International Industrial Ecology Day 2021

Buildings are responsible for more than 40% of global energy and 18% of global Greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission. Many studies have addressed the contribution of building materials impacting on the environment, from GHGs emission to embodied energy during the building life cycle, from design, construction to the use and disposal phase. The challenge facing architects and designers is to make decision on material selection criteria, which decision needs to consider material factors and construction processes in the design stage. This study aims to assess the impacts of building materials selection and how these can be reduced from the design stage. Specifically, the study aims to provide an integration platform between BIM and MFA that helps architects and designers in specifying suitable building materials and improve decision made in the selection process in the design stage. Software used in the study are divided into two categories based on one BIM technology and MFA method, which Revit considered as BIM software, and Umberto LCA+ as MFA tool. A conceptual framework is presented that combines BIM and MFA to demonstrate the integration platform that is proposed to improve materials selection decision criteria.