OOPEAA participates in a Nordic research and development project on Sustainable Transformation and Environmental Design, STED

The Nordic Built – Sustainable Transformation and Environmental Design, STED is a three year long project with the aim of developing new tools for the use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) as a way to evaluate the sustainability of architectural design projects from the early design stages on.
The STED project provides a Nordic innovation platform for developing new design solutions and design processes for construction, renovation and transformation. Using ICT
for decision support and combining energy efficiency, environmental design and lifecycle thinking, the
aim is to develop innovative and generalizable system design solutions and design methods to create sustainable buildings.

The project was initiated by the Technical University of Denmark DTU in 2015 and it is now reaching its mid point. Selected architecture offices with a focus on research and development as part of their practice from each of the five Nordic counties were invited to take part in the project: Tegnestuen Vandkunsten from Denmark, Helen & Hard Arkitekter from Norway, White Arkitekter in Sweden, Studio Granda from Iceland, and OOPEAA from Finland. The project is coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark DTU and it is funded by a Nordic Innovation grant. The project consortium consists of four research institutions in the Nordic countries: DTU and Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole KADK in Denmark, Norges Teknisk Naturvitenskapelige Universitet NTNU in Norway, and Chalmers Tekniska Universitet CTH in Sweden.

The research group convenes this week in Reykjavik, Iceland, to discuss the findings of the research this far and to evaluate the progress of the joint project.
Participation in the STED project is an important part of OOPEAA’s research and development in exploring the possibilities of the use of wood in architecture, particularly, but not limited to, in providing sustainable solutions in housing and construction. The goal is to develop new tools for assessing the lifecycle ecology of a project from the early design stages on to help determine the best possible solutions.


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The Nordic Built – Sustainable Transformation and Environmental Design – STED is a three year long project with the aim of developing new tools for making it possible to effectively use an assessment based on Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) as a way to evaluate the sustainability of architectural design projects from the early design stages on. It provides a Nordic innovation platform for developing new design solutions and design processes for construction, renovation and transformation. Using ICT
 for decision support and combining energy efficiency, environmental design and lifecycle thinking, the
aim is to develop innovative and generalizable system design solutions and design methods to create sustainable buildings.

The project was initiated by the Technical University of Denmark DTU in 2015 and it is now reaching its mid point. Selected architecture offices with a focus on research and development as part of their practice from each of the five Nordic counties were invited to take part in the project: Tegnestuen Vandkunsten from Denmark, Helen & Hard Arkitekter from Norway, White Arkitekter from Sweden, Studio Granda from Iceland, and OOPEAA from Finland. The project is coordinated by the Technical University of Denmark DTU. The project consortium consists of four research institutions in the Nordic countries: DTU and Kunstakademiets Arkitektskole KADK in Denmark, Norges Teknisk Naturvitenskapelige Universitet NTNU in Norway, and Chalmers Tekniska Universitet CTH in Sweden. The STED research project is funded by a Nordic Innovation grant.

The research group convenes this week in Reykjavik, Iceland, to discuss the findings of the research this far and to evaluate the progress of the joint project.

Participation in the STED project is an important part of OOPEAA’s research and development in exploring the possibilities of the use of wood in architecture, particularly, but not limited to, in providing sustainable solutions in housing and construction. The goal is to develop new tools for assessing the lifecycle ecology of a project from the early design stages on in the work of the office.

STED presents a shift in perspective by developing Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) and ICT tools to promote the development and design of sustainable and energy efficient buildings. By making advanced sustainability analysis and documentation available, STED seeks to improve the sustainability of solutions and services that are affordable to a general public.

The project offers a unique opportunity for research and development in architectural solutions and design methods through open collaboration between Nordic universities and architectural design offices. The project partners work across Nordic borders in an
open innovation network based on research and
practice collaborations. They meet regularly to exchange knowledge and project information and to participate in
open innovation workshops, contributing cases they
are working on for development and learning. Once a year,an open symposium is arranged presenting results for a wider audience. Each partner contributes their specialists’ competencies, and co-creates solutions with the other partners. The goal is to create a working Nordic platform for knowledge management in architecture and architectural engineering.

As the great bulk of existing buildings have inadequate energy performance resulting in unsustainable levels
 of emissions from building operation, the need for reducing energy use and emissions is urgent, from economic, social as well as environmental points of view. Buildings are also in continuous need
of maintenance and repair, and industrialized system delivery solutions for renovation will therefore have a continued and growing relevance.

Adding lifecycle thinking to the design culture and increasing the performance of solutions
 and the level of information in the design process benefits the environmental and economic sustainability and has effects on the social dimension as well. Through state of the art practice on inclusive design merging social sciences and architectural practice, the project creates relevant design solutions, processes and methods for transforming existing building areas as well as for use in new construction. Finding the best economically and environmentally attractive solution, as opposed to opting for mere energy efficient solution, results in higher value for the building stock and the surrounding urban areas.

The emphasis on life cycle assessments on the solutions developed
 in this project adds a new level of performance to the solutions, as they are not only improving energy use in operation, but are qualified by additional parameters such as embodied energy and carbon, as well as other environmental impacts over their entire life cycle. It targets the social, environmental and economic dimensions of sustainability, by adding further quantitative and qualitative dimensions to architectural design. The advanced level of the sustainability analysis of solutions significantly advances state of the art know-how.