Materials / LCA#
The role of Materials consulant in Adnvavced Building Design is essential to explore the emerging potential of an materials designer / engineer as an integral part of the building design team.
Material selection decisions in project are very complex, require the involvement of many stakeholders, have a massive impact on the design and in traditonal projects can be difficult to change later in a project. Therefore a Materials Consultancy can offer value to the client by supporting the project team to make better decisions about materails. Your consultancy has identified this gap in the market and is keen to get experience in real projects. Material consultants support the team through the invesitgation and anlaysis of the sustainability of existing materials as well as an opportubnity to deisgn and analyse new materials that satisfy your project team’s needs.
Chief Consultant: Navid Ranjbar.
Skills and learning
Assignments
Requirements
Interfaces
Skills Required#
Experience with LCA (essential - at least one member)
Experience with DGNB (Desirable)
Experience with EPDs (Desirable)
Material design / engineering experience (Desirable)
Passionate about sustainability (essential)
We can support you with#
Things to consider in material selection and design
How to evaluate and generate a basic EPD
An overview of LCA
An overview of DGNB (Lite)
Inspiration from some realworld examples
You will need to independently#
Get the material requirements from the team
Prvide each consultant with the LCA impact they are responsible for
Decide which elements of the design to focus
Review available materials
Assignments#
Part A#
Help set CO2 eq / m2 / person target
Analyse the previous projects
Analyse the implications of the DGNBLite scehma for the team.
Part B#
Drawings#
Produce the different material options
Part C#
C Consultant Report#
Part C report for Material should be organised with respect to the topics / elements of the DGNB lite used in the course (LCA documentation is part of the Environmental Theme and should be accounted for there). The following aspects and issues should be addressed in the report (deliverables):
Goals for DGNB certification and discussion on decision process and value of the criteria chosen to reach the intended certification level.
DGNB lite documentation on all Topics and the chosen Criteria’s.
Emphasis should be on value creation of the criteria to the buildings design and end user experience.
LCA documentation including:
Goal and scope
Life cycle inventory
Visual representation/overview over Life Cycle inventory in reference to the building design
Sensitivity analysis
Life cycle impact analysis
Highlight of hotspots and suggested alternatives / design strategies, to reduce impact.
Discussion on the Sustainability of your teams building design.
How can the client and your team argue for the “goodness/value” of the building for present and future generations (based on your DGNB and LCA work).
How does the building design show sustainability and sustainable material choices. Furthermore, it should clearly explain the different available options, your building design approach and discuss the decision process and trade-offs from a multi-disciplinary standpoint. Examples of how the DGNB lite requirements and LCA analysis has informed your design process are also important.
This should be seen as your main opportunity to get feedback on your current trajectory and approach before the 3-week period. So, make the most of it😊 Use visuals and diagrams to underline and communicate your design choices and decision making process.
Hint
This should be seen as your main opportunity to get feedback on your current trajectory and approach before the 3-week period. So, make the most of it😊 Use visuals and diagrams to underline and communicate your design choices and decision making process.
Seek ‘regulatory approval’ for the new material / product.
Produce EPD either for the new material / component and
Part D#
D BIM#
Are the materials correct?
Requirements#
Role#
Advanced Building Design Materials Consultants need to be able to analyse current approaches to materials and iff appropriate suggest new materials and components where current solutions do not meet the needs of the team. The materials subject for 2025 combines a number of roles:
Design
Analysis
Documentation
Guidance
Design#
Design a new material / component to TRL (4)? The idea would be that it be ready to include in the design when it is built in 5 - 10 years time.
Analysis#
Identify a new materail / product to develop that satisfies a unique problem in the design.
Define functional units
Documentation#
Produce EPD for the new material / product
Guidance#
Peer review of the other groups
Supporting the design team to
DGNB#
A central criterion for the sustainability of buildings is the DGNB lite certification. A simplified version of the GBRS, DGNB, that is the most common used in Denmark. A green building rating system functions both as a tool to documentation but should also be considered as a set of criteria’s that can help support or define parts of the building design process. Understanding these criteria, where and how they affect your teams process and what measures you can plan out to accommodate the needed information at the right time to the right people. DGNB screening and initial process plotting for knowledge sharing or interventions.
DGNB lite Requirements#
Identify, analyse and delegate DGNB lite requirements to the different subject groups. Inform and plan with PMs to align with DMS continually through the process. Develop and performco-design processes across the building team to develop solutions. Balancing the needs of different disciplines and the DGNB lite requirements through development of metrics and decision support tools.
Circularity in the build environment and life circle assessment#
Principles of circular economy has increasingly become a part of how the future is envisioned also within the build environment. This means that we need to both understand the current linear life cycle of a building, as well as how we can begin to reimagine and design buildings from a more circular perspective. Part of this is being able to account on the impact of different actions such as mining for iron, casting foundation or heating the building. It is however also to put a value on these effects and their impact on both the global and local environment. Her we use Life cycle assessment both as a tool for documenting the expected effects of the building, but also to inform and guide the design process, by highlighting problematic material uses or enabling us to create scenarios of different designs and compare them.
Understand and balance the needs of the different disciplines.#
The building project can be viewed is an arena of development. Consisting of different actors with different values, strengths, and shortcomings. There are global rules of what you can do within this arena but also local rules of thumb within the different disciplines, that sometimes blind them from seeing alternatives to business as usual. You can almost se them as different cultures with different values that they worship and put above all else in their priorities, going into this project arena: Aesthetics, resilience, strength, ease of maintenance, safety, agile process…
In many ways you are the new actor entering in an already existing arena, the new kid on the block. Therefore, you need to understand the different actors of the arena, their values, priorities, and stakes in this Arena. Where do they align and where might they clash? Where is the opportunities and need for collaboration? From this understanding you are better able to create tools for negotiation between these different values and how the different requirements, values and needs can be combined and co-designed into something more than its parts.
Perform LCA on the building.#
During this project initial faces, you will need to Create an initial baseline model that can support early identification of hotspots in the design of the building sketch and support prioritised decision making, in later scenario development. The scenarios you develop should be to a degree that enables informed decision making with clear evaluations on information shortcomings, advantages, and drawback from an environmental performance standpoint. The hope is to support a transdisciplinary process of knowledge sharing and prioritisation and decision making. Lastly you will need to create a complete LCA of the building including all the regulation required life cycle stages. Pay attention and document all insecurities or shortcomings in your model as well as a discussion and perspectivation of the final LCA analysis and results. It is expected that you manage to keep a information link to the LCA calculation tools (including your Life cycle inventory) and the interface to the BIM models, so there is a clear project model alignment through the process.
Hint
Coordinate with the PM on how to achieve this and make sure this is included in the DMS.
Material knowledge, search and strategies for sustainable building design#
The materials that go into constructing a building is vast in quantity, taking up and imbedding large amounts of resources and energy in a structure for decades.
To design and build more sustainable buildings now and in the future, we need to gain a better understanding of the direct and indirect effects and consequences of the materials we choose to use, how they are put together and perform as well as how we mange them when they are not going to be part of our building anymore.
Here the material subject people have a critical role in identifying problematic materials or building designs. Using an array of design tools and methods to both map out and communicate the issues as well as enabling collaborative processes with the relevant subject groups involved, to develop alternative material or design proposals.
Design new materials#
@Navid :)
Material Integration#
Material -> Architecture#
Support decision making through collaboration around circular design strategies. Support in material choices and knowledge along the decision process. Key in communicating needs and criterias of other subjects and ensure strategic collaborative processes with relevant subject groups along the design process.
Material -> Structure#
Support structure subject to make material decisions on the structure of the building. Collaboratively define the structural unit of the structure to support the LCA calculations. Encourage the structures subject to provide information early to you and make assumptions where appropriate to support your calculations. Develop and collaborate on dynamic life cycle inventory “material model” of the building and its parts.
Material -> MEP#
Coordinate closely with the MEP subject to establish the scope of the LCA regarding heating, energy use, water use scenarios for replacement/service, as well as additional energy and resource use, in the “use” face of the buildings life cycle. The material subject should collaborate on identifying opportunities for green innovation or optimization as well as representing the needs of the MEP subjects focus.
Material -> Geotech#
Whilst there may be more limited options for materials in the Geotech, early quantification and exploration of the impacts of the proposals will support the Geotech subject investigations. Geotech and Material should collaborate on mapping potential local environmental concerns in regards to the building process and use, ground water levels, potential chemical pollution, earth absorption levels exec. Again, it is important to consider assumptions to support the articulation and deliberation of different options as well as considering the complex interactions and effects of constructing a building.
Material -> Fire Safety#
A core role of the subject group is to help the team to explore the important relationship between sustainability and safety. Your role here is to listen to the needs of the different subjects and produce options that helps them to make decisions about the best way forward.
Introducing new or lesser used materials in a building can in some cases be a fire safety concern, therefore it is central that you collaborate around material selection criteria’s and limitations, as well as being able to communicate/translate these to the other subject teams.
Ultimately you are responsible for the materials and can ‘override’ other groups, but this would not be a good option if you have not considered their needs – it should be a compromise.
Material -> PM/ICT#
This collaboration should be clearly defined in the DMS.
Clear communication and planning between PM and MAT is central for the intended collaboration and co -design process as well as managing expectations and prioritising in the planning of the project and the goals set for different subjects.Material should also continuously communicate and collaborate on achieving the DGNB lite goal and documenting it appropriately.