Adaptive building structures to increase the resource efficiency of multi-storey buildings in urban areas.

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Demographic changes, a changing labor market and economic fluctuations with different dominant commercial sectors require buildings that can adapt to changing user requirements. Building infrastructure is subject to constant change, with demolition and new construction an increasingly common last resort. This is often triggered by a lack of suitability for the intended use and a building structure that is not up to date.
The resource efficiency of buildings is created on the one hand by intelligent, energy-efficient and recyclable load-bearing, facade and finishing structures. Equally significant is the useful life of buildings and their components, which depends on high-quality workmanship and, to a large extent, on the ability to repurpose them. The suitability of buildings for different forms of use is much more complex to evaluate than is done by the existing systems for assessing sustainability.
Within the scope of the research project, the requirements for the suitability for conversion are defined after a factual analysis and assessment of the relevance of different forms of use of multi-storey buildings depending on the site conditions. In addition to the object planning requirements for different forms of use, the effects on the constructive design and optimization of adaptive building structures are presented. In order to create control mechanisms for building policy and the real estate industry, methods for taking adaptivity into account in real estate valuation are developed and proposals for the introduction of adaptive storey buildings in building law are elaborated.
The implications in creating the potential uses of adaptive building structures are determined by overlaying the respective planning implementation. Solutions are derived from the various requirements that are highly appropriate to the relevant uses. Necessary adaptations for later uses should be carried out with limited time and monetary expenditure and impairments of ongoing uses should be as low as possible. To optimize building structures in terms of ecology and economy, the data basis for life cycle assessment and construction prices will be updated and developed methods and software tools from previous research projects will be used. The assessment is based on the assessment methodology of the BNB and the DGNB, but is more far-reaching, as analyses of usage scenarios as well as site-specific cost and yield situations are included, among other things. Life cycle assessment is performed at the level of structural elements and buildings, taking into account the useful life and expenses for conversions. In order to assess the adaptivity and convertibility of multi-storey buildings, catalogs of requirements for the various forms of use and evaluation methods for their fulfillment are drawn up. This is done for the relevant uses by floor and section as well as in total for the buildings. The results are documented in building specifications. Based on the applicable building codes (MBO, LBO) as well as the fee and planning code (HOAI), formulation proposals for the addition of service specifications and consideration of adaptive building structures in the building code will be developed.

Research Performance Phases:

• Structural design of buildings and engineering structures
• Life cycle assessment of materials and construction methods
• Development of evaluation methods for the sustainability of building structures
• Analysis of economic and ecological sustainability
• Building and planning law in structural and civil engineering
• Design, calculation and optimization of solid, steel, composite and hybrid structures as well as
• Fire protection in building construction