CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive

16 February 2010

Implementation Investments

BrightBuilt Barn, Designed in ArchiCAD, Wins LEED Award for Innovation

The BrightBuilt Barn – an innovative “net zero” home that needs no furnace, is easy to repair/upgrade, and is designed to last for centuries – has won a major innovation award from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

Designed in ArchiCAD, the BrightBuilt Barn was selected for the 2009 LEED for Homes Innovative Project Award “because it brings to life a vision of an evolved future for the homebuilding industry, and effectively employs a smaller, replicable, flexible prefabricated design that succeeds in re-imagining the look and feel of 'home,' while keeping upfront costs low and long-term operational costs to an absolute minimum,” said the USGBC. The home was designed by Kaplan Thompson Architects in ArchiCAD Building Information Modeling (BIM) software from GRAPHISOFT. Bensonwood Homes built the home, and principals of the companies accepted the award recently at GreenBuild, the annual USGBC conference.

The BrightBuilt Barn is a 700-square foot structure with two bedroom/studio spaces and a loft heated by thermal solar. Its net zero design means that it will produce more electricity in a year than it consumes, and its flexible layout enables it to adapt to new uses without consuming more energy and building materials. Kaplan Thompson has posted the building’s final design at www.brightbuiltbarn.com for free use – a sustainable design version of the software world’s “open source” development model. BrightBuilt was listed among the 2009 TreeHugger Best of Green: Design + Architecture buildings, and was documented as a “Net Zero” structure. EcoHome magazine named BrightBuilt one of “6 Prefab Houses That Could Change Home Building.

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