Author(s)

GIANLUCA GENOVA

Abstract

As design projects become more and more sophisticated, it becomes increasingly significant for the designers to consider environmental aspects when selecting building materials. A promising solution to tackle this challenge is an integration of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) data into Building Information Modelling (BIM) platforms. The implementation can support the spreading of sustainability assessment to make informed choices of construction materials during the building design phase. This paper shows how a real-time environmental assessment method can be implemented to all design phases by integrating a BIM-based approach with known LCA methodologies. Mainly two environmental assessment methods are investigated and compared. The first method is called the static approach, where the LCA is done with known methods at the end of each milestone of the project. A second method is a dynamic approach where the environmental assessment is done continuously during the planning process. Several possible LCA workflows in a BIM environment with the help of the Revit as a BIM author tool and Dynamo as an integrated parametric solution are shown. The idea is to link building objects and their material specifications with national LCA databases to be able to calculate the embodied energy directly from the building information model. Taking all the data from the information model and LCA databases reduces the effort of the repetitive data input into LCA tools. The streamlined LCA methodology allows building professionals to use LCA efficiently in their daily work. Finally, this work suggests a workflow of integrating LCA with BIM for the decision-making process during the design phase to boost sustainable development in the construction industry.

Keywords

BIM-LCA integration, dynamic LCA, parametric LCA, data integration, LCA tool