The Impact of Geographic Location and Wall Materials on Energy Consumption in Dormitory Buildings: An Empirical Study Based on BIM

China's construction sector faces significant energy challenges, with university dormitories exhibiting particularly high energy density. This study uses Building Information Modeling (BIM) with Revit software to examine how wall materials and geographic latitude affect energy use in dorm buildings. The simulation model of Building 6 at Southwest Jiaotong University's Xipu Campus was constructed to compare a traditional 200mm solid wall against three composite insulated walls across three geographic locations: Chengdu (30.76N), Shanghai (31.23N), and Tangshan (39.63N). Key results indicate that higher latitude (Tangshan vs. Chengdu) reduces lighting energy consumption by approximately 12% (123.26 MJ/m vs. 140.02 MJ/m) due to longer summer daylight hours and reduced cloud cover, but increases total energy use primarily due to greater heating demand. Optimized wall materials significantly reduce energy consumption; the CW102-50-100P composite wall decreased total site energy by 11.6% (1994.22 GJ vs. 2254.98 GJ) compared to the conventional wall. Analysis also highlighted substantial energy losses during extraction and transmission for electricity (conversion factor 3.167) and district heating (3.613). The study concludes that integrating latitude-adaptive design strategies (e.g., maximizing natural light utilization at high latitudes), optimizing wall insulation, and reducing reliance on high-loss energy sources can systematically lower dormitory energy consumption, providing a scientific basis for regionally tailored energy conservation and building lifecycle carbon reduction.