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Urban mining. Scoping resources for circular construction

Urban mining. Scoping resources for circular construction Operating with an abundance mindset – rather than from a place of “scarcity” – is a new paradigm, relevant to the practices of design and construction, which expands the definition of “resources” as well as where resources, both raw and non-raw materials, can be found and “mined”. Within three scales of design and planning, the current research – developed at the Institute for Advanced Architec- ture of Catalonia (IAAC) – examines the applications of computational technologies and life cycle assessment with the goal of setting up protocols for enhancing processes of urban mining and material reuse in future circular construc- tion. In the material scale (i), selected projects experiment with up-cycled waste for the creation of new engineered composites for construction. In the building scale (ii), robotic technologies and computer vision are used to scan and sort the materials from existing buildings or demolition sites. Finally, in the urban scale (iii), google images, satellite data and ML are used to index the existing material stock in building façades in cities. The research calls for agents involved in design, planning and construction to shift their focus to the anthroposphere as a source of, rather than just a destination for, processed goods. The concept of “urban mining” is revisited to man- age the material stock in urban systems and the use of anthropogenic resources in new production cycles. Through a multi-scalar approach, the outcome challenges the foundation of our material practices, presenting the potential to disrupt linear patterns of design and making in the built environment. Keywords Urban mining, Circular construction, Machine learning, Upcycled materials, Material stock data sorting, Big data of the Anthropocene, the topics of resource depletion 1 Introduction or insufficiency are being reframed. Operating with an The material balance of the Earth is being challenged. The abundance mindset rather than from a place of scarcity year 2020 was marked as the year when the total weight (Gausa et al., 2020) is a new paradigm, especially relevant of human-made materials globally surpassed the weight in the practices related to the design and production of of all life on Earth, while it is estimated that in the years the built environment, since it expands the definition of to come the growth rate of mass added to the anthropo- “resources” and where resources, raw and non-raw mate- sphere will increase exponentially (Elhacham et al., 2020). rials can be found and “mined”. If, as agents involved in In this context of hypergrowth coupled with the climate the design, planning and construction process, we could emergency, the growing rate of urbanization and the shift the attention to the Anthroposphere as a source of, increasing social and political awareness on the matters rather than just a destination for, processed goods, then we might have the potential to disrupt linear patterns *Correspondence: of design and enhance circularity in cities and the built Areti Markopoulou environment. areti@iaac.net Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, IAAC , Barcelona, Spain First introduced in the 1980s to refer to the recov- ery of rare metals trapped in waste electrical and © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 2 of 12 electronic equipment (Nanjyo, 1988), the term urban richness. Within a holistic approach of circular design, mining is becoming a useful concept to explore and the waste material is sourced by identifying the agricul- exploit the material stock in urban systems and to tural areas that can provide barley straw waste within a address the particularities of extraction and the use maximum distance of 30 km from the center of Barce- of anthropogenic resources in new production cycles lona, the city selected for the case study on retrofitting (Baccini & Brunner, 2012). By reframing waste prod- building skins with up-cycled materials (Fig. 1). ucts generated in urban environments, or through Another case study based on experimentation follows urban activity, as anthropogenic stock, the concept of similar logics and material protocols for the creation of urban mining helps to shift the perception of resources cork-based and mycelium composites using the waste from a finite starting point in a linear use process stream of the active cork industry in Spain and Portugal. toward a cyclical state of materials in a circular pro- Approximately half of all cork products are estimated to cess. As a key enabler of the current urban systems, as end up in landfills at the end of their useful life, while the well as a beneficiary of the constant urban change rate, other half is downcycled or used in biomass processes for the construction industry is no doubt contributing a clean energy generation. Taking into consideration that large percentage of material stock to the urban mine. cork is a lightweight material with exceptional acous- As buildings are both affected and effectors in the cur- tic and thermal insulation properties, it is considered as rent linear material system, it is pertinent to ask the an important natural alternative for architectural appli- question of how architecture, engineering, construc- cations (Knapic et  al., 2016). As cork is an appropriate tion and operations (AECO) can contribute to the cir- medium for mycelium growth, the prototypes combine cular economy today. cork waste – in the form of granular cork or cork stop- pers – and mycelium to create acoustic insulation prod- 2 Review contents ucts for urban applications and construction (Fig. 2). 2.1 F rom waste to building matter Paper is another waste material with the potential to be Starting from the material scale, we can observe that upcycled and used in specific architectural applications. different types of urban or agricultural waste have the Cellulose-based composites, for instance, can be used for potential to become a new class of sustainable building the creation of temporary building skin components with composites through different processes that enhance the goal of enhancing biodiversity (specifically, protect - their properties to match them with the building indus- ing pollinators) and creating habitats for other species to try’s needs. This is the scope of the Digital Matter inhabit the built environment (Fig. 3). research studio at the Institute for Advanced Archi- From barley straw to cork, paper, or even polyester and tecture of Catalonia in Barcelona (IAAC) that explores the leftovers of a highly contaminating textile industry, waste streams and experiments with upcycling waste into these approaches explore the benefits and potentials of appropriate building components for different architec - applying waste or “pure” residue material in the built tural features. environment. Given that the construction industry is One of the case studies researches the production responsible for the largest amounts of material con- of value-added building composites using agricultural sumption annually, and it occupies the largest volume in residues and food-processing side streams, specifically the anthroposphere, integrating circular and up-cycled barley straw. The use of barley straw in construction is materials into architectural applications can have an not new, but the construction industry has neglected exponential impact, extending into the other layers of this resource since there are numerous limitations on our ecosystem. achieving surface and geometry variations, as well as Mining and processing non-traditional materials for on scaling up without the need for secondary struc- construction, however, requires complex levels of cer- tures. The case study focuses on overcoming current tification or even standardization that are not easy to limitations in surface and geometry manipulation by achieve in academic and research environments. At introducing new additives and digital manufactur- the same time, fundamental changes in the construc- ing techniques for the creation of a double-curved tion norms are required for extending the application self-standing building skin. The composites explored of such materials. Moreover, it is significant to under- include a variety of performances: hydrophobicity, line the aesthetic affordances of such “waste-to-mat- for instance, is achieved by integrating natural res- ter” approaches. Buildings are more than the sum of ins and oils into the material system, which makes it their parts, and apart from serving the physical pur- appropriate for outdoor applications; and numerically pose of housing and protection they also represent controlled cutting surface subtraction for different tex - cultural stock, which can reach deep into centuries of tured surfaces provides humidity control and aesthetic history as well as projecting visions for the future of M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 3 of 12 Fig. 1 (Left) Barley straw waste material and up-cycled barley building composites for outdoor, indoor, structural and non-structural applications. (Right) Robotically controlled fiber placement and vacuum-assisted injection molding for the production of composites. The fabrication processes include vacuum molding, compression molding, 6-axis CNC, multi-point forming and curved mold jigs for double-curved building skin components. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, M. Housen, A. Ferragu, T. Mian, M. Muller-de Ahna places and communities. Responding to all these needs validation to this recurrent statement and provides a with a new aesthetic that is also true to the materi- framework for new scoping and extraction processes als’ origins and specificities is a difficult but relevant centered on non-raw materials in the urban stocks. task for our contemporary sustainable building prac- While this concept is effective at creating an opportu - tices. Aside from innovating with waste-driven build- nity for part of the waste to be reprocessed (increas- ing materials and exploring new construction systems ing its residual value by adding it into a new cycle), in which these nontraditional materials can safely be sourcing and extraction from landfills or unstructured used as building components, a new territory related extraction from demolition sites poses problematic to the aesthetics debate will be more relevant than ever concerns both in terms of the loss of material value and for reflecting the source of the materials and promot- the safety and wellbeing of those involved. For an effi - ing the culture of the circular economy. cient integration of urban mining in the mainstream production processes, a holistic concept of efficient 2.2 R eframe the current building stock resource extraction, production, use and reuse is neces- sary, tracking relevant material data through the cycles “We build in the express knowledge that all build- of dormant, transformative, active use and re-harvest- ings will disappear.” ing states of the material throughout its lifecycle. (Reiner de Graaf, 2017) A rather daunting observation for the architectural pro- fession, the realization that the imminent fate of all build- “Cities are the mines of the future” suggested Jane ings is their disappearance (largely through demolition) Jacobs, recognizing that the postwar construction can be outweighed by reframing current building stock as boom was causing a temporary displacement of mate- the largest container of future resources in relatively stable rials (Jacobs, 1961). Decades later, urban mining adds Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 4 of 12 Fig. 2 ( Top) Cork waste streams (granular cork or stoppers) and mycelium composites for acoustic insulation in buildings’ secondary skins. (Bottom) Cork and mycelium growth and composite assembly tests. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, M. Groth, F. Magaraggia, M. Calmanovici compounds. In this context, we observe a significant shift being achieved (Koutamanis et  al., 2018). Such claims, in the location of raw materials from their original geologic however pertinent, consider only the present state compounds, now bound up in existing anthropogenic through the lens of past policy and effectively demon - structures – especially buildings (Hillebrandt et al., 2019). strate the need for further reconsideration of the politi- A particularity of buildings as anthropogenic compounds, cal, technological and informational framework within in contrast to their geological counterparts, is their vola- which construction and demolition waste (CDW) tile stability. Buildings are created as a response to multiple recovery is to be framed. Baccini and Brunner identify factors, including physical or social need as well as cultural key considerations for the efficient recycling of build - and economic pressures. Similarly, their active-use state, ing material waste to be connected to the availability renewal and demolition periods are affected by the same of accurate geolocated information and far-reaching external agents. Materials in structural or integrity compo- urban-scale decision-making and stock management nents of a building have a life expectancy reaching several (Baccini & Brunner, 2012). hundreds of years, meaning that the buildings’ lifespan Often packaged under the term CDW, the material states often do not correspond to the lifespan of the mate- released at the end of a building’s lifecycle, is a specific rials used in construction. It is this desynchronization type of stock resource found in active compounds within between the timespan during which a building is necessary urban built structures, and it experiences significant value and valued and the timespan during which its constituent loss when scoped and extracted according to current materials are sound for use that reveals a great potential practices of linear use. The urban mining concept regard - for material reuse, allowing the original raw materials to ing building products addresses a stock of engaged mate- increase in value through reprocessing and reuse in vari- rial with multiple use cycles. In this sense, the urban mine ous building cycles before their final reintegration into the stockpile is active, so it must be scoped in such a way that natural environment. time becomes a significant factor for its assessment. Thus, the construction and demolition stock in urban min- 2.3 Data matters ing must be understood and treated as active stock. As Taking into account current information policies, prac- opposed to raw extraction sources, where the material is tices and building standards, it has been widely sug- in a “dormant” state, in the active state a material has a gested in global literature and reports on the industry short window of availability: mainly during the demolition that the maximum level of recovery and maximum per- process. Significant value loss can be reduced if the mate - formance in building demolition processes are already rial is mined before the end of this ideal timeframe. M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 5 of 12 Fig. 3 ( Top) Secondary building skin of cellulose-based composites produced using up-cycled paper. The project aims to enhance biodiversity in cities and uses the material system to create urban beehives and pollination stations in buildings’ blind façades. (Bottom) Material explorations of cast and 3D-printed cellulose composites. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, A. Gultekin, A. Kalra, N.J. Pattanshetti and P.V. Patilkulkarni It is in this regard that data about the specifications demand and fair pricing while the still-active mate- of the material – including dimensions, state, prop- rial reaches the end of one use cycle. With a territorial erties or even geolocation, among others – become framework for material data and local policy sup- highly relevant for the potential of reuse. Establish- port, the urban mining of active building stock could ing methods for scoping, extracting, reprocessing, re- be achieved for both existing and newly constructed commercializing and reusing existing building stock buildings. can have a positive impact both by offsetting embod- ied carbon and by avoiding environmental costs. The 2.4 Material data on building scale stock urgency of the creation of a digital layer to enable the Scientific sources looking at CDW recovery often cite mining and reuse of otherwise purely physical con- information deficit as the main culprit in ineffective struction and demolition materials is of utmost impor- CDW recovery and recirculation, and policies related tance in this context. Additional data related to the to adding a digital layer to future urban stock are being market demand and the criteria for setting prices for adopted by key global players. Given the present level the active stock is also necessary. Strategic planning, of urbanization, apart from looking at the construction coupled with transparent and structured public infor- industry’s ebb and flow cycles, and creating a frame - mation, can bridge the process and support market work for public information and circularity standards for Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 6 of 12 future buildings, a more pressing and far less resolved existing buildings, a significant territory that requires issue involves addressing the existing building stock from further development for the applications of circular the perspective of identifying and recovering trapped construction (Fig. 4). resources in structurally integral state. The second section of the study aims to transfer the One of the research lines of the Master’s in Advanced previous database to as many stakeholders as possible Robotics and Construction at IAAC explores the pos- related to the construction sector. In order to impact sible use of aerial and ground robots coupled with design and construction, it is imperative to match offer computer vision for scanning, sorting and digitally and demand; therefore, a computational design tool is archiving existing material stock in buildings. The incorporated into existing construction software in research aims to employ an automatic digitization order to offer recommendations for design adjustments method for the near-end-of-life stage of a building and in the early design stages. The suggested system addi - considers it as a source of high-value assets. In order tionally offers recommendations for matching specified to encourage the use of valuable secondary sources design components with the materials that have previ- of materials and to better inform early design choices ously been identified as available resources for reuse when reusing construction waste, the resulting dataset (Batalle Garcia et al., 2021). is then distributed to designers and builders (Batalle The Barcelona-based start-up Scaled Robotics is Garcia et al., 2021). another case study that uses robots and terrestrial scan- The first part of the research entails using drone ners for conducting detailed site surveys at on-demand photos and computer vision to automatically identify or at regular intervals in construction or demolition building materials and components at pre-demolition sites. While the technology for scanning and sorting is sites and therefore contribute to the creation of an mature, it is important to highlight the lack of policies analytical and logistic support system that can be used that could contribute to creating a larger market demand to define optimum deconstruction and reuse strategies for reused components and materials (Fig. 5). in terms of environmental and economic sustainabil- The above case study portrays the potential for con- ity. The project contributes to the creation of a toolbox structing big data sets of reusable materials, digitally for quantifying, geolocating, indexing and assessing available for sharing and organizing material har- the state of materials and their potential for reuse in vesting and facilitating the incorporation of those Fig. 4 ( Top): MatterSite uses scanning technologies to identify and sort the material stock of existing buildings for possible reuse. (Bottom): Raw imagery captured from the site is run through a material localization algorithm to pick out relevant recoverable materials from these views. Image: IAAC MRAC Matter Site, A. Batalle Garcia, Cebeci, Y. Irem, R. Vargas Calvo, M. Gordon M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 7 of 12 Fig. 5 Robotic scanning of the interior of a construction site, Image copyright @ScaledRobotics materials into new designs. Thanks to this anticipa- construction programs, promoting the circular econ- tory approach and digital classification, the materials omy in a short loop. identified (for example: windows, metal beams, doors, While some questions related to the cost of reuse etc.) at deconstruction or renovation sites are directed versus the cost of using new resources in construction to reuse actors and thus oriented towards new building are still to be answered, such processes and techniques Fig. 6 ( Top) A street view image and its corresponding labeled copy, identifying façade materials and components. (Bottom) The predicted materials on building façades that were not part of the training dataset. Image by: IAAC MaCT 2022, H. Shawqy A. Markopoulou, O. Taut Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 8 of 12 Fig. 7 The results of the predictive AI model are displayed in a web interface showing the material availability overall and the predicted material distribution on the street-facing façade of any building. Image by: IAAC MaCT 2022, H. Shawqy A. Markopoulou, O. Taut facilitate the implementation of the concept of mate- 2.5 Material data on urban scale stock rial passports for buildings, which encapsulates many A coherent strategy for urban mining in the context of the of the necessary criteria to support reuse. The signifi - built environment offers the possibility for bridging the cance of material passports for the implementation of gap between the circular production of materials and the the circular economy in the construction sector calls for urban system as a complex multidimensional locus both new policies that regulate the documentation submitted for the sourcing and the destination of its products. The key for new constructions. For new buildings, for instance, obstacle now lies in the difficulties of generating a global, design should go beyond the project handover stage data-rich, and open model of this multidimensional sys- and include strategic planning for the material sourc- tem. The concept of digital twins – introduced by NASA ing, assembly, dismantling, reprocessing and storing in 2010 and used to describe an alternative to the physical before a new use cycle. At the same time, reality scan- modeling of complex simulation systems – involves vir- ning and computer vision (CV) provide the opportunity tual representations of physical systems that can be used to to include existing building stock in such policies and to contain time-sensitive data, perform simulations and make compile its material passport retroactively. decisions with predictive or analytical AI modeling. Digital twins are currently used extensively to model complex sys- tems in various disciplines and are gaining popularity in the Materials passports are sets of data describing defined characteristics of materials in products that give them value for recovery and reuse. For more AECO as well as in urban administration, especially in rela- info, see BAMB 2020: Buildings as Material Banks, an EU-funded project tion to smart buildings and smart cities. By adding a digital bringing together 16 European participants, https:// www. bamb2 020. eu/, last layer to an existing urban system, the digital twin creates an accessed 28 May 2022 (BAMB - Buildings As Material Banks (BAMB2020) - BAMB, 2022). M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 9 of 12 opportunity to hold geolocated and historical data and pro- Street View API (application programming interface). By vides a necessary means of multiuser communication within applying predictive modeling at the city scale, the algo- a single simulation framework (Apte & Spanos, 2022). rithm can identify, geolocate and quantify façade materi- We use digital twins daily without much forethought to als with a present accuracy of 87%. While, in general, we observe, design and navigate our cities, and open-source expect machine learning models to achieve much higher satellite imagery as well as vector-based geographic data- levels of accuracy, it is important to adapt this expecta- bases have become deeply integrated into our professional tion to the specific application and to establish clarity practice. Starting, for instance, in 2007, an invaluable initia- on how much uncertainty can be allowed given the data tive was launched by Google, adding to the complexity of quality (Raghu et  al., 2022). The value of this process openly available geographic data: street view images were lies not in achieving near 100% accuracy but in the use added to the company’s maps, providing an almost real- of open unstructured data as a basis, making it a highly time digital access to even the most remote urban locations. repeatable and expandable application, and attempting Digital technology affects most all present-day activity to propose a solution that crosses the boundaries of the and, as has been pointed out in recent years, the digital bank original case study and could democratize access to data contains unimaginable amounts of data, trivially called “big for local decision makers in countries where open public data”. While this data is available, it largely takes the form of information is less accessible (Figs. 6 and 7). unstructured data. Its vast extent makes it difficult to ana - Working with this interface, the Internet of Buildings lyze using common tools. However, another branch of tech- research team from the Master in City and Technology nology gaining popularity in tandem, artificial intelligence at IAAC identified further opportunities to overcome (AI), provides frameworks for making use of unstructured the limitations of the AI model and extrapolate com- data through predictive means (Anderson, 2008). mon urban typologies that can improve the accuracy and In the intent to create an open repository to map the expand the scope from just the façade to other building material availability in the existing building stock of a elements. The result of this research is proof that the city, IAAC’s Master in City & Technology used AI and task of quantifying different materials in the city can be CV to develop a framework starting from the premise achieved by combining the data from statistical mod- that relevant information pertinent to the material com- els (from multiple open-source urban databases) with position of buildings can be identified through the analy - the predictions of façade materials based on computer sis of the building façades obtained through the Google vision and Open Street View to identify patterns that Fig. 8 Decision tree showing the connection between combinations of data filters and the probability of finding wood in the skin or the structure of buildings. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, D. Lampriadis, J. Veiga, M.A. Kroetz, Y. Wadia Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 10 of 12 are relevant for making estimations of the quantity, state predictive modeling of urban mining potential. For and projected availability cycle of: concrete, brick, stone example, a parallel study in the field of urban data (granite), metal (steel), timber and glass (Figs. 8, 9 and 10). science, “Global Building Morphology Indicators” Apart from the currently available indicators used (Biljecki & Chow, 2002) details globally relevant meth- above (such as building age, height and use), more ods for extracting building- and context-specific top- complex factors can be used in a comprehensive meth- ological information that can be used as a basis for a odology tool for the computation of building typol- typological analysis comprising geometric, geographic ogy clusters that can further improve the detail of the and material indicators. Fig. 9 ( Top): A Sankey diagram shows the process and methods currently used in linear and circular concrete productions. This informed the decision to create distinct mapping for precast and in-situ concrete and the map filters used to identify both. (Bottom) The mapping of cast in situ concrete considers buildings constructed after 1960 with a proportion of a minimum 40% of the façade predicted as plaster and a façade area in the 90th percentile. The result is presented as a geolocated gradient map as well as a bar chart computing neighborhood totals. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, J. Lee, J.B. Saleh, K. Buhari M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 11 of 12 Fig. 10 Combined mapping of wood in existing buildings both in the form of structures and enclosures. The results are predicted based on the diagram in image 8. The bivariate graph on the left shows strong directed correlation between probability of structural wood and enclosure wood. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, D. Lampriadis, J. Veiga, M. A. Kroetz, Y. Wadia 3 Conclusions strategy. When considered from the perspective of 3.1 Not es on scale, temporality and accuracy urban mining, the process of demolition requires fore- At different levels of geographic and temporal scales, thought and design, ensuring that a palette of elements the minimum viable accuracy levels vary proportion- is extracted following concepts of minimum effort and ally. While the estimation based on unstructured data maximum gain. At the same time, the extracted material presented above can be improved by aggregating layers is only economically viable when it is required as part of of building typology data, it remains less accurate than a new building process. This duality requires the crea - on-site observational study. However, there is an invalu- tion of a feedback loop between new building design able benefit achieved by providing a high-level overview and demolition design that can be supported by mass at the territorial scale to support urban decision makers customization computational methods. with enough anticipation and localization of future mate- However, for both processes to become standard prac- rial stock as needed for a locally viable strategy regarding tice in the AEC, aside from the support of an urban-scale material circularity. As expressed above, in the context framework and policy, it is crucial for AEC professionals of the circular economy in AECO, construction profes- to climb the innovation adoption curve, creating demand sionals are simultaneously the suppliers and the buyers for technological advances in material extraction for reuse of recovered materials – only, the two states are sepa- in order to achieve the necessary economy of scale. Just rated by a long-spanning temporal axis. The simulation as the current linear production methods are informed of material stock flows as supported by the urban scale and innovate in response to current performative and model based on predicted data can successfully link the aesthetic needs emerging from AEC professions, circular two endpoints, revealing the full scale of the problem/ production materials and methods will also require the solution continuum of building-material circulation. motor of market demand. Research transcending disci- Supported by this global layer, non-invasive digi- plines, proposing performative systems that consider the tal imagery and building information modeling (BIM) material at different scales, can achieve consistency and reconstruction methods, like the ones presented above, consequence between the chemical level and the aes- can be employed in a just-in-time (JIT) fashion as part thetic expression in the built environment. Projects like of a demolition project to make a more accurate estima- the material explorations shown here can become the key tion of the materials and components that are available drivers of the scale adoption of new architectural systems for extraction and to design a building-specific mining that rely at their core on circular economy principles. Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 12 of 12 Acknowledgements BAMB. 2022. BAMB - Buildings As Material Banks (BAMB2020) - BAMB. [online] The current article includes case studies developed at the following academic Available at: https:// www. bamb2 020. eu/ (Accessed 28 May 2022). programs at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia: Batalle Garcia, A., Cebeci, I. Y., Vargas Calvo, R., & Gordon, M. (2021). Mate- -F2F (Field to Façade), developed at the Master in Advanced Architecture rial (data) Intelligence - Towards a circular building environment. In A. (MAA01) 2020/21 by students: Mira Housen, Alex Ferragu, Taimur Mian, Mara Globa, J. van Ameijde, A. Fingrut, N. Kim, & T. T. S. Lo (Eds.), PROJECTIONS Muller-de Ahna; Faculty: Areti Markopoulou, David Andrés León; Faculty assis- - Proceedings of the 26th CAADRIA Conference - Volume 1, The Chinese tant: Nikol Kirova; Fabrication advisor: Eduardo Chamorro; Student assistant: University of Hong Kong and Online, Hong Kong, 29 March - 1 April 2021 Alexander Dommerhausen. (pp. 361–370). -Bee-yond Anthropocene developed at the Master in Advanced Architecture Biljecki F., Chow Y.C., 2022. Global building morphology indicators. Computers, 2021/2022 by students: Aleyna Gultekin, Arunima Kalra, Neha Jayanth Pat- Environment and Urban Systems, 95. https:// filip bilje cki. com/ publi catio ns/ tanshetti and Pragati Vasant Patilkulkarni; Faculty: Areti Markopoulou, David 2022_ ceus_ gbmi. pdf Andrés León; Faculty assistant: Nikol Kirova; Fabrication advisor: Eduardo Elhacham, E., Ben-Uri, L., Grozovski, J., Bar-On, Y., & Milo, R. (2020). Global Chamorro; Student assistant: Alexander Dommerhausen. human-made mass exceeds all living biomass. Nature, 588(7838), -Suro//Myco was developed at the Master in Advanced Architecture (MAA01) 442–444. 2021/22 by students: Michael Groth, Furio Magaraggia, Miran Calmanovici; Gausa, M., Markopoulou, A., & Vivaldi, J. (2020). Black ecologies. Institute for Faculty: Areti Markopoulou, David Andrés León; Faculty assistant: Nikol Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Actar Publishers. Kirova; Fabrication advisor: Eduardo Chamorro; Student assistant: Alexander Graaf, R. (2017). Four walls and a roof: The complex nature of a simple profession. Dommerhausen. Harvard University Press. -MatterSite was developed at the Master in Robotics and Advanced Construc- Hillebrandt, A., Riegler-Floors, P., Rosen, A., & Seggewies, J. (2019). Manual of tion (MRAC02) 2020/21 by students: Matt Gordon and Roberto Vargas Calvo; recycling. Detail Business Information GmbH. Faculty: Alexandre Dubor, Aldo Sollazzo; Faculty Assistants: Kunaljit Chadha, Jacobs, J. (1961). The death and life of great American cities. Random House. Raimund Krenmueller, Angel Munoz, Soroush Garivani; Industrial Advisor: Knapic, S., Oliveira, V., Machado, J., & Pereira, H. (2016). Cork as a building Stuart Maggs (Scaled Robotics), Shajay Bhoosan (ZHA Code). material: A review. European Journal of Wood and Wood Products, 74(6), -IOB-Timber was developed at the Master of City and Technology (MACT ) in 775–791. 2022 by students: Dimitris Lampriadis, Julia Veiga, Maria Augusta Kroetz, Yohan Koutamanis, A., van Reijn, B., & van Bueren, E. (2018). Urban mining and build- Wadia; Faculty: Areti Markopoulou, Oana Taut; Faculty Assistant: Sarine Bekar- ings: A review of possibilities and limitations. Resources, Conservation and ian; Computation Advisor: Hesham Shawqy; Recycling, 138, 32–39. -IOB-Concrete was developed at the Master of City and Technology (MACT ) Nanjyo, M. (1988). Urban mine, new resources for the year 2000 and beyond. in 2022 by students: Jiyun Lee, Joseph Bou Saleh, Kishwerniha Buhari; Faculty: Bulletin of the Research Institute of Mineral Dressing and Metallurgy, Tohoku Areti Markopoulou, Oana Taut; Faculty Assistant: Sarine Bekarian; Computation University, 43, 239–243. Advisor: Hesham Shawqy. Raghu, D., Markopoulou, A., Marengo, M., Neri, I., Chronis, A., & De Wolf, C. (2022). Enabling component reuse from existing buildings through Authors’ contributions machine learning - Using google street view to enhance building data- AM participated in the: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original bases. In J. van Ameijde, N. Gardner, K. H. Hyun, D. Luo, & U. Sheth (Eds.), draft, Writing – review & editing, supervision of the case studies at all scales POST-CARBON - Proceedings of the 27th CAADRIA Conference, Sydney, 9–15 presented, supervision and assistance in the design and manufacturing pro- April 2022 (pp. 577–586). cess of the material scale case studies, and providing data for the assesment diagrams at all scales.OT participated in the: Methodology, Writing – original Publisher’s Note draft, supervising the case studies at the urban scale, providing assesment Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub- data, curating data and supervising the software for the urban scale tests. The lished maps and institutional affiliations. author(s) read and approved the final manuscript. Funding Not applicable. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Declarations Competing interests Not applicable. Received: 10 October 2022 Accepted: 18 January 2023 References Anderson, C., 2008. The end of theory: The data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete. [online] Wired. Available at: http:// www. wired. com/ scien ce/ disco veries/ magaz ine/ 16- 07/ pb_ theory (Accessed 18 June 2022). Apte, P. and Spanos, C., 2022. The digital twin opportunity. [online] MIT Sloan Management Review. Available at: https:// sloan review. mit. edu/ artic le/ the- digit al- twin- oppor tunity/ (Accessed 10 June 2022). Baccini, P., & Brunner, P. H. (2012). Metabolism of the Anthroposphere: Analysis, Evaluation, Design. MIT Press. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Architectural Intelligence Springer Journals

Urban mining. Scoping resources for circular construction

Markopoulou, Areti; Taut, Oana
Architectural Intelligence , Volume 2 (1) – Feb 1, 2023
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10.1007/s44223-023-00021-4
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Abstract

Operating with an abundance mindset – rather than from a place of “scarcity” – is a new paradigm, relevant to the practices of design and construction, which expands the definition of “resources” as well as where resources, both raw and non-raw materials, can be found and “mined”. Within three scales of design and planning, the current research – developed at the Institute for Advanced Architec- ture of Catalonia (IAAC) – examines the applications of computational technologies and life cycle assessment with the goal of setting up protocols for enhancing processes of urban mining and material reuse in future circular construc- tion. In the material scale (i), selected projects experiment with up-cycled waste for the creation of new engineered composites for construction. In the building scale (ii), robotic technologies and computer vision are used to scan and sort the materials from existing buildings or demolition sites. Finally, in the urban scale (iii), google images, satellite data and ML are used to index the existing material stock in building façades in cities. The research calls for agents involved in design, planning and construction to shift their focus to the anthroposphere as a source of, rather than just a destination for, processed goods. The concept of “urban mining” is revisited to man- age the material stock in urban systems and the use of anthropogenic resources in new production cycles. Through a multi-scalar approach, the outcome challenges the foundation of our material practices, presenting the potential to disrupt linear patterns of design and making in the built environment. Keywords Urban mining, Circular construction, Machine learning, Upcycled materials, Material stock data sorting, Big data of the Anthropocene, the topics of resource depletion 1 Introduction or insufficiency are being reframed. Operating with an The material balance of the Earth is being challenged. The abundance mindset rather than from a place of scarcity year 2020 was marked as the year when the total weight (Gausa et al., 2020) is a new paradigm, especially relevant of human-made materials globally surpassed the weight in the practices related to the design and production of of all life on Earth, while it is estimated that in the years the built environment, since it expands the definition of to come the growth rate of mass added to the anthropo- “resources” and where resources, raw and non-raw mate- sphere will increase exponentially (Elhacham et al., 2020). rials can be found and “mined”. If, as agents involved in In this context of hypergrowth coupled with the climate the design, planning and construction process, we could emergency, the growing rate of urbanization and the shift the attention to the Anthroposphere as a source of, increasing social and political awareness on the matters rather than just a destination for, processed goods, then we might have the potential to disrupt linear patterns *Correspondence: of design and enhance circularity in cities and the built Areti Markopoulou environment. areti@iaac.net Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia, IAAC , Barcelona, Spain First introduced in the 1980s to refer to the recov- ery of rare metals trapped in waste electrical and © The Author(s) 2023. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http:// creat iveco mmons. org/ licen ses/ by/4. 0/. Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 2 of 12 electronic equipment (Nanjyo, 1988), the term urban richness. Within a holistic approach of circular design, mining is becoming a useful concept to explore and the waste material is sourced by identifying the agricul- exploit the material stock in urban systems and to tural areas that can provide barley straw waste within a address the particularities of extraction and the use maximum distance of 30 km from the center of Barce- of anthropogenic resources in new production cycles lona, the city selected for the case study on retrofitting (Baccini & Brunner, 2012). By reframing waste prod- building skins with up-cycled materials (Fig. 1). ucts generated in urban environments, or through Another case study based on experimentation follows urban activity, as anthropogenic stock, the concept of similar logics and material protocols for the creation of urban mining helps to shift the perception of resources cork-based and mycelium composites using the waste from a finite starting point in a linear use process stream of the active cork industry in Spain and Portugal. toward a cyclical state of materials in a circular pro- Approximately half of all cork products are estimated to cess. As a key enabler of the current urban systems, as end up in landfills at the end of their useful life, while the well as a beneficiary of the constant urban change rate, other half is downcycled or used in biomass processes for the construction industry is no doubt contributing a clean energy generation. Taking into consideration that large percentage of material stock to the urban mine. cork is a lightweight material with exceptional acous- As buildings are both affected and effectors in the cur- tic and thermal insulation properties, it is considered as rent linear material system, it is pertinent to ask the an important natural alternative for architectural appli- question of how architecture, engineering, construc- cations (Knapic et  al., 2016). As cork is an appropriate tion and operations (AECO) can contribute to the cir- medium for mycelium growth, the prototypes combine cular economy today. cork waste – in the form of granular cork or cork stop- pers – and mycelium to create acoustic insulation prod- 2 Review contents ucts for urban applications and construction (Fig. 2). 2.1 F rom waste to building matter Paper is another waste material with the potential to be Starting from the material scale, we can observe that upcycled and used in specific architectural applications. different types of urban or agricultural waste have the Cellulose-based composites, for instance, can be used for potential to become a new class of sustainable building the creation of temporary building skin components with composites through different processes that enhance the goal of enhancing biodiversity (specifically, protect - their properties to match them with the building indus- ing pollinators) and creating habitats for other species to try’s needs. This is the scope of the Digital Matter inhabit the built environment (Fig. 3). research studio at the Institute for Advanced Archi- From barley straw to cork, paper, or even polyester and tecture of Catalonia in Barcelona (IAAC) that explores the leftovers of a highly contaminating textile industry, waste streams and experiments with upcycling waste into these approaches explore the benefits and potentials of appropriate building components for different architec - applying waste or “pure” residue material in the built tural features. environment. Given that the construction industry is One of the case studies researches the production responsible for the largest amounts of material con- of value-added building composites using agricultural sumption annually, and it occupies the largest volume in residues and food-processing side streams, specifically the anthroposphere, integrating circular and up-cycled barley straw. The use of barley straw in construction is materials into architectural applications can have an not new, but the construction industry has neglected exponential impact, extending into the other layers of this resource since there are numerous limitations on our ecosystem. achieving surface and geometry variations, as well as Mining and processing non-traditional materials for on scaling up without the need for secondary struc- construction, however, requires complex levels of cer- tures. The case study focuses on overcoming current tification or even standardization that are not easy to limitations in surface and geometry manipulation by achieve in academic and research environments. At introducing new additives and digital manufactur- the same time, fundamental changes in the construc- ing techniques for the creation of a double-curved tion norms are required for extending the application self-standing building skin. The composites explored of such materials. Moreover, it is significant to under- include a variety of performances: hydrophobicity, line the aesthetic affordances of such “waste-to-mat- for instance, is achieved by integrating natural res- ter” approaches. Buildings are more than the sum of ins and oils into the material system, which makes it their parts, and apart from serving the physical pur- appropriate for outdoor applications; and numerically pose of housing and protection they also represent controlled cutting surface subtraction for different tex - cultural stock, which can reach deep into centuries of tured surfaces provides humidity control and aesthetic history as well as projecting visions for the future of M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 3 of 12 Fig. 1 (Left) Barley straw waste material and up-cycled barley building composites for outdoor, indoor, structural and non-structural applications. (Right) Robotically controlled fiber placement and vacuum-assisted injection molding for the production of composites. The fabrication processes include vacuum molding, compression molding, 6-axis CNC, multi-point forming and curved mold jigs for double-curved building skin components. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, M. Housen, A. Ferragu, T. Mian, M. Muller-de Ahna places and communities. Responding to all these needs validation to this recurrent statement and provides a with a new aesthetic that is also true to the materi- framework for new scoping and extraction processes als’ origins and specificities is a difficult but relevant centered on non-raw materials in the urban stocks. task for our contemporary sustainable building prac- While this concept is effective at creating an opportu - tices. Aside from innovating with waste-driven build- nity for part of the waste to be reprocessed (increas- ing materials and exploring new construction systems ing its residual value by adding it into a new cycle), in which these nontraditional materials can safely be sourcing and extraction from landfills or unstructured used as building components, a new territory related extraction from demolition sites poses problematic to the aesthetics debate will be more relevant than ever concerns both in terms of the loss of material value and for reflecting the source of the materials and promot- the safety and wellbeing of those involved. For an effi - ing the culture of the circular economy. cient integration of urban mining in the mainstream production processes, a holistic concept of efficient 2.2 R eframe the current building stock resource extraction, production, use and reuse is neces- sary, tracking relevant material data through the cycles “We build in the express knowledge that all build- of dormant, transformative, active use and re-harvest- ings will disappear.” ing states of the material throughout its lifecycle. (Reiner de Graaf, 2017) A rather daunting observation for the architectural pro- fession, the realization that the imminent fate of all build- “Cities are the mines of the future” suggested Jane ings is their disappearance (largely through demolition) Jacobs, recognizing that the postwar construction can be outweighed by reframing current building stock as boom was causing a temporary displacement of mate- the largest container of future resources in relatively stable rials (Jacobs, 1961). Decades later, urban mining adds Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 4 of 12 Fig. 2 ( Top) Cork waste streams (granular cork or stoppers) and mycelium composites for acoustic insulation in buildings’ secondary skins. (Bottom) Cork and mycelium growth and composite assembly tests. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, M. Groth, F. Magaraggia, M. Calmanovici compounds. In this context, we observe a significant shift being achieved (Koutamanis et  al., 2018). Such claims, in the location of raw materials from their original geologic however pertinent, consider only the present state compounds, now bound up in existing anthropogenic through the lens of past policy and effectively demon - structures – especially buildings (Hillebrandt et al., 2019). strate the need for further reconsideration of the politi- A particularity of buildings as anthropogenic compounds, cal, technological and informational framework within in contrast to their geological counterparts, is their vola- which construction and demolition waste (CDW) tile stability. Buildings are created as a response to multiple recovery is to be framed. Baccini and Brunner identify factors, including physical or social need as well as cultural key considerations for the efficient recycling of build - and economic pressures. Similarly, their active-use state, ing material waste to be connected to the availability renewal and demolition periods are affected by the same of accurate geolocated information and far-reaching external agents. Materials in structural or integrity compo- urban-scale decision-making and stock management nents of a building have a life expectancy reaching several (Baccini & Brunner, 2012). hundreds of years, meaning that the buildings’ lifespan Often packaged under the term CDW, the material states often do not correspond to the lifespan of the mate- released at the end of a building’s lifecycle, is a specific rials used in construction. It is this desynchronization type of stock resource found in active compounds within between the timespan during which a building is necessary urban built structures, and it experiences significant value and valued and the timespan during which its constituent loss when scoped and extracted according to current materials are sound for use that reveals a great potential practices of linear use. The urban mining concept regard - for material reuse, allowing the original raw materials to ing building products addresses a stock of engaged mate- increase in value through reprocessing and reuse in vari- rial with multiple use cycles. In this sense, the urban mine ous building cycles before their final reintegration into the stockpile is active, so it must be scoped in such a way that natural environment. time becomes a significant factor for its assessment. Thus, the construction and demolition stock in urban min- 2.3 Data matters ing must be understood and treated as active stock. As Taking into account current information policies, prac- opposed to raw extraction sources, where the material is tices and building standards, it has been widely sug- in a “dormant” state, in the active state a material has a gested in global literature and reports on the industry short window of availability: mainly during the demolition that the maximum level of recovery and maximum per- process. Significant value loss can be reduced if the mate - formance in building demolition processes are already rial is mined before the end of this ideal timeframe. M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 5 of 12 Fig. 3 ( Top) Secondary building skin of cellulose-based composites produced using up-cycled paper. The project aims to enhance biodiversity in cities and uses the material system to create urban beehives and pollination stations in buildings’ blind façades. (Bottom) Material explorations of cast and 3D-printed cellulose composites. Image by: IAAC Digital Matter 2022, A. Gultekin, A. Kalra, N.J. Pattanshetti and P.V. Patilkulkarni It is in this regard that data about the specifications demand and fair pricing while the still-active mate- of the material – including dimensions, state, prop- rial reaches the end of one use cycle. With a territorial erties or even geolocation, among others – become framework for material data and local policy sup- highly relevant for the potential of reuse. Establish- port, the urban mining of active building stock could ing methods for scoping, extracting, reprocessing, re- be achieved for both existing and newly constructed commercializing and reusing existing building stock buildings. can have a positive impact both by offsetting embod- ied carbon and by avoiding environmental costs. The 2.4 Material data on building scale stock urgency of the creation of a digital layer to enable the Scientific sources looking at CDW recovery often cite mining and reuse of otherwise purely physical con- information deficit as the main culprit in ineffective struction and demolition materials is of utmost impor- CDW recovery and recirculation, and policies related tance in this context. Additional data related to the to adding a digital layer to future urban stock are being market demand and the criteria for setting prices for adopted by key global players. Given the present level the active stock is also necessary. Strategic planning, of urbanization, apart from looking at the construction coupled with transparent and structured public infor- industry’s ebb and flow cycles, and creating a frame - mation, can bridge the process and support market work for public information and circularity standards for Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 6 of 12 future buildings, a more pressing and far less resolved existing buildings, a significant territory that requires issue involves addressing the existing building stock from further development for the applications of circular the perspective of identifying and recovering trapped construction (Fig. 4). resources in structurally integral state. The second section of the study aims to transfer the One of the research lines of the Master’s in Advanced previous database to as many stakeholders as possible Robotics and Construction at IAAC explores the pos- related to the construction sector. In order to impact sible use of aerial and ground robots coupled with design and construction, it is imperative to match offer computer vision for scanning, sorting and digitally and demand; therefore, a computational design tool is archiving existing material stock in buildings. The incorporated into existing construction software in research aims to employ an automatic digitization order to offer recommendations for design adjustments method for the near-end-of-life stage of a building and in the early design stages. The suggested system addi - considers it as a source of high-value assets. In order tionally offers recommendations for matching specified to encourage the use of valuable secondary sources design components with the materials that have previ- of materials and to better inform early design choices ously been identified as available resources for reuse when reusing construction waste, the resulting dataset (Batalle Garcia et al., 2021). is then distributed to designers and builders (Batalle The Barcelona-based start-up Scaled Robotics is Garcia et al., 2021). another case study that uses robots and terrestrial scan- The first part of the research entails using drone ners for conducting detailed site surveys at on-demand photos and computer vision to automatically identify or at regular intervals in construction or demolition building materials and components at pre-demolition sites. While the technology for scanning and sorting is sites and therefore contribute to the creation of an mature, it is important to highlight the lack of policies analytical and logistic support system that can be used that could contribute to creating a larger market demand to define optimum deconstruction and reuse strategies for reused components and materials (Fig. 5). in terms of environmental and economic sustainabil- The above case study portrays the potential for con- ity. The project contributes to the creation of a toolbox structing big data sets of reusable materials, digitally for quantifying, geolocating, indexing and assessing available for sharing and organizing material har- the state of materials and their potential for reuse in vesting and facilitating the incorporation of those Fig. 4 ( Top): MatterSite uses scanning technologies to identify and sort the material stock of existing buildings for possible reuse. (Bottom): Raw imagery captured from the site is run through a material localization algorithm to pick out relevant recoverable materials from these views. Image: IAAC MRAC Matter Site, A. Batalle Garcia, Cebeci, Y. Irem, R. Vargas Calvo, M. Gordon M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 7 of 12 Fig. 5 Robotic scanning of the interior of a construction site, Image copyright @ScaledRobotics materials into new designs. Thanks to this anticipa- construction programs, promoting the circular econ- tory approach and digital classification, the materials omy in a short loop. identified (for example: windows, metal beams, doors, While some questions related to the cost of reuse etc.) at deconstruction or renovation sites are directed versus the cost of using new resources in construction to reuse actors and thus oriented towards new building are still to be answered, such processes and techniques Fig. 6 ( Top) A street view image and its corresponding labeled copy, identifying façade materials and components. (Bottom) The predicted materials on building façades that were not part of the training dataset. Image by: IAAC MaCT 2022, H. Shawqy A. Markopoulou, O. Taut Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 8 of 12 Fig. 7 The results of the predictive AI model are displayed in a web interface showing the material availability overall and the predicted material distribution on the street-facing façade of any building. Image by: IAAC MaCT 2022, H. Shawqy A. Markopoulou, O. Taut facilitate the implementation of the concept of mate- 2.5 Material data on urban scale stock rial passports for buildings, which encapsulates many A coherent strategy for urban mining in the context of the of the necessary criteria to support reuse. The signifi - built environment offers the possibility for bridging the cance of material passports for the implementation of gap between the circular production of materials and the the circular economy in the construction sector calls for urban system as a complex multidimensional locus both new policies that regulate the documentation submitted for the sourcing and the destination of its products. The key for new constructions. For new buildings, for instance, obstacle now lies in the difficulties of generating a global, design should go beyond the project handover stage data-rich, and open model of this multidimensional sys- and include strategic planning for the material sourc- tem. The concept of digital twins – introduced by NASA ing, assembly, dismantling, reprocessing and storing in 2010 and used to describe an alternative to the physical before a new use cycle. At the same time, reality scan- modeling of complex simulation systems – involves vir- ning and computer vision (CV) provide the opportunity tual representations of physical systems that can be used to to include existing building stock in such policies and to contain time-sensitive data, perform simulations and make compile its material passport retroactively. decisions with predictive or analytical AI modeling. Digital twins are currently used extensively to model complex sys- tems in various disciplines and are gaining popularity in the Materials passports are sets of data describing defined characteristics of materials in products that give them value for recovery and reuse. For more AECO as well as in urban administration, especially in rela- info, see BAMB 2020: Buildings as Material Banks, an EU-funded project tion to smart buildings and smart cities. By adding a digital bringing together 16 European participants, https:// www. bamb2 020. eu/, last layer to an existing urban system, the digital twin creates an accessed 28 May 2022 (BAMB - Buildings As Material Banks (BAMB2020) - BAMB, 2022). M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 9 of 12 opportunity to hold geolocated and historical data and pro- Street View API (application programming interface). By vides a necessary means of multiuser communication within applying predictive modeling at the city scale, the algo- a single simulation framework (Apte & Spanos, 2022). rithm can identify, geolocate and quantify façade materi- We use digital twins daily without much forethought to als with a present accuracy of 87%. While, in general, we observe, design and navigate our cities, and open-source expect machine learning models to achieve much higher satellite imagery as well as vector-based geographic data- levels of accuracy, it is important to adapt this expecta- bases have become deeply integrated into our professional tion to the specific application and to establish clarity practice. Starting, for instance, in 2007, an invaluable initia- on how much uncertainty can be allowed given the data tive was launched by Google, adding to the complexity of quality (Raghu et  al., 2022). The value of this process openly available geographic data: street view images were lies not in achieving near 100% accuracy but in the use added to the company’s maps, providing an almost real- of open unstructured data as a basis, making it a highly time digital access to even the most remote urban locations. repeatable and expandable application, and attempting Digital technology affects most all present-day activity to propose a solution that crosses the boundaries of the and, as has been pointed out in recent years, the digital bank original case study and could democratize access to data contains unimaginable amounts of data, trivially called “big for local decision makers in countries where open public data”. While this data is available, it largely takes the form of information is less accessible (Figs. 6 and 7). unstructured data. Its vast extent makes it difficult to ana - Working with this interface, the Internet of Buildings lyze using common tools. However, another branch of tech- research team from the Master in City and Technology nology gaining popularity in tandem, artificial intelligence at IAAC identified further opportunities to overcome (AI), provides frameworks for making use of unstructured the limitations of the AI model and extrapolate com- data through predictive means (Anderson, 2008). mon urban typologies that can improve the accuracy and In the intent to create an open repository to map the expand the scope from just the façade to other building material availability in the existing building stock of a elements. The result of this research is proof that the city, IAAC’s Master in City & Technology used AI and task of quantifying different materials in the city can be CV to develop a framework starting from the premise achieved by combining the data from statistical mod- that relevant information pertinent to the material com- els (from multiple open-source urban databases) with position of buildings can be identified through the analy - the predictions of façade materials based on computer sis of the building façades obtained through the Google vision and Open Street View to identify patterns that Fig. 8 Decision tree showing the connection between combinations of data filters and the probability of finding wood in the skin or the structure of buildings. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, D. Lampriadis, J. Veiga, M.A. Kroetz, Y. Wadia Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 10 of 12 are relevant for making estimations of the quantity, state predictive modeling of urban mining potential. For and projected availability cycle of: concrete, brick, stone example, a parallel study in the field of urban data (granite), metal (steel), timber and glass (Figs. 8, 9 and 10). science, “Global Building Morphology Indicators” Apart from the currently available indicators used (Biljecki & Chow, 2002) details globally relevant meth- above (such as building age, height and use), more ods for extracting building- and context-specific top- complex factors can be used in a comprehensive meth- ological information that can be used as a basis for a odology tool for the computation of building typol- typological analysis comprising geometric, geographic ogy clusters that can further improve the detail of the and material indicators. Fig. 9 ( Top): A Sankey diagram shows the process and methods currently used in linear and circular concrete productions. This informed the decision to create distinct mapping for precast and in-situ concrete and the map filters used to identify both. (Bottom) The mapping of cast in situ concrete considers buildings constructed after 1960 with a proportion of a minimum 40% of the façade predicted as plaster and a façade area in the 90th percentile. The result is presented as a geolocated gradient map as well as a bar chart computing neighborhood totals. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, J. Lee, J.B. Saleh, K. Buhari M arkopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 11 of 12 Fig. 10 Combined mapping of wood in existing buildings both in the form of structures and enclosures. The results are predicted based on the diagram in image 8. The bivariate graph on the left shows strong directed correlation between probability of structural wood and enclosure wood. Image by: IAAC MaCT Internet of Buildings 2022, D. Lampriadis, J. Veiga, M. A. Kroetz, Y. Wadia 3 Conclusions strategy. When considered from the perspective of 3.1 Not es on scale, temporality and accuracy urban mining, the process of demolition requires fore- At different levels of geographic and temporal scales, thought and design, ensuring that a palette of elements the minimum viable accuracy levels vary proportion- is extracted following concepts of minimum effort and ally. While the estimation based on unstructured data maximum gain. At the same time, the extracted material presented above can be improved by aggregating layers is only economically viable when it is required as part of of building typology data, it remains less accurate than a new building process. This duality requires the crea - on-site observational study. However, there is an invalu- tion of a feedback loop between new building design able benefit achieved by providing a high-level overview and demolition design that can be supported by mass at the territorial scale to support urban decision makers customization computational methods. with enough anticipation and localization of future mate- However, for both processes to become standard prac- rial stock as needed for a locally viable strategy regarding tice in the AEC, aside from the support of an urban-scale material circularity. As expressed above, in the context framework and policy, it is crucial for AEC professionals of the circular economy in AECO, construction profes- to climb the innovation adoption curve, creating demand sionals are simultaneously the suppliers and the buyers for technological advances in material extraction for reuse of recovered materials – only, the two states are sepa- in order to achieve the necessary economy of scale. Just rated by a long-spanning temporal axis. The simulation as the current linear production methods are informed of material stock flows as supported by the urban scale and innovate in response to current performative and model based on predicted data can successfully link the aesthetic needs emerging from AEC professions, circular two endpoints, revealing the full scale of the problem/ production materials and methods will also require the solution continuum of building-material circulation. motor of market demand. Research transcending disci- Supported by this global layer, non-invasive digi- plines, proposing performative systems that consider the tal imagery and building information modeling (BIM) material at different scales, can achieve consistency and reconstruction methods, like the ones presented above, consequence between the chemical level and the aes- can be employed in a just-in-time (JIT) fashion as part thetic expression in the built environment. Projects like of a demolition project to make a more accurate estima- the material explorations shown here can become the key tion of the materials and components that are available drivers of the scale adoption of new architectural systems for extraction and to design a building-specific mining that rely at their core on circular economy principles. Markopoulou and Taut Architectural Intelligence (2023) 2:3 Page 12 of 12 Acknowledgements BAMB. 2022. BAMB - Buildings As Material Banks (BAMB2020) - BAMB. [online] The current article includes case studies developed at the following academic Available at: https:// www. bamb2 020. eu/ (Accessed 28 May 2022). programs at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia: Batalle Garcia, A., Cebeci, I. Y., Vargas Calvo, R., & Gordon, M. (2021). Mate- -F2F (Field to Façade), developed at the Master in Advanced Architecture rial (data) Intelligence - Towards a circular building environment. In A. (MAA01) 2020/21 by students: Mira Housen, Alex Ferragu, Taimur Mian, Mara Globa, J. van Ameijde, A. Fingrut, N. Kim, & T. T. S. Lo (Eds.), PROJECTIONS Muller-de Ahna; Faculty: Areti Markopoulou, David Andrés León; Faculty assis- - Proceedings of the 26th CAADRIA Conference - Volume 1, The Chinese tant: Nikol Kirova; Fabrication advisor: Eduardo Chamorro; Student assistant: University of Hong Kong and Online, Hong Kong, 29 March - 1 April 2021 Alexander Dommerhausen. (pp. 361–370). -Bee-yond Anthropocene developed at the Master in Advanced Architecture Biljecki F., Chow Y.C., 2022. Global building morphology indicators. 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Raghu, D., Markopoulou, A., Marengo, M., Neri, I., Chronis, A., & De Wolf, C. (2022). Enabling component reuse from existing buildings through Authors’ contributions machine learning - Using google street view to enhance building data- AM participated in the: Conceptualization, Methodology, Writing – original bases. In J. van Ameijde, N. Gardner, K. H. Hyun, D. Luo, & U. Sheth (Eds.), draft, Writing – review & editing, supervision of the case studies at all scales POST-CARBON - Proceedings of the 27th CAADRIA Conference, Sydney, 9–15 presented, supervision and assistance in the design and manufacturing pro- April 2022 (pp. 577–586). cess of the material scale case studies, and providing data for the assesment diagrams at all scales.OT participated in the: Methodology, Writing – original Publisher’s Note draft, supervising the case studies at the urban scale, providing assesment Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in pub- data, curating data and supervising the software for the urban scale tests. The lished maps and institutional affiliations. author(s) read and approved the final manuscript. Funding Not applicable. Availability of data and materials The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Declarations Competing interests Not applicable. Received: 10 October 2022 Accepted: 18 January 2023 References Anderson, C., 2008. The end of theory: The data deluge makes the scientific method obsolete. [online] Wired. Available at: http:// www. wired. com/ scien ce/ disco veries/ magaz ine/ 16- 07/ pb_ theory (Accessed 18 June 2022). Apte, P. and Spanos, C., 2022. The digital twin opportunity. [online] MIT Sloan Management Review. Available at: https:// sloan review. mit. edu/ artic le/ the- digit al- twin- oppor tunity/ (Accessed 10 June 2022). Baccini, P., & Brunner, P. H. (2012). Metabolism of the Anthroposphere: Analysis, Evaluation, Design. MIT Press.

Journal

Architectural Intelligence – Springer Journals

Published: Feb 1, 2023

Keywords: Urban mining; Circular construction; Machine learning; Upcycled materials; Material stock data sorting; Big data

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