ºÚÁϸ£ÀûÍø

Public Summary

ReCreate Studio: Design software for new buildings from a database of reused concrete components

In recent decades, the sustainability shortcomings of the global construction industry have become both increasingly clear and urgent. The mass production and ‘linear’ usage of construction materials such as concrete has been shown to deplete copious amounts of non-renewable natural resources, while also producing large quantities of waste and greenhouse gasses. One solution for establishing a sustainable construction industry is to move towards a ‘circular’ economy, in which structures, components and materials are reused multiple times, thereby extending their useful lifetimes and reducing resource depletion and waste generation. This poses several challenges for the construction industry, a sector that is notoriously resistant to change, as it will disrupt essentially all stages of the current construction life cycle. In response to these challenges, the ReCreate project aims to establish a circular value chain for structural precast concrete building elements, by performing research and development on all aspects and stages of the element reuse process. This includes, for example, the deconstruction of existing buildings, transport and processing of the harvested elements and the design and reassembly of new building structures from the available elements.

Compared to the traditional architectural and structural design process for new concrete buildings, the task of designing with reused elements is fundamentally different. In a traditional case, an architect conceptualises a design with relatively few constraints. A structural engineer then designs the reinforced concrete structure to ensure sufficient load capacity and stability of the building. For the reuse case, however, all elements have predefined identity, geometry, structural capacity and location attributes, which should all be considered during all design stages. Accordingly, the task of a designer becomes as follows:

-Select a set of useful structural elements from a stock of elements available for reuse. The dimensions of the selected elements should be compatible to the extent that they can be used in the same structure without requiring major modifications. Also, for each element the environmental impact of reuse should be less than using a similar new element, as this is the sole motivation for reusing building elements.

-Formulate a spatial arrangement of the selected elements to satisfy the architectural requirements of the new building. The structural loads exerted on each element used in the design should be within the element’s capacity limits.

Public summary ii

This thesis introduces ‘ReCreate Studio’, a prototype software application that has been conceptualised and developed to aid the reuse design process, while leveraging useful aspects of the traditional architectural design workflow.

The application is in the form of an add-in for Autodesk Revit, a well-known software package for modelling and designing all aspects of buildings and infrastructure. The application enables a user to browse through a database of previously used building elements and import a selection directly into a 3D BIM model. The imported elements can be placed and re-positioned in the model to formulate a building structure, that can be developed into a complete building design. This newly developed element database and the ability to visualise any element in Revit relies on a novel object model that replicates the attributes and behaviours of real-life building components in a digital environment.

The new application also includes the ability to automatically analyse the distribution of internal forces through a newly designed building structure, without advanced structural engineering knowledge or additional software. The internal forces calculated for each element are subsequently compared to the element’s relevant capacity values, to identify any element(s) exerted past safe limits. Another valuable aspect of the application is a feature to automatically calculate the environmental impact of using any element from the database (and/or a similar new element) in a specific construction project. Lastly, the application includes various features for automating and optimising parts of the design workflow, thereby aiding and accelerating the process. This includes a feature for automatically generating floor slab layouts for a complete building or wing, from the available elements in the database.

Through the above features, ReCreate Studio enables a designer to iteratively select and import elements into a Revit model and formulate a high-quality design concept from scratch or based on an existing model. Furthermore, by providing insights into the structural behaviour and environmental performance of a design, the application empowers the user to make design decisions that result in a concept that is structurally sound and environmentally beneficial.

By aiding the design process for new buildings employing reused precast concrete elements, the newly developed application will hopefully play a part in increasing the uptake of such reuse in future construction projects, thereby contributing to a circular economy and a more sustainable construction industry.

Fred Mudge 30 May 202