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Open Access 2024 | Open Access | Buch

A Circular Built Environment in the Digital Age

herausgegeben von: Catherine De Wolf, Sultan Çetin, Nancy M. P. Bocken

Verlag: Springer International Publishing

Buchreihe : Circular Economy and Sustainability

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Über dieses Buch

This open access book offers a comprehensive exploration of the digital innovations that have emerged in recent years for the circular built environment. Each chapter is meticulously crafted to ensure that both academic readers and industry practitioners can grasp the inner workings of each digital technology, understand its relevance to the circular built environment, examine real-life implementations, and appreciate the intriguing business models behind them. Our primary objective is to blend scholarly knowledge with practical inspiration by providing real-life case studies for each innovation. The authors, who possess extensive expertise in their respective fields, have contributed chapters dedicated to digital technologies within their areas of specialization.

The book is organized into three distinct parts. The first part focuses on data-driven digital technologies and delves into how their capabilities can facilitate the transition to a circular built environment. Essential aspects such as building information modeling (BIM), digital twins, geographical information systems (GIS), scanning technologies, artificial intelligence (AI), data templates, and material passports are explored as vital tools for data collection, integration, and analysis in the context of circular construction. In the second part, various digital technologies for design and fabrication are introduced. Topics covered include computational design algorithms, additive and subtractive manufacturing, robotic manufacturing, and extended reality. These discussions shed light on how these technologies can be leveraged to enhance design and fabrication processes within the circular built environment. Finally, the last part of the book presents emerging digital concepts related to business and governance. It explores the role of deconstruction and reverse logistics, blockchain technology, digital building logbooks, and innovative business models as enablers of circularity in the built environment. The book concludes with a chapter dedicated to digital transformation and its potential to propel the built environment towards a regenerative future. In addition to the substantive content, the book features forewords and perspectives from esteemed experts, providing valuable economic and creative insights to complement its comprehensive approach.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

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Data

Frontmatter

Open Access

Chapter 1. From Building Information Modelling to Digital Twins: Digital Representation for a Circular Economy

Abstract

Building information modelling (BIM) has ushered in the era of symbolic building representation: building elements and spaces are described not by graphical elements but by discrete symbols, each with properties and relations that explicitly integrate all information. Digital twinning promises even more: a digital replica in complete sync with the building and its behaviour. Such technologies have obvious appeal for circularity because they accommodate the rich information it requires and link circularity goals to other activities in AECO (architecture, engineering, construction and operation of buildings).

Present implementations of BIM may fall short of the promise, and digital twinning may be hard to achieve, but they remain crucial not only for circularity but for all AECO disciplines. To realise the potential of such representations, information should be treated not as a product of integration but as the integrator of all activities. Similarly, digitalisation should be at the core of business models and deployment plans, not an additional or even optional layer at a high cost. This calls for a coherent approach that includes the full capture of building information, supports the detailed exploration of circular operations, uses the results to constrain decisions and actions and does so throughout the life cycle.

Alexander Koutamanis

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Open Access

Chapter 2. Geographic Information Systems for Circular Cities and Regions

Abstract

A geographic information system (GIS) stores, manipulates, analyses, and visualises spatial data. GIS enables the mapping of building elements and components and can optimise the location of facilities for circular activities, thus contributing to the closing of material loops and the spatial development of circular cities and regions. This chapter presents use cases of GIS in the circular built environment, with examples from academia, industry, and government. Academics use GIS data for urban mining studies to estimate the location and availability of secondary construction materials. Businesses in industry use GIS analysis to inform the facility location of circular construction hubs and (reverse) logistics. Governments use GIS to monitor and assess the circular spatial development potential of their (industrial) territories. In order to integrate GIS into circular economy solutions, improvements need to be made in making spatial data available and in presenting findings that emerge from it. Finally, present enthusiasm for GIS tools should be balanced by a deeper understanding of the connection between digital tools and governance decisions.

Tanya Tsui, Wendy Wuyts, Karel Van den Berghe

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Open Access

Chapter 3. Digitising Building Materials for Reuse with Reality Capture and Scan-to-BIM Technologies

Abstract

Effective building component reuse requires specific information about recoverable components. However, 85% of the European building stock predates the building information modelling (BIM) technology that stores and links such information. Digitisation technologies can be used to recover this information. Scanning and scan-to-BIM technologies such as LiDAR and photogrammetry enable us to capture and analyse large amounts of raw geometric data as point clouds to create digital records or BIM models of existing buildings. These digital representations can be used by building owners, inspectors, and deconstruction groups for deconstruction, new design, procurement, and new construction. They help implement closed circular resource strategies linking recovered materials to new projects. In this article, we look at a specific case study of these applications through the circularity consultant Concular. Digitisation technologies are compared based on their range and accuracy in conditions with noisy and cluttered data, as well as their cost and accessibility. Additional sensor technologies may integrate further compositional or structural details to ultimately produce insights beyond surface geometry that can be communicated through integrated digital platforms for data access and exchange. Further technological development will lower the time and labour costs during data collection, processing, and analysis.

Matthew Gordon, Luise von Zimmerman, Oushesh Haradhun, Dominik Campanella, Milena Bräutigam, Catherine De Wolf

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Open Access

Chapter 4. Artificial Intelligence for Predicting Reuse Patterns

Abstract

Artificial intelligence, and specifically the subfields of computer vision and machine learning, has become a topic with great potential for predicting reuse patterns in the built environment. With sensors that collect visual data becoming more readily available, new opportunities are created to digitalise the built environment by applying technologies from these fields. Applications include exploring the design space, monitoring construction progress, and improving building performance during operation. Using these applications to increase circularity in the built environment requires information about in-use building products and their attributes (e.g. type, material, size, geometry, condition, etc.). This information is a starting point for many downstream circular processes and a core component of circular databases, which can enable designers, constructors, and facility managers to follow a circular paradigm. Many advancements have been made in academia and industry towards extracting such information from visual and other building data, e.g. for the downstream processes of predicting material reusability or automating the maintenance of building facades. This chapter presents efforts on this front and highlights the gaps in adopting and utilising these technologies for the circular built environment, including challenges in developing comprehensive systems for their deployment and in robustly evaluating them. It also discusses business and organisational considerations with respect to adoption, utilisation, and development of the technologies in the circular context.

Iro Armeni, Deepika Raghu, Catherine De Wolf

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Open Access

Chapter 5. From Data Templates to Material Passports and Digital Product Passports

Abstract

Lack of data and difficulty in tracking materials and elements are two major obstacles in the construction industry that hinder the realisation of a circular economy. Data templates, material passports (MPs), and digital product passports (DPPs) are passport instruments that provide valuable information about buildings. Data templates deliver digital standardised data structures for MPs (digital data sets describing building characteristics of, e.g. elements) and DPPs (cross-sectoral passports developed by the European Union to collect product data for sustainability).

MPs, which are associated with the built environment, help urban miners and building owners assess the value and reuse potential of building materials and elements. Several initiatives, such as Madaster, Concular, and Platform CB’23, have produced data templates and MPs for new and existing buildings. Challenges to their use include the lack of standardisation of data templates and MPs and difficulties in collecting and tracing data needed to create and maintain MPs through a building’s life cycle. Standardisation would foster the implementation of passports, but aligning existing concepts and identifying overlaps remains a present challenge. Future research and practice suggest that using geographic information systems, laser scanning, and computer vision will help deploy MPs more effectively in practice.

Meliha Honic, Pedro Meda Magalhães, Pablo Van den Bosch

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Design and Fabrication

Frontmatter

Open Access

Chapter 6. Enabling Design for Circularity with Computational Tools

Abstract

Circular construction is a design task that requires new datasets and computational tools for matching supply and demand within an urban circular system. Material passports (MPs) contain detailed inventories of materials and products, as well as their specifications, location, and connection details. Circularity indicators (CIs) allow an assessment of a design’s environmental impacts with respect to circularity: the degree to which solutions minimise extraction and waste in favour of reusable, renewable, or recyclable resources both in construction and at end-of-use. Often implemented as an extension to detailed BIM models, MPs and CIs are presently applied in the permit and documentation phases. However, these metrics also establish parameters in early design phases, where circular design thinking and evaluation are most impactful. Circular construction consequently calls for a new suite of design tools that can be integrated into existing workflows, are applicable within the uncertain context of the early design phase, and ideally offer immediate feedback related to formal deliberations, structural considerations, material selection, and detailing. This chapter describes the importance of CIs as design parameters across phases with a special focus on recent early design developments such as the software application RhinoCircular.

Felix Heisel, Joseph McGranahan

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Open Access

Chapter 7. Additive Manufacturing for the Circular Built Environment: Towards Circular Construction with Earth-Based Materials

Abstract

By making rapid prototyping accessible and inexpensive, additive manufacturing (AM) has transformed the fabrication industry. The adaptability of the process to various materials makes it applicable to multiple fields ranging from complex nanoscale production in the medical field to the manufacturing of large-scale structures in the construction industry. AM methods are constantly evolving, enabling the production of complex products with minimal initial investment. AM processes generate little waste and require no formwork, making them relevant to the construction industry, which conventionally produces significant amounts of waste.

This chapter provides a high-level overview of AM as an innovative technique and key developments towards its use for a circular built environment. It further delineates the viability of AM techniques using earth-based materials for implementing a circular economy in the construction sector through a series of case studies developed gradually from the scale of architectural prototypes to realised buildings. These examples address factors such as fabrication processes, techniques, and materials used and their influence on circularity through the production cycle of construction achieved using AM. Through the case studies, the chapter promotes ‘closing the loop’ on resources by reusing and recycling excavated construction materials. The chapter concludes with projections for AM practices and potential commercial applications of the technology. Overall, the chapter is useful for anybody interested in the built environment looking at alternative and sustainable building methods, including users, researchers, and professionals.

Kunaljit Chadha, Alexandre Dubor, Edouard Cabay, Yara Tayoun, Lapo Naldoni, Massimo Moretti

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Open Access

Chapter 8. Cooperative Robotic Fabrication for a Circular Economy

Abstract

In a cooperative robotic fabrication (CRF) framework, multiple industrial robots are specifically sequenced to work together, thus allowing them to execute coordinated processes with greater geometric and structural variation. In the context of the construction industry, agents in a cooperative setup can perform complementary functions such as placing or removing building components while simultaneously providing temporary support to a structure. This approach can reduce, or completely remove, the need for temporary external supports and scaffolding that would typically be required for stability during the construction of geometrically complex spanning spatial structures. For a circular economy, this means overall reductions to primary resource inputs and improvements to the disassembly, reuse, and reassembly potential of a structure at the end of its life. This chapter gives a summary of three projects that successfully demonstrate the use of cooperative robotic fabrication to promote several principles of a circular economy through different scaffold-free construction applications. The topics covered in this chapter will be of interest to researchers and professionals interested in the emergent intersection of digital fabrication, robotics, and sustainability applied to the building industry.

Edvard Patrick Grigori Bruun, Stefana Parascho, Sigrid Adriaenssens

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Open Access

Chapter 9. Circular Robotic Construction

Abstract

In situ robotic construction is a type of construction where mobile robotic systems build directly on the building site. To enable on-site navigation, industrial robots can be integrated with mobile bases, while mobile, high-payload construction machines can be adapted for autonomous operation. With parallel advances in sensor processing, these robotic construction processes can become robust and capable of handling non-standard, local, as-found materials.

The potential of using autonomous, mobile robotic systems for the development of innovative circular construction processes is presented in three exemplary case studies:(i) robotically jammed structures from bulk materials, (ii) robotic earthworks with local and upcycled materials, and (iii) robotic additive manufacturing with earth-based materials. These processes exemplify key strategies for a circular industry through the utilisation of materials with low embodied greenhouse gas emissions and the implementation of fully reversible construction processes.

For each case study, we describe the robotic building process, the enabling technologies and workflows, and the major sustainability and circularity benefits compared to conventional construction methods. Moreover, we discuss the difficulty of industry transfer, considering challenges such as detailing, integration, and engineering validation. We conclude with an outlook towards future research avenues and industry adoption strategies.

Lauren Vasey, Petrus Aejmelaeus-Lindström, David Jenny, Ryan Luke Johns, Ilmar Hurkxkens, Coralie Ming, Marco Hutter, Fabio Gramazio, Matthias Kohler

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Open Access

Chapter 10. Extended Reality as a Catalyst for Circular Economy Transition in the Built Environment

Abstract

Extended reality (XR) technologies refer to mixed reality and virtual reality configurations that augment real or represent fully virtual information in an intuitive and immersive manner, transforming the way we plan, design, construct, and operate built environment assets. XR offers great potential to support and accelerate the transition of built environment practices to a circular economy by supporting decisions based on narrow, slow, close, and regenerate strategies. Narrow strategies use XR to simulate the building process to identify potential issues, reduce material waste, and avoid costly mistakes. Slow strategies use XR to enable construction with durable materials and designing for adaptability to extend the lifespan of buildings. Close strategies use XR to facilitate material recovery and support repurposing and reuse, thus reducing waste. Regenerate strategies use XR as a motivational tool to engage citizens, communities, and professionals in design and management decisions. However, applying XR is not without challenges, including technical and process-related limitations, potential misuse, and a lack of rich digital twins. Future research opportunities include the development of rich and accurate digital twins, ethical and sustainable use of XR technologies, and overcoming technical and logistical challenges through interdisciplinary collaboration and user-friendly and accessible XR hardware and software.

Ranjith K. Soman, Dragana Nikolić, Benjamin Sanchez

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Business and Governance

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Backmatter

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Titel: A Circular Built Environment in the Digital Age
herausgegeben von: Catherine De Wolf
Sultan Çetin
Nancy M. P. Bocken
Verlag: Springer International Publishing
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-031-39675-5
Print ISBN: 978-3-031-39674-8
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-39675-5