Energy-efficiency Retrofitting and Transformation of the FIU-college of Architecture + The Arts into a Net-Zero-Energy-Building by 2018

Abstract Net-Zero-Energy-Buildings (Net-ZEBs) are part of both the U.S. Department of Energy 2020 policy and the American Institute of Architecture 2030 Agenda on energy conservation, efficiency benchmarking and carbon neutrality for buildings. This research paper connects to these national frameworks for diagnosing, redesigning, retrofitting and transforming the 9,476 m2 large Paul L. Cejas Architecture (PCA) College of the Florida International University in Miami into a Net-Zero-Energy-Building. The PCA complex was designed by the renowned architect Bernard Tschumi in 2003. The reputation of this architecture involves difficult design issues for any resource efficient retrofitting Net-ZEB master plan of the future. In November 2012 an interdisciplinary research team at FIU started to analyze and deploy a smart-sensor infrastructure within the PCA complex, compatible with the ‘The Metasys® building management system’ from Johnson Controls, to collect real-time data, identify problems and develop strategies to implement conservation measures. The paper will compare these different energy, water and CO2 reduction strategies with automated data collection techniques. The research paper concludes with 3-D-BIM (Building Information Modeling) resource scenarios of how to improve the performance of the PCA with passive and active strategies towards a Net-Zero-Energy-Building by 2018.