engineering

Performance-based building design

Performance-based building design is a engineering topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Performance-based building design rather than just read about it. In short: Performance-based building design is an approach to the design of any complexity of building, from single-detached homes up to and including high-rise apartments and office buildings. A building constructed in this way is required to meet certain measurable or predictable performance requirements, such as energy efficiency or seismic load, without a specific prescribed method by which to attain those requirements.

Key takeaways

Performance-based building design belongs to engineering; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Performance-based building design to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Performance-based building design from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Performance-based building design is an approach to the design of any complexity of building, from single-detached homes up to and including high-rise apartments and office buildings. A building constructed in this way is required to meet certain measurable or predictable performance requirements, such as energy efficiency or seismic load, without a specific prescribed method by which to attain those requirements. This is in contrast to traditional prescribed building codes, which mandate specific construction practices, such as stud size and distance between studs in wooden frame construction. Such an approach provides the freedom to develop tools and methods to evaluate the entire life cycle of the building process, from the business dealings, to procurement, through construction and the evaluation of results.

Background One of the first implementations of performance-based building design requirements was in Hammurabi's Code (c. 1795 to 1750 BC), where is stated that "a house should not collapse and kill anybody". This concept is also described in Vitruvius's "De architectura libri decem" ("The Ten Books of Architecture") in first century BC.In modern times, the first definition of performance-based building design was introduced in 1965 in France by Blachère with the Agrément system Despite this, the building process remained relatively conventional for the next 50 years, based solely on experience and codes, regulations prescribed by law which stifled innovations and change. The prescription approach is a technical procedure based on past experience which consists of comparing the proposed design with standardized codes, so no simulation or verification tools are needed for the design and building process. A new approach began to emerge during the second half of the 20th century, when many local building markets began to show that they needed greater flexibility in the procurement procedures to facilitate the exchange of building goods between countries and to improve the speed of procedures and innovations in the building process. This innovative approach to the procurement, design, contracting, management and maintenance of buildings was performance-based building design (PBBD). Most recently the clearest definition of performance based building approach was explained in 1982 by the CIB W60 Commission in the report n.64, where Gibson stated that "first and foremost, the performance approach is [...] the practice of thinking and working in terms of ends rather than means.[ …] It is concerned with what a building or building product is required to do, and not with prescribing how it is to be constructed". Many research establishments have studied the implementation of PBBD during the last fifty years. A majority of areas of building design remain open to innovation. During 1998-2001, the CIB Board and Programme Committee initiated the Proactive Programme on Performance-Based Building in order to practically implement technical developments of performance-based building. This programme was followed by the establishment of the Performance-Based Building (PeBBu), running from October 2001 to October 2005, thanks to funds from the European Commission (EC) Fifth Framework Programme. The PeBBu Network had a broad and varied programme, a set of activities and produced many papers to aid in the implementation of such vision.

PeBBu Thematic Network PeBBu Thematic Network was managed by the CIB General Secretariat (International Council for Research and Innovation in Building Construction), particularly by the CIB Development Foundation (CIBdf). The PeBBu Network started working in 2001 and completed in 2005. In the PeBBu Network 73 organisations, included CIBdf (coordinating contractor), BBRI (Belgium), VTT (Finland), CSTB (France), EGM (Netherlands), TNO (Netherlands), BRE (UK), cooperated to this project bringing people together to share their work, their information and knowledge. The objectives of the Network was to stimulate and facilitate international dissemination and implementation of Performance Based Building in building and construction sector, maximising the contribution to this by the international Research and Development community. The PeBBu Thematic Network result is described and explained in 26 final reports which included three reports with an overall PBB scope, a multitude of research reports from the PeBBu Domains, User Platforms and Regional Platforms, a Final Management report and four practice reports for providing practical support to the actual application of PBB concept in building and construction sector.

PBB: Conceptual framework A conceptual framework for implementing a PBB market was identified while reviewing various viewpoints during the compilation of the 2nd International State of the Art Report for the PeBBu Thematic Network (Becker and Foliente 2005). The building facility is a multi-component system with a generally very long life cycle. The system's design agenda as a whole, and the more specific design objectives of its parts, originate from relevant user requirements. These requirements evolve into a comprehensive set of Performance Requirements that should be established by a large number of stakeholders (the users, entrepreneur/owner, regulatory framework, design team, and manufacturers). The main steps in a Performance Based Building Design process are:

identifying and formulating the relevant User Requirements transforming the User Requirements identified into Performance Requirements and quantitative performance criteria using reliable design and evaluation tools to assess whether proposed solutions meet the stated criteria at a satisfactory level

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Performance-based building design

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Performance-based building design claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In engineering, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Performance-based building design before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Performance-based building design ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Performance-based building design

In research: Performance-based building design appears in engineering research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Performance-based building design in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Performance-based building design is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Building engineering, Methodology, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Performance-based building design outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Performance-based building design in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Performance-based building design means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Performance-based building design out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Performance-based building design in simple terms?

Why does Performance-based building design matter?

Because it connects several engineering ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Performance-based building design?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Performance-based building design.