Balancing design and circularity: Optimizing the reuse of steel elements in the design of frame structures

The steel sector is responsible for 4-5% of the total greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Reusing structural steel elements can potentially decrease the need for the production of new steel. However, designing a load-bearing structure with reusable elements poses challenges to the design process. The starting point of the process is different...

Structural Utilization of Reclaimed Timber in a Reciprocal Frame Canopy: A Sustainable Design Strategy for the Reuse of Timber

The buildings construction industry is demanded to reduce its ecological footprint to mitigate its contribution to climate change. In this context, a novel sustainable design strategy for the reuse of timber was developed in this Master thesis. The design strategy focuses on the utilization of the material “reclaimed timber” (RT) in the...

Towards a Sustainable Bridge Design: With the support of optimisation processes and decision making systems

This research aimed to design a new bridge for the city of Rome, Italy, through the support of modern optimisation and decision-making processes that can be implemented to make informed choices regarding aesthetic performance, structural firmness, and environmental impact. The bridge’s design was carried forward considering the city’s plans for...

Digital construction: Parametric structural & environmental design of a 3D printed concrete bridge

The objective of this research project is to verify whether 3D printing of concrete (3DPC) reduces the environmental impact by increasing the structural efficiency. During the literature study, numerous articles were identified that claimed an increase of structural efficiency by using 3DPC to reduce material use. Some of these articles suggest...

Investigating Principal Stress Lines: Optimization of Gridshell Structures

Architecture within the last twenty years has developed in many ways. One such direction was reintroducing the physical world and physical phenomenon back to architectural language and design space. This is especially true as buildings have had to become more and more environmentally sustainable and developable with programs such as LEED, BREEAM...

Sustainable structural design of high-rise: Life-cycle assessment of main load bearing structures of high-rise buildings in the Netherlands

High-rise buildings are a potential solution to the environmental impact caused by the built environment and the increasing demand for space in urban areas. As recent developments focus on reducing the impact by operational energy (OE) (heating, cooling, hot water and ventilation during use phase), impact by the embodied energy (EE) (production,...

Green-linking Rotterdam Zuid

This research is aimed at the necessity and the design of a new city bridge in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and how green could be implemented in such a structure. Through analysis of issues regarding the connection of Rotterdam Zuid over the Nieuwe Maas, the city’s plans and ambitions, precedent bridge designs and different...

Breaking Barriers: A parametrically optimised bridge design crossing the Nieuwe Maas

This research is aimed at the necessity and the design of a new city bridge in the city of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and how this design could be parametrically optimised using the modern digital tools that are available. Through analysis of the issues regarding the connection of Rotterdam South over the Nieuwe Maas, the city’s plans and...