Sustainable Construction Modelling: A Systems Engineering Approach

Modelling in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry is a fundamental step for product and project delivery, and serves multiple purposes from visualization, communication, simulation, analysis, decision making, to performance assessment. For long, the AEC industry has used different types of modelling schemes. Typical examples include 2D and 3D models that capture geometric and spatial information, project schedules that capture sequence and durations, and process models that capture methodologies and work flows. With the advent of sustainable construction, it was realized that modelling in the AEC industry has to capture a new array of information and correlate such information to both the construction product and process. Examples of these information include embodied energy content, emission of pollutants, resource consumption, and noise and acoustics, just to name a few. Modelling for sustainable construction requires representing parameters pertaining to the environment and sustainability as well as different information related to the building geometry and its production method and execution plan. As part of a research undertaken by the authors, this paper proposes a systems-based model where: (1) the environmental system, (2) the building system (the product), and (3) the construction system (the production/management system) are represented as three interacting systems of systems that fundamentally exchange (1) energy, (2) matter, and in some cases (3) information, according to systems theory. While other modelling approaches are based on proceeding individually and sequentially in the process of evaluating environmental impacts caused by different multidisciplinary practices in the AEC industry, this systems-based model shall facilitate simultaneous evaluation of sustainability by the system as a whole. The focus on system flows of energy and materials shall highlight focus areas for impact mitigation and performance optimization as outlined in the paper. The Systems Modelling Language (SysML) is utilized to build the model.