Building information modeling (BIM) and life cycle assessment (LCA) are two methods that can be helpful when designing buildings with lower environmental impacts. One of the most significant examples of environmental impact assessments in construction is green building certification. Certified buildings have improved performance and greater asset value. In this study, four certification systems were investigated for their potential interconnections with BIM and LCA. The main tasks were (1) to review a BIM-based workflow, (2) assess its usage as an input for the LCA within green certifications, and (3) provide suggestions for developing building models. Building models can be helpful during the design process, but the best results are expected when the specifically described steps are followed. These suggestions aim at improving building models in terms of their usage for green building certifications and particularly for LCA. All the investigated results were clarified and adjusted using a model of a recently finished building in Zug. As reference tools, One Click LCA and a manual process were selected. The outcomes were aligned with those of other studies and confirmed the necessity of good data and management quality for building projects.

When using Building Information Modeling (BIM) for complex building design, optimizing the building quality in a design phase becomes an important part of integrated and advanced building design. The use of data from an information model in the design phase allows efficient assessment of different design strategies and structural variants and a higher quality of the final design. This paper aims to analyze and verify possible BIM data-driven workflows for Complex Building Quality Assessment (CBQA) and a suitable BIM data structure set up for automatic assessment and evaluation. For an efficient automation process in complex quality building assessment in the design phase, it is necessary first to understand the data structure of the Industry Foundation Classes (IFC), which is widely accepted and used for buildings, and second to understand the data structure of the assessment methodology used for the assessment. This article describes possible data workflows for an automatic assessment based on the experience gained on a case study of the real pilot project of a residential building, where the complex building quality was tested using SBToolCZ, the Czech national assessment method. This article presents the experience and recommendations for setting up the data model of a building for automatic assessment.

The three pillars of sustainability are the economic, environmental and social pillars. To achieve sustainable construction projects, these three priorities must be balanced. Considering social aspects is of equal importance when considering the design, materials and technologies used in buildings. The increased use of naturally based materials from renewable sources using traditional techniques is common in sustainable buildings and can help balance some of the social aspects. Building with traditional technologies such as compressed earth blocks (CEBs), rammed earth, adobe, or strawbale technologies is a viable option to conventional construction methods when the structure meets modern scientific and engineering standards. High-quality, sustainable buildings are achievable using local resources and local labour. This paper presents case studies from remote Australia and Europe and shows the social and environmental impacts according to the technology used. Prior consideration of the social aspects can result in the improvement of the sustainability of the building.

Sustainable building covers wide range of criteria including environmental, social and economy issues. Relative humidity of the internal environment belongs to the group of social criteria dealing with the quality of indoor microclimate and is one of the important indicators. Low humidity level can cause dry skin, throats and nasal passages and can cause annoying static electric sparks. High humidity level can lead to growth of moulds and bacteria and can cause condensation problems on the cold surfaces. Appropriate level of relative humidity can be operate by building service systems which increases operating energy in buildings and is sensitive to correct set up, control and monitoring. Relative humidity can be also influenced by the choice of building structures and structural materials without any operating energy. The paper summarizes latest research on the influence of relative humidity on health hazards and influence of building structures and structural materials on the relative humidity.

In this article, research on the sorption properties of clay materials in comparison with commonly used building materials is published. The topic is mainly focused on the dynamic sorption properties and their influence on the relative humidity in the indoor environment. The results of comparisons of clay structures, rammed earth panels, clay plaster, and unburned bricks, with commonly used building materials, concrete, lime plaster, and gypsum board are examined. Statistically evaluated results in the form of confidence intervals are presented and the rate of dynamic sorption is analyzed. It is clear from the results that clay materials have a positive effect on the rapid adsorption and desorption of air moisture in the interior of buildings. However, there are many variables, band not every clay material has such excellent sorption properties.