Integrated life-cycle design of building enclosures

Rodrigo Mora, Girma Bitsuamlak, Miljana Horvat
Building and Environment, Volume 46, Issue 7, July 2011

Abstract

In spite of the progress in developing methods and tools to support sustainable building design, there is still a lack of a formal approach to bridge the “no man’s land” gap between the traditional building engineering disciplines, and between these and the architecture, to achieve the level of building integration required for sustainability. This paper presents an integration framework that aims at facilitating the inclusion of life-cycle considerations in the design process from the outset, so that materials and systems are selected not only from environmentally friendly resources, but most importantly, to match service life performance expectations. The framework describes an iterative methodology to evaluate these expectations in practice, which is based on an understanding and modeling of the dynamics of the built environment to which materials, components, and systems are exposed. Quantitative methods and test protocols can be incorporated into the framework for assessing function-performance aspects of alternative solutions. Due to its complexity stemming from its inherent exposure to variable environmental loads and its multi-functionality, the framework focuses on addressing the life cycle of the building enclosure system. It is expected that the organization of the underlying principles of building life-cycle performance described in this paper will become a knowledge core that will facilitate a more integrated treatment of buildings in research, education, and practice.

Title of the image: “Building Performance Tree Analogy”
The image is copyright owned by
Rodrigo Mora, PhD, P.Eng.
Faculty
Building Science, School of Construction and the Environment
British Columbia Institute of Technology
3700 Willingdon Avenue, Building NE1, Burnaby, BC

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