Schwegler identified anomalies in the performance of buildings and systems relative to theoretical, based on data from actual buildings that have been instrumented.  As it turns out, few if any of our buildings function as well as predicted because of the interaction between buildings in a larger energy distribution system and because few if any of them are actually built as designed.  

This observation precipitated a wide ranging discussion of the increasing use of instrumentation to determine actual building performance and how that data will be assimilated, managed, and used to drive the analysis, design, quality control monitoring, and building performance management down to an unprecedented level of detail in the context of macroscopic planning and design in the context of a wide area energy distribution network to realize large potential gains.

9. ">SERA Architects Inc. combined energy and metrics in their presentation of the Edith Green – Wendell Wyatt Federal Building Modernization.  In keeping with the overarching theme of knowledge based, data driven, high performance design, they presented an impressive array of computer studies, field measurements, prototyping studies, and mock-ups that were used to meet the owners ambitious schedule, budget, and energy targets for the building; all facilitated by BIM in an IPD process. 

SERA presented metrics from a study of 20 projects spanning the old 2D silo world and the a highly collaborative BIM and IPD environment:

60% reduction in design time

67% reduction in construction schedule

50% reduction in RFI’s, 51% reduction in email

62% reduction in change orders. 

10. With the ever-increasing velocity of projects and the integration of complex systems of people, products, and processes, there is a need to aggregate data and present trends and concepts clearly and concisely so teams can focus on the decision making. ">Gehry Technologies presented software that aggregates data regarding the KPI’s on its projects and presents them on a dashboard designed for maximum comprehension in minimum time.

11. Another new development this year was the use of genetic algorithms in optimization programs to manipulate multi-disciplinary parametric designs to generate families of design solutions, which, in turn allows the most effective design strategies to be identified. One such program, developed by Forest Flagler at Stanford, searches through 23,000 unique design solutions for a multi-building campus to identify the most energy efficient building geometry configurations.