Embodied Carbon Flip Book

The Embodied carbon contained within the structure and fabric of the building is a crucial element of sustainability. However, this is sometimes difficult to determine at the early stages of design development. The 'Flip Book' is a simple interactive on-line tool that helps you make decisions about structure and fabric and calculates the approximate total embodied carbon.

Ten options for structure and four options for fabric / envelope are provided to allow you to mix and match and compare options.

Stage 1 - Insert the gross usable floor area of your building (all floors) HERE

Stage 2 - (Go to the next page) Choose the most appropriate structure to meet your brief. Note: Sometimes structural requirements for the ground floor are different from the upper floors and this can be reflected in your choices. For example, a hotel may need big spaces at ground floor, but more cellular accommodation for bedrooms above (flip through options at each level). If the building is more than 3 floors, just assume the ground floor structure choice is repeated for all intermediate floors

Stage 3 - (At the bottom of the page) Choose a building envelope which most closely matches your design and proportion of glazed openings. Result - (At the bottom of the page) is shown in tons of carbon for the options you have chosen.

Tips on selecting your structure:

• Concrete and Steel - appropriate where longer spans are needed i.e. for big volume spaces and also multi-story frame structures
• Timber frame, SFS, and CLT - useful for more cellular accommodation and smaller spaces such as housing and hotels
• Glue laminated timber - appropriate for longer spans where it is only supporting the roof (but not for multi-story frame structures)
• Masonry with timber floors - appropriate for shorter spans for housing and smaller spaces
• Masonry arched structure - appropriate for shorter spans, or possibly longer spans if only supporting the roof
• Note: you cannot put heavy materials (concrete/steel/masonry) on top of lighter materials (timber/CLT)
• The sub-structure foundations / pads should be located beneath point loads (columns and walls)

Click hereto see how the flip book was designed and the calculations that make it work.