Tuesday, January 15, 2008

3D Renderings and 3D Walkthroughs can Help Demonstrate Benefits of LEED Certifed Building Projects

At growing rates, green building projects across the country are achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The key to the success of these sustainable projects is an integrated design process from start to finish, which includes building owners, developers, architects, designers, engineers and contractors.

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED does not certify products, but buildings can earn LEED certification.

The current standard, LEED for New Construction & Major Renovations (LEED-NC) Version 2.1, incorporates a variety of design and construction credit areas that add up to 69 possible points. After achieving all prerequisites, additional points can be earned, adding up to a final score that translates into one of four possible levels of certification. LEED credit categories include:

Sustainable Sites

Water Efficiency

Energy & Atmosphere

Materials & Resources

Indoor Environmental Quality

Plus, Innovation & Design Process

Source: GreenBiz.com

The fact remains that not every one has the ability to visualize all of the moving parts involved with developing a sustainable project. Furthermore, with a process that requires an integrated approach involving many different areas of expertise, ensuring that every one is one the same page is critical.

3D Walkthroughs and 3D Renderings are very effective pre-visualization tools that can be used throughout all the phases of building a LEED Certified Building. From the planning stages to the marketing stages, 3D assets can help ensure every one involved is on the same page. This in turn can prevent a lot of wasted time and money.

Aside from showing the unique details of the property, companies like 3Dwalkthroughs.com can build very impactful 3D animations to demonstrate the long term effects Green Buildings will have on the environment. This type of impact simply cannot be created from photos or physical models.

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