Low Carbon Design with Rhino, Grasshopper and One Click LCA
First, there will be a theoretical introduction to the principles of life-cycle assessment. Then, the commercial LCA software One Click LCA will be presented to show how to use its web interface to model the different assumptions of a LCA and how to analyse the results. Afterwards, the participants will be introduced to the Grasshopper plugin of One Click LCA and will learn how to automate a LCA with a 3D model through an example that they will replicate in their own laptops. After this theoretical introduction, the case-study of the workshop will be introduced: An area in the close district of Moabit shall be revitalised through the construction of two footbridges and a couple of canopies to offer leisure activities. The participants will split into different teams to design one of these relatively simple architectonical elements using LCA as a tool to reduce the environmental impacts of their designs.
The participants are expected to be architects and engineers. Just basic knowledge of Rhino and Grasshopper is required. They will have access to the world leading LCA software One Click CLA and will learn different design strategies to use LCA in their designs, so when they return to their offices, they implement them to help reduce the carbon footprint of our built environment. Which is not just a core topic of the DMS 2022, but also a world-wide concern of the AEC industry.
After the theoretical introduction, the participants will be working on their own laptops throughout the whole workshop. They will split into multidisciplinary teams of architects and engineers. They will have support from professional LCA consultants and structural engineers that will guide them and help them out with their designs if required. At the end, the results of the different teams will be printed into posters and presented to the other participants.
Technical requirements
The participants must bring their own laptop. They need Rhino and the Grasshopper plugin of One Click LCA installed. They will be provided with educational licenses for Rhino and One Click LCA for the duration of the workshop. They will also have access to Karamba3d licenses, in case some participants want to use this structural analysis tool for the case-study. They should bring basic sketching tools too.
Workshop Leaders
Diego is developer of the Rhino and Grasshopper integrations of One Click LCA. Diego is a research assistant and PhD candidate at the University of the Arts Berlin with main research interests on parametric and machine-learning based approaches to integrate life-cycle assessment in architectural design. He teaches architectural students several courses about structural design and computational design tools. Diego studied civil engineering at the Technical University of Madrid. He combines his work at the UdK Berlin with his position as structural engineer and computational design specialist at Bollinger+Grohmann.
Vasilis has a background in Civil & Structural Engineering with consulting experience in material efficiency and early design optimization. His focus over the past years has been project optimization in concept and schematic stages from an Embodied Carbon perspective. He works together with designers to help them reduce embodied carbon and save materials using a
combination of early phase and detailed design LCA to guide their work.