Designing for the Living Building Challenge: An Integrated Material Environment Visibility Framework for New Zealand Designers

To achieve rigorous performance in sustainability toward zero-carbon in the Built Environment, the New Zealand government also promotes Living Building Challenge (LBC) in design. The LBC seeks detailed material specifications till disposal with environmental impacts to measure sustainability in design and insists 75% of the project materials supply within 90 km of the project location. This study explored the constraints related to LBC material requirements and found the major barriers for designers are a) the sustainability imperatives namely red list and material lifetime are not considered by online material catalogue providers, b) no material data is shared among the primary stakeholders for acceptance and compliance evaluation, and c) no facility to identify the supply chain and suppliers within a certain distance of the project location. As a solution, this research designed a hybrid material catalogue having all possible material parameters classified into 5 major categories and developed an integrated material environment visibility framework linking the processes among the designers, contractors, suppliers, and the client. This proposed integrated framework provides a shared environment on material viewing, similar alternatives, accurate compliance evaluations in design, material suppliers availability, and other supply chain details at design stage itself. This new framework is currently under industry evaluation for compatibility, reliability, and industry professionals' acceptance.