Sefaira Concept Plugs Into SketchUp and Empowers Designers to Explore Sustainable Building Designs

Booth Hansen customer case study demonstrates how sustainability analysis becomes an integral part of early stage design

LONDON & NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sefaira, a leader in software for sustainable building design, construction and management, today announced the public launch of the Sefaira Concept Plugin for SketchUp. The plugin is immediately available to all users of Sefaira Concept, a tool to rapidly analyze and evaluate “what-if” sustainability options from the earliest design stages.

“Legacy building energy modeling tools are built for use in late stage design and require many inputs not available in conceptual design”

“Legacy building energy modeling tools are built for use in late stage design and require many inputs not available in conceptual design,” said Mads Jensen, CEO of Sefaira. “Sefaira Concept with the Sefaira Concept Plugin for SketchUp allows designers to start with the limited data available during early stage design. The software then complements with intelligent assumptions, thereby giving users the ability to rapidly explore their design space and measure sustainable impact to find the best performing design.”

The Sefaira Concept Plugin allows designers to visualize and adjust Sefaira Concept’s initial interpretation of a model, which includes basic building elements such as walls, windows and roofs. Designers can then use Sefaira Concept to parametrically explore the properties of these building elements, simultaneously analyze multiple design options and compare massings side-by-side in order to make fast, data driven design decisions.

As part of this release, Sefaira has also made available a customer case study with Booth Hansen, a nationally recognized architecture, planning, and interior design firm based in Chicago and San Francisco. "With SketchUp Pro, Sefaira Concept, and the Sefaira Concept Plugin, we have a powerful solution in place to drive real-time green building design and analysis,” said David Mann, AIA, LEED® AP, Principal at Booth Hansen. “In two current projects, we have designed buildings with sustainability firmly in mind from the conceptual stages.”

About Sefaira

Sefaira was founded in 2009 with a mission to promote more sustainable buildings by helping the building industry design, build, operate, maintain and transform all facets of the built environment.

Sefaira’s proprietary cloud-based technology, built upon deep building physics expertise, offers an integrated approach to sustainable design analysis, knowledge management, and decision support. Sefaira helps designers analyze and compare sustainable building strategies for new build or retrofit projects in a fraction of the time and cost previously required. By providing sophisticated analysis via an intuitive web interface, Sefaira helps users define, quantify and optimize the energy, water, carbon and financial benefits of relevant design strategies.

Sefaira's offices in London and New York have supported projects across the US, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

For more information, please visit www.sefaira.com.