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Kathiravel, Rojini

University of British Columbia

The selection of construction materials is a critical aspect of sustainable building design, balancing environmental impact with structural integrity. Traditional methods, especially within Building Information Modeling (BIM), often involve fragmented processes that impede efficient multi-scenario evaluations. This study introduces the Structural-Carbon Integrated Design (SCID) framework, designed to streamline material selection by enabling simultaneous analysis of structural and environmental performance within a single workflow. Using the Grasshopper visual programming environment, enhanced with Alpaca4D and Bombyx plugins, SCID assesses the trade-offs in using various material combinations. The framework was applied to five configurations, featuring concrete and timber in different structural roles, for the Brock Commons – UBC Student Housing, a tall hybrid mass timber building. SCID evaluated these combinations to achieve an optimal balance between structural stability and reduced embodied carbon. Results indicated that hybrid designs using timber for non-primary structural elements, such as flat slabs and columns, with concrete for core walls, achieved substantial reductions in environmental impact without sacrificing stability. These hybrid configurations consistently showed lower embodied carbon than concrete-only structures while meeting the structural demands of high-rise buildings. Conversely, while concrete-only scenarios demonstrated robust structural stability, they carried a high environmental cost due to concrete’s carbon footprint. Timber-only designs, while environmentally advantageous, presented moderate structural performance challenges in high-rise applications. Validation of SCID against conventional tools like SAP2000 and OpenLCA showed an accuracy within ±5%, confirming its reliability for integrated structural and environmental assessments. This accuracy, combined with streamlined analysis, highlights SCID’s potential as a valuable tool for architects and engineers focused on sustainability and structural requirements, as demonstrated in the Brock Commons case study. This study contributes to sustainable building design by presenting a unified platform that reduces time and effort in material analysis, offering an adaptable and accurate approach to early-stage design. Future improvements, such as AI-driven material selection, aim to enhance SCID’s capabilities, supporting the industry’s shift toward sustainable practices, especially in mass timber hybrid structures.

Text

2024-12-05

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/89793

Forestry

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/