101-0531-00L Digital Transformation for Circular Construction
| Semester | Spring Semester 2023 |
| Lecturers | C. De Wolf, I. Armeni |
| Periodicity | yearly recurring course |
| Language of instruction | English |
| Comment | All students who register go onto a waiting list until 13.02.2023 and 25 of them will be selected by the lecturer. To register: 1. Enroll before 09.02.2023. 2. Send a short letter of motivation (max. 300 words) and a 1-page CV to limbach@ibi.baug.ethz.ch by 09.02.2023. 3. If you are in D-ARCH: also register for the Focus Work (FS23) by CAB with Prof. Momoyo Kajima (max 12 places) and send your portfolio to limbach@ibi.baug.ethz.ch by 09.02.2023. MIBS students are not required to submit a portfolio. Please only register for the course if you really intend to participate on all course dates (see course catalogue); otherwise, you will deprive someone else of a place. |
| Abstract | The course is about digital innovation towards a circular economy in the built environment. How can we bring together two worlds that are often too distinct: low-impact construction and digital innovation? Bringing digital tools already used in other sectors into the construction sector, students will learn about circular construction (e.g., reuse of materials) through hands-on learning. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Objective | By the end of this course, students will be able to use digital technologies enabling circular design and construction, with a view to environmental implications. They will be able to assess the challenges and opportunities of low-carbon, circular construction and evaluate possible solutions using digital technologies to enable a circular built environment (more specifically, with reused building materials). To achieve this, they need to be able to do the following: 1. Apply circular principles to a real case study disassembling and reassembling a building. 2. Compare different digital technologies applied in circular construction (e.g., material passports, LiDAR scanning, drone imagery, photogrammetry, tracking, tracing, blockchain technology, materials, computational design, digital fabrication, AI, computer vision, extended reality, LCA tools etc.) 3. Communicate the importance and urgency of circular construction. 4. Assess the environmental impact implications of their design and technology decisions through a preliminary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content | • Students will receive an introduction to circular principles by experts from the building industry through visits on demolition sites where building materials are recovered. Flexibility, responsibility, and spontaneity is expected from the students to adapt to the contingencies from demolition and construction sites with reused materials. • They will explore how to use digital technologies such as LiDAR scanning, photogrammetry, scan-to-BIM, computer vision, computational design, digital fabrication, blockchain technology to design and build a structure on the ETH campus, using the materials recovered from the Huber pavilions and other reclaimed building materials. This course is meant as an overview/introduction of many digital technologies that could be useful for circularity and gives the tools to students to further study the technologies they are most interested in on their own. • They will learn how to communicate the urgency of circular construction to their clients, government, and the public. Creativity in essay writing, construction, and filmmaking is expected from the students. • They will learn how to evaluate the environmental impact savings of circular construction through simplified life cycle assessment methods. This course will give the tools to students to learn more on LCA if they wish to deepen their knowledge further. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literature | Çetin, S., De Wolf, C., Bocken, N. (2022) "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework." Sustainability – Circular Economy in the Digital Age special issue, 13, 6348, DOI: 10.3390/su13116348 De Wolf, C. (2022) "4 promising digital technologies for circular construction." World Economic Forum, September 13, Link Raghu, D., Marengo, M., Markopoulou, A., Neri, I., Chronis, A., and De Wolf, C. (2022) "Enabling Component Reuse from Existing Buildings. Using Google Street View and Machine Learning to Enhance Building Databases." The Association of Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Sydney, AU, April 5-9. Gorden, M., Batallé, A., De Wolf, C., Sollazo, A., Dubor, A., Wang, T. (2022) “Automating Building Element Detection for Deconstruction Planning and Material Reuse: A Case Study” Automation in Construction. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Prerequisites / Notice | Interest in Digitalisation and Construction. Flexibility: This is a hands-on course, where students explore digital technologies and opportunities/challenges of reuse. Flexibility (e.g. adapting to unforeseen circumstances), responsibility (e.g. arriving on time for safety briefing), and spontaneity (e.g. finding innovative solutions) is expected from the students to adapt to the contingencies from demolition and construction sites with reused materials. Please only register for the course if you are willing to send us a letter of motivation and really intend to participate; otherwise, you will deprive someone else of a place. All students who register go onto a waiting list until 13.02.2023 and 25 of them will be selected by the lecturer. To register: 1. Enroll before 09.02.2023. 2. Send a short letter of motivation (max. 300 words) and a 1-page CV to limbach@ibi.baug.ethz.ch by 09.02.2023. 3. If you are in D-ARCH: also register for the Focus Work (FS23) by CAB with Prof. Momoyo Kajima (max 12 places) and send your portfolio to limbach@ibi.baug.ethz.ch by 09.02.2023. Please only register for the course if you really intend to participate on all course dates (see course catalogue); otherwise, you will deprive someone else of a place. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Fostered competencies |
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