BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design Book, François Lévy Architect, Architecture Article, Building
BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design Book
Building Information Modeling Publication by François Lévy
5 Aug 2011
BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design
François Lévy
ISBN: 978-0-470-59089-8
Hardcover, 312 pages
Available on Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/7aqz35j
BIM Book
This work is a leading guide to architectural design within a building information modeling (BIM) workflow, giving the practitioner a clear procedure when designing climate-load dominated buildings. The book incorporates new information related to BIM, integrated practice, and sustainable design, as well information on how designers can incorporate the latest technological tools.
Each chapter addresses specific topics, such as natural ventilation for cooling, passive solar heating, rainwater harvesting and building hydrology, optimizing material use and reducing construction waste, and collaborating with consultants or other building professionals such as engineers and energy modelers.
Rapid developments in building design and analysis software, coupled with advances in desktop and laptop computational power, have led to the emergence of new digital models for the design and documentation of buildings: virtual buildings or building information models. Today, BIM-authoring software applications combine three- or four-dimensional models with imbedded intelligent building objects related in a contextual database. As a result of BIM’s data-rich 3D modeling, various design disciplines can extract and manipulate relevant tabular or graphical building views: reports and drawings.
BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design:
Cover design by David Riedy. Image by François Lévy. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons
Such a BIM approach is commonly attributed to improved construction documentation and management. BIM is less commonly thought of as a design environment, yet the ability to rapidly derive alternate, information-rich views of building models is key to making quantitatively informed design decisions for high performance buildings.
Moreover, BIM is also often seen as relevant to the design of large buildings. But internal loads typically determine the energy expenditures of large projects. Small projects, on the other hand, are envelope or skin-load dominated. That is, climate and how we design for it has a much larger impact on a small building’s energy consumption than it does for large buildings. Good quantitative data is essential for architects to make more intelligent choices about how they design all projects—especially small ones.
BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design discusses and offers insights into the applicability of BIM to the beginning phases of design, as well as its suitability as an environment for designing sustainable, skin-load dominated buildings. This represents an inversion of the habitual view of BIM as a tool for large projects late in the design process (construction documents).
The discussion and practical examples given provide a new theoretical and visionary framework for sustainably oriented small- and medium-sized design practices. As a technological environment with inherent social ramifications, BIM has an impact on sustainable designers, and integrating BIM in practice is a green building challenge. The book includes 11 case studies of sustainability-oriented projects and 260 illustrations.
Biographical Sketch
Architect François Lévy holds a BA in classics and philosophy from St John’s College in Santa Fe, and two Masters degrees from The University of Texas at Austin, one in Architecture and the other in Engineering. His work—whether in architecture, teaching or research—investigates the intersection of design, technology, and sustainability.
His architectural projects have attracted regional and national press, including features on HGTV and in magazines such as Dwell, This Old House and Natural Home. He has taught digital design, 3D modeling, and environmental controls courses at UT Austin (in both the Architecture and Engineering Schools), UT San Antonio, and St. Edward’s University.
Mr. Lévy has been practicing architecture since 1993, and established his own firm in 1997. He has presented and lectured widely on CAD and BIM. His current areas of research interest are sustainable architecture, BIM, cooling through passive ventilation, and space architecture, on which he has presented at international aerospace conferences. Mr. Lévy is also a member of the Space Architecture Technical Committee of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
François Lévy is a registered architect and former university lecturer in Austin, Texas, USA. His forthcoming book, BIM in Small-Scale Sustainable Design, draws upon his advanced degrees in architecture and architectural engineering.
François Lévy
picture from architect
François Lévy is a registered architect and sometime university lecturer in Austin, Texas, USA. His forthcoming book on BIM for skin-load dominated sustainable design draws upon his advanced degrees in architecture and architectural engineering.
Articles by François Lévy for e-architect:
Architectural Legibility and Didacticism – 2 Aug 2011
The Necessity of Beauty – 26 Apr 2011
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
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Sustainable Building Design : article by Trevor Tucker. 18 Aug 2009
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Planetization Architecture : article by Mphethi Morojele – 17 Aug 2010
Sustainable Buildings – Building Issues : article by Adrian Welch
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