A design stage, multi-objective assessment: material selection with environmental life-cycle analysis, labor, and material health considerations for building structure

Abstract

During the schematic design stage of a building, assessing trade-offs of lifecycle impact of building elements and materials is crucial for the decision-making process when aiming to reduce negative impacts holistically. A multi-objective assessment is proposed, for environmental, labour exploitation risk (LER), and material health lifecycle impact of the structure and foundation elements in the schematic design stage. Using a real, mid-size, mass timber, educational building in Philadelphia, United States as a case study, we deployed multi-objective optimization (MOO) to consider the range of global warming potential (GWP), LER rating, and material health impact of nine product types over 1602 structure and foundation elements. The parametric workflow paired with Building Information Modelling (BIM) objects aims to provide designers a holistic overview on the cumulative, per material, and per building element impact upstream in the supply chain. The Pareto front solutions reveal that concrete floor with metal deck, hollow structural section framing, and concrete foundation slab, footing, and column pose the greatest risk overall for the case study building, and warrant design consideration to substitute with less impactful alternatives.