The Linking of Microclimatic Simulations and Planting Design Using a Species-level Building Information Modelling (BIM) Vegetation Library

Abstract

The cooling potential of rooftop greenery has been well-validated worldwide. However, in spite of its clear benefits for climate regulation as well as advancements in rooftop greening technology in recent years, there are no professional norms or requirements put in place for landscape architects to estimate, report or measure improvement to the microclimate prior to construction. Understandably, this is not a simple task as it requires the use of sophisticated simulations to estimate this potential advantage during the design phase. In this paper, we attempt to link microclimatic simulations done through ENVI-met as directly as possible to typical planting design workflows. We demonstrate this by leveraging off a previously developed Building Information Modelling (BIM) vegetation library that is used to both populate the ENVI-met plant database as well as the library to be used during the drawing up of planting plans. The end result is one which brings landscape architects closer towards being able to iteratively test their designs for microclimatic performance prior while still in the design phase in order to maximise the potential cooling benefits of their projects.