Sefaira - SketchUp Extension Review

Today, we will talk about Sefaira - a multiple award-winning extension for both SketchUp and Revit to create green, sustainable buildings. Sefaira is an architecture, engineering, and sustainability software that helps in stage analyses. With this solution, you can draw designs easily as it can integrate with SketchUp and Revit. Other than that, the application has an analysis plugin for your critical analyses needs.

Sefaira is a software company specializing in cloud-based computing solutions[buzzword] for high-performance building design. In 2011, Sefaira won the Green Building Innovation of the Year award at London?s Ecobuild.

The company was founded in 2009. On February 8, 2016, Trimble Inc. announced the acquisition of Sefaira Ltd. Sefaira will join SketchUp in the Trimble Architecture & Design division, part of Trimble Buildings.

The company?s primary product is Sefaira, a web-based performance analysis platform specifically built for conceptual design. Sefaira is targeted towards architects, engineers, consultants and building designers. It performs whole-building physics-based analysis of water, carbon and renewable energy potential allowing designers and architects to explore design options.

The software includes support for SketchUp. In 2013, Sefaira released a new plugin for SketchUp that connects energy analysis and daylight to building design. In 2014, Sefaira released a new plugin for Autodesk Revit that connects energy analysis and daylight to building design. In 2015, Sefaira released Sefaira Systems, a product designed for HVAC designers to do system sizing and energy analysis using SketchUp and Revit models.

Features of Sefaira:

1. Design better performance buildings.
2. Track valuable performance metrics such as Energy Use Intensity (EUI) and see what factors are impacting your annual energy use. It can track: Use & Cost, CO2, Renewables.
3. Use key daylight metrics such as Spatial Daylight Autonomy (sDA), Annual Sunlight Exposure (ASE), Direct Sunlight, Annual or Date and Time, and Daylight Factor to analyze and visualize your building?s daylight, reduce glare, and optimize natural light. This tracks: Annual or Date & Time, Daylight Factor, Direct Sunlight
4. Understand how glazing, shading, and natural and mechanical ventilation impact the comfort of your spaces using sensitive metrics such as Operative Temperature and Predicted Mean Vote (PMV). This tracks: Air Temperatures, PMV, Operative Temp
5. Understand how peak loads such as heating and cooling are impacting your HVAC plant sizing and find passive and active strategies for reducing them. This tracks: Chiller, Boiler, AHU, Pump Sizing, Peak Heating & Cooling Loads, EnergyPlus Sizing Reports

Advantages of Sefaira

Sefaira is perfect for any roles in the construction pipeline.

1. Architects - Support your design options using easy-to-master performance analysis that clients & engineers can buy into.
2. Sustainability Consultants - Have a bigger influence on the design team by including architects and engineers in your analysis process.
3. Engineers - Get more involved in early stage design with HVAC analysis software that?s quick enough to make a difference.
4. Fast & easy to use - Draw using SketchUp or Revit, Get your first results in minutes, Create easy-to-understand graphics
5. Credible - Runs full hourly annual simulations, Uses EnergyPlus and Radiance, Offers wide range of inputs & controls
6. Collaborative - Work as a team on shared projects, Easy to peer review results, Online platform crosses firm boundaries

Availability of Sefaira

Sefaira has three enterprise pricing options for commercial use. These are team-based subscriptions with premium support. The packages are outlined below to help you choose the one that is most suitable for your organization.

1. Architecture ? $899
a. Sefaira Web Application
b. SketchUp & Revit Model Import
c. SketchUp & Revit Analysis Plugin
d. Energy Analyses
e. Daylighting Analysis
f. Comfort Analysis

2. Systems ? $899
a. Sefaira Web Application
b. SketchUp & Revit Model Import
c. Daylighting Analysis
d. Comfort Analysis
e. HVAC Sizing

3. Architecture & Systems ? $1199
a. Sefaira Web Application
b. SketchUp & Revit Model Import
c. SketchUp & Revit Analysis Plugin
d. Energy Analyses
e. Daylighting Analysis
f. Comfort Analysis
g. HVAC Sizing

Sefaira is a powerful platform though it is easy-to-use to enable you to become efficient in your processes. The tools you need are within easy reach and you can navigate the interface comfortably. As such, you can analyze your simulations and gain results quickly. With Sefaira, you are able to choose the right strategies in making comfortable dwellings for your clients.

As such, your projects can move forward while meeting the energy, daylight, and comfort goals set by your customers. Moreover, Sefaira enables you to share your project with your colleagues and clienteles. This way, you can utilize an absorbing representation of your idea to convince your audience of the benefits of your design.