Sustainable Design & Building Information Modeling

Buildings are the largest single resource consumer in the world. The United States consumes 25% of the world's energy and the US building industry accounting for 40% of those resources. In order to solve the problem of global warming, we need to look at the AEC industry and move towards a truly sustainable building practice built on solutions which embrace conservation, efficiency, health, prosperity and elegance. Building Information Modeling (BIM) allows designers to change communication and workflow, making the practice of architecture more efficient and better equipped to address global climate change and resource issues. It allows the design team to create the building in a virtual environment and test a number of design variables with climatic givens to test and streamline building performance optimizing resource and material usage. This class will investigate the solutions currently available using BIM to provide more sustainable building solutions.----- We recommend having a computer that meets the specifications below. Also, knowledge of a BIM application is also not necessary but it is strongly recommended to gain the full benefit of the lessons in this class. If you do not own a BIM application, you can download a free copy of Revit using your student email address at http://students.autodesk.com with a license valid for one year.----- Minimum System Requirements----- " Windows® XP Home, Professional and TabletPC (SP1 or SP2), Windows XP Professional x64 Edition,Windows Vista® 32 bit (Business, Premium and Ultimate), Windows Vista 64 bit (Business, Premium and Ultimate) " Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 SP1 or later " Intel® Pentium® 4 1.4 GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor " 1 GB RAM " 1280 x 1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 24-bit color " 3 GB free disk space " MS-Mouse compliant " Download and Installation from DVD System Recommended: " Windows XP Professional SP2 or later, Windows XP Professional x64 Edition " Microsoft® Internet Explorer® 6.0 SP1 or later " Intel™ Core® 2 Duo 2.40GHz or equivalent AMD Athlon® processor " 4 GB RAM " 1280 x 1024 monitor and display adapter capable of 24-bit color. " Dedicated video card with hardware support for OpenGL spec 1.3 or later " 5 GB free disk space " MS-Mouse compliant