A Cross-disciplinary Approach to BIM-based Facade Design for Wind Performance

This paper examines a cross-disciplinary approach to a high-rise facade design proposal for Hong Kong where the initial architectural design concept provides a negotiable boundary for an architectural engineering design process. A crucial aspect of this process is the consideration of high wind loads on the facade, as they frequently occur in Hong Kong due to regularly occurring typhoons. Design for wind performance is typically outside of the expertise of architectural designers and thus requires close collaboration between architects and structural engineers. Conventionally trained structural engineers may however not be accustomed to work with unusual building form or to consider architectural design ideas as part of engineering proposals. In the context of this paper, building information modeling (BIM) is used to facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogue as well as interdisciplinary workflows during the early design stages.