Design of Energy-Efficient Buildings Using a System Dynamics BIM Model

The methodologies and technologies adopted for buildings design should consider various design aspects to produce an energy-efficient building. In order to assess the performance of buildings, the pattern of occupancy and users’ behaviour should be considered as key variables alongside the design criteria. For such assessment, several qualitative and quantitative measures related to energy consumption must be considered, which highlights the need to conceptualise this complexity from a system perspective. This research aims to develop a Building Information Modelling (BIM)-based System Dynamics (SD) model for energy-efficient building design. The integration of BIM with SD to design energy-efficient buildings reflects the complexity of building design when considering various energy related measures with the design codes alongside economic, social, and expected occupant behaviour. The paper will first review the use of SD and BIM in building design. The paper will also discuss the impact of design options, maintenance, and occupant behaviour on achieving an energy-efficient building. The paper will then introduce the architecture of an integrated SD-BIM model as an effective design tool to facilitate optimum analyses for building design using the design criteria and occupancy status. This will mainly link the behaviour of both qualitative and quantitative characteristics with the target levels of performance. The integrated model for energy-efficient buildings will utilise the features of BIM models with various building design programmes and employ the type of data and conditions which cannot be currently embedded in BIM models by utilising the SD features.