SIX-LAYER GRAPHIC FRAMEWORK FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY IN SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN

Environmental responsibility is now central to sustainable architectural practice, yet environmental evidence remains difficult to use in design because assessment results are typically presented in technical formats misaligned with architects' visual, iterative workflows. This study develops a graphical decision-support framework for communicating and applying environmental information throughout the design process. It adopts a conceptual review methodology following Snyder (2019), synthesising literature published between 2018 and 2025 on information visualisation, design cognition, and decision-support systems theory. The review identifies three recurring barriers limiting environmental decision-making: delayed application of life-cycle assessment, fragmentation of environmental and economic evaluation, and poor visual communication of sustainability evidence, alongside a cultural drift toward credential-collecting certification. These findings inform a six-layer graphic framework, baseline disclosure, life-cycle mapping, comparative option testing, threshold-based rating, stakeholder communication, and feedback-driven recalibration, each anchored in a theoretical construct. The framework is demonstrated through a hypothetical mixed-use development in Lagos, Nigeria, and positioned against EDGE, LEED, and BIM-integrated workflows to clarify its relevance in emerging economies. Its principal contribution lies not in generating additional metrics but in translating existing evidence into visually accessible, decision-oriented representations that support earlier, more transparent design choices, while remaining alert to the risk that visualisation itself can oversimplify or mask genuine trade-offs. Although the framework requires empirical validation through practice before its claims can be considered established, it offers a theoretically grounded model for strengthening environmental decision-making, architectural communication, and interdisciplinary collaboration in Nigeria and comparable developing contexts.