Building information technologies — sustainable data use for an interdisciplinary design team

Building Information Modeling is more than a term — it marks a paradigm shift for the entire construction sector. That insight formed the starting point of the master's thesis submitted in 2019 at Danube University Krems, today the University for Continuing Education Krems, within the Future Building Solutions – Sustainable Design programme. The thesis was supervised by Prof. DI Clemens Resch from the Department for Building and Environment.

Initial situation and research question

Contemporary projects generate enormous volumes of data within multidisciplinary design teams — using different software tools and different file formats. Much of that data is not automatically usable by other team members. The core question of the thesis was therefore straightforward: is it possible, with software currently available on the market, to execute a continuous digital building design process? And what are the necessary components for a functioning BIM workflow?

Method and approach

The thesis is based on a broad literature and online review covering available BIM tools and the state of standardisation in the German-speaking region. The reference framework was the BIM4Infra publication “Implementing the step-by-step plan — Digital Planning and Construction” with its 20 BIM use cases.

Those use cases were tested in a concrete case study — a hypothetical single-family house — using available software. Three scenarios were evaluated:

• Entry: minimal BIM integration with standard tools
• Departure: structured collaboration on a shared platform
• High performance: a fully digital, data-driven design workflow

Results

The outcome is an applicable BIM process built on those three maturity scenarios and linked to the Swiss BIM approach. One of the central findings was practical rather than theoretical: with sufficient interest in new technologies, even small and medium-sized design offices can enter digital construction with manageable effort.

The thesis also outlines the opportunities and risks of digitalisation and discusses different dimensions of digital planning, supported by expert opinions from practice.

Relevance today

What still had to be framed as a snapshot of momentum in 2019 has since become reality: BIM is now a concrete planning requirement in Austria and across Europe. The processes and scenarios developed in the thesis became the conceptual basis for BIMbeam's later positioning as a studio for holistic BIM consulting.

Climate-neutral buildings: contribution to the IG Lebenszyklus BAU position paper

In October 2020, IG Lebenszyklus BAU published the position paper “Climate-neutral Buildings” — a practice-oriented guide for cities, municipalities, urban development, developers and energy suppliers. Felix Hitthaler contributed to the working group that developed this document.

What is IG Lebenszyklus BAU?

IG Lebenszyklus BAU is an Austrian association that has positioned itself as a voice of the real-estate and construction sector for life-cycle-oriented planning, delivery, operation and financing of buildings. Over the years, the organisation has produced important impulses in organisation, process, technology and project culture for successful life-cycle-oriented building design.

The “Climate-neutral Buildings” working group

The working group was established in January 2020, driven by national and international developments: the Paris Climate Agreement, the EU Green Deal, the global Fridays for Future movement and Austria's goal of achieving climate neutrality by 2040.

The aim was to define a neutral and independent carbon-footprint method for buildings that not only addresses emissions from design, construction and operational energy demand, but also the emissions generated by mobility effects caused by the building's location.

BIMbeam's contribution

Felix Hitthaler, MSc, BIMbeam e.U., participated in the working group and contributed to the content development of the guide. The group operated according to a principle of maximum transparency: interim results were openly shared, statements were coordinated collectively and the guide was developed on the basis of unanimity.

Method and results

The calculations follow the 20/80 principle: 20% of the effort yields 80% of the accuracy. All CO₂ figures were calculated rather than measured and supplemented with a 10% safety margin. Results were benchmarked against research data and practical reference values and validated through a peer-review process.

The paper provides all construction stakeholders with realistic CO₂ benchmarks for different building types and therefore a concrete basis for climate-conscious decisions in future projects.

LINEAR Authorized Training Partner — certification and training practice

Since 2020 BIMbeam has been an official LINEAR Authorized Training Partner. The certification by LINEAR — The BIM Engineering Software, based in Aachen — confirms the qualification to deliver practical and standards-based training across the entire LINEAR software suite.

What is LINEAR?

LINEAR is one of the leading BIM engineering tools for building-services design, fully integrated into Autodesk Revit and AutoCAD. No exports, no data loss: calculations and system modelling take place directly in the BIM model:

• Heating: EN 12831 heating-load calculations, pipe-network sizing, radiator and underfloor-heating modelling
• Cooling: cooling-load calculations, hydronic-network sizing, cooling-system modelling
• Ventilation: air-duct calculations, standards-based sizing, full ventilation-system design
• Sanitary: potable-water planning, wastewater planning and full pipe-network sizing
• Gas: gas-system calculation and modelling
• Electrical: electrical design workflows for Revit

Training practice at BIMbeam

Since certification, BIMbeam has trained a broad range of companies in practical LINEAR workflows — from small planning offices to international engineering firms. Training is intentionally hands-on: participants work directly on their own projects, with real models and measurable outcomes.

Training clients to date include Heinze-Stockfisch-Grabis + Partner GmbH, pde Integrale Planung GmbH, CES clean energy solutions GesmbH, Stiefmüller Hohenauer & Partner GmbH, Hopferwieser + Steinmayr Installations GmbH, Equans Gebäudetechnik GmbH, ILF CE Austria GmbH and Chemgineering International GmbH.

Academic teaching

In parallel with project and training work, Felix Hitthaler taught at FH Technikum Wien from 2016 to 2023 in the Renewable Energy Technologies programme, covering lectures, design exercises and MEP work with Autodesk Revit. From 2021 to 2024 he also taught at Danube University Krems, now the University for Continuing Education Krems, on building innovation and the digitalisation of building services.

BIM demo: interactive 3D building model with full MEP coordination

The BIMbeam demo model is a complete interactive 3D building model running directly in the browser without plugins. It shows what a coordinated information model can deliver in practice: structure, slabs, MEP routing and HVAC systems are organised as separate switchable layers.

Model structure

• Layer 01 — structure (white): columns, beams and exterior walls as the structural skeleton
• Layer 02 — slabs (lime): slab plates and floor build-ups per storey
• Layer 03 — MEP (orange): routing of technical building services
• Layer 04 — HVAC and sanitary (cyan): heating, ventilation and sanitary installations

What the model demonstrates

The demo shows the core value of a coordinated BIM model: all disciplines are spatially coordinated and clashes have already been detected and resolved during design. The layer structure makes it possible to show and hide specific trades in isolation, exactly as required in day-to-day coordination work.

Browser-based 3D navigation — rotate, zoom and switch layers — makes the complexity of a real BIM model accessible to clients and non-specialists without requiring dedicated software.

Energy retrofit of a historic farmhouse into a plus-energy house

This bachelor's thesis was completed within the Urban Renewable Energy Technologies programme at FH Technikum Wien under the supervision of DI Christoph Muss. The object of study was a 17th-century farmhouse in the centre of Innichen (San Candido), South Tyrol, to be transformed into a plus-energy house while respecting heritage constraints.

Initial condition

At the time of the study, the building was only usable in summer. The upper floor in particular could hardly be heated, and the heating of individual rooms no longer met 21st-century comfort expectations. The ground floor — with its unique historic interior — was to be preserved as far as technically possible.

Concept and measures

The thesis developed an integrated retrofit concept combining historic building fabric with contemporary energy systems:

• Ground-floor thermal envelope: straw-bale external insulation with clay plaster — regional ecological materials that preserve the historic exterior appearance
• Upper floor: passive-house lightweight timber construction — deliberately designed as a contrast to the historic ground floor and as a bridge between past and present
• Energy supply: comfort ventilation with heat recovery, air-to-air heat pump and solar thermal system
• Plus-energy standard: generous photovoltaic system; an additional scenario using biomass from the associated forest and a 25 kWh battery storage system was also analysed

Calculation methodology

The new-build extension was calculated with the Passive House Planning Package (PHPP). Simulations for the photovoltaic and solar-thermal systems were carried out with T*SOL and PV*SOL. Key topics included plus-energy housing, thermal retrofit, farmhouse typology, ecological materials and photovoltaics.

Relevance today

What began in 2012 as a student investigation is now part of BIMbeam's daily practice: integrating energy concepts into early design phases, using ecological materials and simulating energy balances as a decision-making basis. The thesis marked the starting point of a consistent engagement with sustainable construction.

Penthouse in Asunción — rammed earth on the 22nd floor and building services from Vorarlberg

In 2015, during his time as a building-services designer at GMI – Ing. Peter Messner GmbH in Dornbirn, Vorarlberg, Felix Hitthaler received a highly unusual assignment. A penthouse on the 22nd floor of a high-rise in Asunción, Paraguay required an integrated building-services concept — 10,500 kilometres away, in a completely different climate, with a structural condition rarely encountered in Central European planning offices.

The special feature: 160 tonnes of rammed earth on the 22nd floor

The client opted for rammed-earth construction — in a high-rise, on the top floor. 160 tonnes of earth were brought to the 22nd floor. The rammed-earth walls and floors were intended not only as an aesthetic statement but as active cooling elements: the material's thermal mass buffers solar gains, stabilises room temperatures and significantly reduces cooling demand. It is a principle rooted in traditional earth architecture, reinterpreted here in the context of a contemporary tower.

Building-services concept with components from Vorarlberg

The planning scope covered cooling and residential ventilation for the penthouse. The challenge was to design a system that actively uses the thermal mass of rammed earth while remaining buildable with internationally available and maintainable components. System design and sizing were carried out in Vorarlberg, with components from the German-speaking market then installed in Paraguay.

The project is an early demonstration of principles that BIMbeam now executes with model-based methods: precise system sizing, clear interface definition and clean documentation.

What the project means for BIMbeam today

Paraguay was an early proof that building-services design is not tied to place and that planning quality depends on method rather than office location. That insight shaped BIMbeam's current working model: remote support, model-based handover and clear documentation as the basis for international collaboration.

And the rammed earth on the 22nd floor? A reminder that the best passive energy concepts are sometimes based on very old materials — if they are used and calculated correctly.

Circular construction — why disassembly has to be embedded in the model from day one

Buildings are the largest material banks of our time. A residential building stores hundreds of tonnes of concrete, steel, insulation, gypsum and timber — for 50, 80, sometimes 100 years. What is built today determines what can be recycled, landfilled or recovered tomorrow. Circularity in construction is not an optional add-on. It is a design requirement.

The problem with construction today

More than 50% of European waste volume comes from construction. Much of it is not recyclable — not because the materials themselves are worthless, but because they were assembled in a way that prevents separation. Composite materials, glued layers and missing documentation turn buildings into black boxes.

At the same time, construction is associated with roughly 40% of global CO₂ emissions when the full life cycle is considered, including manufacturing, operation and end of life. Optimising operational energy alone is no longer enough.

What circularity means in planning

For BIMbeam, circularity is not a sustainability label that gets attached at the end. It is a requirement that must be embedded in the model from phase one:

• Material passport in the model: every element carries information on composition, origin, disassembly path and recycling potential as IFC parameters. The model becomes resource documentation.
• Separability as a design principle: layers with different service lives must remain separable — structure, skin, services and fit-out each with their own life cycle, following the Shearing Layers principle by Stewart Brand.
• Life-cycle CO₂ as a design metric: not only operational energy, but also embodied energy from manufacture, transport and disposal must inform design decisions. Life-cycle assessment becomes a standard tool already in concept design.
• Repairability and adaptability: buildings should remain usable in 30 years because they can respond to changing needs without complete demolition.

BIM as an enabler of circularity

A complete BIM model based on IFC is the best foundation for circular planning because it stores all information in one durable, readable and software-independent place. The material passport is not an extra document — it is the model itself.

In practice that means defining parameters that survive beyond construction. Not only what is installed, but how: with which connections, in what quantities and with what dismantling logic. Information embedded in the model today becomes invaluable for the people who will refurbish or dismantle the building in the future.

Connection to IG Lebenszyklus BAU

Participation in the working group behind the 2020 “Climate-neutral Buildings” position paper sharpened this perspective. The carbon-footprint methodology developed there — covering 100 years of life cycle including mobility and end of life — matches exactly what circular construction requires: a whole-life view that extends far beyond the construction site.

Austria has the potential to become a frontrunner here. The tools already exist: IFC, IDS, LCA tools and open material databases. What is still missing is their consistent integration into everyday planning from phase one onwards.

What BIMbeam offers in practice

Circular design criteria can be integrated into BIM projects of any size or type. BIMbeam supports the definition of circular IFC parameters, the structure of the material passport within the model, the documentation of reversible connections and the integration of LCA indicators into early concept design.