Abstract
Choosing building materials is usually the stage that follows design in the architectural design process, and is rarely used as a main input and driver for the design of the whole building’s geometries or structures. As an approach to have control over the environmental impact of the applied building materials and their after-use scenarios, an approach has been initiated by the author through a series of research studies, architectural built prototypes, and green material developments. This paper illustrates how sustainable building materials can be a main input in the design process, and how digital fabrication technologies can enable variable controlling strategies over the green materials’ properties, enabling adjustable innovative building spaces with new architectural typologies, aesthetic values, and controlled martial life cycles. Through this, a new type of design philosophy by means of applying sustainable building materials with closed life cycles is created. In this paper, three case studies of research pavilions are illustrated. The pavilions were prefabricated and constructed from newly developed sustainable building materials. The applied materials varied between structural and non-structural building materials, where each had a controlled end-of-life scenario. The application of the bio-based building materials was set as an initial design phase, and the architects here participated within two disciplines: once as designers, and additionally as green building material developers. In all three case studies, Design for Deconstruction (DfD) strategies were applied in different manners, encouraging architects to further follow such suggested approaches.
Highlights
A key feature of architecture is the constant adaptation of external influences such as culture, climate, and ideologies
In all three case studies, Design for Deconstruction (DfD) strategies were applied in different manners, encouraging architects to further follow such suggested approaches
In order to be able to apply these new alternative sustainable materials, it is always needed to mechanically test them after testing the codes of the relevant materials, such as fiber-reinforced polymer composites (FRP) and wood/polymer composites (WPC), so as to apply standardization and verification to settle how reliable the alternative materials are, according to the frame of Eurocodes, to suit the needed applications in reality. This was especially considered in the first case study, which is the largest prototype shown in this paper
Summary
A key feature of architecture is the constant adaptation of external influences such as culture, climate, and ideologies. Linear design thinking was not applied, and a new circular design thinking, which started with ‘Materials as a Design Tool’, took place In this case, the choice of materials—especially bio-based materials—were the starting point, followed by defining and customizing the material properties, applying diverse form-finding strategies using parametric design methods, conducting structural analysis and applying digital fabrication technologies to prefabricate the building elements. In order to be able to apply these new alternative sustainable materials, it is always needed to mechanically test them after testing the codes of the relevant materials, such as FRP and wood/polymer composites (WPC), so as to apply standardization and verification to settle how reliable the alternative materials are, according to the frame of Eurocodes, to suit the needed applications in reality This was especially considered in the first case study, which is the largest prototype shown in this paper. (ITKE) at the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning of the University of Stuttgart under the author’s supervision
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