LAS VEGAS — Sefaira, a supplier of software for high-performance building design, has announced a new product for HVAC design engineers that it says enables unprecedented collaboration between architects and HVAC designers from the earliest stages of design, bringing together performance analysis and building information modeling (BIM) workflows across multiple members of the project team.

Sefaira’s newest product for HVAC engineers was previewed at Autodesk University this month and will be launched early in 2015. The company said it will provide real-time design analysis of mechanical systems and envelope options using the EnergyPlus engine, providing robust results quickly. The application reads architectural models, eliminating the need for engineers to rebuild models from scratch, and enabling engineers to work proactively with architects to understand the impact of design changes and key mechanical system parameters.

“Historically, early collaboration between architects and engineers has been hampered by technical barriers. Engineers typically rebuild an architect’s model from scratch before they are able to perform any analysis, making it time-consuming and costly for engineers to provide insight,” said Andrew Corney, product director at Sefaira. “With Sefaira’s newest application, architects and engineers will be able to use the same architectural models to get accurate, real-time feedback. This will speed up the flow of information between architects and engineers and enable the design team to explore more alternatives earlier in design, when it matters most.”

“The industry has been aiming for better collaboration and a more integrated design process for a long time,” said Sefaira CEO Mads Jensen. “We are continuing to provide the tools that make it possible to collaborate on a design in real-time from the earliest stages of the design process — when design decisions can have the biggest impact on building performance.”

For more information, visit http://sefaira.com.

Publication date: 12/8/2014

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