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Design workshop at SWISSNEX San Francisco

Can design reduce waste production? How can small adjustments in the typical life cycle of everyday products drastically minimize waste flow? The search for the answers to those and other refuse-related questions were the goals of this year’s ‘Constructing from Waste’ workshop in San Francisco led by Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel. Participants with different background and experience, including students, school teachers, architects and product designers, worked on eight different proposals. Andreas Müller of Birkhäuser, publisher of the Building from Waste book, awarded the best three proposals with recent publications.

The Constructing Waste: Upcycling and Rethinking Trash workshop was organized in cooperation with Mary Ellyn Johnson of swissnex SF in the frame of a one week long event at swissnex San Francisco promoting the Building from Waste book, which has just entered the US market.

For more information click here.

Photo credits: swissnex SF/ Mayleen Hollero

 
 

Waste not: Exploring Alternative Building Materials

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Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel will be leading several events from 21st – 25th of April at Swissnex San Fransisco in order to promote the recent publication “Building from Waste” in the United States. For detailed information on the events please see here and register your attendance through the swissnex website:

21.04.2015  – 6:30 pm: Lecture Series “Waste Not”
with Philip Ross, Thom Faulders, Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel

21.04. – 25.04.2015: “Building from Waste” Exhibit with 25 construction products made from refuse

25.04.2015 – 9:00 am: Constructing Waste: Upcycling and Rethinking Trash
Workshop with Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel

 
 

Bamboo: The Green Reinforcement

alireza javadian green reinforcement

Doctoral Researcher Alireza Javadian of the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel spoke on February 13th 2015 as part of the “Friday Talks” at the Urban Redevelopment Authority Singapore (URA) on “Bamboo: The Green Reinforcement”. His talk introduced the audience to the research of new bamboo composite materials, featuring high tensile capacity with a variety of different application possibilities.

More on the Friday Talk Series can be found here.

 
 

Architecture de crise – Seminaire théorique

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Public lecture of Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel on December 02, 2014 at HEPIA, Geneva, Switzerland. The seminar investigates the potential of crises or emergency situatiuons and their impact on the transformation process of our environment, architectural culture, or art to build.

 
 

Neue Werkstoffe

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Public lecture by Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the Technical University Munich (TUM) on Thursday, November 27, 2014, focusing on alternative materials and their application in architecture and construction. Next to the well-known concept of recycling, the talk will focus on other aspects of material cycles. Densifying, reconfiguring, transforming, designing, and cultivating are some of the areas, the research of the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel is concentrating on.

 
 

AUFGERÄUMT «Bauen aus Müll»

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Public lecture “Building from Waste” by Felix Heisel and Marta H. Wisniewska on Thursday November 27, 2014 at the Baumuster Centrale in Zürich, Switzerland. The event, combining a talk and a small exhibition of selected waste materials, explains the approach of the Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel to understand waste as a possible resource for the construction of future cities. “The city of the future does not distiguinsh any more between waste and resource”. Quote by Mitchell Joachim

 
 

Brown Bag Lunch Talk of Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale Zürich

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On thursday, October 30th, 12:15pm, Asst Prof. Dirk E. Hebel will give a brown bag lunch talk at the Schweizer Baumuster-Centrale on the research of alternative building materials at ETH Zürich and FCL Singapore. For more information please visit www.baumuster.ch

 
 

Resilient Cities

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel in Zürich at the “Future Cities Laboratory Exhibition and Symposium” on September 26, 2014. Resilient cities are those that are able to master a crisis and which are able to exit the state of crisis stronger than before. The crisis can be a war, natural catastrophes, economic developments, or unprecedented growth, as it occurred in Europe and North America after the industrial revolution, and as it presently occurs in the cities North and South of the equator, where at present the majority of the world’s population lives. Resilient cities have the capacity to learn, to remember, and to transform findings of the past into strategies for the future. Sustainability is a basis for resilience. Resilient cities have a high degree of recycling and turn waste into new and useful materials. Resilient cities transform urban farming, energy generation, information sensing and processing into a lifestyle. Future new cities must be planned for resilience. Existing cities can be transformed to become more sustainable and resilient.

 
 

Architecture and Construction: Alternative Materials for the Building Sector

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel in Zürich at the “Future Cities Laboratory Exhibition and Symposium” on September 25, 2014. Cities are cultural centres and drivers of local and global economies. However, in their present form they are not sustainable in either ecological or social and economic terms. Rapid population growth, increased mobility and climate change has led to urban sprawl, air and water pollution and even social conflict. Against this backdrop, ETH Zurich was invited by Singapore’s national research fund in 2010 to launch a five-year research project in Asia. The result is the Future Cities Laboratory (FCL) at the Singapore-ETH Centre (SEC). Now, an exhibition and symposium at the ETH main building presents the most important works from the research project. The 13 research modules present methods and results of interdisciplinary research at the intersection of architecture, urban development and planning, construction, material science, computer science and social sciences.

 
 

5000 Living Units for Addis Ababa

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at ETH Zürich on September 16, 2014. The talk focuses on the development of different typologies for 5000 newly build housing units in Addis Ababa. The city administration of Ethiopia’s capital commissioned the chair with this task. Already in 2015, these units for no- and low-income families, which are being displaced due to on-going redevelopment strategies, shall be constructed within the inner-city context. The work has to take the existing social and cultural conditions into consideration and, where possible, utilize local materials. Additionally, they need to remain within a given budget set by the city administration. Next to the more obvious urban questions, the work will concentrate on locally available construction methods and materials and aims to develop architecture and construction strategies down to the scale of the detail.

 
 

Zurich meets New York: Future Resilient Cities

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel in New York City at the “Zurich meets New York” festival on May 20th, 2014. ‘Resilient cities are those that are able to master a crisis and which are able to exit the state of crisis stronger than before. Resilient cities have the capacity to learn, to remember, and to transform findings of the past into strategies for the future. Sustainability is a good basis for resilience. Resilient cities have a high degree of recycling and turn waste into new and useful materials. Resilient cities transform urban farming, energy generation, information sensing and processing into a lifestyle. Future new cities must be planned for resilience. Existing cities can be transformed to become more sustainable and resilient.’ Gerhard Schmitt

 
 

Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development

Keynote presentation by Dirk E. Hebel at the Salzburg Congress on Urban Planning and Development on May 16th, 2014. Imagine cities where our current concepts of waste are thrown away, and instead we envision a city’s waste as resource. In our world, where scarcity and excess define the chasm between the haves and have-nots; exploring the social, environmental and economic dimensions of waste will help us understand more deeply how we manage our Earth’s resources and how we may help to address the inequities intrinsic to this dichotomy. SCUPAD’s 2014 Congress will explore a paradigm shift where cities and regions can develop new ways of managing the planet’s resources where the concept of harvesting becomes the lifecycle of every element of our lives. Reevaluating, modifying, and altering chains of production and consumption are ways of renewing connections to our places and to each other; and practical ways to reduce and reuse waste should be  integral parts of any city’s metabolism. Although each city has its own DNA and thus may manage its resources and waste in different ways, looking at a variety of successful methods that some cities have adopted in the management of their waste streams may offer templates for replication and adaptation. Expanding our understanding of the generation of urban energies can help us realign our relationships with natural systems. SCUPAD’s 2014 Congress will frame waste as a source of creativity, equity, and sustainable development. Please join us as we question, test, and explore ways we can adopt new policies, expand community education, and share practices that inspire citizen engagement and culture change. There is no time to waste.

 
 

Engineering the Future

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel on March 27th, 2014 at the PCI, BASF Engineering Meeting in Rapperswil, Switzerland. “An der zweiten PCI BASF Ingenieurtagung möchten wir einen Ausblick in die Thematik der Umwelt wagen. Die Klimaforschung und deren Modelle zur Entwicklung von CO2 Emmisionen lassen aufhorchen und es werden Fragen gestellt, die heute noch nicht beantwortet werden können. Wir möchten mit den Beiträgen einige Lichtblicke und Lösungsansätze aus dem Baubereich aufzeigen. Mit Mut zu neuen Ansätzen können wir zu einer nachhaltigeren Umwelt beitragen.” (official program)

 
 

«on Architecture»

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the Department of Architecture, ETH Zurich on March 25th, 2014. Momentarely, Dirk Hebel is Assistant Professor of Architecture and Construction at the ETH Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. Prior to that, he was the founding Scientific Director of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  His research at FCL Singapore concentrates on alternative building materials such as organic fibers and waste. He will elaborate how this extended definition of resources for the building industry can find their way in our contemporary view of construction techniques in developing as well as developed territories.

Date: 25. März 2014, 18.00 Uhr

Location: ETH Zürich, Campus Hönggerberg, Gebäude HIL, Auditorium E 4
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 5, 8093 Zürich

 
 

SIA / SIKA Event 2014: Innovative Technologies for Future Cities

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel in Singapoe at the SIA / SIKA workshop on February 27th, 2014 at CREATE Tower Singapore. Can we realise zero-emissions buildings in the tropics? How might robots bring innovation to the construction industry? What advantages does bamboo have over steel as a building material? These are just some of the research questions addressed by the Singapore-ETH Centre Future Cities Laboratory (SEC FCL), which is committed to addressing both the potentials and the challenges facing the contemporary city. Through a trans-disciplinary framework, SEC FCL investigates how cities might be designed, produced, managed, maintained and inhabited in a way that supports global sustainability. This presentation will give a snapshot of some of the innovative technologies being developed in the Future Cities Laboratory, ranging from green buildings to 3D city modelling and simulation.

 
 

STARS Symposium Singapore

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the STARS Symposium, Singapore, on February 18th, 2014. The stars symposia and related alumni activities help prepare proven “Leaders of the Next Generation” for their global leadership roles by enhancing a better understanding of the economic, scientific, political, cultural and social challenges, which will impact business and organizations in the next 5-10 years, broadening their horizons through interdisciplinary and intercultural dialogue with peers and global leaders from all fields, contributing to their personal development to drive responsible and sustainable actions.

 
 

Research for Development – Chances for Ethiopia

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction, and City Development EiABC, Addis Abba, Ethiopia on January 23rd, 2014. Steel-reinforced concrete is the most common building material in the world, and developing countries use close to 90 percent of the cement and 80 percent of the steel consumed by the global construction sector. However, very few developing countries have the ability or resources to produce their own steel or cement, forcing them into an exploitative import-relationship with the developed world, as the case of Ethiopia shows very clearly. Out of 54 African nations, only two are producing steel. The other 52 countries including Ethiopia all compete in the global marketplace for this ever-more-expensive, seemingly irreplaceable material. But steel is not irreplaceable. There’s a material alternative that grows in the tropical zone of our planet, an area that coincides closely with the developing world: bamboo.  Bamboo is a highly renewable and eco-friendly material. It grows much faster than wood, is usually available in great quantities, and is easy to obtain. It is also known for its unrivalled capacity to capture carbon and could therefore play an important role in reducing carbon emissions worldwide – another advantage for developing nations in light of the trade in carbon emission certificates. Simply from an economic perspective, most developing nations should be interested in the material. It could strengthen local value chains, bring jobs and trade to those countries, and lower their dependency on international markets. The research conducted under the Professorship of Dirk E. Hebel at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore entails investigating the potential to build up a industrial production of a renewable, sustainable and local available material, which could be the start of a green industrial alternative in Ethiopia.

 
 

Building on Bamboo

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the Lombok International Bamboo Architecture Festival, Indonesia on December 7th, 2013. The event is presented by the Indonesian Institute of Architects – West Nusatenggara Region in association with Budi Pradono Architects and in collaboration with The Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, The Government of West Nusa Tenggara and also The Regent of West Lombok.

More than 200 participants consisting of researchers, architects, engineers, artists, and students of architecture from around the world will discuss, exchange their knowledge and apply their skills towards the most common indigenous Indonesian material, which by today is almost forgotten as one of the strongest and most resiliant building substances in the tropics.

Dirk E. Hebel will report on the research under way at the Advanced Fiber Composite Laboratory at FCL Singapore and give insides on an industrialized product design, which upgrades bamboo from its image as a backward and outmoded building material to a high-tech, renewable and green resource for the future.

 
 

‘Changing Addis’ Lecture Series at Alliance ethio-francaise

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The documentary movie series ‘_Spaces’ by Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle will be the basis for the ‘Changing Addis’ lecture series of the Alliance éthio-française in Addis Ababa. In three consecutive events different urgent topics will be discussed by international panelists. Dealing with the current housing situation in Ethiopia, the first evening on Tuesday 26.11.2013 at 6:30 pm is entitled “Chika bet versus Condominium”.

The evening will start with the screening of ‘Disappearing Spaces’ and ‘Emerging Spaces’ to prepare a common basis for discussion by the international panel and the audience.

We are excited to announce the participation of the following panelists:
Dr. Petra Gruber (Chair Holder of Architecture and Design III, Visiting Prof. at EIABC)
Dr. Alula Pankhurst (Country Director of Young Lives, fmr Asst. Prof. of Social Anthropology AAU)
Mathios Asfaw (General Manager of the Integrated Development Plan Project Office)
Bisrat Kifle (Acting Deputy Scientific Director of EIABC)

 
 

Urban Systems: from macro to micro and back

Lecture by Dirk E. Hebel on November 18, 2013 in the seminar ‘Information Architecture of Cities’ at the chair of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt, ETH Zurich. The elective course ‘Information Architecture of Cities’ opens a holistic view on existing and new cities. The goal is to better understand the city by going beyond the physical appearance and by focusing on different representations, properties and impact factors of the urban system.

 
 

Swiss Positions – Swiss Scales: Constructing Alternatives

Public lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at Seoul’s Yonsei University on November 15th in a series called “Swiss Positions – Swiss Scales”.

Five researchers from the Future Cities Laboratory will be giving a series of lectures and workshops in Seoul, Korea. Yonsei Symposium kicks off with FCL’s Programme Leader Prof Kees Christiaanse delivering a lecture on Open City, followed by a panel discussion with Prof Hong-Chul Rhim (Yonsei University), Prof Jae-Seung Lee (Hongik University), Prof Klaas Kresse (University of Seoul) on 24 October 2013. On  7 November 2013, FCL’s Prof Dr Gerhard Schmitt will deliver a keynote speech on Information Architecture as part of the Swiss Scales event. Architecture Tomorrow is a joint seminar featuring FCL’s Michael Budig and Marcel Bruelisauer alongside Yonsei University’s Asst Prof Ghang Lee of the Building Informatics Group and Dr Seung-Book Leigh of the Centre for Sustainable Buildings.

The Yonsei Symposium wraps up with a lecture by Prof E. Dirk Hebel of the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction on “Constructing Alternatives”. FCL’s “Innovative Technologies” display will also be shown at the Swiss Scales exhibition starting 6 November at the Korean Foundation Cultural Centre.

 
 

‘Future Africa’ Seminar

Three public lectures by Dirk E. Hebel, Felix Heisel and Alireza Javadian on November, 12, 2013 at the Future Africa seminar at the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore. The seminar features Jonathan Ledgard, Africa correspondent for the Economist and head of the Afrotech Initiative, EPFL, and is moderated by Ian Smith, Principal Investigator at Future Cities Laboratory and Professor at EPFL. CoReSing will contribute 3 talks to the discussion on political risks and technology opportunities for Africa, titled: “Pedestrian life in African cities”, “Chereka Bet – Risks and opportunities of informal housing” and “High Performance Materials”.

 
 

Bamboo Concrete

Public Lecture by Dirk E. Hebel at the “Holcim Community of Practice Meeting 2013” on November 08, 2013 in Singapore. Dirk E. Hebel will introduce latest results of the research project on Advanced Fiber Composite Materials used as reinforcement systems in structural concrete.

 
 

Bamboo Fiber Reinforced Composites presented at the Composites Week in Leuven

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Dr. Mateusz Wielopolski presented the research work on composite fiber materials of CoReSing at the Composites Week in Leuven, Belgium from September 16th to 20th. The symposium covered the forefront technologies in composite material research, production and manufacturing and hosted a highly prestigious assembly of internationally acknowledged experts in this field. The scientific community included participants from well-known institutions all over the world such as for example the MIT, EPFL, Stanford University, Weizmann Institute of Science and many others. Having been chosen to present the “fresh” results of the CoReSing bamboo project in front of almost 500 hundred participants was a very inspiring and motivating experience.

 
 

Movie Premiere at Goethe Institute Addis Ababa

originatingspaces_(credit_Felix_Heisel_Bisrat_Kifle)

Movie Premiere on Friday 21st June 2013 at Goethe Institute Addis Ababa at 6:30pm.

Originating Spaces by Felix Heisel / Bisrat Kifle
A part of the documentary movie series “_Spaces” on spaces appropriation in Addis Ababa.
http://www.spacesmovie.com

Addis Ababa is a city of migrants. Considering that Addis Ababa’s history reaches back only a century and most of the inhabitants of the informal areas of the city are rural migrants, the spatial arrangements of the traditional tukul actually forms part of Addis Ababa’s understanding of space. Based on the claim that traditional and cultural habits, religious and social patterns and income generating mechanisms should be the basis for new developments in Ethiopia’s capital, this movie tries to understand the origin of such conditions.

The movie “Originating Spaces” is a cinematic documentary on the use of space in the rural areas of Ethiopia. Looking at one typical tukul for the duration of 24 hours, one can notice how a single room can serve for most daily functions. Interviews with the inhabitants and experts give further insight into the topic.

This movie was kindly supported by the German Embassy Addis Ababa and the Goethe Institute Addis Ababa. For detailed program, please go here. 

 
 

Smart Cities – Smart Technologies and Materials

Public Lecture by Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel at the ‘Smart Cities’ Symposium AEDES East Gallery Berlin, June 8, 2013. The N.P.O. AEDES East, under the direction of the curator Ulla Giesler, presents an exhibition and symposium as part of the Asia-Pacific Weeks Berlin 2013, with the title ‘Smart City’. For the first time, the regional focus will be on South-East Asia with particular emphasis on the formative up-and-coming generation. The exhibition concentrates on the search for intelligent solutions within an urban context. Next to the exhibition, a symposium will discuss innovative “smart city” projects from South-East Asia: buildings, planning, urban interventions, initiatives and visions for the future from internationally known experts as well as young architects from Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, who are making the cities more intelligent, effective and above all improving the quality of life for their citizens. Beyond that, the results of the student workshops, which Aedes initiated in Phnom Penh, Jakarta and Manila to generate the future city visions of the upcoming generation, will be shown. Particularly on a technological level, the fact that some emerging nations and developing countries are skipping certain development stages undergone by the classic industrialized nations, is reflected in form and utilization. However, the idea of an adaptable, integrated and networked ‘smart city’ holds opportunities and challenges for Europe too: old infrastructures, pre-existing networks and behavioral patterns, local services and governmental systems also need to be synchronized in order to retain future viability for them. The exhibition and symposium presents ideas that have relevance far beyond only South-East Asia and represent changed smart behavior in a globalized age.

 
 

Density and Destiny

Public Lecture by Felix Heisel on May, 11 2013 at the Digital Arts Week ‘A Culture of SustainAbility’ Symposium on Density and Destiny in the Marina Bay ArtScience Museum. Cities have always been dense places. With density comes diversity, stimulation, new ideas, innovation, wealth. In short, many of the good things of life. But density also brings the potential for crowding, stress, noise, ill-health, marginalization and a whole set of other urban woes. This panel offered some provocative thinking on these issues.

 
 

Density and Destiny: The Threats and Promises of Future Cities

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Felix Heisel was invited to speak on the Density and Destiny Panel on May 11th at the ‘A Culture of SustainAbility’ Symposium, a part of the DAW 2013 (Digital Arts Week Singapore) at the Marina Bay Art Science Museum. Together with Prof. Stephen Cairns, Dr Alex Erath, Derek Volmer and Charlotte Malterre-Barthes, Felix discussed on the threats and promises of density in a comparative panel discussion on Singapore, Jakarta, Cairo and Addis Ababa.

Cities have always been dense places. With density comes diversity, stimulation, new ideas, innovation, wealth. In short, many of the good things of life. But density also brings the potential for crowding, stress, noise, ill-health, marginalization and a whole set of other urban woes. This panel offered some provocative thinking on these issues. A group of young scholars based in Singapore at the Future Cities Laboratory reflected on these themes from their own perspectives in transport and mobility, landscape ecology, urban heritage and territorial planning.

 
 

System Territory

Lecture by Dirk E. Hebel on April 22, 2013 in the seminar ‘Information Architecture of Cities’ at the chair of Prof. Dr. Gerhard Schmitt, ETH Zurich. The elective course ‘Information Architecture of Cities’ opens a holistic view on existing and new cities, with focus on Asia. The goal is to better understand the city by going beyond the physical appearance and by focusing on different representations, properties and impact factors of the urban system.

 
 

Waste and Want

Public lecture by researcher Marta Wisniewska at the CREATE Talks in Singapore on 19th April 2013.CREATE Talks is a discussion platform, bringing together interdisciplinary researchers of CREATE Tower institutions, such as ETH, MIT, TUM and BERKLEY. This time the event will be hosted by TU Munich and moderated by SMART, while FCL and BEARS representatives will give their talks. The ‘Waste and Want’ presentation by Marta Wisniewska will introduce the idea of smart product design and what kind of impact they can have on the immediate surrounding as their second life cycle is activated. The talk will examined exemplary refuse products as possibly one of the biggest material resource in the building industry. Some of the newest waste projects of CoreSing will be also presented.

 
 

WHAT I DID NEXT — Princeton’s alternative architectural practices

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the Princeton School of Architecture on April 3, 2013. During the academic year 2012/13 Princeton SoA will stage a series of public conversations around alternative practices in architecture through the work of 85 distinguished alumni from the last 25 years. At a moment when the profession is going through some important questions on a global scale, the series will explore the broad range of practices of recent alumni that spin from or gravitate around architecture, seeking alternatives to the established forms of architectural practice. The series will highlight Princeton’s commitment to experimental work at the edge of the discipline, and on our alumni’s engagement with a wide range of contemporary practices to outline propositions for alternative forms of practice. The lecture series intends to feature these practices as a sample of the issues that the contemporary practice of architecture has to address, to foreground relevant areas of interest and opportunity. Eight sessions will be held during the Fall ’12 term, and eight more during the Spring ’13 term, featuring different practice formats, geographies, ideologies and technologies. Dirk E. Hebel will lecture in the session: New Brave Worlds – Africa and Latin America. April 3, SoA Princeton University, Betts Auditorium, 6pm.

 
 

WASTE – an abundant building material

Public lecture by researcher Marta Wisniewska at a meeting of the Future Cities Laboratory with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in CREATE Tower, on March 22, 2013. The talk will be attended by Prof. Tong Yen Wah, the Singapore-based Co-Director of SJTU-CREATE (Shanghai Jiao Tong University), in order to elaborate on possible collaboration platform between the two institutes. SJTU–CREATE is researching two areas: Waste management and energy recovery (including studies of human behaviour) and Emerging contaminants and the effect on human health and ecology (including pollutants in reservoirs). The talk will focus on CoReSing’s approach to intelligent design of future refuse products and their second life cycle. The abundance of waste as future building material in cities will be an essential part of the presentation.

 
 

New Composite Reinforcements

Public lecture by PhD candidate Alireza Javadian at the 1st Annual International Conference on Architecture and Civil Engineering (ACE 2013) in Singapore, on March 18th, 2013. The ACE 2013 has been organized by the Global Science and Technology Forum (GTSF) and is the first international conference dedicated to both Architecture and Civil Engineering research. The conference is the premiere forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of Architecture and Civil Engineering. The conference intends to bring together leading researchers, architects, engineers and scientists in this domain of interest from around the world.  A paper on ‘Engineering Bamboo; New composite reinforcements’ by the Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel of FCL Singapore was accepted by the ACE 2013 committee for presentation.

 
 

Bamboo Composite Reinforcements in Structural Concrete Applications

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the ‘Advances in Cement and Concrete Technology in Africa’ (ACCTA) conference in Johannesburg, South Africa on January 28, 2013. The ACCTA 2013 is the first international conference initiated from the SPIN project (Spearhead network for innovative, clean and safe cement and concrete technologies), that is a cooperation between European and African leading research institutions from the fields of materials research. The conference aims to cross-link experts in the field of cement and concrete technology with key players from research institutions, industries, associations and policy-making bodies. The aim is to establish a sustainable and economically efficient cement and concrete technology in Africa with impact on the world-wide. A paper on ‘Bamboo Composite Reinforcements in Structural Concrete Applications’ by the Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel of FCL Singapore was accepted by theACCTA peer review group for presentation.

 
 

Bamboofying Concrete

Public Lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the international FCL Conference – Concrete Sleeping Beauty at CREATE Singapore on 26th November 2012. Bamboo has been used as a construction material for centuries around the globe. The benefits of using bamboo are enormous: its fast growth, high tensile strength, and the capacity to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are just some of the most remarkable properties it has to offer. For decades, researchers around the world have searched for methods to activate those benefits for use within the building sector and transform bamboo from a locally applied organic material into an industrialized product. However, water absorption, swelling and shrinking behavior, durability, fungi attacks as well as chemical decomposition of bamboo have limited most of the applications so far. This research demonstrates that new bamboo composite materials, developed with Woven Strand Bamboo (WSB) technology, have the possibility to overcome most of these limitations and open new application fields within the building sector, especially in the concrete industry. The research conducted under the Professorship of Dirk E. Hebel at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore entails investigating the potential to replace steel reinforcements in structural concrete applications.

 
 

Engineering Bamboo

Public Lunch-Talk by Alireza Javadian at the FCL Future Cities Laboratory Singapore on 1st November 2012. Bamboo has been used as a construction material for centuries around the globe. The benefits of using bamboo are enormous: its fast growth, high tensile strength, and the capacity to capture large amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere are just some of the most remarkable properties it has to offer. For decades, researchers around the world have searched for methods to activate those benefits for use within the building sector and transform bamboo from a locally applied organic material into an industrialized product. However, water absorption, swelling and shrinking behavior, durability, fungi attacks as well as chemical decomposition of bamboo have limited most of the applications so far. This research demonstrates that new bamboo composite materials, developed with Woven Strand Bamboo (WSB) technology, have the possibility to overcome most of these limitations and open new application fields within the building sector, especially in the concrete industry. The research conducted under the Professorship of Dirk E. Hebel at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore entails investigating the potential to replace steel reinforcements in structural concrete applications.

 
 

ADDIS 2050: an alternative pathway into Ethiopia’s future

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Felix Heisel, Bisrat Kifle, Addis alem Fekele, Tewedaj Eshetu, Yosef Teferri, and Eyob Wedesu at the Green Forum ADDIS 2050 Conference in Addis Ababa on October 09, 2012. Addis Ababa belongs to the fastest growing urban centers in the world. Migration from the rural areas as well as a massive redevelopment strategies of the City Government put the African capital under enormous pressure. Infrastructural deficiencies, water and energy shortages, environmental hazards and mobility challenges question the current modus operandi in place. Alternative pathways will be presented in this lecture which is a result of a workshop collaboration between the Green Forum Ethiopia, FCL Singapore and EiABC Addis Ababa.

Team FCL Singapore: Dirk Hebel, Felix Heisel, Marta Wisniewska, Alireza Javadian, Gerhard Schmitt, Stephen Cairns, Remo Burkhard, Eva-Maria Friedrich, Matthias Berger, Stefan Mueller Arisona, Ludger Hovestadt, Jorge Orozco, Alex Erath, Max Hirsh, Sonja Berthold, Ying Zhou, Edda Ostertag, Naomi Hanakata, Lindsey Ann Sawyer, Cheryl Song, Noor Faizah Binte Othman, Kevin Lim, Amanda Tan

Team EiABC: Joachim Dieter, Bisrat Kifle, Addis alem Fekele, Tewedaj Eshetu, Yosef Teferri, Eyob Wedesu

Team Green Forum/Heinrich Boell Foundation: Patrick Berg, Ayele Kebede, Jonas

 
 

Learning from Singapore

Public lecture by Felix Heisel at the Green Forum ADDIS 2050 Conference in Addis Ababa on October 09, 2012. Out of Singapore’s breathtaking development over the past 50 years, the lecture focuses on two mayor characteristics of urban planning: the incredible success story of the Housing & Developing Board (HDB) as well as the concept of a “City in the Garden”. Today, more than 85% of Singapore’s 5.3 million inhabitants are home owners, due to an inventive strategy implemented already in the 1960ies. Identification of the home owners with the nation-state is almost guaranteed, since almost everybody is owning a share of Singapore, whereby national economic growth enhances the value of private property. Also during the last 50 years, even so the built mass in Singapore grew constantly, the green area did as well and is covering today more than 50% of the island, making Singapore one of the greenest cities world-wide. The lecture will introduce the necessary decisions that were taken over the last five decades in order to achieve such high standards.

 
 

Cities as proto-typologies

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the 2012 Academia Engelberg Congress in Switzerland on September 14, 2012.  The 11th Dialogue on Science will focus on the issue of rapid urbanization and its consequences for everyday life in cities around the world. With this congress the Academia Engelberg Foundation asks how might the disciplines of architecture, urbanism and the built environment sciences respond to the challenges of rapid urbanization?

The Chair of Architecture and Construction at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore concentrates its research on ‘alternative modern’ construction materials. The ‘alternative’ aspect of this focus emerges from an exploration of the possibility of knowledge transfer, which could change the way we think about vernacular or traditional building materials. One material, maybe the most neglected building material in the world so far, has the chance to change our perspective: Bamboo, “the next super-material” as it was called out in a recent BBC documentary. It is growing exactly in those regions around the equator belt, where most developing territories are to be found today. Bamboo is a very fast growing and affordable natural resource, which has outstanding constructive qualities, superior to wood and, looking at tensile capacities, even to steel.

Re-inventing and overcoming its role as a old fashioned vernacular building material of the South, it could start to establish a knowledge transfer from South-to-South or South-to-North and reverse the traditional model. The talk will argue, that through knowledge transfer, there is a chance to combine and therefore revaluate globally applied building materials with local available substances and knowledge from the South. It is proposing the possibility for a ‘reverse’ or ‘alternative modernism’, whereby developed countries might start to learn and gain from a knowledge developed in the ‘South’.

 
 

Constructing Alternatives

Public lecture by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel at the 2012 FCL/ETH conference in Zurich, Switzerland on September 10, 2012.  Multiple centers, hubs and nodes increasingly supplement traditional city centers, regional territories and urban clusters. These are embedded in a network of infrastructures to form complex polycentric urban regions that extend far into once rural hinterlands. Research from the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore will be confronted with research from ETH Zurich and elsewhere in order to promote an exchange of knowledge and to bring the Future Cities Laboratory’s work to the attention of a larger audience in Switzerland. Following the question on how a well-tempered environment can be achieved in different situations of affluence, material resources and technological development, Dirk Hebel will introduce first outcomes of his research in Singapore.

 
 
       
 
 
 
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie
Fakultät für Architektur
Institut Entwerfen und Bautechnik

Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen
Englerstr. 11, Geb. 11.40, Raum 25
D-76131 Karlsruhe
 
Tel: +49 (0)721/608-42167
 
 
 
Recent Publications:  
 

    Organic Architecture – Fungus mycelium and flax as materials for the ecological building transition

    February 13, 2024

    Klaaßen, Lars. “Organische Architektur – Pilzmyzel und Flachs als Materialien für die ökologische Bauwende.” In Deutsches Architektur Jahrbuch 2024, edited by Peter Schmal Cachola, Yorck Förster, and Christina Gräwe, 198–209. Berlin, Germany: DOM publishers, 2024.

     
     

    Circular construction – Circulation instead of demolition in “BUND-Jahrbuch 2024”

    January 18, 2024

    Streiff, Peter. “Zirkuläres Bauen – Kreislauf statt Abriss.” BUND-Jahrbuch – Ökologisch Bauen & Renovieren 2024, January 2024.

     
     

    Redesigned Material Library at KIT in ‘Mitteilungsblatt des VDB-Regionalverbands Südwest’

    January 8, 2024

    Mönnich, Michael, and Sandra Böhm. “Neu gestaltete Materialbibliothek am KIT.” Südwest-Info: Mitteilungsblatt des VDB-Regionalverbands Südwest Nr. 36 (2023), 2023.

     
     

    RoofKIT Wuppertal, Germany; Interview with Prof. Dirk Hebel

    November 20, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “RoofKIT Wuppertal, Germany; Interview with Prof. Dirk Hebel: The aim is clear, we must forge the path ourselves.” In Sustainable Architecture & Design 2023/ 2024, edited by Andrea Herold, Tina Kammerer, and InteriorPark., 46–55. Stuttgart, Germany: av edition GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    The existing building stock is the future resource

    November 16, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Der Bestand ist die künftige Ressource – Den linearen Umgang mit Baumaterialien schnellstmöglich stoppen.” Planerin – Mitgliederfachzeitschrift für Stadt-, Regional- und Landesplanung, Oktober 2023.

     
     

    Article: Investigation of mechanical, physical and thermoacoustic properties of a novel light-weight dense wall panels made of bamboo Phyllostachys Bambusides

    October 30, 2023

    Gholizadeh, Parham, Hamid Zarea Hosseinabadi, Dirk E. Hebel, and Alireza Javadian. “Investigation of Mechanical, Physical and Thermoacoustic Properties of a Novel Light-Weight Dense Wall Panels Made of Bamboo Phyllostachys Bambusides.” Nature Sientific Reports 13 (October 26, 2023). https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-023-45515-3

     
     

    Building Better – Less – Different: Clean Energy Transition and Digital Transformation

    October 16, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E., Felix Heisel, Andreas Wagner, und Moritz Dörstelmann, Hrsg. Besser Weniger Anders Bauen – Energiewende und digitale Transformation. Besser Weniger Anders Bauen 2. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    From hunting, breeding and harvesting future building materials

    September 27, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Vom Jagen, Züchten Und Ernten Zukünftiger Baumaterialien.” Baukultur Nordrhein Westfalen, September 2023.

     
     

    Building Circular

    September 21, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E., Ludwig Wappner, Katharina Blümke, Valerio Calavetta, Steffen Bytomski, Lisa Häberle, Peter Hoffmann, Paula Holtmann, Hanna Hoss, Daniel Lenz and Falk Schneemann, eds. Sortenrein Bauen – Methode Material Konstruktion. Edition DETAIL. München: DETAIL Business Information GmbH, 2023.

     
     

    Fungi

    September 18, 2023

    Schweikle, Johannes. “Fungi.” In Earthlike, 1:70–75, 2023.

     
     

    Recent Contributions in “wohnen”

    September 18, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Die Stadt als Rohstofflager.” wohnen – Zeitschrift der Wohnungswirtschaft Bayern, August 2023.

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Das RoofKIT-Gebäude der KIT Fakultät für Architektur – Gewinner des Solar Decathlon 2021/22 in Wuppertal.” wohnen – Zeitschrift der Wohnungswirtschaft Bayern, August 2023.

     
     

    The City as Materials Storage

    July 14, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Die Stadt Als Rohstofflager.” Aktuell – Das Magazin Der Wohnung- Und Immobilienwirtschaft in Baden-Württemberg, 2023.

     
     

    Building-Circle instead of One-Way-Economy

    June 30, 2023

    Ellinghaus, Tanja. “Bau-Kreislauf Statt Einweg-Wirtschaft.” Transition – Das Energiewendemagazin Der Dena, 2023.

     
     

    Pure construction methods – circularity-based self-conception in architecture

    June 14, 2023

    Hebel, Dirk E. “Sortenreines Konstruieren – Kreislaufbasiertes Selbstverständnis in der Architektur.” Baumit, 2023. https://www.calameo.com/read/0011023184a57c4715124.

     
     

    Building as a Project of Circularity

    June 14, 2023

    Reddy, Anita. “Bauen Als Kreislaufprojekt.” Engagement Global GGmbH, October 20, 2020. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/rhein-main/frankfurt/frankfurt-setzt-auf-recycling-nach-abriss-stadt-wird-baustofflager-18707619.html.

     
     

    Vivid Cycles: Reopening of RoofKIT on the KIT Campus

    May 17, 2023

    Lux, Katharina. “Anschauliche Kreisläufe: Wiedereröffnung Des RoofKIT Auf Dem KIT Campus.” Baunetz CAMPUS(blog), May 16, 2023. https://www.baunetz-campus.de/news/anschauliche-kreislaeufe-wiedereroeffnung-des-roofkit-auf-dem-campus-8235818.

     
     

    Solar and Circular Construction

    May 15, 2023

    Wagner, Prof. Andreas, Nicolás Carbonare, Regina Gebauer, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Katharina Knoop, and Michelle Montnacher, eds. “RoofKIT.” In Solares und kreislaufgerechtes Bauen, 186–213. Wuppertal: PinguinDruck, 2023.

     
     

    The built environment as a Resource

    April 5, 2023

    Blümke, Katharina, Elena Boerman, Daniel Lenz, and Riklef Rambow. “Die gebaute Umwelt als Ressource – Mit RoofKIT vom linearen zum zirkulären Verständnis des Bauens.” ASF Journal, March 28, 2023.

     
     

    Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22

    March 29, 2023

    Voss, Karsten, and Katharina Simon, editors. Solar Decathlon Europe 21/22: Competition Source Book. 2023.

     
     

    Mushrooms as a promising building material of the future

    February 1, 2023

    Wenk, Holger. “Pilze Als Vielversprechender Baustoff Der Zukunft.” BG Bau Aktuell – Arbeitsschutz Für Unternehmen, vol. 04/22, no. Rohbau, Sept. 2022, pp. 12–13.

     
     

    Go into the mushrooms

    December 20, 2022

    Jeroch, Theresa. “In Die Pilze Gehen.” Die Architekt, November 2022.

     
     

    How we build in the future

    December 15, 2022

    Niederstadt, Jenny. “Wie Wir in Zukunft Bauen.” Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, December 12, 2022. https://www.helmholtz.de/newsroom/artikel/wie-wir-in-zukunft-bauen/.

     
     

    The RoofKIT project as a demonstrator of solutions for today and tomorrow

    December 15, 2022

    RoofKIT, Karlsruhe. “Le Projet RoofKIT Comme Démonstrateur de Solutions Pour Aujourd’hui et Demain.” Translated by Régis Bigot. NEOMAG, December 2022.

     
     

    Interview: Will we be building houses from mycelium in the future?

    December 14, 2022

    Niederstadt, Jenny, and Dirk E. Hebel. Bauen wir künftig Häuser aus Pilz? Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft, December 12, 2022. https://www.helmholtz.de/newsroom/artikel/bauen-wir-kuenftig-haeuser-aus-pilz/.

     
     

    Where fungi become building materials

    December 14, 2022

    Blaue, Carsten. “Wo Pilze Zu Baustoffen Werden.” Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung, December 6, 2022, Nr. 282 edition. https://www.rnz.de/region/metropolregion-mannheim_artikel,-karlsruher-kit-wo-pilze-zu-baustoffen-werden-_arid,1015503.html.

     
     

    RoofKIT: Award-winning vision from Karlsruhe

    November 16, 2022

    Baden-Württemberg Stiftung GmbH. “RoofKIT: Preisgekrönte Vision aus Karlsruhe.” PERSPEKTIVEN, October 2022.

     
     

    Building connects: International Cooperation at the KIT Department of Architecture

    November 2, 2022

    Justus Hartlieb, “Bauen Verbindet: Internationale Zusammenarbeit an der KIT-Fakultät für Architektur”, LookKITINTERNATIONAL, no. 03/2022 (November 2022).

     
     

    Building Stock as a Resource

    October 19, 2022

    Lenz, Daniel, Elena Boerman, and Dirk E. Hebel. 2022. “Gebäudebestand als Ressource.” nbau, no. 03/2022 (Oktober). https://www.nbau.org/2022/10/12/gebaeudebestand-als-ressource/.

     
     

    Building Better – Less – Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy

    October 11, 2022

    Hebel, Dirk E., Felix Heisel and Ken Webster, eds. Building Better – Less – Different: Circular Construction and Circular Economy. Building Better Less Different 1. Basel: Birkhäuser Verlag GmbH, 2022.

     
     

    Ideas for the Future

    September 21, 2022

    Klaaßen, Lars. 2022. “Ideen Für Die Zukunft.” Süddeutsche Zeitung, September 17, 2022.