bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Surveying the building stock of Graz with regard to a circular economy in the construction sector
Authors: Hausegger B , Raudaschl M , Levak T , Triantafyllidis G , Dengg E , Kurz C , Riewe R , Juhart J , Gündera A , Haingartner S , Schlegl D , Regl J
Published: September 2022

Construction consumes about 40% of resources globally. The switch to a circular economy model in the building industry can contribute to the reduction of use of resources, and lower the environmental impact by extending the life cycle of building components and materials. However, circular economy principles in building industry are not yet established, while at the same time the complexity and consequences of such a transition require further research. The objective of the exploratory study “City Remixed”, whose first results are discussed in this paper, is to identify re-use and recycling potentials of Graz’s building stock for the city of Graz, in order to initiate the transformation of the building sector of the city towards the circular economy. Considering the city of Graz and its surroundings in a reasonably short transport distance as a closed system, we started by quantifying the existing building stock in form of a digital 3D model as shown in this paper. In addition to the recording of the materials or construction elements present in buildings and infrastructure (networks) and quasi bound in them with regard to type of building material, quantity, condition and position in a geo-information system (“urban cadastre”), the expected future time of availability of the material or construction element is also to be recorded digitally. In the future we will enrich the model with metadata, in order to enable the investigation of re-use and recycling potential of the components and materials as well as to determine companies, manufacturers testing and certification institutes that are necessary for these processes. Finally, we will develop renewal scenarios based on the existing building stock, as a result of possible component and material flows. From this process, we identify the fields of action, we settle decision-making bases and provide recommendations with regard to the transformation to a circular economy for different stakeholders, including the citizens. In this context digital technologies allow the storage, retrieve, management and update of large amounts of information, support the development of circular economy scenarios, which in turn offer a simple way towards the re-use and recycle of materials in the building industry.
Rethinking recurring waste flows: Creating material cycles by identifying new use cases for idle materials
Authors: Scholz Johannes , Ordóñez Isabel , Rotter Susanne
Published: September 2022

This article presents Collaborative Material Workshops (CMW), aimed at identifying new use cases for commercial waste materials waste materials, which are continuously being generated and have valuable technical properties. With the assumption that such materials habe a high re-use potential, they are defined here as idle material streams. The objective of CMW is to identify scalable and feasible applications for the re-use of idle material streams and to communicate those results to commercial adopters. In cooperation with a local secondary material initiative and a project-related NGO, TU Berlin researchers have investigated the idle materials “printing blankets” and “aluminium composite panels” in two CMWs. Both materials combine valuable technical properties, a short use phase, and poor recyclability. The resulting two CMWs included 1) detailed background research, 2) physical material testing and 3) experimental CMW with material-related experts. With a special focus on the construction industry, the erticle discusses the barriers of identifying scalable and feasible new use cases for idle materials through the method of CMW.
How is the construction sector addressing the Circular Economy? Lessons from current practices and perceptions in Argentina
Authors: Cohen J , Rosado L , Gil J
Published: September 2022

The Construction and demolition (C&D) sector mobilise a significant number of resources and at the same time is responsible for a large fraction of waste worldwide (40%-60%). Although, the environmental impact of these by-products is low, waste generated finishes in landfills, is downgraded and because of its volume it has become a priority at different governmental levels. In this context, the Circular Economy (CE) provides a set of strategies to improve efficient use of resources, thus reducing the environmental footprint of C&D. Most academic literature has focused on China, Europe, or the US, but knowledge about CE practices and perceptions in global south countries is scarce. To reduce this knowledge gap, this study focuses on Argentina and explores what are the perceptions, challenges, and opportunities for adopting CE strategies by the C&D sector. To achieve this goal, a survey was developed and distributed with support from the Argentinean Chamber of Construction (CAMARCO), among members of the chamber and other C&D relevant networks. The survey was carried out in the Autumn of 2021 and 88 C&D firms representing different size, longevity and business cycle responded. The results of the survey show that most of surveyed firms are trying to engage with the concept of CE. Secondly, a lack of digitalisation and information are seen as important barriers to transition to CE. Finally, policy makers should focus on providing financial and tax incentives to secure a better environmental future.
The socio-spatial effects of Circular Urban Systems
Authors: Hubmann G
Published: September 2022

This article shows what kind of urban spaces are produced by circular systems. The focus is on the socio-spatial dimension of closed material loops in two neighbourhoods (e.g., reuse of grey water, recycling of waste, provision of renewable energy). Although the Circular Economy (CE) narrative is increasingly part of urban transformation policies, there are considerable implementation gaps in how regenerative or self-sufficient systems are operationalised in practice. I argue that the application of circularity principles in the urban context requires conceptual clarification to be useful for urban theory and praxis. Therefore, I provide a political ecology perspective of circular urban systems by analysing two cases: Block 6 in Berlin and Schoonschip in Amsterdam. I explain how such systems were established, who benefits from them, and what kind of socio-spatial conditions they produce. Methodologically, I use several qualitative research methods in the framework of a case study analysis. The results show that the incremental and publicly financed low-tech development of circular systems is socially compatible while privately funded high-tech developments result in stronger levels of sustainability but are reserved to a small exclusive group of people and provoke gentrification processes.
Environmental and economic analysis of new construction techniques reusing existing concrete elements: two case studies
Authors: Küpfer C , Bastien-Masse M , Devènes J , Fivet C
Published: September 2022

As the most widely used construction material worldwide, concrete is the main cause of greenhouse gas emissions, material depletion, and waste generation by the construction industry. Typically, concrete waste is crushed and, at best, reclaimed into recycled aggregate or used as gravel. This process is energy-intensive and results in a reduction in material properties. In contrast, the direct reuse of concrete elements from obsolete structures offers great potential for significantly reducing the environmental impact of new constructions. To be reused, concrete elements are carefully sawn out of soon-to-be-demolished buildings. Elements are then used without other major transformations for another service cycle in a new assembly. This paper analyses two recent projects in Switzerland that showcase innovative applications of concrete reuse: a post-tensioned segmented arch footbridge and a parking pavement. Both projects reuse blocks extracted from cast-in-place concrete buildings undergoing transformation or demolition. In this paper, environmental and economic analyses provide a comprehensive understanding of the alleviations and costs involved. Results are compared to those of alternatives with conventional construction methods. The two projects reusing concrete globally showcase a drastically lower environmental impacts for comparable or higher construction costs, hence calling for future developments of such new circular construction strategies.
Reno-DM: A Knowledge model to support the decision-making process in the context of residential building renovation projects
Authors: Amorocho J A P , Hartmann T , Ungureanu L C
Published: September 2022

The decision-making process to select solutions in residential building renovation projects is a complex task. These projects encounter rigid governance and ownership structures, participation of multiple stakeholders, diverse requirements, and a lack of consensus regarding methodologies and tools used within the decision-making process. Addressing some of these challenges requires a shared understanding of this domain. Therefore, this paper presents the Renovation-Decision-making (Reno-DM) model mapping key knowledge from the decision-making in renovation projects. It considers project characteristics, context information, building features, and their relation to aspects of the decision-making itself. The development of the Reno-DM model relies on an existing decision-making representation and the extraction of new concepts from interviews with stakeholders taking part in renovation projects and related literature. The interviews are analysed following an inductive content analysis approach. The Reno-DM model is developed in the form of an ontology. It provides a basis from which future knowledge management and reuse applications can be developed and deployed to support improvements in the decision-making process in the renovation field.
Investigating the role of emissions deriving from user transport in sustainable refurbishment strategies for buildings relying on low-carbon energy.
Authors: Fahlstedt O , Bohne R A
Published: September 2022

Refurbishing existing buildings constitutes a significant role in reducing emissions from the built environment. Their optimization demands time simultaneously to the urgency to fulfill the sustainable development goals 9,11, 12, and 13. Therefore, actions taken at the municipal level are deterministic for future outcomes as many municipalities manage large building portfolios and thus hold significant mitigation potential. This paper investigates the role existing institutional buildings have for greenhouse gas abatement when the scope is expanded from building scale to include the urban environment. The aim is to determine the importance of considering the location of buildings when evaluating refurbishment strategies. There is a potential for a more significant reduction of emissions when including user transportation. The role of travel-induced emissions from users, visitors, and employees in institutional buildings is potentially more critical than refurbishment for buildings already operating on low-carbon energy. Parts of a previously developed theoretical framework are tested to aid a Norwegian municipality in its emissions abatement strategy. The study assesses the carbon emissions deriving from refurbishment and the location of an institutional building. Inventory data from building, transport routes, and transport modes are assessed with a case study approach, while generic data derives from literature. The result indicates the importance of addressing locations of institutional buildings within the urban form rather than optimizing separate entities. Truncation errors can offset the benefit of building optimization in areas dependent on low-carbon electricity if travel-induced emissions are omitted from the assessment. The framework reveals that it is better to build a new building at another location in some instances when transport-related emissions are reduced.
Measuring the Cityscape: A Pipeline from Street-Level Capture to Urban Quantification
Authors: Ward W , Dai M , Arbabi H , Sun Y , Tingley D , Mayfield M
Published: September 2022

Any solution to achieving climate targets must be performed at scale. Data driven methods allow expert modelling to be emulated over a large scope. In the UK, there are nearly 30 million residential properties, contributing to over 30% of the national energy consumption. As part of the UK Government’s requirement to meet net-zero emissions by 2050, retrofitting residential buildings forms a significant part of the national strategy. This work addresses the problem of identifying, characterising and quantifying urban features at scale. A pipeline incorporating photogrammetry, automatic labelling using machine learning, and 3-D geometry has been developed to automatically reconstruct and extract dimensional and spatial features of a building from street-level mobile sensing.
Piezoelectric Textile Facade for the energy supply of active sensor technology with regard to data management for circular economy in building construction
Authors: Raudaschl M , Levak T , Riewe R , Triantafyllidis G , Drnda E , Popek S , Schlegl D , Funke-Kaiser D , Lund A
Published: September 2022

The high GWP potential of construction requires a holistic approach such as circular economy. Currently, common joining, construction and planning practices result in heterogeneous assemblies of different components that are difficult to deconstruct. Furthermore, there is currently little information and data on building components used and the climatic impacts on them. In this context and with the intention of recording long-term (circular) processes in construction, the Piezo-Klett basic research project (FFG no. 879459) funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) deals with the energy supply of active sensor technology in construction by combining the hook and loop fastener with piezoelectric components. The aim is to open new perspectives on sustainable energy production systems by transforming buildings into energy carriers and generators, analogous to a “battery”. To this purpose, the result presented in this conference paper is a description of the constructive structure (climatic impacts, construction, piezo technology) of a “Piezoelectric Textile Facade” as well as test results on piezo tapes. This opens new possibilities in the context of the application of hook-and-loop fasteners, the energy supply of active sensor technologies as well as in the field of data acquisition and data management.
Deep multimodal learning for residential building energy prediction
Authors: Sheng Y , Ward W OC , Arbabi H , Álvarez M , Mayfield M
Published: September 2022

The residential sector has become the second-largest energy consumer since 1987 in the UK. Approximately 24 million existing dwellings in England made up over 32% of the overall energy consumption in 2020. A robust understanding of existing buildings’ energy performance is therefore critical in guiding proper home retrofit measures to accelerate towards meeting the UK’s climate targets. A substantial number of predictions at a city scale rely on available data, e.g., Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) and GIS products, to develop statistical and machine learning models to estimate energy consumption. However, issues with existing data are not negligible. This work adopted the idea of deep multimodal learning to study the potential for using Google Street View (GSV) images as an additional input for residential building energy prediction. 20,031 GSV images of 5,933 residential buildings in central Barnsley, UK, have been selected for a case study. All images were pre-processed using a state-of-the-art object detection algorithm to minimise the noise caused by other elements that may appear nearby. Building specifications that cannot be easily determined by the appearance are extracted from existing EPC information as text-based inputs for prediction. A multimodal model was designed to jointly take images and texts as inputs. These inputs are first propagated through a convolutional neural network and multi-layer perceptron, respectively, before being combined into a connected network for final energy prediction. The multi-input model was trained and tested on the case study area and predicted an annual energy consumption with a mean absolute difference of 0.01kWh/m2 per annum on average compared with what is recorded in the EPC. The difference between the predicted results and the EPC may also provide some hints on the bias the certificates potentially contain.
Automatic verification of urban index compliance: A case study for Brazilian buildings
Authors: Villaschi F S , Carvalho J P , Bragança L
Published: September 2022

Urban planning has become an essential tool for regulating the cities’ growth, maintaining the local urban identity and providing a good quality of life for its inhabitants. In Brazil, the master plan is the primary policy instrument for urban development and expansion. It defines the common requirements that designers must follow when preparing building projects. Up to date, such projects are verified in project latter stages and eventually approved by the city halls, with a manual calculation and assessment process. This procedure creates both the need to assess project compliance earlier to avoid rework and changes, as well as to automate project verification compliance, to reduce human errors. With the emergence of new technologies and computational systems, such as Building Information Modelling (BIM), creates the opportunity for process automation, by providing the required data to support decision making, as well as to automate the calculation process both for designers and municipalities. Thus, this research aims to develop an assessment procedure which automates the compliance assessment of a set of urban requirements from Vila Velha, Brazil. A BIM model was developed in Autodesk Revit to prove the procedure functionality and Dynamo was used to automate data collection and the calculation of three different indexes from Vila Velha’s building code. By providing a fast and reliable analysis, the research framework provides designers with a real-time decision support tool, which indicates building compliance in the project’s early stages. It also provides municipalities with a calculation tool, which can be used to assess the compliance of submitted BIM models, sparing time and avoiding assessment errors. Overall, the procedure has the potential to support building project design, increase process efficiency and accelerate the verification of mandatory requirements. It also offers the possibility for replication by adapting the routine to the mandatory requirements of each location.
Optimising the Balance Between Flexibility and Structural Mass for Lower Short- and Long-Term Embodied Carbon Emissions in Mass Housing
Authors: Gosling S , Tingley D D
Published: September 2022

The building construction industry is one of the largest contributors to global greenhouse gas emissions. One solution to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint is to design structures efficiently, thus using less structural mass. However, over-designing is a fundamental aspect of flexibility; a building’s capacity to make physical changes in the future – which is key for domestic buildings in particular. It is therefore important to strike a balance between structural efficiency and high flexibility, to limit both short- and long-term embodied carbon emissions. This balance was investigated using a mass housing case study, creating a series of design iterations to explore the trade-off between flexibility and structural mass. An optimum solution illustrated that this case study can be redesigned to have double the flexibility, lower structural mass, and less carbon-intensive materials. Therefore, this research concluded that it is possible to significantly reduce the short-term embodied carbon emissions of this housing design, whilst simultaneously reducing long-term emissions too. Although these findings might be specific to this case study, the duplicate nature of mass housing means that the carbon savings of this one housing design can be multiplied many times across a whole development. Applying this research to other mass housing designs could significantly reduce the embodied carbon of future developments and improve the carbon footprint of the building construction industry.
Clustering Strategies for Defining Archetypes to Support Integrated Simulations of Environmental Impacts
Authors: Gomes V , Zara O O C , Colleto G M , da Silva M G
Published: September 2022

Life cycle assessment (LCA)’s inherent data-intensiveness hampers application to neighbourhood environmental assessments, particularly for built stock modelling. Data collection can be reduced to a manageable amount by grouping a large number of buildings into a limited set of aggregates with similar characteristics and defining exemplars (archetypes) that represent each group. LCAs would be performed for the archetypes only and their results extended to the represented buildings. As archetype definition is seldom detailed in the literature, this paper tests, and details different procedures that could enable neighbourhood LCAs. K-medoids and CLARA partition algorithms, as well as agglomerative hierarchical clustering techniques, were applied to group over 300 buildings into a limited number of clusters. A building representative of each cluster was identified to proceed to bottom-up LCA. K-medoids clustering stands out for the quality of clusters and their representatives. Restraining the maximum number of clusters to keep subsequent LCA work manageable imposes some quality loss yet allows for achieving satisfactory division results. Regardless of the clustering technique used, data was the best divided the larger the number of clusters used, for the various factors in the database depicting the studied area resulted in several possible data combinations. Although detailed representation is desirable in LCA modelling, limiting the number of variables facilitates data pre-treatment and an optimal balance should be pursued in future studies.
Smart logistics for urban construction sites (CCC)
Authors: Maatar O , Trost R , De Bruyne I , Van Dromme H , Berroir F
Published: September 2022

The traditional construction logistics is managed in silos, which leads to time losses on sites and increased project costs due to repeated handling/moving of materials. Moreover, these uncontrolled flows of deliveries also have a proved environmental impact. Alternative approaches intend to centralize these flows using a Construction Consolidation Centre (CCC), which allows to deliver material just-in-time as a kit, directly at the workplace. The purpose of this research is to evaluate if this supply chain management methods can drive the construction sectors towards more efficient and sustainable practices. Therefore, this paper describes, from the General Contractor’s perspective, the implementation of a CCC between 2019 and 2020 for a Residential Tower project, for the first time in Luxembourg. Increased productivity, reduced costs, and reduced carbon footprint of the transportation flows were observed based on measures throughout the entire project. Beyond these evidences that more sustainable practices are achievable in construction, the paper discusses adherence of workers and subcontractors as well as organisational and technological prerequisites and perspectives. Accordingly, this collaborative model appears as a relevant way to build and strengthen partnerships between the construction stakeholders by improving day-to-day work. Therefore, CCC and kitting appear as a practical solution for the current economic and environmental challenges and more awareness should be put on this topic to allow its diffusion to the whole sector.
Greenhouse gas reduction strategies for building materials: A reality check with the climate targets
Authors: Alaux N , Truger B , Hoxha E , Ruschi Mendes Saade M , Passer A
Published: September 2022

The increasing importance of the embodied emissions in the life cycle of buildings has led to a growing interest in strategies supporting their mitigation. In this paper are presented the environmental impacts of 10 variants of a single-family house assessed with the life cycle assessment (LCA) method. A set of potential technological improvements and strategies are applied at the material level. Their influence at the building level is discussed and the resulting global warming potentials are compared to the COP21 targets for Austrian buildings. Finally, potential trade-offs in 9 other environmental impact categories are explored. The results show that, when incorporating all of the assessed strategies for emission reduction, the embodied greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions could be reduced up to 87% at the material level and 50% at the building level. Carbon capture and storage and the use of bio-based materials are to be credited for the highest share of these reductions. However, there is no version of this building that fulfils the COP21 targets. Other pathways, which do not solely rely on material-related technological improvements, should be investigated. A more radical change of the building industry might even be necessary. Overall, the implementation of the strategies decreased the environmental impacts in almost every impact category, except for freshwater aquatic ecotoxicity.
Development of sustainable building standards: Next steps towards climate-friendly buildings in the City of Graz
Authors: Scherz M. , Maierhofer D. , Passer A. , Kreiner H.
Published: September 2022

To make efforts for climate protection in the City of Graz (Austria) as effective as possible, the city has established a climate protection fund, from which the KNB (Klimafreundliche und Nachhaltige Baustandards) project emerged. In the KNB project, a new approach was developed on how the city can already request and implement sustainability criteria for its public buildings in architectural competitions. This paper presents the methodology for evaluating the climate friendliness of building concepts based on the developed form “sustainability and climate protection”. Moreover, an evaluation algorithm for assessing the competition works and ranking the building concepts is presented. To demonstrate the applicability and validate the form and the evaluation algorithm, we applied the procedure to a real architectural competition. The results show that all participants were able to consider the required aspects and that the external experts for sustainability assessment were able to evaluate the competition works using the developed evaluation algorithm. The City of Graz set the goal to apply this methodology in all further architectural competition and thereby take a further step towards sustainable procurement of buildings.
Next generation of life cycle related benchmarks for low carbon residential buildings in Germany
Authors: Özdemir Ö , Hartmann C , Hafner A , König H , Lützkendorf T
Published: September 2022

Germany’s national climate targets are in line with the Paris Climate Agreement and set the ambitious goal of becoming net zero emissions by 2045. The construction and real estate sector play an important role for sustainable development. In a cross-sectoral approach operational and embodied emissions of buildings account for 40% of GHG emissions in Germany. In order to contribute to climate protection, it is necessary to both pursue a strategy for decarbonizing the national building stock and to develop benchmarks for assessing greenhouse gas emissions in the life cycle of individual buildings. In Germany, benchmarks are used in sustainability assessment systems for more than 10 years to assess primary energy non-renewable (PENRT) and global warming potential (GWP) in the life cycle of buildings. Therefore, these need to be regularly reviewed and further developed in order to (1) adapt them to more ambitious reduction targets, (2) consider the current database, (3) include the state of standardization, and (4) follow the state of scientific discussion on methodological issues. This paper identifies new benchmarks for PENRT and GWP and shows the scale of current levels of performance. These can form the basis for funding programs and contribute to the discussion on the introduction of binding legal requirements.
Existing benchmark systems for assessing global warming potential of buildings – Analysis of IEA EBC Annex 72 cases
Authors: Rasmussen F N , Trigaux D , Alsema E , Balouktsi M , Birgisdóttir H , Bohne R , Dixit M , Dowdell D , Francart N , Frischknecht R , Foliente G , Lupisek A , Lützkendorf T , Malmqvist T , Garcia Martinez A , Ouellet-Plamondon C , Passer A , Peuportier B , Ramseier L , Satola D , Seo S , Szalay Z , Wiik M
Published: September 2022

Life cycle assessment (LCA) is increasingly being used as a tool by the building industry and actors to assess the global warming potential (GWP) of building activities. In several countries, life cycle based requirements on GWP are currently being incorporated into building regulations. After the establishment of general calculation rules for building LCA, a crucial next step is to evaluate the performance of the specific building design. For this, reference values or benchmarks are needed, but there are several approaches to defining these. This study presents an overview of existing benchmark systems documented in seventeen cases from the IEA EBC Annex 72 project on LCA of buildings. The study characterizes their different types of methodological background and displays the reported values. Full life cycle target values for residential and non-residential buildings are found around 10-20 kg CO2e/m2/y, whereas reference values are found between 20-80 kg CO2e/m2/y. Possible embodied target- and reference values are found between 1-12 kg CO2e/m2/y for both residential and non-residential buildings. Benchmark stakeholders can use the insights from this study to understand the justifications of the background methodological choices and to gain an overview of the level of GWP performance across benchmark systems.
Towards indicative baseline and decarbonization pathways for embodied life cycle GHG emissions of buildings across Europe
Authors: Röck M , Allacker K , Auinger M , Balouktsi M , Birgisdottir H , Fields M , Frischknecht R , Habert G , Hvid Horup Sørensen L , Kuittinen M , Le Den X , Lynge K , Muller A , Nibel S , Passer A , Piton F , Rasmussen F N , Ruschi Mendes Saade M , Alaux N , Satola D , Sørensen A , Spitsbaard M , Tikka S , Tozan B , Truger B , Van Leeuwen M , Vesson M , Viitala A , Zonnevijlle R , Lützkendorf T
Published: September 2022

Buildings’ construction and operation are major contributors to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and the substantial reduction of GHG emissions across their full life cycle is required to enable meeting international climate targets. For effective climate change mitigation - as recent studies have shown - a special focus has to be put on lowering embodied GHG emissions, i.e., emissions related to construction production manufacturing and construction processes, maintenance and replacement as well as end-of-life processing. As the importance of reducing embodied GHG emissions rises, so does the need for understanding both the baseline and pathways for reduction across the full life cycle of buildings. In this paper, we offer insights into the data-driven analysis of embodied GHG emissions across the whole life cycle of buildings from recent studies. Our investigation builds on the data collection, processing and harmonisation of around 1.000 building LCA case studies. We offer an integrated perspective on GHG emissions across the life cycle of buildings, considering historical trends, current baselines and indicative reduction pathways for embodied GHG emissions in different countries across Europe. This serves to inform our current ‘decade of action’ and the transformation to a regenerative built environment by 2050.
Investigating passive strategies in a cold climate – teaching EDDA in architectural education
Authors: Gottkehaskamp B , Willmann A
Published: September 2022

This paper describes the results of an architectural teaching module investigating passive building strategies in cold climatic conditions on the case study of Iceland. Focusing on thermal comfort in buildings, usual case study tasks are located in cooling-dominated climates - as vernacular design for hot climate zones offers more passive strategies than for cold climates. As part of the architectural education programme at Jade University of Applied Sciences, students investigated the impact of passive strategies in a building design concept for a hotel in Iceland by applying numerical simulation within the initial design phase. The aim was to develop a holistic energy efficiency strategy and to optimize their initial design propositions exploiting its full potential for high thermal comfort in the guest rooms. Although each student started with an individual research question for a specific passive strategy, i.e., investigating varying construction materials, buffer zones, window-wall-ratio, Trombe walls, etc., all design concepts finally included multi-storey glazed buffer zones contributing to comfortable room temperatures by high solar gains from April to September resulting in a significantly reduced heating load. Furthermore, the study identified several design metrics for passive solar buffer zones to ensure the positive impact throughout the months with varying solar intensity. The teaching module called EDDA (Environmental Digital Design Analysis) is based on simplified 3D models in McNeels Rhinoceros 3D undergoing thermal simulation with a Grasshopper–Ladybug-Honeybee workflow. This allowed the students to iterate their building designs for maximum thermal comfort before adding HVAC systems. Ultimately, EDDA fostered to design climate-sensitive buildings by identifying a suitable set of passive strategies for the predominant climatic conditions as a first – but essential - step towards climate-neutral buildings. At the same time, prospective architects are empowered leading the building sectors towards a carbon-neutral future.
On Reflection: Learning, Meaning and Identity in the Design Studio
Authors: Crabbe M , Pawlicki N , Jansen S , Roswag-Klinge E
Published: September 2022

Successfully transitioning to a more sustainable building sector will require schools of architecture to explore new methods, approaches and formats for learning. Challenging some of the outdated values and assumptions at the core of the architecture profession starts in the design studio, where early professional identities, relationships and understandings of collaboration are forged. While there is an increasing focus on inter- and transdisciplinary learning in today’s higher education landscape, investigations into the pedagogy of the design studio are both relatively limited and disproportionately dominated by theory based on Donald Schön’s ideas on the “reflective practitioner”. In reality, the lack of any kind of coherent training for teaching staff means that most often approaches tend to reproduce that which the teachers themselves experienced during their own studies. The paper uses a series of autoethnographic vignettes to describe design studio teaching at Natural Building Lab from the perspective of a university educator based on the example of a masters design studio in winter 2021-22. Etienne Wenger’s Communities of Practice model, and specifically the four dimensions of design for learning, are used to unpack and discuss some of the dialogies at work in studio learning. The study should be seen as a form of practice-based research, using teaching formats as a way to actively gain new insights into new forms of practice with a focus on sustainability and student-empowerment. The paper provides an intimate and personal insight into some of the questions and challenges facing educators, students and project partners as participants in emergent and collective learning processes.
Steered Erosion – A differentiated approach on weather protection for exposed rammed earth walls
Authors: Hoppe P
Published: September 2022

For environmental as well as aesthetic reasons, the use of rammed earth has become increasingly popular in the last years. However, there is still a lot of insecurity among clients, planners and contractors concerning the material’s weather resistance, which impedes its wider application. Starting from here, the paper investigates different construction-related strategies of weather protection that build upon the idea of Calculated Erosion described by rammed earth pioneer Martin Rauch. Through the development of a typology of techniques as well as application studies, the paper shows how on one hand, increased protection can ensure the durability of a wall even under heavy rain impact, while on the other hand – in case of little exposure – erosion can explicitly be permitted, allowing for a strong aesthetic expression of the natural process. Introducing the concept of Steered Erosion as an extension of Calculated Erosion, weather protection techniques are conceived as both functional and design-related interventions in the erosion process, which together are able to significantly promote the use of rammed earth as a sustainable building material.
Earthen construction materials as enabler for circular construction
Authors: Klinge A , Roswag-Klinge E , Neumann E , Bojic D , Radeljić L
Published: September 2022

The construction sector in Germany is one of the largest contributor to climate change. The majority of waste generation, resource consumption as well as CO2 emissions relate to the construction and operation of buildings [1][2][3]. In order to tackle such negative impacts, the construction industry has to undergo a major transformation. Circular construction is the most promising answer to close effectively material cycles and to reduce CO2 emissions related to the manufacturing of construction materials. Stakeholders involved in construction have to review the entire life cycle of building products and buildings and develop new approaches that address such shortcomings to turn the linear way of construction into a circular one. Nowadays the strong focus on economic considerations, lacking knowledge as well as unresolved warranty issues amongst others impede this transformation process. To demonstrate the benefits of earthen materials with regards to circular construction, this study analyses the potential of two different internal partition wall systems, based on earthen as well as conventional building materials in a holistic way. Several aspects have been taken into consideration, evaluated through the physical dismantling of both wall systems as well as a LCA assessment. Construction cost as well as other material benefits, such as the hygroscopic performance of construction materials have been investigated as well. The results demonstrate that earthen materials reduce both, construction and demolition waste as well as CO2 emissions and demonstrate a much higher water vapour sorption capacity, a material parameter relevant for the reduction of mechanical ventilations systems. Although the economical assessment shows expectable lower construction cost for the wall system based on conventional materials such figures have to be placed in relation with the other results. In fact, the analysis demonstrates clearly that a holistic approach is needed in order to achieve the necessary shift.
HOME: Wood-Mycelium Composites for CO2-Neutral, Circular Interior Construction and Fittings
Authors: Rossi A , Javadian A , Acosta I , Özdemir E , Nolte N , Saeidi N , Dwan A , Ren S , Vries L , Hebel D , Wurm J , Eversmann P
Published: September 2022

Office and retail interior fittings have a relatively short service life of 5-7 years. In this context, composite materials are often used, hindering possibilities of reuse or recycling. This research explores novel bio-composite materials and subsequently a construction method for CO2-neutral, circular interior fittings for office spaces. Based on the potential of fungal mycelium as a rapidly renewable, regenerative, affordable, low-carbon building material, bio-composite construction methods are explored in conjunction with timber-based additive manufacturing using continuous fibres. As mycelium has potentially excellent sound-absorbing properties but low load-bearing capacity, composite construction of timber veneer and mycelium allows to increase the structural capabilities of resulting components, while relying entirely on bio-based value chains. We describe the production process as well as the material development, including robotically aided processes for additive manufacturing of veneer reinforcement grids and compatibility studies of different mycelial species and substrates, and their bonding capabilities with veneer. We further present initial results on the mechanical characterization of the composite material, and its comparison to conventional mycelium composites. Minimal structural, acoustic, and functional requirements for different interior fitting elements are studied and compared to the characteristics of the proposed composite, highlighting the range of applications of the presented wood-mycelium composites.
Hygrothermal characterization of bio-based thermal insulation made of fibres from invasive alien lake plants bounded with mycelium
Authors: Pittau F , Carcassi O G , Servalli M , Pellegrini S , Claude S
Published: September 2022

The European program ‘Renovation Wave’ aims to fasten the energy retrofit of the building stock by increasing by a factor 4 the current renovation rate. Mycelium-based materials gained momentum as insulation solutions in recent years due to their 100% biological composition. However, their durability issues, particularly the risk of fast decay due to high moisture content, need to be investigated to promote a safe use in construction. Two bio-composites were set up at a lab scale, a combination of hemp shives and mycelium and a novel mixture based on the combination of mycelium binder and fibres from a lake plant, Lagarosiphon major, an alien invasive species locally available in many EU internal waters. Samples with different dimensions were used to characterize through experimental tests the thermal conductivity, water absorption (capillarity) and vapor permeability. The results show that these mycelium-based composites present both hydric and thermal properties similar to other bio-based material used in construction. The capillarity tests highlighted that hemp composites absorb more water than lake plant ones. The thermal conductivity is similar for both biocomposites, i.e., around 0.05 W/m.K, while the moisture buffer position both analysed biocomposites in “WS 3” according to the German classification DIN 18947 for water regulators.
MY-CO SPACE: An artistic-scientific vision on how to build with fungi
Authors: Meyer V , Schmidt B , Freidank-Pohl C , Schmidts C , Pfeiffer S
Published: September 2022

MY-CO SPACE is a collaborative work of the interdisciplinary SciArt collective MY-CO-X, that enables an artistic-scientific discussion about a future social significance of fungi for the creation of places and spaces. MY-CO SPACE is a wooden fungal sculpture that was built from biological materials and is biodegradable. The living space of approx. 20 sqm can be divided by the guests themselves into sleeping, reading, and working areas. It is not a completely enclosed space but a retreat and study space that lives from and deals with the contact with the outside world. This architectural artwork strives for a different point of view and a process of interaction in which humans are involved in a conscious as well as unconscious conversation with their environment, a point of view that tacitly implies a flattening of hierarchies between the different agents and authors - human as well as non-human. MY-CO SPACE is therefore a built reflection on a cooperation with biological systems that store, transform, and recycle organic matter and energy, and an exploration of fungi as a future lightweight building material resistant to fire, shock and water, and whose modification through biotechnology is possible. It is the urgency of the planetary situation and the issues we now face that require a holistic approach and close collaboration between art and science.
Environmental impact assessment to support the development of new Photonic Meta-Concrete
Authors: Adams N , Allacker K
Published: September 2022

The cooling demand in buildings has increased over the past decades due to global warming, the heat-island-effect in cities and the increased airtightness and thermal resistance of the building envelope. This led to an increased use of conventional air-conditioners, which now account for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and 10% of the total energy consumption. In this context, the MIRACLE project aims at developing a new Photonic Meta-Concrete (PMC) with remarkable photonic properties to reduce the CO2 footprint of buildings, mitigate the heat-island-effect and global warming. Besides the positive effect that this innovative material can have on the environment during the use phase of buildings, also the environmental impact of the production needs to be minimized. Environmental impact assessment (EIA) is used along the development process of this innovative material to guarantee a low material environmental impact. This paper discusses how EIA is used along the development process and presents the preliminary results in the early stages of the development of the PMC. To investigate the impact of this new material, a cradle-to-gate analysis of the resources, energy and machinery needed to create the concrete mixture is performed. The broad set of environmental indicators of the EC PEF (Product Environmental Footprint) method, such as climate change, acidification, eutrophication, particulate matter, ecotoxicity, water depletion and human toxicity are being considered. Considering such a large set of indications ensures that burden shifting is avoided. The environmental impact of the PMC is moreover compared to the impact of conventional concrete to understand how both perform.
Functionally Gradient Concrete // Resource- and emission-reduced concrete building construction system for NZ - The development of a seismically resistant joint for a functionally graded concrete wall-to-floor connection
Authors: Oswald F , Haase W , Blandini L , Sobek W , Henry R , Nikolic D
Published: September 2022

Concrete is known to have a large carbon footprint; however, its versatility and durability are unparalleled. These qualities pertain to the usefulness of concrete in an ever-increasing population, and therefore demand our attention. By optimizing and improving the performance of concrete through innovative technologies, such as functionally graded concrete, the carbon footprint can be reduced. In construction, the weight of a conventional concrete structure accounts for approximately 70 % of a building’s total mass. In comparison, functionally graded concrete (FGC) is 50-60 % lighter, accounts for reduced emissions (45-60 %), and has improved insulative properties. These factors are achieved by its increased porosity and efficiency of material. Additionally, in comparison to a conventional concrete system, less raw material would be needed to achieve the same structural requirements and therefore less resources would be required. By varying its density, FGC creates a purely mineral, multifunctional, mono-material element that is fully recyclable. Investigations into implementing FGC as a building component in seismic areas have not yet been carried out. The development of a seismically resistant joint for a FGC wall-to-floor connection is necessary due to seismic requirements present around the world. The project presents a review of existing seismic resilient connection technologies, their classification to small scale and largescale building typologies, and the development of concepts for FGC seismically resilient wall-to-floor connections.