Unboxing Carbon - The Catalog

Unboxing Carbon - The Catalog - Exterior - Henning Larsen GRATIS EPUB

This graphic collection of architectural materials presents complex data from Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) in a visually accessible way, and in a unit that is readily understandable for architects: by square meter. The Catalog is intended to give architects the means of assessing global warming potential (GWP) in the product production phases, thereby the means to align projects currently on the drawing boards with the recommendations of the IPCC 6th Report. 

The critical window for a serious response to catastrophic climate change is now and the next few years. For this reason, the temporal aspect of carbon emissions, that is, the emissions from the production phase, the up-front carbon, must be a decision driver in the design process. The UN’s newly published Emissions Gap report indicates an urgent system-wide transformation is needed to deliver the enormous CO2e cuts. The report identifies various reduction strategies in the building sector, including selecting construction materials with lower CO2e impacts. Material selection is the realm of the architect and designer, and as the production process is directly linked to measurable environmental impacts, the architecture profession must evolve to meet the serious global challenges. Raising the bar of knowledge is essential for architects, a process that Henning Larsen has driven with the Unboxing Carbon Course: a carbon literacy course focusing Unboxing Carbon The Catalog on material impacts. The Catalog is a product of the data workshop in the course, which has been conducted internally at Henning Larsen offices in Denmark and Norway, as well as with other Danish architecture studios.

Special thanks to the co-authors JaJa Architects, Effekt Arkitekter, Dorte Mandrup, Arkitektforeningen course participants, Holscher Nordberg, and the enthusiastic colleagues at Henning Larsen for their generous contributions to this open-source catalog.

 How to read the data: The Catalog is organized by building component categories and presents the material with the lowest CO2e impacts on the left of the page. The data is derived from currently valid product-specific or branch organization EPDs available in Northern European EPD databases such as EPD Danmark, EPD Norge, IBU, and International EPD. Each catalog entry lists the source of data (a hyperlinked EPD number), the thickness of the material, and the total GWP in the A1 to A3 phases per square meter. When available in the EPD, the density, the fire rating, and length of life information is also included. Unless noted, sub-structure, joints and surface treatment are not included in the EPD data. Gray entries indicate a recently expired EPD

Content

Facade - brick  

Facade - cladding tiles without sub-structure 

Facade - ceramic cladding tiles 

Facade - natural stone cladding 

Facade - slate cladding 9 Facade - wood cladding 

Facade - GRC, polymer concrete & fiber cement 

Facade - aluminium & steel cladding 

Facade - glass panels 

Facade - plastic panels 

Facade - metal sandwich panels (systems) 

Paint - exterior paint