CCRR Arquitectos

Healthy Interiors

BIM

Carvajal Casariego Riesco Rivera has implemented BIM (Building Information Modeling) methodology for the design and development of complex projects, offering higher quality, integration, and coordination.

The use of BIM has improved collaboration between multidisciplinary teams, optimized workflows, and reduced difficulties during the construction process. With an extensive team of BIM experts, the firm is prepared to offer additional services throughout the building’s lifecycle—from planning and design to construction—with the goal of reducing costs while maximizing yields.

By utilizing BIM methodology:

All documents are generated from a single, coordinated, and updated model that integrates architecture, structural calculations, and systems engineering, all within a single digital platform.

The model serves to extract metadata and perform simulations for informed decision-making.

Any change is automatically propagated throughout the entire documentation, allowing for a dynamic evaluation of its impact.

It improves project understanding and communication with third parties.

It is a powerful tool for presenting and simulating architectural, engineering, or economic proposals, capable of evaluating all significant building parameters and performance.

It builds the project in 3D with an attached database, generating a data-rich virtual model.

It reduces project inconsistencies and coordination errors.

It optimizes costs during both the construction and building operation phases.

It shifts the workload toward the phases where there is a greater capacity to adapt or improve the design at a lower cost.

It maximizes efficiency, profitability, and quality parameters in both the process and the final result.

BIM is a method that facilitates communication between architecture, engineering, construction, and management.

BIM models contain architectural data as well as all internal building information, including structural data, systems, equipment, and engineering. They can include information on sustainability, energy efficiency, operation, management, and maintenance, allowing for advance simulations of building performance. By enabling various disciplines (architecture, systems, structure) to work simultaneously and coordinately on a single model, BIM allows for the dynamic extraction of numerical data and real-time calculations.

Green Awareness

One of the fundamental objectives of building today is to minimize the impact of constructions on their natural, economic, and social environments. To achieve this, it is advisable to conduct an analysis of environmental measures and energy efficiency criteria, articulating the architectural project and systems engineering from the outset according to a guide of sustainability criteria focused on achieving the following aspects, or as many of them as possible:

Reduction of the energy demand required for the operation of its facilities.

Utilization of natural and renewable resources and energy.

Incorporation of recyclable and easily renewable materials.

Minimization of water consumption and the reuse and recovery of generated wastewater.

Achieving high indoor environmental quality.

Achieving savings in operation and maintenance costs.

Improving the well-being, comfort, and health of building occupants.

Minimizing the project’s environmental impact on the surroundings.

Increasing the value of the building.

The consequence of applying these criteria—which must be considered for each building based on its location and available resources—will result in:

Savings in operation and maintenance costs.

Improved well-being, comfort, and health for occupants.

Minimized environmental impact on the surroundings.

Increased building value.

There are various environmental evaluation systems established by different organizations that issue corresponding certifications. Below, we present the most prestigious ones and their main characteristics.

LEED CERTIFICATION
The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system is an international, voluntary environmental evaluation and certification system based on criteria for developing high-efficiency sustainable buildings. This system was devised by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
The scope of LEED evaluation extends throughout the entire lifecycle, from urban planning to building operation and maintenance, with systems adapted to each stage of development and the most significant building typologies.
The LEED-NC system (New Construction and Major Renovations) provides a comprehensive framework to evaluate building efficiency and meet sustainability goals, considering sustainable criteria in the architectural and technical design phases, as well as during construction, commissioning, and use.

BREEAM CERTIFICATION
BREEAM was developed in the United Kingdom by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in the early 90s. Since then, it has been a widely recognized evaluation system, both in the UK and internationally, for specifying, monitoring, and verifying the environmental performance of a building across a wide range of environmental criteria.
Unlike the USGBC, BRE has a stronger focus on regional adaptation; therefore, in Spain, BREEAM is being adapted to local legislation, nature, and particularities for the most significant building types.

GREENBUILDING PROGRAM
Owners of energy-efficient buildings can participate as partners in the European Commission’s GreenBuilding program. This voluntary program aims to help tenants and owners of non-residential buildings improve energy performance and introduce the use of renewable energy sources. GreenBuilding partners receive public recognition for their efforts through promotional campaigns focused on raising public awareness regarding energy issues.

CES (SUSTAINABLE BUILDING CERTIFICATION)
The “Certificación Edificio Sustentable” (CES) allows for the evaluation, rating, and certification of the environmental performance of public-use buildings in Chile, both new and existing, regardless of whether they are under public or private administration or ownership.
It is based on compliance with a set of variables, broken down into mandatory and voluntary requirements that provide points. To be certified, mandatory requirements must be met, with a minimum of 30 points and a maximum of 100.
The system was developed by the Instituto de la Construcción with the support and formal participation of 13 public and private institutions, with the goal of encouraging the design and construction of buildings with sustainability criteria and stimulating the market to value this type of construction.

Energy Efficiency

Energy efficiency aims to determine the efficient energy consumption of buildings to protect the environment by establishing appropriate consumption levels that avoid excess, while incorporating contributions from renewable energy sources.

The impact of construction on the environment is currently very significant, necessitating the adoption of measures during the project design phase to reduce it. This involves incorporating sustainability criteria in a coherent, justified, and economically conscious manner.

IMPACT OF BUILDINGS
The residential and tertiary sectors represent more than 40% of final energy consumption. To implement the necessary measures, it is essential to understand the relevant aspects and establish a hierarchy of priorities for decision-making. Once strategies are established, sufficient calculations and simulation processes must be performed to validate, quantify, and—if necessary—modify them. Furthermore, it is important to link these strategies to the required economic investment and the resulting return on investment (ROI) across the various proposed solutions.

The current challenge lies in introducing design and construction practices that improve building efficiency while meeting specific standards to reduce negative impacts on occupants, the environment, and economic outcomes. These actions are developed within the architectural, constructive, and energy management spheres. Basic actions include:

Reduction of Demand and Consumption:

Adaptation to outdoor climatic conditions.

Optimization of building orientation.

Adoption of passive measures to minimize or reduce thermal and lighting demand.

Improved thermal insulation of the building envelope and systems.

Efficient thermal envelopes.

Natural and artificial lighting.

Indoor environmental conditions using bioclimatic solutions.

Occupant ventilation.

Internal loads inherent to the building’s activity.

Proper sectorization, regulation, and control of installations.

Ventilation control based on occupancy (CO₂).

Energy Management:

Reduction of demand and consumption.

Use of renewable energies.

Use of high-efficiency conventional energy.

Tariff management.

General environmental concern has led to the creation of various systems for evaluating building environmental characteristics. Although defining the degree of energy efficiency objectively is complex, certain benchmarks have been established by different institutions that issue certificates accrediting compliance. Below are the most prestigious systems:

LEED CERTIFICATION: An international, voluntary system for high-efficiency sustainable buildings developed by the USGBC. It covers the entire lifecycle, from urban planning to operation.

BREEAM CERTIFICATION: Developed in the UK by BRE, it is a globally recognized system for verifying environmental performance. In Spain, it is adapted to local legislation and regional specificities.

GREENBUILDING PROGRAM: A European Commission voluntary program for non-residential buildings to improve energy performance and use renewable sources.

CES (SUSTAINABLE BUILDING CERTIFICATION): A Chilean system to evaluate and certify public-use buildings (new or existing) based on mandatory and voluntary requirements, scoring up to 100 points.