Cluster of Excellence IntCDC
Reiter
Shaping the future of architecture and the building industry through truly integrative computational design and construction.
The University of Stuttgart established its new Cluster of Excellence on Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture in 2019. With an initial funding period of seven years, a Cluster of Excellence is the most significant and substantial grant awarded by the German Research Foundation (DFG). For the very first time, a Cluster of Excellence has been awarded to the field of Architecture. It will contribute to establishing an internationally visible research center.
The urgent need to rethink design and construction in architecture.
Humans spend 87% of their lives in buildings. Architecture is the habitat of mankind. Therefore, it is of central ecological, economic, social and cultural relevance. This generates significant challenges: By 2050, 2.6 billion people will require new housing, work places and infrastructure due to rapid urbanisation and population growth. For example, in Germany alone, 400,000 new residential units and related commercial and public buildings need to be constructed every year, but only half of this demand can currently be met. The productivity of the building sector has been stagnating since the 1990s, and it has struggled to complete major buildings in time and on budget.
Moreover, already in its present state, the building industry is responsible for approximately 40% of global resource consumption, 40% of energy use, and 50% of global waste. It is evident that mere incremental improvements to established approaches to design and construction will not be able to meet these severe challenges. Instead, new approaches are urgently required.
At the same time, the building industry constitutes the largest industry globally, offering enormous growth potential. Digital technologies make it possible to address these challenges and opportunities in novel ways. However, their adoption is slow in the building industry, and typically only focused on isolated aspects of the building process due to the fragmented nature of the construction sector and a compartmentalised research culture. Thus, innovation is limited to decoupled research insights and incremental advancements. The full potential of digital technologies remains underutilised.
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