Population growth, urbanization, and climate change have significantly contributed to environmental degradation, posing severe consequences for humans and other species. By integrating ecological objectives with human-centric goals, a path towards a sustainable, multi-species future is possible. Current sustainable design principles have shown positive environmental impacts by addressing human-centric objectives such as enhancing green infrastructure, energy efficiency, thermal comfort, and more. However, the incorporation of multi-species design criteria remains unresolved. This paper proposes a conceptual framework in which human-centric and ecological design objectives are defined and associated through the selection of key performance indicators (KPIs) represented by numerical thresholds. But, while the objective-KPI relationship is an established path in architectural design, the same does not apply for preserving and promoting biodiversity. The proposed conceptual framework identifies, defines, and associates the relevant objective-KPI relationships for all stakeholders and becomes the basis for evaluating the project computationally. Such an approach is currently lacking.

This perspective paper explores the concept of multispecies design in architecture, focusing on the building scale. Historically, architects have prioritized human needs, neglecting nature’s integration in urban settings, leading to environmental and social challenges. To address these issues, a new multispecies approach that promotes the integration of ecological knowledge into architectural design has evolved. This paper aims to map existing concepts, challenges, and gaps in this novel multispecies approach, focusing on the building scale design process and suggests a roadmap for its implementation. This paper analyzes the existing literature and current architectural practices. This analysis is complemented by the findings from an architectural design studio that have highlighted real-world challenges not readily apparent in the literature. By promoting a multispecies architectural paradigm, this research not only underscores a transformative approach to building design but also positions multispecies design as an essential strategy in combatting the challenges of declining biodiversity and escalating climate change.

This study uses computer-aided design to improve the ecological and environmental sustainability of early-stage landscape designs. Urban expansion on open land and natural habitats has led to a decline in biodiversity and increased climate change impacts, affecting urban inhabitants' quality of life and well-being. While sustainability indicators have been employed to assess the performance of buildings and neighbourhoods, landscape designs' ecological and environmental sustainability has received comparatively less attention, particularly in early-design stages where applying sustainability approaches is impactful.,The authors propose a computation framework for evaluating key landscape sustainability indicators and providing real-time feedback to designers. The method integrates spatial indicators with widely recognized sustainability rating system credits. A specialized tool was developed for measuring biomass optimization, precipitation management and urban heat mitigation, and a proof-of-concept experiment tested the tool's effectiveness on three Mediterranean neighbourhood-level designs.,The results show a clear connection between the applied design strategy to the indicator behaviour. This connection enhances the ability to establish sustainability benchmarks for different types of landscape developments using parametric design.,The study allows non-expert designers to measure and embed landscape sustainability early in the design stages, thus lowering the entry level for incorporating biodiversity enhancement and climate mitigation approaches.,This study expands the parametric vocabulary for measuring landscape sustainability by introducing spatial ecosystem services and architectural sustainability indicators on a unified platform, enabling the integration of critical climate and biodiversity-loss solutions earlier in the development process.

Rapid urbanization negatively affects the built and biotic environment, necessitating interdisciplinary mitigation strategies. Current nature-based solutions that are integrated into building envelope design have proved to be beneficial. These solutions, however, are primarily anthropocentric and often overlook the potential to support other living organisms, such as animals and microbiota. Thus, a multi-species approach is envisioned to facilitate more holistic envelope-design solutions. While integrating ecological knowledge into architectural design often introduces decision-making complexity, multi-criteria decision-making can support multi-species building envelope design. This paper reviews such decision-making applications in two domains: building envelope design and ecological planning design. Using a systematic literature review methodology to compile relevant publications for full-text analysis, the results show significant disparities between the two domains. This is primarily driven by decision-making applications, the scale of analysis, criteria typology and external decision-maker engagement. However, we identified opportunities to sequentially employ multi-objective optimization and multi-attribute decision-making to mitigate the technical differences and facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration. Finally, we discuss future developments using hybrid multi-criteria decision-making to facilitate better architectural and ecological computer-aided design.

Anthropic activities negatively impact natural and artificial ecosystems, necessitating interdisciplinary mitigation strategies such as multi-species building envelope designs. This paper introduces a computational multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) methodology to support these envelope designs. We also propose a nested set strategy for key performance indicators (KPI) to strategically measure architectural and ecological performances. We integrate the strategy into a proposed hybrid MCDM methodology using computational design tools. The methodology was tested using a generic volume case study described by an architectural and ecological objective with varied priorities. Initial results highlight the computational interoperability of hybrid MCDM, informed by nested KPI set priorities, as support for multi-species building envelope designs.

Research is revealing an increasing number of positive effects of nature for humans. At the same time, biodiversity in cities, where most humans live, is often low or in decline. Tangible solutions are needed to increase urban biodiversity. Architecture is a key discipline that has considerable influence on the built-up area of cities, thereby influencing urban biodiversity. In general, architects do not design for biodiversity. Conversely, urban conservation planning generally focuses on the limited space free of buildings and does not embrace architecture as an important discipline for the creation of urban green infrastructure. In this paper, we argue that the promotion of biodiversity needs to become a key driving force of architectural design. This requires a new multi-species design paradigm that considers both human and non-human needs. Such a design approach needs to maintain the standards of the architectural profession, including the aim to increase the well-being of humans in buildings. Yet, it also needs to add other stakeholders, organisms such as animals, plants and even microbiota. New buildings designed for humans and other inhabitants can then increase biodiversity in cities and also increase the benefits that humans can derive from close proximity to nature. We review the challenges that this new design approach poses for both architecture and ecology and show that multi-species-design goes beyond existing approaches in architecture and ecology. The new design approach needs to make ecological knowledge available to the architectural design process, enabling practitioners to find architectural solutions that can facilitate synergies from a multi-species perspective. We propose that a first step in creating such a multi-species habitat is the design of buildings with an ecolope, a multi criteria-designed building envelope that takes into account the needs of diverse organisms. Because there is no framework to design such an ecolope, we illustrate how multi-species design needs to draw on knowledge from ecology, as well as architecture, and design computation. We discuss how architectures designed via a multi-species approach can be an important step in establishing beneficial human–nature relationships in cities, and contribute to human well-being and biodiversity conservation.

The ability to measure socio-ecological indicators in early design models is essential for advancing goal-oriented sustainability designs and a stepping-stone towards the broad integration of high-performance urban development solutions. However, less attention has been given to measuring urban landscape development, specifically for ecological-environmental attributes in early design phases. Recent advancements in computation (dataset availability and coding assimilation) call for a re-evaluation of sustainability design practices in the urban-landscape realm. This study aims to advance urban landscape sustainability by suggesting a computation evaluation method and tool for early design phases.  It presents a framework for employing computer-aided design to evaluate sustainability performance in urban-landscape developments based on broadly adapted industry rating systems. The suggested method analyses and visualises the design's performance directly on the computation model, thus informing the designer about the sustainability performance early in the development phase. A computation tool for measuring ecological-environmental key performance indicators was developed and applied to three neighbourhood case studies, measuring each design twice: before and after using the computation tool. The case studies showed significant improvements in the design's performance in vegetation biomass optimisation, urban-heat mitigation, and precipitation management. The computation tool also provided ecological spatial metrics important for sustainability benchmarking.

The recent convergence of earth construction with technology focuses on additive manufacturing using extrudable earth-based materials. The printability of these materials can be defined by their pumpability, extrudability, and buildability. We present a field-oriented methodology for the design of printable local mixtures suitable for various printers. Three tests were defined to characterize the flowability, pumpability and extrudability, and buildability of such materials in their fresh or ‘green’ state, and used to optimize the workability of a sample material for printability. Based on the outcomes, two indices are proposed for the classification and control of the printability of earthen mixtures: flowability and green strength. Our results demonstrate that adjusting water content for consistency and adjusting plasticity for cohesiveness are both vital for tuning printability, although the necessary modifications can negatively affect the material's strength in its hardened state; incorporating cellulose microfibres can counter this by increasing flowability, plasticity, and compressive strength.

This paper presents a framework for an analysis method and computational tool, which evaluates the fabrication parameters of complex geometries. The suggested method predicts the feasibility, material use, and machining time required for fabricating the moulds for these geometries. It achieves this by interrogating geometric properties instead of the traditional machining simulations. Using the algorithms developed in this research, the method can provide real time evaluation of computer-controlled mould fabrication techniques such as cutting and assembling sheet materials, multi-axis milling of volumetric material, and robotic hot wire cutting. In the paper, we describe the mathematical basis of the suggested method. We demonstrate how the method provides real-time visual feedback for designers and allows them to adjust their design according to fabrication constraints in the early design stages. Using architectural case studies, we show how the analysis results provide precise cost estimates and help minimize fabrication resources in manual or automatic fabrication optimization processes.

In this paper, a multidisciplinary approach to examining the connection between visual perception, human emotions and architectural space is presented. It details a study in which emotional reactions to architectural space geometry are empirically measured and quantified. Using various sensors, including EEG (Electroencephalography), GSR (Galvanic Skin Response), and eye-tracking (ET), we collected data from 112 individuals experiencing virtual environments (VEs), characterized by a variance of geometric manipulations. Diffusion map algorithms, as well as other statistical methods were used to analyze the data. Findings suggest that criteria of protrusion, curvature, scale and proportion of space influence the user's emotional state. Indices of ET, GSR, electrical brain activity, as well as dwelling duration and self-report liking ranks, show both “negative” and “positive” interest changes.

Impact statement

This research examined the connection between the properties of space and human emotions by means of empiric measurements of emotional affect, generated by changes in the geometry of space, related to the criteria of protrusion, curvature, scale and proportion. Results demonstrated that changing the geometric properties of architectural space is significantly associated with a significant effect on human emotions. This indicates that emotional responses generated by architectural spaces can be empirically measured and quantified. Implications for residential, education, and rehabilitation settings are evidenced.