Bauen 4.0 E-Book

Hubert Rhomberg

• Herausgeber: Bucher GmbH & Co. Druck Verlag Netzwerk
• Kategorie: Fachliteratur
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 72

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FUTURE OF BUILDING. With its conventional building standards, the construction industry accounts for 30 to 40% of consumption of resources and energy, and approx. 40% of waste and CO2 emissions generated today. Within the context of global developments such as scarcity of resources, urbanisation and global warming, the construction industry now faces the greatest challenge in its history. Bauen 4.0® describes an innovative and sustainable construction system based on three fundamental pillars: wood as a building material, the cybernetic table and the Internet of Things.

Leseprobe

HUBERT RHOMBERG

BAUEN 4.0

FROM THE EGO PRINCIPLE TO THE LEGO PRINCIPLE

Foreword by Prof. Radermacher:

The global challenges are huge. Billions of people hope to tap personal wealth while the world’s population today will be added to by billions more in the future. Resources are scarce and there is a threat of a climate catastrophe. What should be done in such a situation? Politics are struggling and we have not made much progress for years. We are hoping for an effective climate agreement to be concluded at the end of the year in Paris before it ultimately takes effect in 2020. But even if such an agreement were to succeed, it will at most solve the climate problem if the private sector is willing to make a major voluntary effort, e.g. within the context of voluntary climate neutrality. But not even that will be enough. Ultimately, we will be obliged to adapt civilisation, requiring different energy systems, different infrastructures and in particular different buildings. Accounting for around half of all assets available, the buildings in our world are already home to approx. 40 % of our material expenses and consuming approx. one-third of all energy used world-wide. Inducing the corresponding volumes of CO2. Although modifying buildings all over the world in favour of more energy- and climate-friendly solutions is possible, it is also expensive. Significant extra resource expenditure can be assumed when it comes to increasing the number of buildings necessary to ensure the welfare of a growing international population.

But Hubert Rhomberg shows that a different approach can be taken. He concentrates on a high-quality building material, a technical variant of wood, which can be realised from wood as a renewable raw material. This reveals an opportunity to extract huge volumes of CO2 from the atmosphere (negative emissions) by using this building material much more often than in the past. With a modern modular system and practical methods, referred to in the book as “Bauen 4.0”, entirely innovative opportunities can be tapped. The author has also meanwhile shown that this technology can be applied for building wooden high-rises. It is an important and exciting book full of new ideas which gives us reason to have hope regarding the availability and utilisation of renewable resources leading to a significant improvement in terms of our climate problems. The potential for improvement is huge, not least in view of the growth of cities and mega-cities where half of mankind already lives and two-thirds of the world’s population will soon be living. My compliments to the author! I hope the book is a major success and inspires readers about a very important issue.  

Ulm, June 2015

F. J. Radermacher

Prof. Dr. Dr. F. J. Radermacher (Dr. h.c.) University of Ulm, Databases and Artificial Intelligence Institute and Research Institute for Application-Oriented Knowledge Processing/n (FAW/n)

Encyclical by Pope Francis

The “Laudato si” circular issued by Pope Francis is a “wake-up call intended to shake up people in politics, industry and society”.

Not the “owners” of this earth

In this “Laudato si” encyclical, Pope Francis voices his critical concerns that we are not owners and rulers of this earth and hence not entitled to plunder it. According to Pope Francis, we are called to be the tools of God our Father to ensure that our planet remains what He wanted it to be when He created the world. The earth should comply with His plan for peace, beauty and abundance.

Dedication

With love for Nadja, my children Katharina, Alexander and Cornelius, and my parents Walter-Heinz and Edith.

Acknowledgement

Particular thanks goes to Friedrich Schmidt-Bleek for his pioneering research and work, as well as the architect Hermann Kaufmann for helping to develop the LCT system.

The QR codes beside the text blocks represent more detailed links online. If they no longer work – no longer online at the time of reading – please accept our apologies.

Technical terms are explained in footnotes; sources and literary references are listed at the end of the book.

Content

01 The humble bumblebee

02 Global responsibility

03 4.0 sets an example

04 The smartest CO2 storage technology in the world

05 The forgotten life cycle (LC)

06 The cybernetic table

07 The DNA of building

08 From the Ego Principle to the Lego Principle

09 Learning from the BORG

Epilogue: The green truth

01 The humble bumblebee

What makes a building contractor write a book?

Exactly 10 years ago, I commissioned a research project. The catalyst was provided by the worrying figures and reports within the context of scarcity of resources and global warming: with its standard construction methods, the construction industry is accountable for 30 to 40% of the consumption of resources and energy and approx. 40% of total waste and CO2 emissions incurred.[1] No other sector exploits the earth’s resources as inconspicuously as we do; and hardly any other sector produces as much CO2 and waste.

The goal of the research project was to develop a concept for defusing these alarming figures enabling us to design buildings of the future which offer maximum conservation of resources. When it also transpired that we are hurtling into a century of urbanisation, we extended our research goal to include the condition of being able to build skyscrapers made of wood.

And there was also the issue of intelligent building and façade technology which utilises the Internet of Things[2] and enables us to generate energy instead of consuming it.[3]

The Internet of Things refers to the link between physical objects (things) and virtual representation in an Internet-like structure. It no longer comprises mere human participants but also things.

10 years later, not only do we have written results but also evidence. The LCT ONE in Dornbirn and the Illwerke Zentrum Montafon (IZM) in Vandans are proof that our research project has developed to become a marketable and innovative construction system enabling us to build up to heights of 100 metres (e.g. in Vienna) – this corresponds with around 30 storeys. The IZM was realised in line with the passive house standard and is the first building of this size in Vorarlberg to also comply with the criteria of a so-called “green building”.[4]

But let’s go back to the initial question: What prompted me to write this book? When we first iterated our desire to build skyscrapers out of wood, people just laughed at us. As an entrepreneur, it is demoralising to put your money where your mouth is in terms of responsibility, sustainability or CSR[5] and then have to look people in the eye who obviously think you’re crazy.

“CSR” stands for Corporate Social Responsibility and is a voluntary commitment by companies to work towards a better society and a cleaner environment.

Looking back however, embarking on this journey alone was the right decision. During the long nights of our development work, I took the time to preoccupy myself with bionics[6] and cybernetics[7], drawing inspiration from innovative researchers and scientists. And now this illustrious research report sees me putting our often adventurous journey down on paper. Not to mention the fact that I wish to share some of the expertise I have gleaned. After all, what we now refer to as Bauen 4.0® has the potential to lead the construction industry out of its crisis into a new phase of growth, a future of low emissions and waste, and ultimately into a new pioneering age of building.

Bionics refers to the creative realisation of biological ideas in technology. Cybernetics is the theory of regulating and controlling dynamic systems.

This has probably always been the case. All it takes is for someone to break ranks and lead by example – like the famous example of the bumblebee. Scientific calculations have established that the bumblebee is not in fact capable of flying. It is too short and too fat. But the bumblebee doesn’t know that – so it flies.

 DI Hubert RhombergBregenz

02 Global responsibility

The 21st century is a century of upheaval. Scarcity of resources and global warming bear the threat of new wars and calamities while urbanisation and a growing world population