Criteria for architects and engineers to achieve sustainability and buildability in building envelope designs

Abstract

Sustainability and buildability in building envelope design have gained more importance in recent years, yet there is a lack of an appropriate set of criteria for applicability assessment of building envelope materials and designs for high-rise residential buildings in Singapore. The main objectives of this study are to identify the criteria for achieving sustainability and buildability and to investigate perspectives of architects and engineers on these criteria on the basis of the institutional theory framework. Questionnaire survey of architects, civil and structural (C&S) engineers, and mechanical and electrical (M&E) engineers in Singapore were conducted to examine their perspectives on importance weights of the criteria. Severity index (SI) analysis was applied to determine SI values of the criteria for ranking purposes. The results from Spearmen rank correlation show that the rankings of the criteria by the architects, C&S engineers, and M&E engineers were statistically correlated. The findings would help the building professionals understand the rationale behind the assessment of the building envelope materials and designs and remind them of the importance of each criterion from the actual perspectives of different parties. © 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.