Challenge
Iceland’s distance from material producers makes carbon-aware design essential - but sustainability work easily ends up disconnected from the tools architects actually design in.
Solution
Real-Time LCA connected to Revit, so carbon analysis runs alongside the design work - with data flowing from the live model rather than being rebuilt from scratch.
Result
Sustainability decisions made earlier and in-house, with material choices, performance, economy and carbon evaluated together - not in separate steps.
For Kollgáta Arkitektúr, an architecture firm based in Akureyri and Reykjavík, sustainable design is shaped by Iceland itself - by the country’s distance from material producers, the cost of transport, and the responsibility of building in a fragile landscape.
With Real-Time LCA connected to their Revit models, the practice can now weigh carbon, architecture, performance and economy together, at the moment design decisions are actually being made.
Sustainability shaped by place
Kollgáta’s approach to sustainability starts well before any climate calculation. For the practice, sustainable architecture is not a separate layer added to a project but a way of thinking that shapes design from the very beginning, and one that is profoundly shaped by working in Iceland.
Iceland sits at the edge of most material supply chains. Building products travel long distances to reach a site, and the carbon and cost of that transport weigh on every specification decision. For Kollgáta, that geographic reality is not just a constraint to be managed - it is a reason to think harder about local materials, local knowledge, and construction methods adapted to the country’s climate and society.
Sustainable architecture must respond carefully to place, climate, culture, and future generations. In Iceland, located far from most producers of building materials, sustainability also forces us to rethink how we build.- Ingólfur Guðmundsson, Construction architect/Byggingafræðingur, Kollgáta
That perspective broadens what sustainability means at Kollgáta. It is about reducing carbon emissions, but it is also about durable, adaptable buildings with long life cycles, healthy indoor environments, and a stronger connection between architecture, local identity and regional resources. Sustainability sits alongside architectural quality and functionality, not in competition with them.
Carbon analysis connected to the design model
The biggest practical advantage Kollgáta gets from Real-Time LCA is how close the analysis stays to the live design model. Real-Time LCA connects directly to Revit and pulls quantities from the model as the design evolves, so the LCA work - done in Real-Time LCA - is always reading from what the team is actually drawing. Sustainability analysis no longer runs on a parallel track, gets handed off to an external consultant, or has to be assembled after the fact.
That changes who makes the decisions. With the LCA running on the live model, Kollgáta’s architects keep ownership of the sustainability story their projects tell, and clients see the same model, the same numbers, and the same trade-offs the design team is working with.
The connection to Revit keeps sustainability analysis tied directly to our design workflow and keeps decision-making in-house. This gives both us and our clients greater control, transparency, and understanding of how design choices affect environmental impact. - Ragnar Freyr Guðmundsson, Architect, Kollgáta
Working with real data also changes the conversation between disciplines. Material choices, structural strategies and environmental impact can be compared in a structured way, with the numbers visible to everyone in the room. Discussions between architects, engineers and clients become grounded in evidence rather than assumptions - and architecture, performance, economy and carbon can be evaluated together throughout the design process, rather than sequenced one after the other.
Earlier, together, with real data
Kollgáta’s view is that the most important step toward more sustainable construction is to consider sustainability earlier and more holistically. Many of the decisions with the greatest environmental impact are made during the earliest conceptual stages, when adjustments are still inexpensive and ideas are still flexible. Real-Time LCA makes that earlier conversation possible, because the tool is fast enough, and close enough to the design model, to inform sketches as they are being drawn.
A modern LCA tool helps make sustainability measurable and actionable early in the design process, while the most important architectural decisions are still being made. - Andrea Sif, Architect, Kollgáta
The practice’s recommendations to others follow the same logic: prioritise long-term quality and adaptability, reduce unnecessary complexity in construction systems, reuse existing structures wherever possible, and bring architects, engineers, contractors, municipalities and clients into the conversation early. Using measurable data actively during design, not just to document a finished project, is what moves sustainability from ambition to concrete action.
For Kollgáta, the deeper goal is that sustainable architecture should not only reduce environmental impact, but also create buildings and places that communities value and preserve for generations. Real-Time LCA is the part of the toolkit that lets the practice work that way without breaking the link to the design model.
Key outcomes
- Carbon analysis runs in Real-Time LCA, connected to the live Revit model - no parallel workflow, no separate documentation phase at project end.
- Decision-making kept in-house, giving Kollgáta and its clients direct control over how design choices affect environmental impact.
- Material choices, performance, economy and carbon evaluated together throughout the design process, not in sequence.
- Earlier, evidence-based conversations between architects, engineers and clients, grounded in real data rather than assumptions.
- Iceland-specific design realities - distance from material producers, transport-heavy emissions - addressed structurally in the design process, not as an afterthought.