A framework to evaluate the architect-friendliness of environmental impact assessment tools for buildings

Abstract

Legal actions towards a mandatory environmental impact assessment (EIA) of buildings can be expected in the (near) future. Due to the complexity of EIA, software tools will become an indispensable aid in the architectural design process. Especially in early design, feedback on the environmental impact is needed, since early design decisions have a major influence on the final impact of the design. However, most existing EIA tools insufficiently take into account the architect's needs as a user and are especially not suitable for use in early design. Therefore, an evaluation framework with criteria for architect-friendliness of EIA tools, with a specific focus on early design, is developed based on a large-scale survey, interviews and a focus group with practising architects. This framework can be used to evaluate the architect-friendliness of existing EIA tools and as a guidance for the development of new architect-oriented tools.

Integrating life cycle assessment into the building design process—a review

“…Table 3 provides a summary of findings distilled from five studies. This includes research by Hollberg et al (2022), who propose a framework for user-centric LCA tool development, prioritising end users (in this instance building designers) in the tool development process to ensure that final products meet user requirements; a study by Meex et al (2017), who present a framework for the evaluation of the architect-friendliness of environmental assessment tools in early design (based on analysis of the Flemish architectural design practice); a review by Prideaux et al (2022) investigating tools used to assess embodied environmental effects throughout the design process; a survey of Flemish architects by Weytjens and Verbeeck (2010), looking at the user friendliness of energy evaluation tools; and survey findings from Sartori et al (2022b) from an international survey of building designers, listing guidelines for LCA tool developers to improve the compatibility of LCA tools for the building design process, mapped against the RIBA Plan of Work.…”

Challenges in developing a holistic Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) software tool: developers’ goals

“…This adds not only time to the project but also work and cost. However, architects argued in a focus group experiment that each design alternative should take no more than 30 minutes to complete if they were to provide effective design guidance [21]. Therefore, it is important to identify strategies to reduce the time gap between the current practice and the designer's expectations [18].…”