An Analytical Hierarchy Process-based system to evaluate the life-cycle performance of buildings at early design stage

Building design involves generating several design alternatives and subjectively evaluating each design according to a variety of requirements. Developing a decision-making tool that evaluates early conceptual design can improve the certainty of design-related decisions. As an effort to enhance design development and process, seven Architectural Design Variables (ADVs) that have conflicting contributions to various performance criteria have been defined based on the literate and were combined to generate potential designs. To reduce subjectivity in design evaluation, the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) has been used to develop a Decision Support System (DSS) that embodies the relative preferences of the owner and architect among multiple key criteria (functionality, cost, aesthetics, etc.) relating to the life-cycle performance of buildings. A case study with five alternative designs that are equally preferred by experts is used to demonstrate the DSS ability to rank the designs in terms of overall performance scores. A sensitivity analysis is then used to determine the most reliable design under uncertainty in design evaluation. The systematic approach of this paper supports the complex evaluation process that is primarily one criterion at a time, and arrives at the best design, considering all criteria simultaneously.