Sustainable office and administration buildings in steel and composite construction

Within the framework of the research project P881 planning tools and methods for the design and evaluation of such buildings were developed by an interdisciplinary research team. Socio-cultural and socio-technical studies on the future development of office work environments and observations in the real estate market are the starting point of the research. From these studies, structural requirements were derived for the design of adaptable building structures that allow changing the office organisation form with little modifications. Besides the life cycle costs, the value retention and the economic benefits of adaptable office buildings are considered in the evaluation of the economic sustainability. The results of parameter studies, in which the structural system and grid dimensions of the building as well as forms, dimension and material qualities of structural components were varied, serve as a basis for the design of slab systems and columns considering defined sustainability criteria. The parameter studies were also used to elaborate advantageous solutions. As a part of the research project, an extensive component catalogue was developed, which may be used for the planning of sustainable office buildings. The investigations considering the façade structures focus on ventilated rainscreen cladding façade and external thermal insulation composite systems, in which, for example, the embodied energy and the heat transfer are set in relation. In addition, a CAD-based software tool was developed, which uses a genetic algorithm for the structural optimisation and yields the optimum structural design considering sustainability criteria within seconds.

Statement on the economic significance of the research project for steel production sector and steel application sector:

The market share of steel and composite structures in the building construction is low and well below 10 % of the total volume in Germany. This is despite the high material efficiency and excellent recyclability of steel. The aim is to help to increase the market share by developing and providing appropriate planning tools that promote and allow the application and evaluation of the construction form for office and administration buildings according to sustainability criteria. From this, in particular, the manufacturers of rolled steel products and steel construction companies benefit.

Participating research centers

Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl für Metallbau
Technische Universität Darmstadt, Fachgebiet Entwerfen und Baugestaltung
RWTH Aachen, Lehrstuhl für Stahl- und Leichtmetallbau
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Institut für Technologie und Arbeit e.V.
Technische Universität Kaiserslautern, Lehrstuhl für Unternehmensrechnung und Controlling