Excellence Initiative: RWTH and TU Dresden researchers aim to reshape construction through "CARE" by building in climate-neutral and resource-efficient ways.
With the construction sector currently responsible for a staggering 25 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, the urgency of addressing climate change in this industry cannot be overstated. To meet the demand for housing and infrastructure while halting global warming, a radical transformation of the construction industry is imperative. RWTH Aachen University and TU Dresden are at the forefront of this transformation, proposing a new Cluster of Excellence, "CARE" (Climate-Neutral and Resource-Efficient Construction). "We are pioneering innovative building materials, construction principles, and production technologies to demonstrate the path to climate-friendly and sustainable construction," explains Professor Martin Claßen, Head of the RWTH Institute of Structural Concrete and one of the two cluster spokespersons alongside Professor Viktor Mechtcherine from TU Dresden. "Our goal is to develop comprehensive solutions that can be implemented in construction practice without delay," adds Cluster spokesperson Professor Mechtcherine. The German Research Foundation (DFG) and the German Science and Humanities Council (WR) have now invited the researchers to submit a full proposal for funding under the Excellence Strategy.
To transition from the environmentally harmful, wasteful building practices of today to ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable construction in the future, it is crucial to make houses and infrastructure resilient to the effects of climate change. To meet this challenge, CARE is driving holistic change across the three pillars of construction: building materials, design principles, and manufacturing technologies. Two cross-cutting themes - digital methods and sustainability assessment - will ensure fundamental progress and foster synergies. The CARE team is committed to making groundbreaking scientific progress in all five research areas.
"We are all very pleased because the fact that we were selected also shows how important the topic of construction is," says Professor Martin Claßen. Ultimately, it is a question of consistently thinking ahead in the areas where most building materials are needed - such as buildings, bridges, and infrastructure. The biggest lever here is concrete. The researchers are pursuing the goal of reducing the amount of concrete used and changing the concrete itself so that significantly less CO2 is emitted in the future. The research also includes developing alternative mineral building materials made from recycled materials, secondary material streams, CO2, or a combination of these solutions. Another pillar alongside the materials is design and structure, i.e., the construction principles. The focus here is on minimizing materials and resources. "This also includes modularly assembling buildings from new elements, which will have more than one life cycle," explains Claßen. Solutions are to be developed here not only for future buildings, but also for existing buildings.
Craftsmanship Remains Central to Construction Work
Much of the work on the construction site today is still done by craftspeople. Although there are initial approaches such as 3D printing, the CARE concept aims to take digitalization to a new level. Claßen gives an example: "If every bridge had a digital twin, we could monitor it perfectly and take measures at an early stage to prevent it from becoming dilapidated in the first place." Computer sciences are to be much more closely integrated into the entire process - from material to production to manufacturing. New methods must also be developed to produce new, more sustainable building materials. Finally, the CARE concept includes new approaches to holistic sustainability assessment in all three dimensions of sustainability - ecological, social, and economic - along the entire value chain and over the entire life cycle, from the material to the structural level.
TU Dresden and RWTH are well-established partners: "We have known each other for a very long time, collaborate in two ongoing Transregio Collaborative Research Centers, and are leaders in Germany in the areas we are addressing with CARE," says Claßen. Professor Mechtcherine also looks forward to continuing the successful collaboration in the planned cluster and is convinced that it is "the urgently needed game changer to achieve the goal of climate-neutral, resource-efficient, and resilient construction."
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Professor Martin Claßen, Cluster Spokesman and Head of the Institute of Structural Concrete at RWTH Aachen University.
