European Council for Computing in Construction Conference in Corfu

Last week, Chongjie Kang, Mengyan Peng, Tim Noack, Xiaoli Song, and Han Qian  from the Institute of Concrete Structures, TU Dresden participated in the 2026 European Council for Computing in Construction Conference in Corfu, Greece.

Across four paper presentations contribution, our team shared recent researches on artificial intelligence, vision-language models, ontology-based knowledge representation, and the digitalization of bridge engineering.

Mengyan Peng presented how open-source vision-language models can be applied to detect title blocks and extract metadata from engineering drawings.

Tim Noack introduced an ontology-supported approach that translates engineering knowledge and bridge cap design rules into a machine-interpretable form for automated component design.

Han Qian presented a hybrid approach combining engineering knowledge with learning-based methods to support automated bridge span planning during conceptual design.

Xiaoli Song demonstrated how ontologies can be used to structure, connect, and semantically manage information contained in bridge drawings.

In addition to paper presentations, Han Qian participated in the Thesis in Three (Ti3) Competition. In just three minutes, he outlined the broader vision of his PhD research, “AI-Based Bridge Conceptual Design: From Boundary Conditions to a Multi-Agent Framework.”

EC³ 2026 offered a valuable opportunity to discuss our work with the international computing-in-construction community, gain new perspectives, and explore future research collaborations.

Many thanks to the conference chairs, organizing team, session chairs, and all participants for the inspiring discussions and a memorable conference in Corfu!