Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen / Sustainable Construction

FCL, including the chair of Architecture and Construction, held a visit to the HDB Building Research Institute in Singapore on 22nd March 2013. Presentations, Q&A sessions and a tour through the research centre opened the floor for multiple possibilities of collaboration between the two insitutions. Main goals of HDB BRI are to introduce new technologies, and upgrade design standards and materials for the market. The visitors had an opportunity to see prototypes of new amenities, which adress safety and living standards in residential units in Singapore.

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 was hosted by TU Munich and moderated by SMART, while FCL and BEARS representatives gave their talks. The ‘Waste and Want’ presentation by Marta Wisniewska triggered a discussion of smart product design and what kind of impact it can have on the immediate surrounding as their second life cycle is activated. The talk examined exemplary refuse products as possibly one of the biggest material resource in the building industry. Some of the newest waste projects of CoreSing were also presented.

Public lecture by researcher Marta Wisniewska at a meeting of the Future Cities Laboratory with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in CREATE Tower, on 22nd March 2013. The presentation was conducted in order to discuss on possible collaboration platforms between the two institutes. The session was attended by Prof. Tong Yen Wah, the Singapore-based Co-Director of SJTU-CREATE (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) as well as Ms. Karina Yew-Hoong GIN and Mr. Babovic Vladan, Associate Professors of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. 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 of Marta Wisniewska focused on CoReSing’s search for an intelligent design of future refuse products and their second life cycle. The abundance of waste as future building material in cities was an essential part of the presentation.

The FCL ‘Constructing Waste’ seminar 2012 concluded in an exhibition vernissage on 30 November 2012 at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. The public event was orchestrated as the final step in the pedagogical laboratory set by Dirk E. Hebel and Marta Wisniewska of the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction.

The exhibition gave platform to seven outcomes of the ten-week research course, focusing on re-designing an everyday product in such a way, that it can have a second life cycle instead of ending as a trash item. Guests had a chance to see, feel, touch and smell the new products and to understand the concepts behind them. ‘CoBag+’, designed by Tobias Wullschleger, is an intelligent water container, which starts its second life cycle as a shelter and a water-purifying device. Naomi Hanakata presented her ‘D-Shirt’, a high-tech dust cloth, which turns into a fashionable item to wear after use. ‘Back to Bag’ is a design by Desiree Ampot, who is concerned with the amount of plastic carriers wasted every day. Thanks to this alternative version of plastic bags, they could become a luxury collection item. A similar concern encouraged Nikolaos Theodoratos to develop ‘YoBag’- a yoghurt container in a folded plastic bag.

Ervin Lim was inspired by his research in the Indonesian slums. His ‘Plant a Box’ design enhances the locals to collect paper food containers after use, fill them with soil and plant seeds inside. Thanks to an innovative connecting system, these boxes combine into retaining walls to keep river banks intact. Cell phone covers out of Tetra Pack? Pascal Genhart proofed them to be not only stylish but also convenient and very durable. In Singapore , five tons of straws are used and incinerated every day. Alireza Javadian proposes a small change in design, which would allow them to turn into a concrete reinforcement after use – ‘StrawCrete’. All seminar materials, readings, excercise instructions and background information on each lecturer are available in the booklet ‘Constructing Waste’.

Photo credits: Marta Wisniewska.

The participating students Desirée Amport, Pascal Genhart, Naomi Hanakata, Alireza Javadian, Ervine Lin, Nikolaos Theodoratos, Tobias Wullschleger and the Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel at FCL Singapore will show the results of the FCL-SEC Seminar CONSTRUCTING WASTE with a vernissage on Friday, November 30 at 5pm at the 6th floor of the CREATE Tower. You are warmly invited to attend the event.

CONSTRUCTING WASTE  interrogated the concept of up-cycling strategies in order to minimize the overall refuse amount in Singapore. The focus on design questions created 7 uniques product designs which have the potential to live a second life cycle in an alternated way. The exhibition showcases the pedagogical concept, the layout of lectures and text seminars as well as the final design products of the students.

The last talk of the Constructing Waste Seminar was led by Dr Chen Chia-Lung on 15 November 2012. Dr. Chen Chia- Lung is a Research Fellow and Centre Manager at Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) Nanyang Technological University, NTU Singapore.

There are around 1 billion different types of bacteria in the world. Out of those, less than 1% is known or described scientifically. Within this huge spectrum, different bacterias are known to have specific qualities and properties. While many cause damage and deceases, others help to produce electricity, heal building materials, reduce waste or even ‘eat’ hazardous chemicals . This weeks’ talk focussed on the positive effects and possibilities of bacterias in various sectors.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

‘Recycling Spaces’ is a short documentary on waste and recycling in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, presented by one of the authors, Felix Heisel. The movie led into a discussion on the financial aspect of waste, which is the topic of this week’s Constructing Waste session.

Together with Bisrat Kifle, Felix Heisel initiated the EiABC Movie Series on space appropriation, starting in 2011.The series so far consists out of 4 movies: Disappearing Spaces, Emerging Spaces, Supporting Spaces and Recycling Spaces.

Felix Heisel is working as a Researcher in the Chair of Architecture and Construction at the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, a collaboration of ETH Zurich and NRF Singapore.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The 7th week’s session of Constructing Waste was opened with a presentation ‘Waste and Want’ by Marta Wisniewska.

The talk raises the everlasting question of aesthetic perception on the example of waste. Questions of necessity and luxury were raised, as waste in architecture evokes very extreme and contradictory reactions in both developing territories and developed countries. Cultural and aesthetic goals as well as differences were discussed on the example of MULU, a container housing project developed by Marta Wisniewska and Felix Heisel in Addis Ababa Ethiopia.

Marta Wisniewska is a researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory at the Assistant Professorship Dirk E. Hebel. Prior to that, she was working as a lecturer and architectural program coordinator at the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development in Addis Ababa.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The ‘Environmental Session’ of the Constructing Waste Seminar of the Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL was led by Prof. Rainer Stegmann on 25 October 2012.

Prof. Dr.-Ing Rainer Stegmann is Professor Emeritus of the University of Technology in Hamburg, Germany. As Head of the Institute of Waste Resource Management, he continues doing research in the field of solid waste management and co-owns two patents with his colleagues. Prof. Stegmann is currently a Visiting Professor at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and Director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) at NTU.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The 5th week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE talk was led by Mr. Ong Seng Eng, former Director of Waste and Resource Management Department of National Environment Agency Singapore.

Mr. Ong is a chemical engineer and responsible for solid waste management in Singapore. His duties include the promotion of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), regulatory control on waste collection and management of waste disposal facilities such as waste-to-energy incineration plants and the Semakau Landfill.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

Assoc. Prof. Wang Jing-Yuan gave an introductory talk of the 4th Week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE seminar.

Prof. Wang is an Associate Professor of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and is currently Director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre of NTU.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The 3rd week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE presentation ‘Why Waste Waste?’ was held on 4 October by Dr Sun Xiaolong.

Dr Sun Xiaolong majored in Materials Science & Engineering. His research areas are waste-to-resource and environmental applications of materials science. Dr Sun works at R3C NTU.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

Prof. Dr. Stephen Cairns opened the 2nd Week’s session of CONSTRUCTING WASTE with his talk ‘Rubbish Theory‘.

Stephen Cairns is Scientific Co-ordinator of the Future Cities Laboratory in the Singapore-ETH Centre, and Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of KRUPUC, an independent inter-disciplinary, multi-sectorial research, planning and design platform focused on issues of urbanisation in the Southeast Asian region.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

On 20 September 2012 Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel introduced the FCL Fall Seminar: CONSTRUCTING WASTE. The goals and expectations of the course were presented on the example of the United_Bottles Project.

Dirk Hebel is currently holding the position of Assistant Professor at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, a research project of ETH Zurich with the National Research Foundation Singapore.

More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel at FCL Singapore is organizing an
FCL-SEC Fall Semester 2012 Seminar CONSTRUCTING WASTE.

Hundreds of tons of waste are produces in Singapore every day. These wastes represent an invaluable pool of resources, which could be activated by rethinking their designs. The ‘hands on the material’ seminar CONSTRUCTING WASTE will interrogate the concept of up-cycling strategies in order to minimize the overall refuse amount being produced in Singapore. The focus on design questions should create second life cycles for otherwise waste products.

The seminar will be conducted as a combination of input lectures, reading seminars and the production of full- scale up-cycling design products. Students will be asked to map the nature and flows of an everyday product through different research methods and finally to change the product design in order to influence both waste and material stock and flows in the future. 10 weeks of seminar will result in  project descriptions and an up-cycling prototype in full scale.

Singapore is one of the highest populated areas in the world. Consequently, the stock and flow of waste became one of the most important challenges on the island in recent years. Understanding the flow of waste materials and mining this incredible resource is one of the interests in the research of the Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL.

So far, Singapore is using mostly incineration plants to burn the majority of the unrecyclable waste material. Incineration reduces the volume of refuse up to 90% while the remaining 10% are later disposed off at Semakau Landfill, constantly increasing the surface area of the peninsula. This technology uses ash filled parcels in the open see. The amount of refuse production increases constantly, which leaves approximately 20 more years until Semakau Landfill runs out of space. Thus, innovative ways of waste handling have to be developed.

The Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL initiated a design research seminar in the winter semester 2012, which focuses on design questions in order to minimize the overall refuse amount and creates second life cycles for otherwise waste products.

Addis Ababa/Singapore/Zuerich April 2012

The EiABC together with the Bauhaus University Weimar and the Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL Singapore completed successfully the first construction of a double storey dwelling unit out of straw panels world wide. The so-called Sustainable Emerging City Unit (SECU) workshop arose immense interest from nation wide media and the Ministry of Urban Development and Construction. During the workshop, State Minister Heilemeskel Tefera announced to support the project to make the technology available for mass housing projects in Ethiopia. In near future, building codes need to be established, further research has to be conducted and production facilities need to be erected. The Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL Singapore commited itself to be a strong partner of EiABC in the years to come to achieve these goals. We want to thank all partners for their immense energy and work, especially to all students who attended the workshop from EiABC, Bauhaus University Weimar and ETH Zuerich.

EiABC: Prof. Dr. Dirk Donath, Helawi Sewnet, Belay Getachew, Denamo Addissie, Ingo Oexmann, Jakob Mettler, Peter Dissel, Karsten Schlesier, Sami Tsegu, Fahmi Girma, Melakeselam Moges, Nejmia Ali, Mintesinot Tekle, Samrawit Tazezew, Henok Teshome, Habtamu Regassa, Aknaw Yohannes, Seyume Weldeyesuse, Estifanos Kiflu, Mohammed Jemal, Seife Abdulsemed, Nejat Hassen, Peniel Tekle, Regbe Hagos, Fruta Haddish, Samia Ibrahim

Bauhaus University Weimar: Prof. Dr. Bernd Rudolf, Stephan Schuetz, Timo Riechert, Michael Baer, Carolina Kolodziej, Nadine Wolz, Tereza Spindlerová, Paul Eikemeier, Mona Volkmann, Amelie Wegner, Johannes Martin, Victoria Goldmann, Anna Rodermund, Sebastian Linder

FCL/ETHZ: Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Marta Wisniewska, Felix Heisel, Martin Kugelmeier, Sarah Sassi, Tanja Studer, Christian Schwizer and Nike Himmels

Special thanks: Chair of Building Construction EiABC Prof. Dirk Donath, BAM – Federal Material Testing Institute Berlin, AAiT, ICEAddis, D-Arch BUWeimar, D-Arch ETH Zuerich, ETH Sustainability, ETH Global, FCL Singapore, Chair of Information Architecture ETHZ Prof. Gerhard Schmitt, Strawtec Group AG Berlin Eckhardt Dauck and Dirk Niehaus, Frank Wildenhayn, Dr. Karola Hahn, Joachim Dieter, Fasil Giorghis, Prof. Elias Yitbarek, Bisrat Kifle, Teddy Kifle, Binyam Kifle, Prof. Dirk Donath and his energetic and highly motivated EiABC team

see also www.eiabc.edu.et/secu-project

National Media, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, State Minister Hailemeskel Tefera, Prof. Dirk Donath, advisors to the State Minister

Photo credits: Marta Wisniewska.

Addis Ababa/Singapore/Zuerich April 2012

In collaboration with the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) and the Bauhaus University in Weimar, the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk Hebel at the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, ETHZ is conducting a one-week workshop to construct a full-scale double-story building out of straw panels in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Five students of the Department of Architecture of ETH Zürich were offered the opportunity to join this international workshop, which concentrates on testing a building material, produced completely out of straw. New settlements are emerging in developing territories like Ethiopia almost every day, growing fast into urban conglomerates. One of the biggest problems in emerging cities is next to infrastructure measurements, available and affordable building materials and techniques for shelter production. The SECU (Sustainable Emerging Cities Unit) research project is focusing on the development of innovative and low-weight construction materials for emerging cities in developing territories, based on agricultural “waste” products like straw.

The company STRAWTEC© in Berlin developed over the last years a production system for pressed straw panels. Through heat, the natural starch in the straw is activated and functions as natural glue without any other chemical additions. So far, the panels are only used as non-bearing structural elements. The workshop will investigate possibilities to further develop the product and test construction methods for load bearing applications.

Waste is usually defined as unwanted or useless material, which is the product of a linear utilization process.

Endless stocks of material are already in the cities regarded as waste. Making this (re-) source available, the value-chains of construction products and materials have a great potential for increased ecological and economic efficiency, and with it minimizing global material flows. Waste products, but also local available materials which were not used in the construction sector yet, need to be recognized as basic elements of the urban creation process. Their use, re-use, and potential for re-placement of other materials are key factors for creating identity, resource efficiency, and new added values to a specific urban system. Analyzing potentials of waste products as a resource for new construction materials and products will be key factors of this research. The understanding of the term “waste” needs to be extended to such materials which were not seen as construction materials yet, or which were seen as backward-oriented, cheap or useless. Waste resources must be analyzed and quantified in similar terms and standards as natural resources. With this analysis, comparative strategies can be implemented. In addition, up-cycling strategies have to be followed, designing new products in such a way, that projected further life-cycles are already incorporated.

In the United_Bottle project, a regular waste product like the PET bottle becomes a new building material, (Source: United_Bottle Group Zürich, 2007-ongoing)