Open online training material by Aalto and Yale Universities promotes low-carbon construction

The architecture schools of Aalto and Yale Universities have published open, free-of-charge on-line curricular material called Decarbonize Design. The project was published in connection with the World Circular Economy Forum 2019.

Decarbonize Design is an online course with supporting curricular materials aimed at anyone working in constructed environments: designers, architects, and engineers as well as material manufacturers, construction companies, and policy makers responsible for project planning and construction-related decisions. The modules consist of video lectures, course templates for teachers, and a guide book scheduled for publication in the fall of 2019.

The broad consensus among professionals is that the materials and technologies of construction must be made more sustainable. Although there has been an urgent need for training in the entire field, until now training material and tools for low-carbon construction have been hard to find. Decarbonize Design aims to change this: its course material is globally accessible and easily adaptable.

The authors seek to raise awareness about the opportunities in the fields of building design to aid in developing a truly sustainable society. A large portion of the buildings, infrastructure and energy systems of the world will be built or renewed in the next 15 years. The worldwide construction boom may have far-reaching consequences, and smart solutions can significantly speed the materialization of a low-carbon future.

Life cycle approach

Decarbonize Design is rooted in a so-called life cycle approach, which according to the designers of the course material should be integrated into the building design process. The life cycle of buildings spans from the extraction of material, through land use planning and building design to the actual construction, operation and finally to demolition and reuse and recycling of building components.

“The crucial question concerns the formation of buildings’ emissions throughout their life cycle as well as the rate at which the emissions can be brought down. Building design and well thought-out material choices can have a significant effect on these things,” says the project’s leader Professor Matti Kuittinen from Aalto University.

“Luckily, a low-carbon approach can be easily adopted, and it’s not difficult mathematically speaking. Cost accounting is done all the time, and the very same source information can be used to calculate the carbon footprint of construction.”

“This is a challenging moment in the history of the planet,” noted co-author Alan Organschi of Yale School of Architecture. “Anyone involved in the formation of the built environment—from material producers to policy makers—directs the consumption of resources and has both enormous responsibility and significant opportunity to reshape our future. It’s a difficult but also an exciting time to be in the field of building design and construction.”

The course material has been developed jointly by the Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture and the Yale School of Architecture in the United States. The project has been funded by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra.