An integrated technical process of building information modeling enabled by visual programming language: an optimized computational building solution for energy efficiency

Detailed parametric technical processes are indispensable for reducing a building's energy consumption and maintaining sustainable management conditions. This article proposes an evaluation process that combines environmental philosophies, Building Information Modeling (BIM), and the Dynamo Visual Programming Language (VPL) to investigate the impact of building materials selection. Eight improved alternatives for handling building materials were developed in the BIM model, considering various types of construction elements and materials. Then a VPL script is developed to receive data according to ISO 13789:2017 and International thermal comfort Standards, such American, British and Brazilian Standards and export the information from the energy model. The main objective of the work is to develop a computational methodology for the analysis of thermal comfort in buildings using BIM/Dynamo tools, with different materials and to guarantee the international applicability of the proposed methodology by incorporating international standards, allowing it to be adapted to different climatic and normative contexts. The novelty is to propose a technical-methodological process for heat energy loss (HEL) and fabric heat loss (FHL) in buildings during the initial design phase, with a focus on the sustainable development of buildings, considering holistic thinking of local climate data and applied materials. The results show that by using alternative materials, such as mining waste mixed into the concrete of building elements, there is an average reduction of (21.96 %) in FHL and an average financial saving of (3.70 %), and the Energy Use Intensity (EUI) rate is reduced by an average of (3.10 %). The contribution of this work is to provide a methodological process with BIM/Dynamo integration for evaluating alternative materials and to fill the gap in analyzing the energy efficiency of various types of concrete masonry.