Improving thermal performance of building envelopes reduces energy
consumption of residential buildings. This reduction is better fostered
if the thermal analysis is packaged in the overall performance analysis
of the building envelope or the building system. An integrated approach
with IT and international standards, such as IFC, can ensure that the
building envelope satisfies energy requirements as well as other
requirements such as hygrothermal, acoustic, aesthetic, or economic
criteria. This paper presents the concept of a building envelope
performance evaluation system which includes components, such as an
IFC-compatible CAD application, a preprocessor, an application
integrator, a postprocessor, etc. The proposed system could extract the
geometric data of a house from CAD drawings in IFC data model, link to
performance evaluation applications, and compare evaluation results
with a set of criteria. Finally, a framework which partially implements
the concept of this system and a case study are also discussed.