Designing and building for extreme environments. A multi-criteria decision model to evaluate architecture for extreme temperatures

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to present an assessment methodology that validates architecture designs for environments with extreme temperatures, considering structural and energy demands, as well as sustainability-related concerns. This is achieved using multi-criteria decision analysis modelling. This study presents the results of a MCDA model built for this purpose, and evaluated through four variations representing different project scenarios. A total of 11 criteria (regarding energy efficiency, material performance, architectural performance and circularity) are used to analyse four building assemblies, in order to understand which is more appropriate for an environment with extremely cold and extremely hot temperatures. This allows the validation of the proposed multi-criteria analysis framework, which will lead to further research on extreme climate design.