Life Cycle Assessment

‘Assistant professor of architecture Kathrina Simonen writes on the practice of life cycle assessment, authoring the handbook that she herself sought while wrestling with pressing questions of building, environment and quantification. Simonen positions LCA as an ‘emerging discipline,’ contextualizes LCA within its strengths, weaknesses and limitations, and dispels for the architect any attempt to idealize the practice. She translates what oft appears as a confounding method with concise and accessible language, case studies, didactic diagrams, and the aplomb to continuously remind us where methods require refinement, debate and consensus. An architect who has intuitively uttered the phrase ‘embodied environmental impacts’ in relation to a building, component or material - one who has desired a way of knowing environmental impacts more fully - will find herein a thorough discussion of the topic and description of the method. Simonen’s handbook is timely and necessary as the building industry self-organizes to adopt environmental assessment methods pervasively and proactively for design decision making.’ - Billie Faircloth, KieranTimberlake 'Professor Simonen expertly bridges the gap between the practices of building design and life cycle assessment and her book is another testament to that. It gives comprehensive guidance to understanding and implementing LCA from a uniquely US architect's perspective.' - Frances Yang, Structures and Sustainability Specialist, Arup