Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen / Sustainable Construction

Design Studio with integrated discipline (Building Structure)
Architectural Design V-IX

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.

“The Zumtobel Group Award that we have curated for the past eight years is not a static object but an evolutionary process. Just as, under the influence of the respective times, the jury helped drive forward future developments through their decision, responding as they did so to social and technological demands and changes, we, as the curators have joined with the initiator of the award to take it forward by adding the “Applied Innovations” category. The large number of submissions, not least in this new category, and the intense debate within the jury only serve to underline the increasing relevance of the interplay between human beings and technology,” said Kristin Feireiss and Hans-Jürgen Commerell, Founders of Aedes Architecture Forum in Berlin (DE) and curators of the award.

The new APPLIED INNOVATIONS category, rewards innovations and technological solutions that make a trailblazing contribution to the realisation of a more sustainable built environment. The award in this category addresses technical universities, research institutions, individual engineers and firms of consulting engineers, as well as technology start-ups. Submissions could include innovations that have been proven in a prototype, a test series or an application in an actual project. From among 50 submissions in this category, the jury has nominated five offices and projects, including CoReSing’s material research on bamboo composite materials for the building industry.

Mor information can be found here.

CoReSing exhibited its Advanced Fibre Composite Materials at this years World Cities Summit in Singapore from June 2nd to 4th at the Swiss Pavilion. The World Cities Summit is a premier event that brings together practitioners and policy makers with leading experts in their field to identify innovative solutions to the most pressing challenges facing cities today. It is an international conference series on public governance and the sustainable development of cities.

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.

Swissnex and the Future Cities Laboratory commissioned the Professorship of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel of FCL Singapore (CoReSing) to design the Swiss Pavilion at the World Cities Summit 2014. Creaholic, The Water Network and FCL’s Robotic Tiling, 3for2x, MATSim Singapore and BaReCo will be exhibitted in the structure from June 2 – 4 at booth L1-T12.

The unifying theme for WCS 2014, “Liveable and Sustainable – Common Challenges, Shared Solutions” will build on the discussions at WCS Mayors Forum 2013, where cities will look at the state of urban challenges today and identify principles of shared solutions applicable to cities spanning the range of development, socio-economic and political contexts. The theme will unify all elements of the programme and stimulate ideas and discussion towards the objective of finding practical, implementable solutions as an outcome of the summit of leaders.

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.

CoReSing exhibits its BaReCo Bamboo Reinforcement Research at this year’s InnovFest on 14-16 April.

InnovFest convenes leading thought-leaders, groundbreaking companies and emerging technologies to provide a holistic and comprehensive glimpse of the innovation & enterprise landscape in Asia. Focusing on “Asian Innovations Going Global” InnovFest 2014 will showcase cutting-edge research & expertise from regional universities, start-ups and industry players.

The documentary movie series _Spaces by Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle is currently being screened at the World Urban Forum, Urban Equity in Development – Cities for Life in Medellin Colombia. The movies can be watched at Booth 82 (Ethiopia) from the 5th – 11th of April.

Alternatively, the movies can also be watched online at http://www.spacesmovie.com.

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.

New team members Johannes Budde, Tobias Eberwein and Kristel Guzman recently joined the Chair of Architecture and Construction and the Advanced Fiber Composite Laboratory in Singapore. Johannes and Kristel are both architects and involved in the planning of several upcoming exhibitions of CoReSing and the Future Cities Laboratory. Tobias is a wood technician from the FH Rosenheim and currently helping in the research on natural fiber composite materials.

The Goethe Institute Addis Ababa opened a new exhibition last week featuring several prototypologies from the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development (EiABC) and the ETH Zurich, Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, Professorship Dirk E. Hebel. Displayed in models, plans and images, SUDU, SICU, SECU and SAMU propose alternatives for the provision of housing in Addis Ababa. The Sustainable Urban Dwelling Unit (SUDU), proposes a dense, two- or even three-story structure in a row house typology . The idea is to offer inhabitants a possibility to construct their own houses without waiting for government programs or private/public developers. Furthermore, when constructed over a period of time, depending on the financial resources of its residents, smaller units like SUDU activate private capital for the housing sector. The exhibition was organised by Prof. Dirk Donath and Eva Hartmann.

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.

The documentary movie series ‘_Spaces’ by Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle is the basis for the ‘Changing Addis’ lecture series of the Alliance éthio-française in Addis Ababa. In three consecutive events different urgent topics are being discussed by international panelists. Dealing with informal service provisions in Ethiopia, the second evening on Tuesday 11.02.2014 at 6:30 pm is entitled “Originating and Materializing Spaces”.

The evening will start with the screening of ‘Supporting Spaces’ and ‘Recycling 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:
Mathios Asfaw (General Manager of the Integrated Development Plan Project Office)
Fasil Giorghis (Chair of History and Conservation of Cultural and Architectural Heritage, EIABC)
Bisrat Kifle (Acting Deputy Scientific Director of EIABC)

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

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.

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)

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

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.

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.

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.

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).

CoReSing successfully constructed its second prototype of a pavilion structure made out of recycled PET bottles. The vacummized arches will be used as the exhibition design in the upcoming Zurich meets New York Exhibition. Three pavilions constructed from ‘waste’ will be the spatial framework for different events and exhibitions of this festival.

Here is a short movie of the set-up at the ETH Hoenggerberg:

The documentary movie series ‘_Spaces’ by Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle is the basis for the ‘Changing Addis’ lecture series of the Alliance éthio-française in Addis Ababa. In three consecutive events different urgent topics are being discussed by international panelists. Dealing with informal service provisions in Ethiopia, the second evening on Tuesday 21.01.2014 at 6:30 pm is entitled “Listro and Kure-Yalew”.

The evening will start with the screening of ‘Supporting Spaces’ and ‘Recycling 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:
Mathios Asfaw (General Manager of the Integrated Development Plan Project Office)
Fasil Giorghis (Chair of History and Conservation of Cultural and Architectural Heritage, EIABC)
Bisrat Kifle (Acting Deputy Scientific Director of EIABC)
Felix Heisel (Researcher at FCL Singapore)
Marta Wisniewska (Researcher at FCL Singapore)

Our mobile bamboo composite exhibition has been presented at the OPEN HOUSE EVENT 2014 of our collaboration partner Republic Polytechnic Singapore (http://www.rp.edu.sg/openhouse2014/). It has successfully attracted a number of visitors and highlighted the potential impact of a bamboo composite material for the development of future cities. This has been an important event to promote our research within the Singaporean and South East Asian community.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

The installation ‘Innovative Technologies’ is on display at the ‘Swiss Positions – Swiss Scales’ exhibition at the Korea Foundation Cultural Centre in Seoul, South Korea. The exhibition is held in partnership with the Embassy of Switzerland in the Republic of Korea and Yonsei University in Seoul, and will be on from 7 November 2013 to 20 December 2013.

‘Innovative Technologies’ shows four different innovations in the area of building constructions. The first, titled 342x, questions the fact that traditional air conditioning systems occupy up to 30% of building volumes. Water based systems, replacing air as the means for cooling, can be embedded in the building structure. The second installation explores the possibility of replacing millions of individual air conditioning units with centralized cooling towers, or heatbuses. The increased efficiency reduces electricity consumption and as a result, costs. The third installation demonstrates the possibility to replace expensive, heavy and corrosion-vulnerable steel reinforcements with an alternative, renewable, lighter, and corrosion-free substance derived out of advanced fibre composite materials. The fourth element suggests a complete new way of constructing concrete structures without using formwork and combining the application of reinforcement and concrete molding into one single process. This is achieved by a robotically controlled spatial extrusion method using tensile active material.