Towards a parametric early design approach for office buildings that integrates life cycle assessment and indoor environmental quality
(2026) Building and Environment — Vol. 289, p. 113998 (2026)
Files
2026-JBE
Embargo Access until 2026-08-01 - Unknown
- 6.97 MB
Details
- Authors
Dasse, Maxime 
Slavkovic, Katarina Gobbo, Emilie
- Abstract
- The construction sector is responsible for significant greenhouse gas emissions and therefore is a major driver of climate change. We must adapt our practices to design buildings that aim to achieve climate neutrality. The early design stages are critical to achieving this objective as most impactful decisions are made then. Yet very little data on the building design are available at early design. In parallel, the current research on life cycle greenhouse gas emissions has focused more on residential than office buildings. Furthermore, existing life cycle assessment studies of buildings frequently exclude lighting comfort from their scope. In this study, we propose a parametric approach to quantify the influence of design parameters on the life cycle energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lighting comfort. This approach is based on the generation of office layout models. Embodied flows calculations and energy and daylight simulations are then conducted on the generated models to evaluate their performance across two main dimensions: life cycle greenhouse gasses emissions and spatial daylight autonomy. Lastly, a sensitivity analysis quantifies the individual influence of the design parameters on these dimensions. We find that geometry has a significant influence on the performance of the models. In fact, we found that the width of the building and subsequently its density are the most influential parameter, followed by the window-to-wall ratio. Using parametric models at the early stage of design can help identify design solutions that achieve a high life cycle environmental performance, helping stir the construction sector towards climate neutrality while maintaining comfort standards.
- Affiliations
Citations
Dasse, M., Slavkovic, K., Stephan, A., & Gobbo, E. (2026). Towards a parametric early design approach for office buildings that integrates life cycle assessment and indoor environmental quality. Building and Environment, 289, 113998. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2025.113998 (Original work published 2026)