Integrating building information modeling and green building certification: The BIM - LEED application model development

Building information modeling (BIM) and green building are currently two major trends in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry. This research recognizes the market demand for better solutions to achieve green building certification such as LEED in the United States. It proposes a new strategy based on the integration of BIM and green building rating systems.;The research firstly conducted a feasibility survey to investigate two fundamental questions in the BIM and LEED integration: 1) what LEED certification requires; and 2) what functionality BIM possess to assist compliance with such requirements. Based on the match-up of LEED certification requirements with the functionality inventory of popular BIM software solutions, a framework was then established to prepare the theoretical foundation for pragmatic solutions to support this integration. The BIM--LEED application model was created to handle practical problems at the credit level that might occur in actual LEED projects. It consisted of two modules: "Design Assistance" and "Certification Management". The "Design Assistance" module took advantage of the Autodesk Revit API to provide the designers with off-the-shelf LEED knowledge built into the BIM software to ensure the design was LEED-oriented. The "Certification Management" module was a web application built upon the Apache/MySQL/PHP platform that focused on managing project information, LEED documentation and submittals for the certification purpose. Finally, the LEED Materials and Resources use case was created to preliminarily validate the application model by simulating the LEED project delivery process.;Overall, this research proposed and demonstrated that the BIM-LEED integration was feasible with considerable constraints. The integration should accommodate the needs of different team members with specialized assistance at different stage of the project delivery process. New functionalities of BIM software solutions and better support for information exchange at the database level would facilitate more rigorous implementation of BIM in green building certification.