Sustainability applied to building projects in Brazil

Abstract

Civil construction is the human activity with the greatest impact on the environment, and is of fundamental importance in consolidating the goals for sustainable development in the country. Although the greatest impacts on building sustainability occur during use and maintenance, it is no building design that has the greatest potential to interfere with performance over its useful life. In this way, the objective of this article is to understand through which the control of sustainability can be inserted in the design processes of new building projects and intervention in Brazilian pre-existing buildings. Therefore, a literature review was adopted as the research methodology. As a result, it was identified that sustainable design can follow bioclimatic strategies, computational simulations to understand the performance of buildings in different contemplative scenarios; the assumptions of certifications and seals; and the sensitivity of the designer to include social issues in the process.