Development of a Building Information Modeling-Parametric Workflow Based Renovation Strategy for an Exemplary Apartment Building in Seoul, Korea

Abstract

Apartments in South Korea have high maintenance costs and an average lifetime of 25 years due to poor construction qualities. The common apartment redevelopment strategy is completely demolishing the neighborhoods and then replacing them with new buildings. However, this research discusses the framework for the refurbishment of an existing building in Seoul using Building Information Modeling (BIM) and parametric tools. The virtual model of an exemplary existing building is constructed in a BIM environment. Parametric software is used to simulate the building’s environmental performance, in order to determine its energy demand for heating and cooling and the indoor comfort. In order to reduce the energy demand for heating and cooling, improve the indoor comfort, generate photovoltaic energy and extend the building’s lifetime, a modular building envelope renovation system is developed. Building simulation results of the improved building envelope are used to quantify the differences with the existing building. The research results illustrate significant improvements in energy performance, comfort and lifetime extension that can be achieved. Furthermore, a guideline for a streamlined building optimization process is provided, that can be transferred and used for the planning and optimization of other building renovation projects.

Indoor Thermal Comfort Improvement through the Integrated BIM-Parametric Workflow-Based Sustainable Renovation of an Exemplary Apartment in Seoul, Korea

“…The virtual reconstruction of the exemplar apartment analyzed in this study and the comfort simulations and analyses executed for both its existing and renovated states have been executed through the BIM-parametric renovation framework that has been described by the authors in previous studies [38,39]. Construction data and plans relative to the exemplary apartment building analyzed have been retrieved from the survey of the existing structure, and from literature on the history of housing in South Korea.…”

“…Results from a previous study on the reduction of energy demand show a comparably low discrepancy (+20%) between the reference apartment unit simulation results and the average heating energy consumption of a statistical pool of 189 apartment buildings constructed between 1976 and 2000. Furthermore, a low discrepancy for the historical average energy demand (approximately +2%) for buildings built in the same period (between 1987 and 1995) was identified [38,57]. However, due to the prevalence of the PMV/PPD indoor comfort analysis model in studies regarding South Korean apartment buildings, a direct comparison between comfort analysis data and simulation results employing the adaptive comfort model was not possible.…”

“…Accordingly, the annual cumulative radiation for the building envelope has been analyzed using the Ladybug tools ( Figure 6). External factors, such as self-shading and shadows from neighboring buildings, and the Expressway, have been taken into account in the parametric analysis [38,39]. Accordingly, the unit located on the 7th floor (18 m) presents the average cumulative annual radiation values and has been selected for the energy simulation of technical heating and cooling loads and indoor comfort analysis of the occupants.…”

“…The Energyplus simulation executed for the existing condition of the reference apartment unit is described in detail in previous studies by the authors [38]. The energy simulation produced the relevant mean radiant, operative indoor temperatures for the zones of the reference apartment unit.…”

“…Exemplar model of a façade module for the enhanced building envelope system: (0) internal wood panel; (1) support construction in steel; (2) interior panel support frame in wood; (3) insulation layer with wood encasement; (4) exterior support wood frame with cladding material and vapor barrier; (5) double glazing clear glass window system; (6) manually operable sliding blade shading system; (7) aluminum sub-construction for the Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) panels[38].…”