Interoperable tools for designing energy-efficient buildings in healthcare districts

The EU funded collaborative research project STREAMER aims on Energy-efficient Buildings (EeB), focusing on mixed-use healthcare districts. Besides innovations in EeB technology, special emphasis is laid on improving methodologies and tools used in the design process of new or retrofitted hospital buildings. STREAMER follows a model-based, holistic approach by integrating design data on both building and district level.Advanced ICT methods like Semantic Web, Ontologies, Parametric Modelling or Knowledge Based Systems, will be reviewed, adapted, and improved to use them during the energy-efficient-buildings design process. The project not only aims on developing theoretical concepts, but also on practical case studies: based on already existing software, a number of interoperable software tools shall be developed and evaluated in four demonstration projects. The paper describes the system architecture and provides a functional spectrum of the design tools, focusing on interoperability issues. © 2015 Taylor & Francis Group.