Sustainability, Modular Design, and BIM

Incorporating the most up-to-date thinking into an integrated design and construction process yields exciting projects

Peter J. Arsenault, FAIA, NCARB, LEED AP

It is an exciting time to be an architect: We are living and working in a time of a convergence of evolutionary activities that allow those of us engaged in designing, renovating, and operating buildings to push the traditional limits of the architectural profession. This activity is borne in part from the modernization of design and construction processes that help design professionals work more closely with construction teams. It is also being driven by green, sustainable design thinking, which has advanced to become part of the mainstream definition of good design and construction. At the same time, there is an ever-increasing interest in and use of modular, pre-fabricated construction to achieve better quality control in buildings. Tying all of these trends together, computer aided design (CAD) for buildings is giving way to object-oriented building information modeling (BIM) that can provide a common platform for everyone to engage in the design and construction process. This article not only examines the emergence of these architectural movements, but will also use examples of built projects to highlight how these individual trends come together to produce visionary designs. Architects who recognize these emerging movements and are able to incorporate them into their practice will find benefit to their projects, their clients, and their firms.

The Recent Evolution of Design and Construction

Sometimes change is quick and dramatic, and other times it is a slow process over years or decades. In the case of the way buildings are being designed and constructed, it is fair to say that both speeds are at work. For many currently practicing design professionals, their careers began based on very traditional design, drawing, and construction administration practices that were grounded in long-standing manual drafting and documentation procedures. Many have held on to those traditions and continue to practice in the manner that is familiar to them. Other design professionals began their careers with a full complement of computerized informational tools available that allowed them to pursue designs in a style characterized more by experimentation than by tradition. Hence, within a generation or two, the ways of thinking, the tools, and the processes related to design have changed significantly.

It is worth pointing out that traditional 20th-century practices were built on a separation of design from construction. This was formalized by separate contracts between the building owner and the architect and between the owner and the contractor. In this typical design-bid-construct process, everyone had a defined but separate role to play in the interest of producing the best outcome for the building owner. Unfortunately, that also meant that the architect and general contractor didn’t commonly meet or communicate until after bids were opened, and then often entered into a relationship that could as easily be adversarial as not. It also typically meant that the design team had little or no communication with subcontractors or suppliers other than preparing specifications for the applicable trades, reviewing their shop drawings and submittals, and occasional presence at job-site meetings.

In the interest of seeking to streamline the construction process, reduce potential delays, control costs better, and improve communications, some building owners have pushed for a more coordinated and integrated process for delivering projects. The American Institute of Architects (AIA) has responded to this need with a formal position on “project delivery,” which is fundamentally the process by which a project successfully moves through all aspects of design and construction. This statement reflects the need to cross over traditionally separate roles and responsibilities and focus on collaboration and sharing of information in the interest of better project outcomes. The statement goes on to say that “The AIA also believes that the architect is most qualified to lead the design of a project and can lead a project team throughout the project delivery process.”

Sustainability as Part of Mainstream Design

Within this context of increased collaboration, green and sustainable building design, construction, and operation has flourished. It wasn’t that long ago that sustainable building issues like energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and recycling were specialty concepts that were applicable to a select group of building projects. That has changed notably and has been cited extensively as an enduring change to the way buildings are looked at by virtually everyone, including owners, users, designers, contractors, suppliers, manufacturers, and regulators. The continued rise of building rating systems, such as the LEED program of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the Green Globes program of the Green Building Initiative, and the ENERGY STAR® program for buildings of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), have certainly contributed significantly to the thinking and perception of building performance. Also, increasingly stringent energy codes have been influenced by the recognition of the numerous negative impacts of buildings that do not use energy effectively. Hence we find ourselves today with a code-required minimum level of sustainable design needed for every project, and in many cases a higher level being sought or required by building owners and users. The media characterizes a notable shift like this as “going mainstream,” meaning that it is no longer a special or fringe group that is engaged, but the vast majority of the people.

Creating sustainable designs starts with a philosophy that the definition of a well-designed building automatically includes the attributes that make up sustainability. These include environmentally sensitive site design, water conservation, optimization of energy use, attention to life-cycle assessment of materials, and indoor environmental quality. It also means taking a personal stand that all design work undertaken will meet specific performance standards, particularly in regards to reducing the use of fossil fuels. The not-for-profit organization Architecture 2030 has issued the 2030 Challenge for all architects to work toward designing new and existing buildings with zero fossil fuel reliance by the year 2030. As a corollary to that, the AIA has invited all architecture and engineering firms to personally commit to the AIA 2030 Challenge, whereby firm principals agree to track and report their progress on all of their projects each year toward meeting the 2030 Challenge goals. These programs have been signed by a substantial number of design firms.

Manufactured Construction Comes of Age

In the years following the end of World War II, a surge in the need for housing and other buildings in the United States helped to proliferate construction that was efficiently prefabricated in a factory-like setting and then shipped to a building site. Among them were developments where a limited number of standardized modules were arranged in different formations and finishes to give the appearance of personalization with very little actually existing. While this may still be a pervasive image of modular construction to some people, the reality is that a lot of growth and change has occurred in this arena. In his book Prefab Architecture: A Guide to Modular Design and Construction (John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2010), author Ryan E. Smith chronicles the history of manufactured building from the Industrial Revolution to the present in the context of environment, organization, and technology. He identifies a number of 20th-century examples of work and trends that have contributed to current notions of manufactured construction, and includes dozens of recent examples of prefab projects by contemporary architects and fabricators, including KieranTimberlake, SHoP Architects, Office dA, Michelle Kaufmann, and many others. It becomes abundantly clear that while standardized construction and fabrication is achieved, great design flexibility is also gained.

Separate work on this topic is presented by Stephen Kieran and James Timberlake in their 2004 book, refabricating ARCHITECTURE (McGraw Hill, 2004). Their focus is less on standard products and more on the ability to engage in what they term “mass customization.” Using aircraft, automotive, and computer industries as examples, they illustrate how products in those arenas are being created from pre-designed, pre-manufactured parts or systems that are assembled into the final total product. Because of built-in variability and options, each resulting product can be truly customized to add or delete features, include optional components, or select variable attributes, such as color and finishes. A particularly good example is the Dell Inc. computer company that became well-known for its ability to let customers “build” their own computer to meet their needs. Providing this level of customization to a mass market is the basis of the “mass customization” term.

Kieran and Timberlake go on to apply these ideas to buildings by demonstrating, through their own architectural work and the work of others, that discreet building modules can be designed in a manner to allow them to fit together in various configurations to suit specific site and project conditions. Further, modules can be fully customized in terms of components and details to suit the particular design needs of a project, an owner, or a user. They point out that the benefit of this mass customization to architects is greater control of the total process of design and construction. That control is possible since the architect can be dealing directly with a fabricator, not a general contractor, in many cases. This gives architects the opportunity to assume a new, modernized “master builder” role that relies on coordination and collaboration with more professionals than in the traditional 20th-century model. Looking more closely at the process, they point out that manufacturing for buildings is no longer about an assembly line of individual parts to create repetitive designs. Rather, individual components, modules, or blocks are produced off-site according to the design drawings and specifications in a weather-protected manufacturing facility. By breaking out specific, discreet portions, simultaneous fabrication can occur at several different locations. Then, according to a coordinated time schedule, the completed, customized modules can be shipped to the construction site for installation and final assembly into the building as appropriate. Overall, they demonstrate that this process allows for greater quality control, reduced time schedules, and cost savings. As such, it is also a more collaborative and sustainable way to produce buildings.

The Rise of Building Information Modeling (BIM)

Computer technology has shaped much of our modern life, and this is particularly true in the design and construction arena. In fact, it is computer technology that has allowed the rapid evolution of the trends that we have discussed up to this point. The use of computers to create drawings of buildings has gone completely mainstream with computer aided design, or CAD, having become not only commonplace but essential for most design professionals around the world. Following right behind is the use of computers to create much more than drawings and instead produce virtual models of buildings using building information modeling, or BIM. Employing BIM to design is not the same as CAD, just as constructing a 3-D cardboard model is not the same as doing a hand drawing. BIM uses designer-defined information to create buildings electronically in three dimensions, not using just lines or simple objects. As such, an entire building can be constructed first within the virtual computer environment before it is ever committed to on-site construction.

BIM has also emerged as a tool that can tie together and integrate all aspects of not only design, but also the offering of services, the creation of deliverables, and even the process of construction. By allowing the computer to do what it does best (namely organize information), and freeing up the architects and designers to do what they do best (namely create, assess, analyze, and synthesize all aspects of the design), the best of human and computer capabilities come together. This is not a theoretical view of computers and design; instead, it is being successfully practiced around the world today by a growing number of professionals who are indeed transforming themselves and the design professions.

In a building information model, specific 3-D components are used to assemble a virtual building. Those components have definable attributes that match the size, shape, and specifications of the systems or products that they represent. Because of this specificity, using BIM as a design tool means that those working on it need to understand which specific 3-D components are being used in the model and why. The reason for that rests with the way components relate to each other and interact, both in the virtual model and in the constructed version. In practice, the implication is that the task is no longer one of drafting, but of creating, assessing, revising, and re-creating as needed. To be successful, the team members need to understand building construction to be sure that assemblies are appropriate and coordinated properly.

It also means that selecting specific components, not generic ones, will yield better results. The opportunity to look carefully and completely at buildings means that there is also opportunity to explore elements of modularity, sustainability, and general building design simultaneously. A total building can be modeled with better and more accurate visualization, as well as the ability to link to energy modeling or other software that can directly assess performance. It is also possible to assess and analyze individual building components, whether custom, modular, or standardized, and substitute different iterations to determine the best choice. The building information model can allow for distinct pieces or modules to be looked at and tested in terms of how they fit together in different ways or how they interact with other systems to avoid conflicts. If modularity and custom prefabrication techniques are being incorporated, BIM can readily be used to generate different design and construction options.

These three movements of sustainability, manufactured construction, and BIM are converging in significant and exciting ways within design and construction firms across the U.S. and around the world. In the following sections, we will look at three firms and some of the work they are doing by taking advantage of these transformative changes. They are each achieving more and better designs, higher building performance, recognition for their successes, and streamlined workflows, which helps with the sustainability of their own firms.

Resolution: 4 Architecture: Integrating Design and Construction

Among the many firms that have been inspired to embrace these trends in their practices is New York-based Resolution: 4 Architecture, founded by Joseph Tanney and Robert Luntz. They have built an impressive portfolio by providing affordable residential designs using custom, modern, sustainable, modular construction that reaches a broad client base. According to partner Robert Luntz, their approach “provides greater predictability during construction in terms of appearance, cost, and time schedule. Modular construction also controls waste and reduces or eliminates it notably, which is not only more sustainable—it also reduces disposal costs.” They also use BIM modeling to help capitalize on the other aspects of their approach to design and construction.

Over time, the members of the firm have come to understand how to engage with modular building manufacturers around the country. If the housing manufacturer is on board from the beginning of design, that tightens up communication and helps to ensure a smoother process. Luntz points out that “it is important to understand how a particular manufacturer’s process works and that the design dovetails into their way of building.” Commonly, they find that the manufactured building process uses conventional construction techniques, just in a customized production process using semi-skilled labor to achieve a speedier and more efficient fabrication. It also helps if the architect understands how to gain approvals and permits for a particular manufactured system, which can be done more easily if the manufacturer is involved earlier in the process.

The firm has observed that while the modular construction industry is highly systematized in terms of how it builds, it is less so when it comes to design. Most modular residential building factories use CAD to produce drawings at the level of detailed shop drawings, but so far they have been slow to adopt BIM. Nonetheless, Resolution: 4 Architecture designs all of its projects using a building information model for visualization and conflict resolution. The partners’ model also allows smaller firms like theirs to provide services nationally by readily sharing and collaborating with others on the design and fabrication process. This is particularly important when the client or project site is not nearby. Generally speaking, in order to be cost effective, the manufacturer needs to be located within 500 miles of the project site. There is some variation on that, of course, based on the difference between shipping constructed modules and the volume of air within them compared to a system of stacked panels that can require fewer trucks to ship. Nonetheless, the use of the building information model and a close working relationship with a manufacturer allows them to be successful in numerous locations. In fact, they have used this approach on projects where they interface daily during the design process with engineers located in different cities around the United States. The result is an optimized, affordable design process that helps ensure a better constructed outcome.

Perhaps as a testament to their success with designing modular and manufactured housing, the two partners have written their own book titled Modern Modular, which was published by Princeton Architectural Press in 2014. In it they share their integrated philosophy and approach in more detail, along with numerous examples of projects.

Kipnis Architecture Planning: Mainstream Sustainability in Practice

A very successful small firm in Evanston, Illinois, is a great example of putting mainstream sustainability and BIM together into practice. Nathan Kipnis, AIA, LEED BD C is the principal of Kipnis Architecture Planning (KAP). His firm has been recognized nationally for its protracted commitment to bioclimatic and green architectural design on residential and commercial projects since the 1980s. It is the firm’s stated belief that architectural design excellence does not need to be sacrificed for environmental principles. “On the contrary, green design expands the possibilities for new and innovative architectonic forms, construction methods, and material uses,” Kipnis points out. As an early signatory to the AIA 2030 Commitment and with an entirely LEED-accredited staff, KAP is dedicated to significantly reducing each building’s CO2 emissions. To accomplish this, every project is reviewed throughout the design process to determine how best to incorporate energy efficiency, green materials, and advanced construction methods. This integrated approach helps to lessen the impact of a building throughout its entire life cycle, from the manufacture and delivery of material, through construction, during the useful life of the building, and at its end. Pre-manufactured components and products of various types play directly into this approach.

As part of KAP’s normal design process, multiple options and schemes are assessed. Typically, it starts with a baseline design and then compares individual components or systems using whole-building computer modeling. As the best-performing solutions are determined, the designers can make incremental design decisions based on the impact of each component as demonstrated in the modeled performance. They point out that the real opportunities to find this out are at the beginning of the design process, not later. By understanding the impacts early, adjustments can be made easily and efficiently to optimize the design. As a small firm, KAP has found no barriers to employing this process since there are plenty of easy-to-use computer programs available at little or even no cost.

The firm’s overall goal is to provide high-quality, comprehensive architectural services based on its commitment to sustainability, creativity, technical excellence, and attention to detail. It regards each project as a unique challenge to create a design that is matched to the specific climate where it is located, as well as the client’s particular requirements. The firm does not strive to emulate any single design style, rather, the image and detailing evolve during the design process. KAP feels equally adept at providing cutting-edge designs or ones that are historically influenced.

Platane Architecture: BIM as a Collaborative Tool

The French firm of Platane Architecture, headed up by Platane Beres, has embraced the use of BIM completely in their work. With it, they have been able to go directly from concept to manufacturing and bring distinctive elements of their buildings to life. They recognize that there are many ways that BIM can tie in directly to construction and fabrication. By identifying different materials and systems, current cost information from contractors, suppliers, or fabricators can be linked, allowing for real-time cost estimate updates as the design progresses. The computer model can also be used directly as the basis for manufacturing and fabrication, thus eliminating the need for separate shop drawings. When construction begins, sequence and time schedules for fabrication, transportation, and assembly can all be developed based on information in the model. Where appropriate, the software can coordinate with 3-D printers or industrial equipment to not only model the components but to actually create them for installation.

All of this requires the ability to collaborate with others, and firm principal Platane Beres praises the BIM process for facilitating a more fluid exchange of information. This allows for easier collaboration on a project with the ability to model data both internally and externally. The ability to make changes easily in BIM also sets it apart from previous design workflows. At the center of the program that it uses is the ability to simply double-click on any item to edit it. Beres points out, “This is really crazy in terms of the ease of modifications. It is very, very powerful...It’s a way of thinking.” Since changes are inevitable and often frequent, this saves the design team a good deal of time. Further, the use and extraction of data from 3-D models is an important component of the BIM process. The firm relies on intelligent 3-D models because 2-D misses so much important information. “A 3-D model has no ‘holes;’ it provides complete, unlimited numbers of sections and therefore complete control over every situation with practically no extra effort. It’s the most like real life,” according to Beres. In the office, the team works in 3-D, and then extracts the 2-D documents, 3-D files, data, or selected information to share with other team members as needed.

Conclusion

While the concepts of integration, modularity, sustainability, and computerized modeling were introduced separately in this article, a closer examination has revealed that in reality they are all part of the same evolving process of building design and construction. The principles of mass customization, modular design, and sustainability can all be readily combined into a building project that is being managed and controlled through the use of BIM, while simultaneously integrating the design and construction teams. What is particularly significant is that all of these aspects can apply to buildings and practices of any size. In fact, it makes it easier for smaller firms to compete by engaging with other team members electronically, focusing around a central building information model and working via Internet with anyone, anywhere. Overall, better, more sustainable, and mass-customized designs are possible with architects being more directly involved in overseeing the details of the actual construction. It is indeed an exciting time to be an architect.

Vectorworks Inc. Vectorworks, Inc. is the developer of Vectorworks software, a line of industry-specific CAD and BIM solutions that help more than half a million design visionaries transform the world. www.vectorworks.net