Reducing embodied carbon during the design process of buildings

Tarja Häkkinen, Matti Kuittinen, Antti Ruuska, Nusrat Jung*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticleScientificpeer-review

    116 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    To achieve low-carbon buildings, or buildings with low greenhouse (GHG) emissions, planning must begin during the design phase of a building project. This paper evaluates the current methods as support for the design of low-carbon buildings and the significance of different design phases from the perspective of embodied carbon. Through evaluation of relevant literature, interviews with practicing architects, and a building case study, we recommend to proceed gradually across all design phases for achieving low-carbon building design. This should take place in a systematic way that describes the status, coverage, and accuracy of GHG assessments in each design stage. Furthermore, we outline the framework with the use of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) stages of design, and for each stage, we identified the objectives, typical deliverables, and milestones necessary for ensuring carbon efficiency. This will require integration of the roles and responsibilities of the relevant stakeholders, including the client, project manager, architect, structural engineer, and Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) engineer.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)1-13
    Number of pages13
    JournalJournal of Building Engineering
    Volume4
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 17 Aug 2015
    MoE publication typeA1 Journal article-refereed

    Funding

    This work was supported by the project Ownership in sustainable building (OKRA) funded by Tekes, Finnish Funding Agency and project Building information model (BIM) based product data management in industrialized construction supply chain (BIMCON) under Built Environment Process Re-engineering Research Program (PRE). N. Jung was also funded through the Academy of Finland Energy Efficiency and Systems (EES) doctoral program at Aalto University. We would also like to thank the Finnish architectural companies; ALA Architects Oy, K2S Architects, Gylling-Vikstöm Architects, Sanaksenaho Architects, ARK-House, Puustalnnovations and Kombi Architects, for sharing their knowledge and expertize in the conducted interviews.

    Keywords

    • Carbon footprint
    • Design process
    • Embodied GHGs
    • Life cycle assessment
    • Low-carbon design

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Reducing embodied carbon during the design process of buildings'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this