Design and Sustainability Assessment of Dunhuang Mural-Inspired Wood-Based Products via an AHP-LCA Coupling Framework

Abstract

To address the lack of quantitative environmental footprint assessment in design translation of intangible cultural heritage products, this study takes Dunhuang Nine-Colored Deer themed wood-based cultural and creative products as objects and constructs a green assessment path based on Analytic Hierarchy Process-Life Cycle Assessment (AHP-LCA). A three-level AHP model established by 30 interdisciplinary experts identified and prioritized the core bionic elements (galloping deer morphology: 0.344; mineral white: 0.121; line drawing outline: 0.057). According to ISO 14040 (2006) and ISO 14044 (2006) standards, dual-dimensional life cycle assessment is adopted to compare the baseline scheme and optimized scheme. The results show that the optimized scheme achieved 4.3% full life cycle carbon emission reduction, 52.8% raw material emission reduction, and 65% material recovery rate. The study shows that the AHP-LCA model can effectively balance cultural aesthetic demands and low-carbon properties of wood-based materials and provides a systematic methodological reference for green and sustainable development of biomass-based products.