Computation for a new age of Resource AWare architecture: waste-sourced and fast-growing bio-based materials

Introduction

This project proposes a breakthrough resource model for architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) fostering a steep change in the way we design and fabricate our built environment.

Objectives

The project aims to overcome the fundamental limits that the natural variability sets within bio-based material streams for the green transformation of the industry.

Focus Areas

With a central focus on the alternative materials of waste-sourced and fast-growing materials, RAW assembles world-leading researchers and entrepreneurs in several key areas:

1. Material sourcing (UIBK, LTU, OMTRE)
2. Non-destructive material characterisation (LTU, DTU)
3. Non-prescriptive computational design
4. Adaptive fabrication (KADK, USTUT)

Consortium

This unique consortium aims to establish the foundation of a novel resource model for AEC. The model will link design, analysis, and fabrication through an innovative computational infrastructure.

Goals

The project embraces the variability of resources with the ambition to:

• Minimise waste
• Enable circularity
• Increase carbon storage in buildings
• Allow the uptake of currently disregarded bio-based materials in AEC
• Pave the way for new aesthetic expressions and tectonics in architecture