Professorship Digital Design and Fabrication - DDF
The Professorship Digital Design and Fabrication (DDF) at the Institute for Bulding Design and Technology (IEB) of the KIT Department of Architecture, explores computational design and digital fabrication processes to enable novel digital circular construction concepts. Innovative material and construction systems are prototypically developed on a 1:1 scale at the interface of research and teaching and tested in application-oriented demonstrator projects. This includes all aspects of construction, including architectural design, component production, assembly, reconfiguration as well as disassembly and recycling in an integrated digital process.
The interdisciplinary research of digital construction technologies provides relevant contributions to societal challenges and simultaneously enables the exploration of a novel architectural design and construction repertoire within the framework of research-based teaching.
The ReSidence project researches digital construction technologies for rapidly renewable resources and combines them into a modular construction for temporary, completely recyclable and waste-free living space extensions. In a synergetic development of both construction methods, their interfaces are explored and combined into a holistic, digitally prefabricated construction system made of natural building materials. For this purpose, a design for supporting structures made of natural fiber composite is being further developed and research is being carried out into how this can be transferred to facade constructions.
The research project "ReGrow – Digital Circular Construction: Innovating with Natural Materials" investigated and explored new applications for rapidly renewable regional materials in the construction industry by developing digital design and manufacturing processes for more sustainable and recyclable modular building structures. As part of the project, construction applications of natural fibres and fast-growing plant material were analysed, which can only be processed into load-bearing components through the use of specially adapted digital production technology. In addition to traditional timber construction, this expanded and diversified the range of locally available forestry and agricultural building materials, thus making an important contribution to the circular economy in the construction industry.
ReSidual aims to use digital construction technology to use wood more economically as a resource in the construction industry. Waste material from the production of timber components will be joined into load-bearing components using artificial intelligence and robotic fabrication methods. Combining wood with building clay will further reduce the amount of wood required.