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Models of architecture and design projects in both the academy and in professional practice focus overwhelmingly on the geometric relationships of proposed
design elements. Final presentation diagrams, technical drawings, and renderings in
design critiques focus on the physical dimensions, programmatic arrangements, and
functions supporting a design concept. Students learn early to focus primarily on the
visual aspects of their projects as a matter of course.
The largely qualitative academic and professional design discussions contrast
starkly with LCA’s dry quantitative technical language and heavily qualified statements. Interpretive data visualization tools and dashboards make LCA, nongeometric, tabular data more accessible. However, the physically large-scale, but
essentially invisible, environmental phenomena these data describe rarely turn
heads in a design critique. Juries discuss the formal merits of a design project.
Asking panelists to focus on the “eutrophication potential” or even the more recognized and accepted categorical threat “global warming potential” of different design
alternatives is a hard sell. What to do with environmental impact assessment statements, even when based on trustworthy data, is not immediately evident.
6.5.1 Aesthetic/Technical Split in the Academy
Professional design schools teach important technical subjects, but, in the end, these
are often relegated to relatively minor roles in holistic design assessment. In architectural education, building science courses in construction, structures, and environmental control systems supports the design studio where a two and a half to one
lion’s share of credits in design curricula are distributed. Design programs typically
attract students who want to manifest their creative impulses at various scales in the
physical world. Technical analysis is typically tolerated but less valued than formal
synthesis. This is the main challenge to integrate LCA into design curricula.
The tension between the technical and aesthetic reflects the bifurcated origins of
the design academy. Today’s design schools are rooted in and modeled on two parallel academic traditions: the polytechnic and the beaux arts. In today’s siloed academic environment, integrating the “Arts and Sciences” as a set of complementary
approaches to explore physical phenomena is still more of a wish than a practical
reality. This is true even in amalgamated and applied disciplines like design.
There is a growing student and faculty interest in “life cycle thinking.” But when
faced with the requirements of conducting proper studies as defined in the ISO
14040, 14,044, and other data-driven standards, the conversation quickly turns away
from rigorous quantitative analysis back to the familiar comfort and safety of formal
synthesis. This is, in no way, intended to diminish the necessity of serious qualitative design critique. Rather, it is an observation of primary drivers of academic
design decisions that present a challenge for LCA adoption.
6 Addressing Resistance to a Fact-Based Approach
Models of architecture and design projects in both the academy and in professional practice focus overwhelmingly on the geometric relationships of proposed
design elements. Final presentation diagrams, technical drawings, and renderings in
design critiques focus on the physical dimensions, programmatic arrangements, and
functions supporting a design concept. Students learn early to focus primarily on the
visual aspects of their projects as a matter of course.
The largely qualitative academic and professional design discussions contrast
starkly with LCA’s dry quantitative technical language and heavily qualified statements. Interpretive data visualization tools and dashboards make LCA, nongeometric, tabular data more accessible. However, the physically large-scale, but
essentially invisible, environmental phenomena these data describe rarely turn
heads in a design critique. Juries discuss the formal merits of a design project.
Asking panelists to focus on the “eutrophication potential” or even the more recognized and accepted categorical threat “global warming potential” of different design
alternatives is a hard sell. What to do with environmental impact assessment statements, even when based on trustworthy data, is not immediately evident.
6.5.1 Aesthetic/Technical Split in the Academy
Professional design schools teach important technical subjects, but, in the end, these
are often relegated to relatively minor roles in holistic design assessment. In architectural education, building science courses in construction, structures, and environmental control systems supports the design studio where a two and a half to one
lion’s share of credits in design curricula are distributed. Design programs typically
attract students who want to manifest their creative impulses at various scales in the
physical world. Technical analysis is typically tolerated but less valued than formal
synthesis. This is the main challenge to integrate LCA into design curricula.
The tension between the technical and aesthetic reflects the bifurcated origins of
the design academy. Today’s design schools are rooted in and modeled on two parallel academic traditions: the polytechnic and the beaux arts. In today’s siloed academic environment, integrating the “Arts and Sciences” as a set of complementary
approaches to explore physical phenomena is still more of a wish than a practical
reality. This is true even in amalgamated and applied disciplines like design.
There is a growing student and faculty interest in “life cycle thinking.” But when
faced with the requirements of conducting proper studies as defined in the ISO
14040, 14,044, and other data-driven standards, the conversation quickly turns away
from rigorous quantitative analysis back to the familiar comfort and safety of formal
synthesis. This is, in no way, intended to diminish the necessity of serious qualitative design critique. Rather, it is an observation of primary drivers of academic
design decisions that present a challenge for LCA adoption.
6 Addressing Resistance to a Fact-Based Approach