Building Information Modeling (BIM) for Sustainable Design

Mark Reed, Tsoi/Kobus & Associates
  
Used creatively, building information modeling (BIM) software can simplify sustainability decisions by revealing the impact of design variables in real time. This gives owners and design teams the opportunity to maximize sustainable benefits throughout the design, construction, and occupancy phases of a project. This session will demonstrate techniques for incorporating Labs21 criteria in the modeling of laboratory modules to maximize safety, energy conservation, daylighting, and general quality of life issues. With quantitative reports generated by the model parameters and by qualitative assessment of sophisticated visualizations, BIM can create an atmosphere in which good decisions are more likely and in which consensus can be achieved.

Using BIM to design smarter laboratories supports the approach of Labs21 by having an aim toward reducing the environmental impact of laboratories while enhancing user safety and welfare, and by providing a demonstrable and measurable tool for tracking performance from the design phase through ultimate occupancy, use, and management.

Set up properly, the BIM model allows us to:

• Assess the efficacy of air changes and ventilation
• Identify better equipment cooling strategies
• Simulate daylighting based upon fenestration design and solar orientation
• Identify material quantities and recycled content
• Rapidly assess the impact of options and variables

BIM is a unique and newly emerging tool for designing buildings. By applying the parametric intelligence of a BIM model to the sustainability challenges of laboratories, we hope to demonstrate an untapped potential for this method of design that more fully engages the owner in an awareness of the environmental impact of options presented for review and decision.

Biography:

Mark Reed is a principal at Tsoi/Kobus & Associates (TK&A), and brings 17 years of experience in project leadership and design. Mark specializes in highly complex and technically challenging engineering and physical science facilities including nanotechnology, optics, chemistry laboratories, and characterization facilities. Most recently, he led the functional design of the Laboratory for Integrated Science and Engineering (LISE) at Harvard University in collaboration with Rafael Moneo. Currently, Mark is Principal in Charge for the Northwest Laboratory Building Fit-Out and the LISE Building Fit-Out at Harvard University. Prior to joining TK&A, his laboratory experience included the University of Hartford Integrated Science, Engineering and Technology Complex; Vanderbilt University School of Engineering; Universtiy of Chicago Searle Chemistry Building Renovation; and Tulane University Environmental Sciences Building.

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