BIM: Defining opportunities for environmentally sensitive design

Building Information Modelling (BIM) is a database-driven modelling application in which building data is linked to elements of a 3D model, thus allowing the subsequent evaluation of the entire model by using integrated or external analysis software. This position paper discusses how BIM can accommodate environmentally responsible planning. In the first part, different passive and active methods of green design are connected to different design phases, actors, building elements, and analysis tools. It illustrates that particular green strategies are effective more at the beginning of the design process (e.g. daylighting), while others refer to construction (e.g. use of regional materials), or to the later occupation of the building (e.g. CO ₂ monitoring). Since BIM allows the subsequent integration of such strategies in a 3D model during the entire design, construction, and operation process, it can become a suitable tool for environmentally sensitive design. In the second part, these method-timeframe relations will be correlated to a leading green rating standard, the U.S. Green Building Rating System LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), illustrating how BIM can act as a tool to plan, assess and organize green strategies and certification within the building design processes.