Carbon (eBook)

Matti Kuittinen is an architect and professor of resource-efficient construction at Aalto University, Finland. As a policymaker, he has been developing whole life carbon assessment methods in Finland and the EU. Alan Organschi is a design principal and a partner at Gray Organschi Architecture, in New Haven, CT and a senior member of the design and technology faculty of the Yale School of Architecture. He currently serves as the Director of the Innovation Lab of the global initiative Bauhaus Earth in Berlin, Germany. Andrew Ruff (New Haven, CT) is the Research Coordinator of the Timber City Research Initiative, the Design Director at Gray Organschi Architecture, and a Visiting Critic at the Yale School of Architecture. He previously held appointments as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Wesleyan University and a Lecturer at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and served as part of the guest faculty at the Roger Williams School of Architecture, Art, and Historic Preservation, where he led design research into the applications of mass timber assemblies in mid-rise building applications. In addition to his professional degree in Architecture, he holds a Master of Environmental Design from the Yale School of Architecture and has lectured and published on the subject of mass timber buildings in the global carbon economy.

Preface viii

Chapter 1 Carbon? 2

Our Carbon Challenge 6

Building Elements 6

King Carbon 7

A Global Carbon Budget 9

The Carbon Cycle in Building History 10

Carbon Flows in Building 12

Staunching the Flow 14

Time Management in Carbon Mitigation 17

Re-balancing the Planet: Agency and Opportunity 18

About This Book: An Overview 19

Chapter 2 Measuring Carbon Flows 22

Life Cycle Assessment: What's in It for Building Designers? 25

The Fundamental Concepts 27

The Process of Life Cycle Assessment 37

The Production Stage 46

The Construction Stage 53

The Use Stage 61

Service Life 66

End-of-Life Stage 74

Results, Interpretation, and Comparison 81

The Streamlined Life Cycle Assessment for Buildings 83

Chapter 3 Case Studies in Decarbonization 86

Notes from the Field 89

How Were the Calculations Per formed? 90

Case Study 1 Common Ground High School 92

Architectural Objectives (by Gray Organschi Architecture) 93

Common Ground High School: Key Figures 100

Materials 100

Site and Ground Works 104

Foundations and Ground Floor 106

Structural Frame 108

Façades and External Decks 110

Roofs 112

Internal Dividers 114

Space Surfaces 116

Internal Fixtures 118

Building System Installations 120

Mitigation Potential from Materials and Systems 130

Energy-Related Emissions 131

Case Study 2: Puukuokka Housing Block 135

Architectural Objectives (by OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture) 137

Puukuokka One: Key Figures 142

Site and Ground Works 146

Foundations and Ground Floor 148

Modular Units 150

Hallway 152

Façades 154

Roofs 156

Building Service Installations 158

Mitigation Potential from Materials and Systems 168

Energy 168

Comparison of the Case Studies 172

Comparison of the Emissions 176

Chapter 4 De-carbonizing Design 180

A Context of Externalities: Pre conditions of the Decarbonized Design Process 185

The Decarbonized Design Process 188

Phases of Decarbonized Building Design 190

The Pre-Design or Project Preparation Phase: Laying the Groundwork for Decarbonized Building Design 190

Selecting a Low-Carbon Site 192

Programming a Low-Carbon Building 195

Anticipating the Lifespan of a Building 196

The Conceptual or Schematic Design Phase 197

The Design Development Phase 201

Material Classes and Their Carbon Consequences 203

The Decarbonized Building Assembly 208

The Later Design Phases: Contract Documentation, Bidding and Negotiation, and Construction Administration 212

Principles of Decarbonized Design 213

Understanding Design Agency: Shifting Roles and Responsibilities 218

Chapter 5 Re-Forming the Anthropocene 220

Beyond Sustainable 223

Thinking Outside the Building's Life Cycle 224

Re-forming the Anthropocene 231

The Anthropocene Re-formed 240

Acknowledgments 243

Glossary 244

References 248

Index 252

"This is a must-read book. It achieves the rare outcome of being a successful volume for design practitioners (who should know what to do) as well as design students (who don't yet know what to do). But it is also very useful to educators, policymakers, engineers, local authorities, industry professionals and - really - anyone who takes seriously the sheer impacts caused by the global built environment to ecosystems, biodiversity, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, land use, urban fabric transformation, energy demand, social shifts and implications for the lives of millions who live in, or at the margins of, it."
--Francesco Pomponi, Buildings & Cities

"A recommendable book to get started with LCA in building construction with focus on CO2 or carbon as well as concepts for decarbonization.... The basic LCA aspects are presented in an easy to follow manner.... Also worth to mention: many specific LCA terms which are helpful in discussing with LCA experts such as cradle-to-gate, end-of-life, end-of-waste or closing the loop are addressed in easy to understand words."
--nbau, NACHHALTIG BAUEN
"Its explanatory tone runs like a seam through this book; copiously illustrated in black and white and on a thin, uncoated paper that intimates the authors' awareness of its own carbon footprint. It's worth it alone just for Chapter 3, 'Case Studies in Decarbonisation'"
--The RIBA Journal