Outer skin with potential
Glass is a material that is constantly evolving to meet the latest technical requirements and the design wishes of architects. Accordingly, a great deal of research is being carried out on this building material at universities and institutes. A good example of this is the research activities of Jutta Albus’ junior professorship for resource-efficient construction at TU Dortmund University. The main focus there is on integrating glass into architectural design in line with its properties, thereby optimizing the consumption of energy and resources in the planning and construction process.
The building envelope plays a particularly important role in the institute’s research: it offers great potential for the use of glass and can contribute to the sustainable improvement of both technical and energy parameters as well as the resource management of a building through the intelligent integration of the material.
The focus here is on innovative technologies and industrial production methods. In addition to the use of automated tools for the production of components, prefabrication strategies are being investigated that enable an increase in efficiency in the construction process due to material and design advantages. This includes the BBSR-Zukunft Bau project ‘Prefab Housing’, in which cost reduction potentials for prefabricated housing construction are being investigated and further developed.
Suggestions for the next generation
Resource efficiency also plays a major role in the conversion and extension of existing buildings. The reactivation or renovation of a building is therefore another focus of the institute’s teaching and research. The integration of sustainable aspects is to be promoted as part of practical projects, such as the seminar held as part of the Protestant Church Congress 2019: The task is to develop an event space which, as a temporary climate shell – as easy to set up as it is to dismantle – represents a special architectural extension to current assembly venues.
Accompanying studies and research into innovative applications provide interesting topics for architecture students in particular. Through small design tasks and the analysis of sample projects, the material glass is extensively examined and reinterpreted. Depending on the task, a distinction is made between sustainability principles in the direction of active or passive use. At the same time, students will examine and further develop the integration of technical applications.
In the ‘Resource Efficient Building Skins’ seminar, for example, current state-of-the-art technologies and special features of façade constructions were examined. The range included curved envelope structures, wide-span cable structures and regenerative high-rise façades, which were further developed according to architectural, functional, energy and constructional aspects and used as a holistic system in a potential design task.
The aim of the chair is to sensitize students to consider and further develop creative, constructive, functional, technical, economic and energy-efficient, sustainable properties in an integrative design approach.