Mapping one year's design processes at an architecture firm specialized in sustainable architecture- How do sustainability certification systems affect design processes?

The current study mapped how a Danish architecture firm integrated sustainability in their projects over a year. All the projects concerned were aimed at being sustainable within the framework of the DGNB certification system. The focus of DGNB is equally divided between environmental, economic and social aspects. During the mapping process, a picture was drawn of the state of the art for integrating DGNB in design processes and of the challenges involved. Case studies formed the basis of the study and helped substantiate the complexity of integrating DGNB’s criteria as design parameters in practice.The framework for the study is the increased focus in recent decades on minimizing the energy consumption used for operating buildings, because the building industry accounts for 40% of the total energy consumption in the EU. This focus has led to more optimized design processes within the framework of the Integrated Energy Design (IED) method, in which many decisions related to indoor climate and energy consumption are made in the early stages of the design process and have therefore become an important design factor for both architects and engineers. The tendency is now to widen the perspective to design decisions in all phases of the entire lifecycle of a building. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) moves to the fore in the design process to make it possible to meet the overall purpose of reducing CO2 emissions and the general environmental impact of the entire building industry.