Analysis of criteria for decision making to achieve sustainability and buildability in building envelope design

Assessment of building envelope materials and designs has an impact on sustainability and buildability aspects of a building project; however, it seems that designers, particularly architects and engineers, are unable to grasp the concepts of sustainability and buildability collectively. This study aims to examine major factors governing the assessment of building envelope materials and designs for private high-rise residential projects in Singapore. A pilot study and thorough literature reviews suggest a comprehensive set of criteria for assessment. Survey questionnaire was applied as the main instrument to collect perspectives of architects and engineers on these criteria using importance weights. With respect to the Institutional Theory, the results from factor analysis suggest that the criteria can be grouped into four factors which are “environmental impact”, “economic impact”, “social impact” and “buildability” factors. The findings of this study provide building professionals with a more concise and defined structure of sustainability and buildability, thereby leading to a better way to determine an optimal balance between economic, social, environmental and buildability issues of a design.