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Paper short abstract

This paper explores the counter-/productive capacity of various loopholes in built environment practices for climate-neutral design and construction in relation to computational methods. It draws upon an ethnographic study of professional design and engineering practice.

Paper long abstract

The built environment is defined by a complex web of building codes, standards, planning models, and regulations, which are locally interpreted and, thus, creating potential loopholes. Practitioners navigate these when seeking permits, addressing expert reports, or moving through project phases. As the demands for climate-neutral and sustainable construction increase, techno-scientific methods—like building performance simulations (BPS), design optimization, and life-cycle analyses (LCA)—add further layers to these rules. Putting old and new standards and processes to work, I argue, exposes the loopholes of stagnant built environment practices but also some bearing generative potentials.

Based on a two-year empirical study of sociotechnical and organizational conditions for implementing computational methods for climate-neutral design in Germany, this paper uses loopholes as a productive lens to explore how constraints are both maintained and subverted. The research reveals that unclear definitions of climate-neutrality, the absence of legal mandates for BPS or LCA in design (and education), and path dependencies created by established planning models open loopholes that perpetuate ambiguity and the status quo. Meanwhile, environmental engineers and sustainability experts, as consultants, use gaps in technical expertise and up-to-date knowledge of climate regulations among architects and clients as a loophole to introduce more stringent climate measures and standards. Drawing on practice theory, social studies of computing, and STS-informed research on digital architecture, the paper explores the counter-/productive capacity of the observed loopholes toward the industry’s digital and sustainable transformation.