Research

Paniz Mousavi Samimi | Environmental Design | Iran | Class of '27

An appropriate living environment is essential for every child; however, since housing crises are impacting the quality and affordability of accommodation, a growing number of low-income families are deprived of a proper home.

Poor-quality housing has detrimental effects on the mental health of all residents, especially children, who are constantly undermined in such circumstances. As a part of the solution, empowering children by giving them a voice in the design process, can significantly contribute to providing equitable environments for them. Therefore, my research aims to develop an equity-focused design framework that improves children’s mental health in social housing along with their participation.

Mehdi Zahed | Sustainable Architecture | Ontario, Canada | Class of '23

The overlapping conjunction of sustainable development with the practice of architecture, building materials, and life cycle assessment (LCA) approach is the main focus of this study. In it, the role of architects and consultants in the early-stage decision-making process and the use of building information modelling (BIM) tools in conducting whole building LCA (wbLCA) were investigated. This research promotes sustainable design by optimizing embodied carbon at the early design stage.

This research reviewed pertinent literature on the cutting-edge topic of BIM-based LCA, examined best practices and standards, government guidelines, current dominant tools used by architectural consultants, and interconnected LCA tools to BIM applications to conduct wbLCA.