Embodied Carbon and Adaptive Reuse: Towards a Union of Design and Analysis in Architectural Pedagogy

he integration of embodied carbon analysis (ECA)1 as a design driver is imperative if students are to understand architecture’s role in climate change, yet it is an underdeveloped area of inquiry in the design studio. A clear understanding of the sunk cost of embodied carbon is particularly relevant in adaptive reuse projects ,2 where irretrievable carbon and monetary costs make material reuse critical.3 This awareness is imperative for students to understand architecture’s impact on the larger environment and how their work can play a role in achieving state,4 federal,5 and international6 carbon reduction goals. Students often receive a cursory, rule-of-thumb understanding of the impact of embodied carbon or execute isolated calculation exercises. More in-depth work usually occurs in a seminar dissociated from studio design work.7 Here, students engaged in embodied carbon analysis of both an existing building and design proposal from the beginning of a project, incorporating ECA results as a primary driver of design. This work was coordinated between a studio and three technical seminars, with research, design and analysis shared between courses. To coordinate efforts, each course used the EcoAudit fast Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method in Granta EduPack,8 a materials database and visualization software. The impacts of student analyses often played a determinative role in design decisions.