Sustainability First

Compare your building proposals across a variety of sustainable design metrics. Instantly download reports and visuals to make the best projects for the future.

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From resources to tutorials to guides, learn how to best use Digital Blue Foam to gain your competitive design advantage. Create spectacular 3D building models within minutes.

What is sustainability in building design?

Sustainability in building design is how efficiently the building saves resources while being built and in operation. A building is designed as per functional and aesthetic requirements. Still, it becomes sustainable only when it is a building that doesn’t add to the amount of carbon and doesn’t waste resources, and many more criteria that help the environmental health. Some aspects that are taken care of are life cycle assessment and structure design efficiency. A Life Cycle Assessment is the systematic analysis of the potential environmental impacts of products or services during their entire life cycle. Apart from this, attention is paid to details like material efficiency, waste reduction, and leaving over the most negligible carbon footprint. Water efficiency and energy efficiency are managed through various methods. There are many steps taken to make sure that the users would have indoor environmental quality enhanced, and the building could achieve thermal comfort.

What is sustainable urban planning?

Urban planning places all the features, including buildings, landscapes, neighborhoods, etc., in a town or city. Sustainable urban planning refers to planning to locate the parts of town so that people can witness green buildings, mixed-use developments, walkable neighborhoods, open spaces, alternative energy sources, transit options, accessible amenities while keeping a balance with being approachable, attractive, and environment friendly. A sustainable urban environment also conforms to the idea that a city can be organized without excessive reliance on the surrounding countryside and power itself with renewable sources of energy. Self-sufficiency and resilience are also some factors that cities and towns can achieve to be sustainable. The concept of 15-minute cities encourages sustainable urban planning while keeping the infrastructure accessible to all. These cities have all the amenities a regular household needs within 15 minutes of walking or bicycling and are a great way to reduce dependence on motor vehicles.

How do you create a sustainable building?

To create a sustainable building, we need to check that the building leaves a minuscule carbon footprint. The AEC industry is responsible for 40% of carbon emissions in the world. So, to create a sustainable building, we need to make sure of some basic parameters. First of all, the construction material should be eco-friendly and robust. The waste generated from the building should be treated concerning the environment. As designers, there are many factors in designing that can affect the sustainability of a building, which can be creatively handled. Orientation of buildings and the fenestrations as per the sun-path and increasing natural daylight reduce artificial sources. Also, alternate energy sources like solar energy can be tapped for saving more on energy. The right amount of planned ventilation can help maintain thermal comfort and indoor air quality. Using some particular building techniques can help the labor and building process by being reusable and easy to use.

How does Digital Blue Foam analyze sustainability?

We provide, precise and up-to-date, wind analysis and solar studies for any given site location and time period. 


Solar studies involve shadow and radiation analysis, and dynamic daylight metrics like Daylight Autonomy (DA) and Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA). You can focus on comparing sustainability of different design options and creating value for your clients, without worrying about any setup requirements.


Our Mission

Accelerate the World’s
Transition to Better Cities

"Climate change and sustainable design is continuing to be a growing concern for communities around the world and smarter ways of creating easily accessible sustainable design tools is the need of today. This is a huge step towards ensuring those planning cities and towns for tomorrow, are guided with the right information and design guidelines."

Camiel Weijenberg
Founder and Director