Alfredo Ordoñez-Castro

Building Information Modeling-based (BIM) Digital Twins (DT) are increasingly adopted to support sustainable building management; however, the growing body of secondary literature—systematic reviews, surveys, and bibliometric studies—remains methodologically fragmented and lacks a consolidated tertiary synthesis. This fragmentation prevents researchers and practitioners from identifying consistent guidelines, validated frameworks, and comparable software ecosystems across the field. To address this gap, this study conducts a tertiary review of 57 secondary studies published between 2018 and 2025, following Kitchenham and Charters’ evidence-based guidelines and the PICOC framework. Data extraction and comparative analysis were conducted across seven criteria, including methodological approaches, proposed frameworks, enabling technologies, software tools, and reported limitations. The results reveal that bibliometric analyses and systematic literature reviews dominate the field, with few yielding structured frameworks and taxonomies; nearly half of the reviewed studies do not assess specific software platforms. Artificial intelligence and the internet of things are among the most widely studied enabling technologies, primarily associated with energy management, predictive maintenance, and structural monitoring, yet their integration with BIM-based DT platforms is inconsistently documented. The findings expose persistent interoperability constraints, insufficient data governance structures, limited maturity models, and a lack of large-scale empirical validation—gaps that this tertiary synthesis maps and prioritizes to guide future research toward reproducible, scalable, and sustainability-oriented DT implementations in the architecture, engineering, and construction sector.

Regional energy self-sufficiency based on microgeneration from clean, local energy sources is essential and strategic for meeting growing electricity demand. In this context, initiatives driven by local governments are decisive in achieving such progress. This study proposes a methodology for sizing photovoltaic (PV) capacity at the parish level, which is the basic political–administrative unit in Ecuador. Rooftop-based microgeneration and self-supply are considered to entail minimal environmental impact while offering significant potential to meet the basic energy demands of buildings in the Andean equatorial climate. The results demonstrate that, using accessible tools such as drones, computer-aided design software, and Agisoft Metashape, and through low-labour processes, it is feasible to estimate the PV potential of buildings at the parish scale. A total of 1698 rooftops were surveyed, and after discarding those with precarious construction materials, the estimated solar potential was found to be between ten and twenty-three times higher than the electrical demand of the analysed parishes. The estimated annual generation potential reaches 28,101 MWh, compared to an annual demand of 1827 MWh for both parishes combined. The proposed process enables the incorporation of rooftop-based technological capacity, relying on a low-technology, affordable methodological approach and instruments for low-income parish governance offices, with low-density populated areas as the main novelty, providing clear information to both authorities and the local population.

This article presents an empirical evaluation of the technical and economic performance of a building-integrated photovoltaic (PV) system implemented at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of Cuenca, Ecuador. This study explores both stages of deployment, beginning with a 7.7 kWp pilot system and later scaling to a full 75.6 kWp configuration. This hourly monitoring of power exchanges with utility was conducted over several months using high-resolution instrumentation and cloud-based analytics platforms. A detailed comparison between projected energy output, recorded production, and real energy consumption was carried out, revealing how seasonal variability, cloud cover, and academic schedules influence system behavior. The findings also include a comparison between billed and actual electricity prices, as well as an analysis of the system’s payback period under different cost scenarios, including state-subsidized and real-cost frameworks. The results confirm that energy exports are frequent during weekends and that daily generation often exceeds on-site demand on non-working days. Although the university benefits from low electricity tariffs, the system demonstrates financial feasibility when broader public cost structures are considered. This study highlights operational outcomes under real-use conditions and provides insights for scaling distributed generation in institutional settings, with particular relevance for Andean urban contexts with similar solar profiles and tariff structures.

La gentrificación es un fenómeno urbano que desplaza a los habitantes originarios de un barrio debido a procesos de regeneración. En este análisis realizado en el centro histórico de la ciudad patrimonial de Cuenca, el inicio del proceso no responde necesariamente a una transformación significativa de la arquitectura. Se llega a demostrar que el fenómeno nace invisiblemente debido a cambios en la composición demográfica del vecindario. La metodología de esta investigación requiere de la correlación de los datos censales para cada unidad mínima aplicable conocida como manzana. Esta información es contrastada con fotos históricas disponibles en la plataforma Google. El aporte significativo al concepto de gentrificación resulta en un método que permite identificar y predecir el fenómeno, lo que resulta más importante que su diagnóstico visual – tardío.

Las ciudades propician un alto impacto ambiental en el sitio y en el entorno por sus requerimientos energéticos. En este artículo analizamos la implementación de la tecnología solar fotovoltaica (PV) como alternativa de autoaprovisionamiento energético limpio en un sector de uso mixto-residencial en la ciudad ecuatorial andina de Cuenca, Ecuador. A partir de las demandas energéticas de las edificaciones de la zona seleccionada, a través de LiDAR se identifican techumbres que, por su geometría, orientación o emplazamiento, son adecuadas para la instalación de paneles PV. Se obtienen consumos energéticos reales y, usando el software SAM con datos climáticos locales, se simula la capacidad de autoabastecimiento con la integración de PVs para alcanzar la neutralidad energética en cada inmueble. Se determina la generación eléctrica conjunta y se establece que la demanda energética puede ser cubierta en un 94,88%, con la instalación de 427 placas PV de 335 Wp distribuidas en 29 predios y con requerimiento de ocupación espacial de 11,95% de las cubiertas disponibles. Finalmente, se concluye que por espacio en techumbres se puede autoabastecer la totalidad de la demanda eléctrica, siendo incluso esta una alternativa para cubrir demandas alternativas como cocción y transporte que actualmente se solventan con combustibles fósiles.

Environmental comfort is fundamental for teaching and learning processes. This work focuses on identifying shortcomings and proposing improvements for educational buildings in the Andean equatorial climate. A quantitative experimental methodology was employed, which included collecting thermal comfort data to calibrate the use of the DesignBuilder v7 environmental simulation software. Issues with thermal weakness in the carpentry were identified, both due to the choice of materials and construction sealing. These are common weaknesses that arise in the context of the Andean Ecuadorian climate, but which affect moments of thermal discomfort during study hours. With the calibrated simulator, thermal improvements achievable by working on the carpentry to reduce infiltrations by half and improving glazing with double-glazed and triple-glazed windows, achieving even uniformity in thermal transmittance compared to other envelope materials, were analyzed. By reducing infiltrations alone, the average temperature increased by between 1.07 °C and 1.61 °C, surpassing the minimum comfort threshold and remaining within locally accepted temperatures throughout the day. With very-high-standard glazing, additional improvements are made, increasing the average temperature by an additional 0.30 °C to 0.69 °C, resulting in a less efficient alternative.