Towards sustainable design: Integrating data from operation of buildings in design practices

Abstract

In recent years, the Danish Architecture, Engineering and Construction industry has shown increased interest in sustainability in contributing to the achievement of the UN 17 sustainable development goals. Sustainable design is, however, hampered by lack of information and weak data integration especially in the early design stages of building projects. In order to overcome these challenges, research has proposed transferring information from operation to the design of new buildings. By conducting a case study analysis in a Danish architecture firm, this research aims to explore the form of collaboration between architects and building client, and how this collaboration can support or inhibit the calculations of life cycle costing as an essential part of sustainable design practices. The data, for this exploratory research, are gathered through direct observations, surveys and semi-structured interviews. Structured analysis is used as the theoretical methodology to map the flow of data in a paradigmatic building project of the case company and recognize existing forms of knowledge transfer and areas of improvement. The results indicate that there are significant potentials of collaboration, however, several actions should be taken from both sides in order to enable information and data exchange. By improving the collaboration with building clients, architects will gain access to information from operation of buildings, which can be effectively used in architecture design improving the sustainability of buildings and contributing to SDG-9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure.