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The Transfer of Tally App from Kieran Timberlake to Building Transperacy

The purpose of the Tally?, the first Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) app, is to quantify and analyze the carbon locked in building materials and it has been fully integrated into Autodesk? Revit?. Tally is set to be transferred from the internationally renowned architecture firm KieranTimberlake to Building Transparency which is an organization that can provide open-access data and tools so as to reduce embodied carbon emissions and to help create a better future through buildings.

The architecture firm which is known for its award-winning design,KieranTimberlake, has developed Tally. The architectural firm is also well known for its award-winning design and world leadership in practice-based architectural research and sustainable buildings and also for their research development subsidiary KT Innovations.

Stacy Smedley who is the Chair and Executive Director of Building Transparency has said, ?Building Transparency is thrilled to add Tally to our portfolio of tools and resources that support a better building future,? Smedley also added saying, ?The list of materials and quantities generated in Tally imports directly to the Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3) tool, so bringing these assets under one roof fosters a more efficient process workflow to optimize both tools? capabilities.?

What the EC3 tool does is it compiles thousands of digitized Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) in a free, open-source database which helps to estimate the overall embodied carbon emissions which is based on the materials that is selected in the design and procurement phases of a project.

Mr. Billie Faircloth who is thePartner and Research Director of KieranTimberlake has said, ?Tally is and will continue to be a tool for project stakeholders to situate their design decisions within the realm of climate action, He also added that the purpose of launching Tally in 2013 was with one ambition that is, ?To give designers the means to measure embodied environmental impacts so they can make more responsible choices during the design process.?

Tally?s Benefits for the Building Industry

A comprehensive information about materials and products that their buildings shall contain can be included within their Autodesk Revit models using the Tally app. The app can also quantify a building?s or material?s carbon impacts and its effect on land.

This feature helps users to conduct whole-building LCAs during the design phase, and also use that data to run comparative analyses of a number of design options through which one can learn about their differing environmental impacts. To understand the impact of building materials and material assemblies modeling is involved traditionally.

Even though, architects and other building professionals must know to conduct LCAs using Building Information Modeling (BIM), these models commonly lack in containing all of the materials that comprise a building.

This short coming is what prompted KieranTimberlake?s affiliate company, KT Innovations, and their partners Autodesk Sustainability Solutions and Sphera (previously known as Thinkstep), to develop Tally.

Tally is able to offer a full spectrum of information at high-speed and accuracy, especially with the materials list which automatically updates throughout the design phase in real-time. The Tally app is also able to generate clear and transparent data graphics, that facilitatesimportant communication with regards to design choices between various groups within a project team. The purpose of this practice is to ensure that the intent of the Tally LCA is carried across to the completed project, thereby empowering choices to, for example, to bring carbon accountability to the building material chain and to reduce embodied carbon.

Tally was used by KieranTimberlake to compare the environmental impact of two cladding options for its design in Philadelphia of the Consortium for Building Energy Innovation.

Tally was created by KieranTimberlake as an act of advocacy. As added by Faircloth, ?Our gifting of Tally to Building Transparency is a key next step toward realizing that ultimate goal: To coalesce the architecture, engineering, and construction industries? efforts to work together on true solutions for a more sustainable future.?

The Transfer of Tally App from Kieran Timberlake to Building Transperacy
Image Courtesy: kierantimberlake.com