate that during the design phase, the critical element impacting process quality is the quality of codes and standards and was facilitated using a questionnaire survey. Similarly, the teamwork of parties in design firms and constructability analysis of the design are key factors during the design phase in Pakistan. Measures for the improvement of process quality in Pakistan were suggested. The building construction projects need to be modified to cover the important aspects of constructability analysis, continuous working on training programs, and many other related activities. These are performed through a proper commitment to continuous quality improvement in building construction projects. The results are important for improving process quality during the construction projects' design phase.

Model for the Sustainable Material Selection by Applying Integrated Dempster-Shafer Evidence Theory and Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) Method

The construction industry is a vital part of the modern economic system. Construction work often has significant negative impacts on the environment and sustainable economic development, such as degradation of the environment, depletion of resources, and waste generation. Therefore, environmental concerns must be taken into account when evaluating and making decisions in the construction industry. In this regard, sustainable construction is considered as the best way to avoid resource depletion and address environmental concerns. Selection of sustainable building materials is an important strategy in sustainable construction that plays an important role in the design and construction phase of buildings. The assessment of experts is one of the most important steps in the material selection process, and their subjective judgment can lead to unpredictable uncertainty. The existing methods cannot effectively demonstrate and address uncertainty. This paper proposes an integrated Dempster-Shafer (DS) theory of evidence and the ARAS method for selecting sustainable materials under uncertainty. The Dempster-Shafer Evidence Theory is a relatively new and appropriate tool for substantiating decisions when information is nonspecific, ambiguous, or conflicting. The Additive Ratio Assessment (ARAS) method has many advantages to deal with MCDM problems with non-commensurable and even conflicting criteria and to obtain the priority of alternatives based on the utility function. The proposed method converts experts’ opinions into the basic probability assignments for real alternatives, which are suitable for DS evidence theory. It uses the ARAS method to obtain final estimation results. Finally, a real case study identifying the priority of using five possible alternative building materials demonstrates the usefulness of the proposed approach in addressing the challenges of sustainable construction. Four main criteria including economic, social, environmental, and technical criteria and 25 sub-criteria were considered for the selection of sustainable materials. The specific case study using the proposed method reveals that the weight of economic, socio-cultural, environmental, and technical criteria are equal to 0.327, 0.209, 0.241, and 0.221, respectively. Based on these results, economic and environmental criteria are determined as the most important criteria. The results of applying the proposed method reveal that aluminum siding with a final score of 0.538, clay brick with a score of 0.494, and stone façade with a final score of 0.482 are determined as the best alternatives in terms of sustainability.

3D characterization of a Boston Ivy double-skin green building facade using a LiDAR system

On the way to more sustainable and resilient urban environments, the incorporation of urban green infrastructure (UGI) systems, such as green roofs and vertical greening systems, must be encouraged. Unfortunately, given their variable nature, these nature-based systems are difficult to geometrically characterize, and therefore there is a lack of 3D objects that adequately reflect their geometry and analytical properties to be used in design processes based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) technologies. This fact can be a disadvantage, during the building's design phase, of UGIs over traditional grey solutions. Areas of knowledge such as precision agriculture, have developed technologies and methodologies that characterize the geometry of vegetation using point cloud capture. The main aim of this research was to create the 3D characterization of an experimental double-skin green facade, using LiDAR technologies.From the results it could be confirmed that the methodology used was precise and robust, enabling the 3D reconstruction of the green facade's outer envelope. Detailed results were that foliage volume differences in height were linked to plant growth, whereas differences in the horizontal distribution of greenery were related to the influence of the local microclimate and specific plant diseases on the south orientation. From this research, along with complementary previous research, it could be concluded that, generally speaking, with vegetation volumes of 0.2 m3/m2, using Boston Ivy (Parthenocissus Tricuspidata) under Mediterranean climate, reductions in external building surface temperatures of around 13 °C can be obtained and used as analytic parameter in a future 3D-BIM-object.

Analytical model of semi-transparent photovoltaic double-skin façade system (STPV-DSF) for natural and forced ventilation modes

An analytical model has been developed for simulating the semi-transparent photovoltaic double-skin façade (STPV-DSF) system to assess its overall performance. The STPV-DSF integrated building can generate electricity, provide daylight illuminance in its indoor area and lowers the energy demand of a building. During the building design phase, complex simulations are required to estimate the overall performance of the STPV-DSF system. The present study's objective is to provide a reliable and straightforward calculation method for estimating the overall performance of the STPV-DSF system. This paper evaluates the overall performance of STPV-DSF system operating under natural ventilation and forced ventilation for summer and winter seasons of Indian’s composite climate. An experimental investigation has also been carried out on STPV-DSF system to validate the model. A good agreement was observed between measured and calculated temperatures of the STPV-DSF system and solar heat gain to indoor area. For given weather conditions, CO2 emissions and environmental cost (carbon price and emitted carbon quantity) have also been calculated for STPV-DSF systems by solving energy formulations. The results depicted that STPV-DSF system under forced ventilation exhibited 4.08%, 9.86% and 14.05% higher energy performance than natural ventilation in summer and winter with less CO2 emissions.