Manon Darde

"REWOOD,
DIGITAL MODELLING AND RESEARCH"

NTNU Research project
Department of industrial ecology: Daniel Beat Müller

“How much material is really stored within a city?”

This assignment arrived from the industrial ecology department at NTNU, who sought help in creating building information models for their research project. At its core, the ReWOOD-project is an effort to create a method to analyze and capture a rough estimate of the total amount of materials we can expect to find in cities. Specifically, targeting Trondheim, and the materials brick, concrete and wood. The motivation for this is related with the increased interest in the re-using, recycling and recovering of building materials, sustainable building practices, and with the Waste Framework Directive (2008/98/EC)¹. The latter directing EU member states to take necessary measures to achieve improved industry sustainability.

In order to represent the building stock of Trondheim, with reasonable accuracy, the client wanted around ~16-20 technically accurate and detailed Revit-models. These were to consist of 4 types of housing, from initially 4-5 cohorts. Each Revit-model would thereby represent an “archetype-average” of its age and type. These were later to be applied to GIS data from Trondheim, to calculate the total amount of materials in the housing building stock. The assignment required Revit-models of 4 different types of housing. Specifically, single-family housing,twin-housing, multi-family housing, and apartment blocks. After discussing the cohorts, we agreed on 3 separate time periods, consisting of pre-1900, 1900-1945, and 1945-present. The last cohort would later be slightly modified (fig.3). Along with the BIM-models, we agreed on delivering a Revit-library of building-parts. This would include a diverse range of walls, roofs, foundations and floors.

The library would allow for easy edit of current models, and to facilitate easy digital construction of other housing variations. Lastly, documentation of the process was needed. This included the accompanying choices, addresses and their sources, so as to support the technical details for each building-part within the library. Our working method was throughout the project based on preemptively analyzing potential stakeholders and possible supporters before “rediscovering” or “reinventing” knowledge or digital models and drawings. This included seeking support through early contact, in meetings and dialogue with professors at NTNU, the municipality and commercial business owners out in Trondheim and Norway. Further on, we ordered detailed information of selected houses in Trondheim, through the municipality. Research from available books and the byggforskserien allowed for accurate insight into structural and technical building methods, appropriate to the time-period of construction, and Revit-modelling techniques were acquired over time, with rich learning resources available online. The work was delegated according to cohorts and meetings were held at the classroom when needed within group, and at the industrial ecology offices when addressing important concerns with the client (fig.2).