Visualising carbon in the design of non-domestic buildings

There have been accelerated efforts in European policy and practice to measure and simulate carbon emissions from constructing and using buildings. Though there has been a growth of design tools and technologies to better account for carbon emissions, the ways design professionals visualise such phenomena have not been studied. STS studies have for some time established the operative characteristics of visual artifacts and the important epistemic role they play in a range of domains from radiology, neurosurgery, and design to scientific laboratory experiments. Though useful in enabling new understandings of the role visual artifacts play in knowledge processes and practices, there have been few accounts in the context of design and architecture and none to date examining issues related to low carbon. Studies into architectural organisations further inform the role of visual artifacts in conveying information and enhancing collaborative work during the design process. Nevertheless, visualising and communicating carbon emissions have received little attention or discussion in policy, practice or research domains.



This paper draws on visual descriptive analysis of documentary evidence of 217 visual artifacts, including graphs and imagery illustrations, used in design and sustainability reports to communicate carbon emissions at early design stages across three non-domestic building projects in the UK. The research finds that visualising carbon involves comparisons between carbon information at different scales and temporal intervals of the building performance. Comparisons also included benchmarking the carbon information against guiding standards. The findings further inform that the comparisons were led by the target of diagnosing areas of deficiency in carbon efficiency and justifying design solutions at different building scales and design stages.
Insights from the study help identify the ways visualising carbon may limit or open new design and construction processes, so far overlooked. The findings contribute to knowledge in the area of organisational studies by depicting the engagement with visual artefacts in the context of architectural practices that implement low-carbon design strategies. There are benefits for STS scholars in providing new empirical insights and novel lens for studying visualisation of complex phenomena, expanding understanding of the underlying processes involved.