BOMBYX
The goal of Bombyx is to allow for simplified whole building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of buildings during early design stages.
The goal of Bombyx is to allow for simplified whole building Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of buildings during early design stages.
Bombyx is a design-integrated tool aimed at facilitating real-time Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) during the early stages of building design. It is built upon the 3D software Rhinoceros and utilizes Grasshopper as a visual programming language. Bombyx allows users to select different materials and building systems and make modifications to the building's geometry, with the calculated environmental impact being continuously updated in real-time. It serves as a tool for pre-BIM design, where users may not have sufficient information to create a complete Building Information Model (BIM).
The tool offers two different approaches: top-down and bottom-up. The top-down approach enables users to categorize the building based on several inputs, while the bottom-up approach allows users to construct each element of the building starting from material selection onwards.
Bombyx provides a user-friendly interface that can be easily integrated into design workflows. It is customizable to suit specific project and user preferences. Moreover, Bombyx is an open-source tool, allowing contributions from the community to further advance the field of parametric LCA in the construction sector.
