Structural–Carbon Integrated Design for Low-Carbon High-Rise Buildings

Material selection is a central challenge in sustainable building design, particularly for high-rise structures where structural safety and environmental performance often conflict. Conventional Building Information Modeling (BIM) workflows typically separate structural analysis from environmental assessment, making it difficult to evaluate trade-offs efficiently during early design stages. This study addresses this gap by introducing an integrated methodology that simultaneously evaluates structural stability and embodied carbon, enabling informed, performance-driven material decisions.

Limitations of Conventional BIM-Based Design Approaches

Traditional BIM workflows treat structural performance and environmental impact as parallel but disconnected processes. This separation restricts designers’ ability to iteratively explore material combinations and geometric variations, especially when assessing low-carbon alternatives. As a result, design teams may overlook optimal hybrid solutions or rely on late-stage assessments that limit meaningful design adjustments.

Structural–Carbon Integrated Design (SCID) Framework

The proposed Structural–Carbon Integrated Design (SCID) framework unifies structural analysis and embodied carbon assessment within a parametric BIM environment. By integrating these two dimensions into a single workflow, SCID enables rapid evaluation of multiple design scenarios, supporting data-driven trade-off analysis between structural reliability and environmental performance at the early design stage.

Case Study Application and Parametric Scenarios

The SCID framework was applied to the Brock Commons Tallwood House, an 18-storey timber–concrete hybrid high-rise building. A total of 1125 structural scenarios were generated by varying material types and element sizes for columns, slabs, and core walls. This extensive parametric exploration allowed for a comprehensive comparison of hybrid, timber-only, and concrete-only systems.

Comparative Performance of Structural Systems

Results indicate that the benchmark hybrid configuration achieved a substantial 52 % reduction in embodied carbon compared to a concrete-only system, while maintaining acceptable structural performance despite a moderate increase in structural impact. Fully timber systems demonstrated exceptional environmental benefits but suffered significant structural performance losses, limiting their feasibility for high-rise applications. Concrete-only systems, while structurally robust, exhibited the highest embodied carbon.

Implications for Sustainable High-Rise Design

The findings highlight the value of hybrid structural strategies in balancing sustainability and performance. The SCID framework proves effective in guiding early-stage decision-making by identifying optimal material configurations that meet both structural and environmental objectives. This integrated approach offers a scalable solution for advancing low-carbon design practices in tall building construction.

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