Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen / Sustainable Construction

On 18 July 2017, Süddeutsche Zeitung reports on the resource sand for the building industry, with an interview by Prof. Dirk E. Hebel. “Dirk Hebel von der Universität Karlsruhe zweifelt trotzdem an der Nachhaltigkeit von Wüstensand und seinem Nutzen als alternativem Baustoff. ‘Die Idee klingt erst einmal gut’, sagt er, ‘aber auch Wüstensand ist erschöpflich. Die Wüste hat genauso ein Ökosystem wie Meere oder Flüsse, das dann zerstört wird. So würden wir ein Problem mit einem nächsten ersetzen.'” The full text (in German) can be found here.

On 07.07.2017, Felix Heisel held a public lecture at the conference “Kreislaufgerechtes Bauen” in Aachen, speaking about the NEST Module UMAR (Urban Mining and Recycling), which is currently under construction in Switzerland. The German magazine Recycling reported on the event with the words: “Felix Heisel vom Fachgebiet Nachhaltiges Bauen des Karlsruher Institut für Technologie forderte Architekten zum Umdenken in der Planung auf. Ein mit dem Architekturbüro Werner Sobek in der Schweiz geplantes Gebäude sei im Bau und zeige neue Möglichkeiten: Alle Bauteile sind hier dekonstruierbar und sortenrein trennbar, um eine Wiederverwendung von Materialien sicher zu stellen. Nur so können Gebäude in der Zukunft als Materiallager dienen.”

Read the complete text (in German) here.

The first installment in an interview series that explores the philosophical concerns of architects exhibiting at “TIME – SPACE – EXISTENCE,” a collateral event at the 2016 Venice Architecture Biennale, features Dirk Hebel of ETH Zürich.

World-Architects first became aware of the materials research that Hebel and his ETH colleagues having been undertaking when we visited a pavilion he designed for the IDEAS CITY Festival in New York City last year. Made from shredded beverage cartons pressed into wallboards, the striking pavilion featured arched structures resting on wood pallets. That project is visible in this four-minute interview with Hebel, who discusses the broader goals of his research, including the need to grow and cultivate materials rather than mining them. More information here.

On December 01, 2015, Ruby Press Berlin publishes SUDU, Research and Manual, edited by Dirk E. Hebel, Melakeselam Moges and Zara Gray.  SUDU—the Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit—is a full-scale prototype for an affordable, two-story house built with local materials and traditional building techniques in Ethiopia’s capital, Addis Ababa. Developed in a collaborative endeavor between the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development and ETH Zurich, SUDU ties in with the rich tradition of loam construction while at the same time taking a fresh look at how to adapt this tradition to contemporary needs.

Recapitulating SUDU’s idiosyncratic construction process in two lavishly illustrated volumes, this publication details the building techniques employed, such as rammed earth, mud bricks, and timbrel vaulting. The first volume additionally explores the history of Ethiopian architecture, the postcolonial nature of its current construction industry, and the challenges of the country’s rapid urbanization. The second volume, a manual with more than 600 detailed drawings and instructions, demonstrates how to build a house, step-by-step, with the most readily available building material—earth.

Hebel, Dirk (2015). `Afrikas Moderne`, werk, bauen+wohnen, Display 4-2015. Seite 55-56, Zürich, Schweiz

«Architektur der Unabhängigkeit» im Vitra Design Museum Weil am Rhein. Zwischen 1957 und 1966 erlangten zweiunddreissig der heutigen vierundfünfzig afrikanischen Länder ihre Unabhängigkeit. Diese Zeit war geprägt vom Geiste des Aufbruchs, des Stolzes, des Optimismus und auch einem latent vorhandenen Grössenwahn, der seinen Niederschlag in unzähligen Bauten und Projekten wiederfindet, welche die Ausstellung «Architektur der Unabhängigkeit» in der Galerie des Vitra Design Museums in Weil am Rhein hervorhebt.

Paul, Jochen (2015). `Bauen mit Müll`, Scheizer Baublatt, Seite 16-19, Rüschlikon, Schweiz

Global betrachtet wird Müll in naher Zukunft zu einer wichtigen Ressource: Entwicklungsländer könnten ihre Importabhängigkeit bei Baustoffen reduzieren, die lndustriestaaten wertvolle Rohstoffe und graue Energie einsparen. Notwendig dafür ist ein Umdenken.

Toh, Felicia (2015). `Action for Cities`, Singapore Architect. Issue 04/2015: Education and Research, page 130-137, Singapore

The Future Cities: Research in Action exhibition by Future Cities Laboratory featured prominently on the ground floor of URA Centre from 23 January to 13 March 2015. Felicia Toh investigates its key research interests in cities.

Lim, Jan (2015). `Researching the future city`, CUBES. pages 156-157, Singapore

An exhibition at the URA Centre presented four years of research and offered practical proposals for the development of sustainable future cities.

Hebel, Dirk E., Marta H. Wisniewska and Felix Heisel (2015). ‘Müll als Rohstoffmine der Zukunft: Möglichkeiten des Bauens mit der Ressource Müll’, COVISS: 01/2015. Februar/März 12.Jahrgang, Seite 12-17, Luzern, Schweiz.

Müll ist in unserer Gesellschaft seit Jahrhunderten ein Material, das weder als natürlicher Rohstoff noch als Produkt gesehen wird, sondern als etwas, das wir schnellstmöglich verbrennen oder vergraben möchten. Müll ist sozusagen ein Nebenprodukt, das wir nicht in unser dialektisches Verständnis von ‘roh’ oder ‘verarbeitet’ kategorisieren können. Auf der anderen Seite kann man Müll jedoch auch als einen integralen Bestandteil unserer Ressourcen betrachten und auf diese Weise das Potential dieses Wertstoffs als Grundlage für die Herstellung von neuen Produkten erkennen.

Johnson, Nathan (2015). `Could bamboo replace steel reinforcement in developing countries?` Architecture and Design Australia. Chatswood, Australia.

Singapore’s Future Cities Laboratory is working to tap into the potential of bamboo as an alternative to steel for reinforced concrete applications in developing countries. Currently, steel-reinforced concrete is the most common building material in the world, and developing countries use close to 90 per cent of the cement and 80 per cent of the steel consumed by the global construction sector. However, few developing countries actually produce their own steel or cement and are thus forced into exploitative relationships with sellers in the developed world. read more

McGar, Justin (2015). `The Bamboo Revival: Green Structures`, Sourceable. Industry News and Analysis, Australia and Canada

Bamboo is one of the world’s oldest structural materials and has been used in construction for centuries. Now new research could potentially bolster its continued resurgence and use as a material in green structures. read more

Bislang sind Häuser und Brücken aus Bambus Einzelfälle. Forscher von der ETH Zürich wollen jetzt aus dem Süßgrasgewächs einen ökologischen und günstigen Massenbaustoff für die Städte von morgen entwickeln. Ein Beitrag von Oliver Ristau im Technology Review Magazin für Innovation. (article in German only)

Ristau, Oliver (2015). `Bambus statt Beton`, Technology Review – Das Magazin für Innovation. Ausgabe 02/2015, Deutschland

Bislang sind Häuser und Brücken aus Bambus Einzelfälle. Forscher von der
ETH Zürich wollen jetzt aus dem Süßgrasgewächs einen ökologischen und günstigen Massenbaustoff für die Städte von morgen entwickeln.

Hebel, Dirk (2015). `Bioplastik und eine Müllabfuhr für die Weltmeere`, ETH Zukunftsblog. ETH Zürich, Switzerland

Das Umweltproblem Plastik hat erschreckende Ausmasse erreicht und wächst stetig. Die dringende Suche nach Alternativen kommt langsam in Gang, mit einigen vielversprechenden Ansätzen. read more

Swiss daily newspaper Tagesanzeiger recently published a report in the research activities of the Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel at the ETH Zürich and the FCL Singapore. You can read the full article here in German.

Hebel, Dirk (2015). `Wundermaterial mit Langzeitfolgen`, ETH Zukunftsblog. ETH Zürich, Switzerland.

Fast 270‘000 Tonnen Kunststoffmüll treibt in den Weltmeeren. Plastik ist zu einem Umweltproblem unfassbaren Ausmasses geworden, das bis in die letzten Ecken der Erde vorgedrungen ist. read more

Hebel, Dirk and Felix Heisel (2015). `Simulating the Future`, FCL Magazine N0. 03: Simulation. page 22-25, SEC, FCL Singapore

The ADDIS 2050 research project combines the collective activities and collaborations within FCL and African partners over the last few years in Ethiopia, especially in it`s capital Addis Ababa. The title ADDIS 2050 derived from an international conference in November 2012, where FCL, together with the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development EiABC developed a vision for the city of Addis Ababa as well as the Ethiopian nation state at large.

Saul, Louis (2015). `Bambus statt Stahl`, Bauen für die Zukunft. Callway Verlag, Seite 71, München, Deutschland

Stahlbeton ist aus dem Bau von heute nicht mehr wegzudenken. Aber morgen vielleicht.

Dirk E. Hebel  / Marta H. Wisniewska / Felix Heisel
Building from Waste
Recovered Materials in Architecture and Construction

The book provides a conceptual and practical look into materials and products which use waste as a renewable resource for architectural, interior, and industrial design. The inventory ranges from marketed products to advanced research and development, organized along the manufacturing processes: densified, reconfigured, transformed, designed and cultivated materials. A product directory presents all materials and projects according to their functional uses.

Take a look inside the book here.

‘Bambus statt Stahl’ (Bamboo instead of Steel) has been published in Switzerland’s leading daily newspaper ‘Neue Zürcher Zeitung’ on Sunday 27th July. The article offers an overview on the recent developments of the Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel in its bamboo composite material research and led to a wide public interest in Switzerland and Europe. The full article can be accessed here.

Very few developing countries have the resources to produce their own steel, and without this material tall buildings and urban development are all but impossible. But what if there were a local, renewable material that could be used instead of steel in reinforced-concrete buildings? And what if that substitute could be manufactured easily? These questions have motivated Dirk Hebel, an assistant professor of architecture and construction at the Future Cities Laboratory, in Singapore, to investigate a bamboo fiber composite as a possible substitute for steel reinforcement in concrete. The Future Cities Laboratory is a research arm of ETH (Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule) Zürich, in Switzerland, and is the first program under the newly formed Singapore-ETH Centre for Global Environmental Sustainability, which conducts multidisciplinary research to foster urbanization that conforms to the principles of sustainable development. If the tests on the bamboo composite are successful, developing countries will be able to manufacture and build their own urban centers without costly foreign steel imports, according to Hebel.

Read the full article here.

On July 31st, German Radio WDR5 reported on the chair’s bamboo composite research at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. Above you can listen to the short interview with Prof. Dirk E. Hebel in German.

Civil Engineering is the award-winning monthly magazine of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Reaching an audience of more than 140,000 civil engineers worldwide, this magazine has the largest circulation in the engineering market and provides a compelling editorial mix of engineering projects and trends, engineering science, business and professional strategies, exploration of key issues, and news. The Civil Engineering website provides weekly news and feature content that supplements the content of the monthly print and digital editions.

On July 8th, the magazine published a lengthly interview with Prof Dirk E. Hebel on his current material research at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore titled: Bamboo Reinforcement Could Help Developing Cities. Research on the use of a bamboo composite material in place of steel to strengthen concrete is producing positive results—and could help some developing countries urbanize.

Read the full article here.

The second issue of the FCL Magazine addresses the shifting character of contemporary cities, and examines what this has to say about the fortunes of future cities. Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel contributed an article titled “Cities without High-Rises” in this recent publication, which can be found here.

ADDIS 2050 is a so-called ‘synergy project’ at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. It combines the collective activities and collaborations within FCL and African partners over the last few years in Ethiopia, especially in its capital Addis Ababa. The title ADDIS 2050 is derived from an international conference in November 2012, where FCL, together with our partner, the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development EiABC, developed a vision for the city of Addis Ababa as well as the Ethiopian nation state at large. The research work conducted could be classified in three different scales applying similar tools and methodologies: UNIT, CITY and NATION. The UNIT scale deals with the question of construction materials and methods.

Ethiopia will be confronted with a population increase of 45 million people over the next 15 years, along with increased
demand for basic needs like food, water, safety, and shelter. Given this challenge, the project asks for appropriate modes of 21st century urbanisation, rather than relying on out-dated models from the developed world or following luxury trends from the Arabian peninsula. The CITY scale discusses the future development of the city of Addis Ababa. Here, questions of urban design, infrastructure, production, and invention are
on the foreground of investigation, while the NATION scale focuses mostly on future energy concepts for Ethiopia at large.

The article at hand deals with the medium scale and future development of Ethiopia’s capital. It is an attempt to show alternative possibilities towards the dominating argument for high-rise buildings in Addis Ababa.

Architectural Blog archdaily reported recently on the ongoing research of CoReSing’s bamboo composite materials for the building industry.

“Developing countries have the highest demand for steel-reinforced concrete, but often do not have the means to produce the steel to meet that demand.  Rather than put themselves at the mercy of a global market dominated by developed countries, Singapore’s Future Cities Laboratory suggests an alternative to this manufactured rarity: bamboo.  Abundant, sustainable, and extremely resilient, bamboo has potential in the future to become an ideal replacement in places where steel cannot easily be produced.”

The full article can be found here.

Kieron Monks asks in his recent article on CNN Innovations “Would you live in a house of sand and bacteria? It’s a surpassingly good idea”. The article gives an overview on recent developments in the field of alternative building materials and quotes Prof Dirk E. Hebel referring to mushroom bricks that “I could imagine every structure you would built out of bricks. No high-rises, but smaller scale structures and houses. The material is stronger than concrete, with better insulation capacities”. Read the full article here.

Impulse, the magazine for the German-speaking community in Singapore, recently published a short article on Felix Heisel in their issue “German Researchers in Singapore”. It describes his motivation to work in Singapore as well as his research in urban design and construction materials. The issue is available online here.

The Chair of Architecture and Construction will soon move back to Zürich to continue researching there and to start teaching a design course in the master’s programs – an exciting new task that the members are very much looking forward to. How can years of intensive research be translated into an academic approach? Marta H. Wisniewska writes about this challenge as the team aims to craft an inspiring course for their future students, and use it at the same time as another method to continue their current work. For the full article, please click here.

The CREATE Tower in Singapore sets the scene for vertical networking among its various entities. This kind of setting fosters interactions between the institutions on many levels, informally as well as professionally. Marta H. Wisniewska sees this as a strength. For the full article, please click here.

What we throw away may be a valuable renewable resource for building materials. Marta H. Wisniewska explains the future destiny of refuse in her newest blog entry for the ETH Intranet. For the full article, please click here.

Dirk E. Hebel’s newest contribution to the ETH Zukunftsblog:
Afrika wächst und wandelt sich. Oft ist eine Entwicklung nach westlichem Vorbild oberstes Ziel. Doch gibt es nicht sinnvollere Wege? Diese Frage bewegte mich während eines mehrjährigen Aufenthalts in Ostafrika. Seither ist mir der Kontinent eine Quelle der Inspiration für nachhaltiges Forschen und Handeln. To read more, please click here.

From the forests of Indonesia to the skylines of future cities. The rapid urbanization in emerging market countries sparks a search for new and better building materials.

This video is part of the ‘HSBC Canada in the Future’ Series, directed by Meg Andersen, The Mark Studios, Toronto Canada.

Founded in 1995, art4d is a magazine created by designers for designers. Through its 11 annual issues, art4d positions itself in absolute contrast to the contemporary field of shelter and decoration titles. art4d has and continues to pioneer the exchange of ideas, presented in intelligent narratives accompanied by vivid images, as standard editorial practice. Art4d serves the community of design, artistic, and creative professional and participants within Thailand – within Asia – and worldwide.

art4d 210 is entitled SMALL TALK: The Interview Issue – Conversations with eight architecture studios.

The move to Singapore two years ago was a 180-degree turn when coming from Ethiopia. Both countries cannot be more different, yet both could learn a lot from each other. Marta H. Wisniewska shares her rich multicultural experiences in an insightful column. For the full article, please click here.

CoReSing’s Marta H. Wisniewska will be one of four Opinion makers for the ETH Intranet this year. Reporting on her experiences as a Researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, she also draws comparisons to her former position at the Ethiopian institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development in Addis Ababa.
To follow her blog, please click here (ETH staff only).

Dirk E. Hebel’s contribution ‘Local Alternatives: Replacing Steel with Bamboo’ has been published in ‘The Economy of Sustainable Construction’.

About the Book:
30 specialists from around the world challenge the question of (higher) costs related to sustainability of the built environment

The Economy of Sustainable Construction is a publication inspired by the 4th International Holcim Forum and examines how sustainability can deliver a robust response to fiscal challenges. The book evaluates current architectural practices and models, and also introduces materials and methods to maximize the environmental, social, and economic performance of buildings.

Contained within its 400 pages are essays, reports, and case studies that examine the relationship between commercial and sustainable values, and explore the paths that construction will take in the 21st century. The Economy of Sustainable Construction points out the urgency of adapting more sustainable construction practices and buildings in the light of rapid urbanization, the vast growths of today’s giant cities, the sluggish economy, and burgeoning climate issues.

The Economy of Sustainable Construction, edited and published by Ruby Press Berlin was supported by the Holcim Foundation. More information can be found here.

Dirk E. Hebel and the group’s research on Advanced Fiber Composite Reinforcement has been featured in The Edge Singapore on December 09th, 2013.

The article titled ‘Bamboo could replace steel in reinforced concrete, says Future Cities Lab’s Hebel’ describes the background and research aims of the project. The Edge Singapore is a weekly magazine on business and investment and also includes a daily blog, which can be found here.

Dirk E. Hebel and the group’s research on Advanced Fiber Composite Reinforcement has been featured in the Straits Times on November 10th, 2013.

“Now, researchers from the Future Cities Laboratory, a collaboration between Singapore and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH Zurich), hope to harness the flexibility and strength of bamboo fibres to replace steel rebar used in reinforced concrete.

As Singapore goes through a construction boom, it is paying more attention to greening the construction process – from studying the use of bamboo to reinforce concrete, to calculating the carbon footprint of buildings. Recently, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) made “green and gracious builder” certification a requirement for public construction projects from 2017.”

The whole article can be found here.

CoReSing has recently contributed to three new publications:
AFRITECTURE: Building Social Change
Where a term like “Western architecture” is likely to conjure a gamut of specific examples ranging from the Colosseum to the Empire State Building, “African architecture”-whether ancient or modern-still connotes very little for a general audience in the West. Happily, this is changing, as Africa’s recent economic boom is transforming the urban landscape across the continent, and yielding a rich new crop of architects and buildings with a range of approaches and solutions as diverse as Africa itself. This opulently illustrated volume, with informative texts by the architectural historian Andres Lepik and documentation of models and maps, examines a broad range of examples of contemporary architecture in Africa. The selection is confined to countries south of the Sahara, such as Burkina Faso, Rwanda and South Africa, where the transformation of the architectural landscape has been particularly pronounced and remarkable in recent years. Throughout, references to the hallmarks and principles of Western historical architecture are notable; but equally striking is the innovative use of local materials and often minimal resources. Very little has been published on contemporary African architecture, making this substantial volume an important and pioneering publication.

Construction Ahead – Constructing Alternatives Part II:
The Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel has been guest-editing two editions of Ethiopia’s leading construction magazine: ‘Construction Ahead’. The 80 page issues “Constructing Alternatives” propose a variety of alternative modern, and sometimes transformed building materials and construction methods. Although tested in and derived from an African context, their application can also answer the rising needs of other developing territories and turn them from import-oriented systems into self-sustaining, knowledge exporting nations.

‘Construction Ahead’ is a specialized bimonthly magazine for engineers, industry academics, architects, construction material manufacturers and suppliers and related service providers. ‘Construction Ahead’ delivers keen insight and analysis of key construction markets, projects, products and trends.

The School the Book the Town
The School, The Book, The Town is a biography of an experiment undertaken in Ethiopia for nearly a decade, starting with the founding of a school, setting off a series of investigations assembled in a book, and leading to the construction of a town. A timeline running all through the book reveals how logical and consistent, but in some cases also chaotic and interrupted the story evolved.
In an age of rapid urbanization, the city is everywhere. In the case of Ethiopia, as with so many other developing nations, architecture and urban design are brought face to face with a country undergoing radical, often painful transformations that put longstanding traditions to the test. The burning question here is how to modernize and yet maintain distinct cultural identities, while also trying to accommodate mass migration from rural regions to urban centers. In sum, the route followed here is one marked by a series of trials that leave nothing standing as it was.
Contributions by Marc Angélil, Philippe Block, Zegeye Chenet, Dirk Hebel, Fasil Giorghis, Sarah Graham, Franz Oswald, Cary Siress, et al.

Please find article excerpts below:

Dirk E. Hebel:
ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION IN ETHIOPIA
in: AFRITECTURE, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2013, pp. 160-165

Dirk E. Hebel, Toma Berlanda, Susanne Gampfer, Marc Olweny, Alfred Omenya, Hans Skotte:
PRO AND CONTRA: DESIGN-BUILD PROJECTS AS A FROM OF KNOWLEDGE TRANSFER
in: AFRITECTURE, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2013, pp. 210-216

Dirk E. Hebel, Dirk Donath:
PARTNER PROJECTS IN ETHIOPIA
in: AFRITECTURE, Hatje Cantz, Ostfildern, 2013, pp. 166-171

Felix Heisel, Elias Yitbarek:
BUILDING LAWS FOR ALTERNATIVE MATERIALS: A SHIFT TOWARDS FUNCTION AND PERFORMANCE-BASED BUILDING PERMITS
in: Construction Ahead, Constructing Alternatives part II, Vol. 23/12, Addis Ababa, 2013, pp. 10-12

Karsten Schlesier:
BAMBOO PERSPECTIVES: THE FUTURE OF BAMBOO AS A BUILDING MATERIAL
in: Construction Ahead, Constructing Alternatives part II, Vol. 23/12, Addis Ababa, 2013, pp. 45-47

Dirk E. Hebel, Felix Heisel, Alireza Javadian:
BAMBOO: THE NEW SUPER FIBER
in: Construction Ahead, Constructing Alternatives part II, Vol. 23/12, Addis Ababa, 2013, pp. 54-57

Dirk E. Hebel:
ENVISIONEERING ETHIOPIA: FROM THE CITY TO THE UNIT AND BACK
in: The Book the School the Town, Ruby Press, Berlin, 2013, pp. 136-139

Felix Heisel:
FILMIC SPACES
in: The Book the School the Town, Ruby Press, Berlin, 2013, pp. 96