Research Mario Rinke

Abstract

The harmful effects of the building industry on our environment pose an increasing pressure on the development of new sustainable practices of construction. This project aims at laying the scientific foundation of basic design strategies to develop longer-lasting and more adaptable load-bearing structures of buildings, which are considered the most permanent building part and which hold the vast majority of embodied carbon. However, to design for change, change must first be understood. Through the empirical analysis of existing rehabilitated buildings, this project will generate novel insight into how and under which constraints buildings can indeed change, connecting findings from academic research and architectural practice.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

Based on the limitations of resources we face, the project explores a paradigm shift: designing architecture with availabilities. This puts the architect in a new role within the design and construction process which challenges architecture education fundamentally. Therefore, new methods, tools and processes in architecture education must be found and established. Architects are essential agents in the necessary shift for a sustainable construction sector as they develop ideas, shaping buildings and our infrastructure, essentially choosing building materials and moderating building processes. While researchers and practitioners have taken on the issue and explore alternatives based on the circular use of materials, construction parts or buildings, the education of architects is still largely disconnected with the reflection of new design strategies for a more sustainable built environment. The actual design practice in architectural education needs to be connected to the state-of-the-art knowledge about sustainable design, students and teachers need to establish and train resource (availability) based design as a new paradigm in our building culture. And there needs to be a broader understanding of what sustainability and circularity mean and what they can bring to the very different within the European context. Embedding circular thinking and making actual objects in the very context of places are powerful elements of architectural education that need to be tools in future-proof architecture curricula.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project
• Education Project

Abstract

This research project aims to understand how buildings change over their lifetime if they are adapted. If buildings are not or cannot be used anymore, their very characteristic design, particularly its building structure, often prevents it from being adapted to new possible functions leading to vacancy and, consequently, demolition. Obsolescence is by far the main reason for demolition — and mostly of rather young buildings: Their service life (ca. 40 years) is thus much shorter than its physical life expectancy (min 80-100 years). Understanding the circumstances of change, first of its use and then of the building, and which components prevent or allow necessary transformations or extensions, forms a substantial basis for the design of new buildings. Such knowledge of change is largely missing. Building both on a detailed analysis of various case studies along their adaptations and the agency of stakeholders in the building industry, the project will model adaptability empirically to show how building functions, construction systems and materials are connected, and which paths of sustainable building design are most likely to produce long-living buildings.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario
• Co-promoter: Blom Johan
• Fellow: Pacquée Robbe

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project

Abstract

The load-bearing structure of a building is not only the most permanent layer of a building, it is also the most energy intensive. It should thus be designed and constructed to serve not only a first lifespan of a building but also enable its reuse and allow adaptations for new functions. To understand how structure are most likely adapted and they are allowing or preventing change around them, this project studies reused and adapted modern buildings. Following this evidence-based approach, it also discusses the design paths of the stakeholders in the renovation process to connect the structure with its context as well as the desired and undertaken changes. The findings of these object histories will be mapped in spatial CAD models and, eventually, formalized in schematic diagrams with zones of adaptability related to functions and the structural layout. Providing a novel modeling approach of permanence and change in a building, the general findings can further used for new design process of fundamentally adaptable buildings and further research into adaptability modeling.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Rinke Mario

Research team(s)

• Henry van de Velde

Project type(s)

• Research Project