Simulation-Based Multi-Criteria Performance Assessment of Metal Cladding Materials for Sustainable Building Envelopes Using CRITIC, LOPCOW, and ALPAS: A Case Study of a Health Care Building in Istanbul

Vollständiger Abstract

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The building industry is the largest consumer of energy and the largest source of carbon emissions, and the sustainable development of building envelopes is thus inevitable. Among the facade systems, metal cladding materials offer a number of benefits such as high durability, architectural freedom, and recyclability; however, the choice of these materials needs to be based on several performance aspects. This research presents a novel comprehensive approach for analyzing metal cladding options in a health care building through the integration of building energy simulation and multi-attribute decision analysis (MADA) techniques. A primary health care facility in Istanbul, Türkiye, was used as a case example. Eight metal cladding materials—steel, aluminum, copper, zinc, titanium, stainless steel, Corten steel, and magnesium alloy—were evaluated against various wall and insulation combinations. The assessment combined energy with physical–mechanical, thermal, acoustic, and sustainability indicators such as density, thermal conductivity, Young’s modulus, damping capacity, traffic noise insulation, service life, and recyclability. A series of building energy simulations was performed to estimate the effect of facade design options on yearly energy consumption, and the resulting data set was analyzed based on the CRITIC, LOPCOW and ALPAS methods. This method allows the comprehensive evaluation of metal cladding material on energy efficiency, structural strength, acoustic performance, durability, and circularity simultaneously. The results provide a practical decision support framework for sustainable facade material selection in health care and other energy-intensive buildings. Titanium emerged as the optimal metal cladding material, distinguished by its superior combination of low thermal conductivity, damping capacity, and recyclability under both CRITIC and LOPCOW weighting schemes. Comparative analysis across nine MADA methods (ρ = 0.932) and sensitivity analysis over 70 scenarios confirmed the robustness of this finding, with titanium retaining first place in 64 out of 70 perturbation scenarios. These outcomes provide materials engineering insight into how the mechanical, thermal, and durability characteristics of structural metals and alloys translate into differentiated in-service performance, offering evidence-based guidance for metal selection in facade applications. The outcomes reported relate to one health care facility located in Istanbul and demonstrate the potential of the novel framework for the specific investigated case but are not intended to be generalized across all building types and climatic zones or to provide universally applicable material rankings.