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Digital Transformation for Circular Construction
Last Updated: 2026-02-05 16:38:56
Abstract
The course is about digital innovation towards a circular economy in the built environment. How can we bring together two worlds that are often too distinct: low-impact construction and digital innovation? Bringing digital tools already used in other sectors into the construction sector, students will learn about circular construction (e.g., reuse of materials) through hands-on learning practices.
Objective
By the end of this course, students will be able to use digital technologies enabling circular design and construction, with a view to environmental implications. They will be able to assess the challenges and opportunities of low-carbon, circular construction and evaluate possible solutions using digital technologies to enable a circular built environment (more specifically, with reused building materials). To achieve this, they need to be able to do the following: 1. Apply circular principles using recovered materials of the Huber Pavilions and/ or other structures. 2. Compare different digital technologies applied in circular construction (e.g., material passports, LiDAR scanning, drone imagery, photogrammetry, tracking, tracing, blockchain technology, computational design, digital fabrication, AI, computer vision, extended reality, LCA tools etc.) 3. Communicate the importance and urgency of circular construction. 4. Assess the environmental impact implications of their design and technology decisions through a preliminary Life Cycle Assessment (LCA).
Content
Students will receive an introduction to circular principles by experts from the building industry and visit of (de-)construction sites where circular construction is exemplified. Flexibility, responsibility, and spontaneity is expected from the students to adapt to the contingencies from demolition and construction sites with reused materials. • They will explore how to use digital technologies such as LiDAR scanning, photogrammetry, scan-to-BIM, computer vision, computational design, digital fabrication, blockchain technology and learn about the design implications using reclaimed building materials. This course is meant as an overview/introduction of many digital technologies that could be useful for circularity and gives the tools to students to further study the technologies they are most interested in on their own. • They will learn how to communicate the urgency of circular construction to their clients, government, and the public. Creativity in essay writing, design & construction, and filmmaking is expected from the students. • They will learn how to evaluate the environmental impact savings of circular construction through simplified life cycle assessment methods. This course will give the tools to students to learn more on LCA if they wish to deepen their knowledge further.
Resources
Lecture Notes
Language: EnglishCourses are on Tuesday afternoons, but also require out-of-the-semester work and significant homework and site visits outside of class hours.
Literature
Çetin, S., De Wolf, C., Bocken, N. (2022) "Circular Digital Built Environment: An Emerging Framework." Sustainability - Circular Economy in the Digital Age special issue, 13, 6348, DOI: 10.3390/su13116348 De Wolf, C. (2022) "4 promising digital technologies for circular construction." World Economic Forum, September 13, Link Raghu, D., Marengo, M., Markopoulou, A., Neri, I., Chronis, A., and De Wolf, C. (2022) "Enabling Component Reuse from Existing Buildings. Using Google Street View and Machine Learning to Enhance Building Databases." The Association of Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Sydney, AU, April 5-9. Gorden, M., Batallé, A., De Wolf, C., Sollazo, A., Dubor, A., Wang, T. (2022) "Automating Building Element Detection for Deconstruction Planning and Material Reuse: A Case Study" Automation in Construction.
Learning Materials (Links)
General Information
- Language
- English
- Levels
- BSC , MSC
- Frequency
- Yearly recurring
Examination
- Type
- ungraded semester performance
Registration & Places
- Signup End
- 08.02.2024
Course Components
| Type | Title | Time & Place | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| practical/laboratory course |
Digital Transformation for Circular Construction
Schedule remarks: Class on Tuesdays 13:45 – 17:30 from semester week 1 – 12 + 3 construction days outside of the semester (TBD).
Flexibility: This is a hands-on course, where students explore digital technologies and opportunities/challenges of reuse. Flexibility (e.g. adapting to unforeseen circumstances), responsibility (e.g. arriving on time for safety briefing), and spontaneity (e.g. finding innovative solutions) is expected from the students to adapt to the contingencies from demolition and construction sites with reused materials.
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7.5 h weekly |
Offered In
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Electives (This is only a short selection. Other courses from the ETH course catalogue may be chosen. Please consult the "Richtlinien zu Projekten, Praktika, Seminare" (German only), .)
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