Development of an integrated decision-support platform for WLCA in the early-design stage

Department of Architecture, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan, Taiwan

^* Corresponding author: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Abstract

As Taiwan advances toward its 2050 net-zero goals, Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment (WBLCA) has become a critical framework for evaluating building carbon emissions. However, a major gap persists in the early design stage: designers cannot access massing shape, structural checks, material amounts, and carbon results all together. This limitation often causes designers to make early decisions based on rough estimates, which can significantly increase embodied carbon when structural requirements are added later. Furthermore, current simulation tools operate as fragmented systems—energy modeling and structural analysis are executed independently—resulting in a lack of integrated, real-time, and iterative decision-support mechanisms during the early design phase. This study develops Hagfish, an automated Grasshopper-ETABS plug-in that unifies structural modeling, seismic analysis, material quantification, and carbon assessment. Hagfish converts parametric massing into RC frame models, executes ETABS analysis via API, extracts reinforcement and concrete quantities for embodied carbon, and integrates Honeybee-derived EUI for operational carbon estimation. The system enables a single-platform —LCDSP pipeline—from massing to WBLCA—within minutes, rather than days. The proposed workflow demonstrates a practical, early-stage structural-energy-carbon integration method that addresses the information discontinuities of conventional LCA tools and establishes a scalable foundation for low-carbon design and optimization research.