The Future of Construction

The Future of Construction 2023 Symposium provides a platform to discuss novel human-machine collaborations in design and construction. Together we will raise questions about how complementary skills—the accuracy and speed of machines and their ability to crunch large amounts of data, jointly with our capacity as humans to solve problems creatively, flexibly, and collaboratively—can affect the ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable development of the built environment. It is a continuation of a series of events that first occurred at ETH Zurich in 2022 and is now taking place at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) from September 13 to 15, 2023. It will be held in hybrid mode, with participants from academia, start-ups, and the construction industry.

• Karla Saldana UFlorida (USA)

• Jeannette Kuo TUM (DE)

• Thomas Wortmann Uni Stuttgart (DE)

• Marco Hutter ETH (CH)

• Stefana Parascho EPFL (CH)

• Sami Haddadin TUM (DE)

• Harald Kloft TU Braunschweig (DE)

• Corentin Fivet EPFL (CH)

• Charlotte Malterre-Barthes EPFL (CH)

• Daniel Hall TU Delft (NL)

• Marija Marić Uni Luxembourg (LU)

• Michael Bühler HTWG Konstanz (DE)

• Mariana Popescu TU Delft (NL)

• Thomas Auer TUM (DE)

• Brandon Clifford MIT (USA)

• Kendra Byrne Google (CA)

• Siyu Tang ETH (CH)

• Daniela Mitterberger ETH (CH)

• Ian Smith TUM GNI (DE)

• Fabio Gramazio ETH (CH)

• Ryan Luke Johns Gravis Robotics (CH)

• Romana Rust vyzn (CH)

• Maximilian Vomhof vzyn (CH)

• Franziska Sauka BMW (DE)

• Bruno Knychalla Additive Tectonics (DE)

• Francesco Ranaudo Vaulted (CH)

• Artem Kuchukov Kewazo (DE)

• Ana Anton Bitcrete (CH)

• Thomas Reisinger ABB (DE)

• Julian Trummer Leipfinger Bader (DE)

A set of parallel half-day workshops focused on ideation, co-creation, and skill-building will be available for symposium attendees, in particular for Master's and PhD students, as well as participants from the industries in the morning of Friday, September 15. Participants can sign up for the workshops during registration.

Workshop Meet-up: 08:00-09:00 Coffee and Bretzel @ TUM Vorhoelzer Forum

1. Workshop #1 Computational structural design supported by machine learning

   In this workshop, participants will explore the intersection of computational design and machine learning (ML) to generate equilibrated structures. Workshop lead: Lazlo Bleker, Thomas Wortmann, Karla Saldaña Ochoa, Max Zorn, Zifeng Guo, Pierluigi D'Acunto

   Detailed information

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2. Workshop #2 Augmented collaborative robotics

   In this workshop, participants will participate in a human-robot assembly workflow where two collaborative robots place and stabilize building components while humans assemble them. Utilizing a specialized mobile Augmented Reality interface that combines task management and robot control, humans and robots share a digital-physical workspace. Workshop lead: Lidia Atanasova, Daniela Mitterberger, Stefana Parascho, Eleni Skevaki, Kathrin Dörfler, Pierluigi D'Acunto

   Detailed information

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3. Workshop #3 Information Modeling across design and fabrication

   This workshop will address the information modeling in the context of building design and fabrication. Workshop lead: André Borrmann, Martin Slepicka, Markus König

   Detailed information

4. Workshop #4 Bio Design Lab

   This workshop looks at natural building materials as the base for regenerative design and the socio-economic renewal of the built environment. Workshop lead: Niklas Fanelsa, Julia Ihls, Marlene Stechl

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5. Workshop #5 Digital tools for co-designing with living systems

   This workshop will foster a new discourse on the future of integrating an ecosystemic approach in digital design. It builds on recent insights of the research project ECOLOPES and TreeML and PrunML. Workshop lead: Ferdinand Ludwig, Hadi Yazdi, Verena Vogler

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6. Workshop #6 Future of earthen construction

   How can we build sustainably with earth in the global north using digital design and fabrication? This workshop, organised as a 4-hour interactive Think-Tank session, will engage in new discourse on the future of earth construction and aims to raise as well as record key perspectives on what earth architecture could look like in a digital age. Workshop lead: Ema Krakovská, Joschua Gosslar, Sacha Cutajar, Norman Hack, Ena Lloret-Fritschi, Kathrin Dörfler

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7. Workshop #7 From Research to Innovation – Entrepreneurial Thinking for the Built Environment Industry

   In an interactive workshop format, this workshop introduces characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking in the built environment industry and showcases examples of successful entrepreneurs in that field. Workshop lead: Tobias Förtsch, Christos Chantzaras, Florian Jäger

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8. Workshop #10 Fabrication integrated design for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

   The participants in this workshop will experience how the fabrication aware approach in an integrated design framework can benefit from the large design freedom offered by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) while considering its limitations and constraints. Workshop lead: Vittoria Laghi, Majid Hojjat, Franziska Sauka

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9. Workshop #11 Accelerating Innovation From Lab to Site

   This workshop aims to thread multi-stakeholder perspectives across the value-chain to identify pathways to move sustainable construction technologies from lab to site more rapidly and effectively. Workshop lead: Tsz Yan Ng, Kathy Velikov, Russell Loveridge, Brian R. Ellis

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10. Workshop #12 Lean - Improve collaboration in a digital world

    In this workshop, participants can experience how a construction task becomes reality, how all those involved in the project collaborate with each other via the lean approach and using the latest technologies (from VR to AR), and which forms of communication are promising for the future and are already being used today. Workshop lead: Andreas Adldinger, Fabio Wendnagel,Florian Hirschel, Markus Semmelmann, Mario Mirbach, Katharina Eser

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11. Workshop #13 Zukunftsperspektiven für klimaorientierte Quartiersentwicklung

    Wir stellen aktuelle Forschungsergebnisse zur energetischen und klimaorientierten Quartiersentwicklung vor und diskutieren die praktische Anwendbarkeit mit den Teilnehmenden aus verschiedenen Disziplinen und Perspektiven. Workshop lead: Claudia Hemmerle, Manuel de Borja Torrejon, Paulo Danzer

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Three parallel tours and site visits with organized transportation will be available for symposium participants in the afternoon of Friday, September 15. Participants can sign up for the tours during the registration process.

• Site Visit #1 AMC Lab

  This tour will allow attendees to visit the research infrastructure and labs of TUM for large-scale Additive Manufacturing in Construction, as part of the SFB TRR 277 AMC. The labs are located at the TUM Campus Garching and Achering.

• Site Visit #2 Leipfinger/Bader

  The company Leipfinger Bader invites attendees to visit their brick production factory in Vatersdorf near Munich. They will provide insights into their newest developments towards sustainable local production, automation, circularity, and recycling.

• Site Visit #3 Stammstrecke MUC

  This tour will give attendees the unique opportunity to visit the construction site of the new main line and metro station of Munich. The tour will be guided by BAUER Spezialtiefbau.

See the full program here.

To register for the Future of Construction Symposium 2023, please follow this link. By registering for the symposium, you will be able to attend all events in the 3-day program, including keynote sessions, poster presentations, workshops, site visits, lunches and apéros. Workshops and site visits will be held concurrently; during the registration process, please select your preferred options. Three ticket options for on-site participation are available: regular (€350), academics (€150), and students (€90). Additionally, we offer online streaming tickets for the keynote and industry insights sessions (€25).

Researchers and innovators in digital design and digital construction are invited to share their work at the Future of Construction 2023 Symposium by submitting a poster! Selected submissions will have the opportunity to be presented during the two poster sessions on “AI for a Sustainable Built World”, hosted by Ian Smith (Technical University of Munich) on the evening of September 13, and “Sustainable Digital Construction”, hosted by Fabio Gramazio (ETH Zürich) on the evening of September 14. The TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute Artificial Intelligence for the Built World (TUM GNI) will generously sponsor a prize for the best poster presented on September 13, and the TUM School of Engineering and Design for the best poster presented on September 14.

Poster format: A0, portrait
Submission deadline: August 20, 2023
Notification of poster acceptance: August 14-31, 2023

Submit your poster here

This symposium is kindly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - Projektnummer 527827074.

The symposium will be hosted at two locations in central Munich, the Munich Urban Colab (Keynote Sessions) and the Main Campus of the Technical University of Munich (Poster Sessions and Aperós).

Getting Here

Both the Munich Urban Colab and the Main Campus of TUM are conveniently connected to the Munich main train station (10-15 minutes) and to Munich Airport (50 minutes). We recommend arriving by public transport, for arrival by car we recommend using the Park & Ride car parks.

The Keynote Sessions take place at the Munich Urban Colab, the Poster Sessions and the Aperós take place at the TUM Weißer Saal & TUM Vorholzer Forum. For the transfer between the two locations, attendees can either walk or take Bus Route 153, which starts at 'Hochschule München' and stops at 'Arcisstraße'.

Moving Around in Munich

Munich is a very walkable city. You can also easily reach almost any destination in Munich and in Germany by public transportation, which is very safe and reliable at all times of the day. You typically do not need to rent a car for moving around the area.

Accommodation

A variety of hotels are available to suit your needs, from budget to luxury accommodation. They are all well connected via public transportation to the symposium venue. Please visit the Munich Tourism webpage for more information.

Organizing Committee

• Kathrin Dörfler Professorship of Digital Fabrication TUM (DE)

• Pierluigi D’Acunto Professorship of Structural Design TUM (DE)

• Konrad Nübel Chair for Construction Management TUM (DE)

• Christos Chantzaras Venture Lab Built Environment TUM (DE)

Co-Organizers

• Michael Bühler HTWG Konstanz (DE)

• Danielle Griego ETH Zurich (CH)

• Norman Hack TU Braunschweig (DE)

• Stefana Parascho EPFL (CH)

• Thomas Wortmann Uni Stuttgart (DE)

• Ena Lloret-Fritschi USI (CH)

Organizing Team

• Lidia Atanasova Professorship of Digital Fabrication TUM (DE)

• Frederic Chovghi Professorship of Structural Design TUM (DE)

• Marcel Schlicke Chair of Construction Management TUM (DE)

• Selen Ercan USI (CH)