Professur Nachhaltiges Bauen / Sustainable Construction

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.

CoReSing will be presenting its work on Fiber Composite Reinforcement Materials at the Sunday Showcase at the Marina Bay Sands ArtScience Museum.

Sunday, 10 November 2013
1:00pm – 7:00pm
ArtScience Galleries, ArtScience Museum

The Sunday Showcase aims to present transdisciplinary works and engage in conversations based on the themes of climate change, environmental futures, and contemporary Asian and future cities. The event is part of the 2013 Art/Science Residency Programme, a partnership between ArtScience Museum and National University of Singapore Arts & Creativity Laboratory, Tembusu College and Singapore-ETH Centre’s Future Cities Laboratory.

Bamboo – The New Steel
The tropical belt of our planet contains one of the most neglected building materials in the world: bamboo, which is also one of the fastest growing, affordable and locally available natural resources. Find out about this remarkable plant and how, with the right treatment, it becomes stronger than steel.

CoReSing is exhibiting the research projects SUDU and SECU as a joint effort of the Ethiopian Institute of Architecture, Building Construction and City Development and the Bauhaus University Weimar at the AFRITECTURE exhibition of the Architekturmuseum, Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, Germany. Additionally, the exhibition features the two movies “Disappearing Spaces” and “Emerging Spaces” from the cinematic research project by Felix Heisel and Bisrat Kifle.

In the accompaning catalogue, Prof. Dirk E. Hebel is featured with three articles (one with Prof. Dirk Donath of Weimar University) explaining the efforts of CoReSing on establishing alternative building materials and construction methods in Africa and how this doing could be reflected in architectural education programs.

Contemporary architectural practice in Africa is witness to many new and innovative approaches in the area of socially committed building: schools, nursery schools, marketplaces, hospitals, cultural centers, sports facilities and assembly halls. It is these public buildings and commonly used spaces in particular where signs of new utility and architectural concepts are made manifest. In many cases, future users are directly involved in the design and building processes. In addition to the use of the latest technology many of the construction projects are being developed with local materials and resume dormant building traditions.

In its exhibition »AFRITECTURE – Building Social Change« the Architekturmuseum der TU München sheds a spotlight on those projects, with a particular emphasis on those that have been initiated by architects and whose conceptualization incorporates global relationships in addition to those of local culture and individual social groups. By taking into account ecological, economic and social aspects several architects have developed sustainable approaches and solutions to some of the continent’s most pressing design challenges. The exhibition comprises twenty-eight projects from ten countries within Subsaharan Africa, including Kenya, Nigeria, Burkina Faso and South Africa. All projects have been developed since the turn of the millenium and have been planned by African as well as European and North American architects.

A first prototype out of vacuumized PET bottles was build for the “Zurich meets New York” event in May next year in New York City. CoReSing together with ETH Professor Dr. Philippe Block and Juerg Brunnschweiler from ETH Global developed an architectural concept for part of the event. From May 16-24, 2014, artists, scientists, architects, and public intellectuals from both sides of the Atlantic will converge in New York City for the multi-venue, citywide festival “Zurich Meets New York”. The festival is a joint partnership between the City of Zurich, the Consulate General of Switzerland in NY, ETH Zurich, and the University of Zurich (UZH).

Following up the highly successful Geneva Meets New York in 2012, Zurich Meets New York will celebrate visionary movements and ideas born in Zurich and their impact on American culture and today’s world. One of the festival highlights will take place at Vanderbilt Hall (Grand Central), where Assistant Professors Dirk E. Hebel and Philippe Block, ETH Zurich, and their teams will build two large architectural structures made of recycled waste material (PET and paper). The structures will host various installations and presentations, and feature a catered lounged area hosting one of the oldest vegetarian restaurants in Zurich, Haus Hiltl.

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.

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.

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”.

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.

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

FCL Midterm Review Exhibition, CREATE Tower Level 6 and 7, September 2013-December 2013

ADDIS 2050 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 three tables of the installation demonstrate different tools and methodologies in the engagement of differing scales: UNIT, CITY and NATION. The UNIT table suggests five alternative locally available housing construction materials: soil, waste, straw and bamboo. The CITY table allows a possible insight into the future of Addis Ababa following the thesis of clean energy and information abundance. The publication ‘The School, The Book, The Town’ tells the story of the research engagement with Ethiopia, 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. The NATION table focuses on future energy concepts for Ethiopia. An interactive map allows visitors to simulate different scenarios on alternative energy production and demonstrates how important the visionary thinking is for the future development of the country.

FCL Midterm Review Exhibition, CREATE Tower Level 6 and 7, September 2013-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.

Dr. Mateusz Wielopolski presented the research work on composite fiber materials of CoReSing at the Composites Week in Leuven, Belgium from September 16^th to 20^th. 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.

On September 6th 2013, the editors Dirk E. Hebel and Stephen Cairns launched the new FCL Magazine with its first issue ‘Technology’.

The FCL Magazine is a periodical about research. It does not aim to present unquestionable research results, nor fully worked out ‘solutions’ to the myriad dilemmas that contemporary and future cities unfold. Rather, it aims to show things which are not yet fully resolved, work in progress, approaches to longer term issues. In so doing, the magazine will embrace mistakes and failures. It will celebrate questions, highlight methodologies, and revel in the shaping of research.

FCL Magazine is time limited. It will only be alive, as long as the Future Cities Laboratory is active. It draws its content and energy from the researchers inside FCL. It has a dual audience: those researchers within FCL, for whom the magazine is intended as a provocation for discussion and prompt for critical reflection on interdisciplinary approaches to the city; and colleagues who work in related fields, for whom the magazine is intended as a source of information on the work being conducted at FCL, and as an invitation to engage.

The first issue of the FCL Magazine aims to address the role of technology in FCL’s research activities. The word technology is derived from the Greek words techné, meaning art or craft, and logos, meaning word, intellectual capability, doctrine, rational or even reflection. Technology therefore suggests a mentality of “thinking” on what we are “doing”. For a laboratory setting, this seems to be an ideal point of departure and is more open than simplified definitions such as technique or machine.

Over the past two and a half years various ways of using technology in FCL’s daily work have emerged in our research community. While some claim, that architects in general show a fear of implementing technology in their designs, others try to define the term in an alternative approach by developing links between local traditions and state of the art technologies. Others are impatient to see new developments in the technological sector and claim that information technology is printing technology. Robotic drones create artificial three-dimensional maps of our immediate environment and reduce it to a thin layer of data carpets and point clouds. Technology is conventionally described in low– tech and high-tech variants. This first issue of FCL Magazine offers a platform for divergent definitions of technology, and offers suggestions, clues, and approaches on how to operate on a shifting. It gives a selected overview, no more and no less.

In 2008, the Sawiris Foundation for Social Development has donated CHF 1.5 million to ETH Zurich for the programme “Sawiris Scholarships – Science & Technology for the South”. This programme is a grant scheme providing ten doctoral scholarships of CHF 150’000 each. Over a period of five years, each year two scholarships will be granted. A grants committee selects the candidates according to specific selection criteria.

The goal of the programme is to promote the development of products or methods, which are directly relevant for improving the livelihoods of poor people in developing countries. The topics have to be of high scientific standards and at the same time aim at direct implementation of the results.

Alireza Javadian has been awarded the Sawiris Scholorship for the project “Composite Bamboo Material and its Application as Reinforcement in Structural Concrete”.

ETH Globe published in its latest issue called “The particle tamers” an article on the research of the Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel at FCL Singapore called “Bamboo – rock-hard iron substitute for the tropics” by Samuel Schlaefli. “Bamboo grows quickly, is common in tropical countries, and some species have a greater tensile strength than steel. It would be an ideal alternative to imported construction steel for the rapidly growing cities of the south, which is where the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore comes in.” See also: www.ethz.ch/about/publications/globe

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. 

Dirk E. Hebel, Felix Heisel
BAMBOO COMPOSITE REINFORCED CONCRETE 
in: SMART CITIES, The Next Generation, Focus South East Asia, Berlin, 2013, pp. 46-49

Dirk E. Hebel and Felix Heisel presented the research work on composite fiber materials of CoReSing at the ‘Smart Cities’ Symposium at AEDES East Gallery Berlin on June 8, 2013. The panel ‘Smart Materials and Technologies’ here with Eike Roswag, Thorsten Klooster, Felix Heisel and Dirk E. Hebel moderated by Sascha Peters focused on innovative approaches on how to address local and easy available material resources and activate them in the urban creation process. Most of all, economical as well as ecological chances and possible establishments of local value chains inside developing territories such as South-East Asia were foregrounded and discussed.

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.

As of May 15th, Dr. Mateusz Wielopolski as a Post-Doc researcher and Karsten Schlesier as an external advisor joined the research team of CoReSing in Singapore. Both are active in the composite bamboo research and investigate chemical, physical as well as mechanical material properties. Mateusz Wielopolski has received his PhD in Chemistry in Germany at the University of Erlangen. His background in physical chemical and materials sciences has led him through researcher positions in the UK, Japan, Germany and Switzerland. Thereby, his expertise is found in the development and analysis of new materials. In this field he has contributed to more than 20 peer-reviewed journal publications and books. Karsten Schlesier graduated in Civil Engineering from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT. As a structural engineer his research activities are focused on non-standardized and alternative construction materials, realizing various prototypical structures in Germany and Ethiopia over the last years. Also, Dr. Dragan Griebel from CoReSings research partner REHAU had his first extended research stay at the Advanced Fiber Composite Laboratory AFCL setting up first test series and establishing production standards.

Photo credits: FCL Singapore

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

The Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel at FCL Singapore was awarded the SMART Innovation Grant in the tune of SG $250.000 on March 22, 2013. The grant supports the research of CoReSing in the area of bamboo composite reinforcemnet systems and will assist to help it reach the marketplace. The SMART Innovation Grant enables the research team to pursue new avenues of extended research and participate in programs that will help accelerate innovations toward commercialization.  The funding will be used to de-risk the technology by developing prototypes or conducting proof-of-concept experiments and determine a go-to-market strategy for the products or services being developed.  The end point of the grant funding would be a well defined business opportunity attractive to start-up company formation or licensing to a commercial firm.

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 Tropical Town is a package of innovative technologies and blueprint plans, environmental principles, supported by capacity building techniques. The package is not a master plan or recipe, but designed to seed the development of environmentally sustainable, socially economically resilient settlements over time. At the centre of this project is an incremental housing type named Rubah, or Rumah Tambah  (‘expandable house’ in Bahasa Indonesia).

The Tropical Town project was developed at the Singapore-ETH Centre’s Future Cities Laboratory (FCL), with the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Indonesia, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, the municipal planning department (BAPPEDA) in Batam, the  Dutch/Indonesian architectural firm, SHAU, and the NGO KRUPUC (Knowledge for Rural and Urban Projects Under Construction).  CoReSing recently joined this design team with a focus on materiality and construction.

The project was developed for the island of Batam, Indonesia. Batam functions as a laboratory where the various technical, social, ecological and design principles are explored and prototyped. The Tropical Town project is intended to be ‘scaleable’ and implemented in similar urbanizing regions throughout tropical Southeast Asia. Jakarta could be the first urban testbed for the Tropical Town Project.

“Smart City: The Next Generation”, Focus South-East Asia

How do new projects – from architecture, urban planning to urban interventions – influence the behavior of a city’s inhabitants and users? How do these projects affect the urban fabric and its functionality?

The exhibition “Smart City: The Next Generation” and associated events at the Architectural Forum Aedes am Pfefferberg, 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, planners and initiators from Thailand, the Philippines, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam, who are making the cities more intelligent, sustainable, effective and above all improving the quality of life for their citizens. Beyond that, both the exhibition and the catalogue will showcase 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.

The exhibition and Symposium is based on the following three questions:
1. How does your project “smarten up” the city?
2. What are the challenges that you face from your (country-specific) urban infrastructure?
3. How does your project affect the behavioral patterns of the city’s inhabitants and users?

Behavioral change on a global scale is what the team of Prof. Dirk Hebel at the Future City Labortory of the ETH Zürich in Singapore has in mind. They investigate the “smart material” qualities of bamboo in the building sector. The idea: replacing steel with bamboo. Because “bamboo concrete” could, taken in the long-term, revolutionize the entire equatorial region, and significantly improve the social value chain as well as the economic conditions of the developing countries to a large extent, and reducing CO2 emissions drastically.

Exhibition Location: Aedes am Pfefferberg, Christinenstr. 18-19, 10119 Berlin, Germany
Exhibition duration: 17 May – 4 July 2013
Smart City Symposium: 8 and 9 June 2013 as part of the APW 2013