The Future of Construction

The Future of Construction 2023 Symposium provides a platform to discuss novel human-machine collaborations in design and construction. Together we will raise questions about how complementary skills—the accuracy and speed of machines and their ability to crunch large amounts of data, jointly with our capacity as humans to solve problems creatively, flexibly, and collaboratively—can affect the ecologically, economically, and socially sustainable development of the built environment. It is a continuation of a series of events that first occurred at ETH Zurich in 2022 and is now taking place at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) from September 13 to 15, 2023. It will be held in hybrid mode, with participants from academia, start-ups, and the construction industry.

• Karla Saldana UFlorida (USA)

• Jeannette Kuo TUM (DE)

• Thomas Wortmann ICD Stuttgart (DE)

• Marco Hutter ETH (CH)

• Stefana Parascho EPFL (CH)

• Sami Haddadin TUM (DE)

• Harald Kloft TU Braunschweig (DE)

• Corentin Fivet EPFL (CH)

• Charlotte Malterre EPFL (CH)

• Daniel Hall TU Delft (NL)

• Marija Marić Uni Luxembourg (LU)

• Michael Bühler HTWG Konstanz (DE)

• Mariana Popescu TU Delft (NL)

• Thomas Auer TUM (DE)

• Brandon Clifford MIT (USA)

• Kendra Byrne Google (CA)

• Siyu Tang ETH (CH)

• Ian Smith TUM GNI (DE)

• Fabio Gramazio ETH (CH)

• Ryan Luke Johns Gravis Robotics (CH)

• Romana Rust vyzn (CH)

• Maximilian Vomhof vzyn (CH)

• Franziska Sauka BMW (DE)

• Bruno Knychalla Additive Tectonics (DE)

• Francesco Ranaudo Vaulted (CH)

• Artem Kuchukov Kewazo (DE)

• Ana Anton Bitcrete (CH)

• tba ABB (DE)

• Julian Trummer Leipfinger Bader (DE)

On the morning of Friday, September 15th, a set of parallel half-day workshops focused on ideation, co-creation, and skill-building will be available for symposium attendees, in particular for Master's and PhD students, as well as participants from the industries. To attend these workshops, simply select up to two workshops based on your preference during registration for the symposium.

1. Workshop #1 Computational structural design supported by machine learning

   In this workshop, participants will explore the intersection of computational design and machine learning (ML) to generate equilibrated structures. Workshop lead: Lazlo Bleker, Thomas Wortmann, Karla Saldaña Ochoa, Max Zorn, Zifeng Guo, Pierluigi D'Acunto

2. Workshop #2 Collaborative Robotics

   Workshop lead: Lidia Atanasova, Daniela Mitterberger, Stefana Parascho

3. Workshop #3 Information Modeling across design and fabrication

   This workshop will address the information modeling in the context of building design and fabrication. Workshop lead: André Borrmann, Martin Slepicka, Markus König

4. Workshop #4 Bio Design Lab

   This workshop looks at natural building materials as the base for regenerative design and the socio-economic renewal of the built environment. Workshop lead: Niklas Fanelsa

5. Workshop #5 Green Technologies

   Workshop lead: Ferdinand Ludwig

6. Workshop #6 Future of Digital Earth Construction

   Workshop lead: Ena Lloret-Fritschi, Norman Hack

7. Workshop #7 From Research to Innovation – Entrepreneurial Thinking for the Built Environment Industry

   In an interactive workshop format, this workshop introduces characteristics of entrepreneurial thinking in the built environment industry and showcases examples of successful entrepreneurs in that field. Workshop lead: Tobias Förtsch, Christos Chantzaras, Florian Jäger

8. Workshop #8 Web3 – Schlüsseltechnologie für das nachhaltige Bauen

   Dieser Workshop soll den am Bau Beteiligten und allen Interessierten einen Überblick darüber geben, wie die Web3-Technologie zur Förderung des nachhaltigen Bauens eingesetzt werden kann. Workshop lead: Anton Hiller, Daniel Kliche

9. Workshop #9 AMC to Industry – novel Approaches & disruptive Potentials

   In this workshop, insights into the disruptive potential of additive manufacturing in the built environment and construction industries will be given. Workshop lead: Maximilian Dahlenburg, Sascha Schwarz

10. Workshop #10 Fabrication integrated design for Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing

    The participants in this workshop will experience how the fabrication aware approach in an integrated design framework can benefit from the large design freedom offered by Wire Arc Additive Manufacturing (WAAM) while considering its limitations and constraints. Workshop lead: Vittoria Laghi, Majid Hojjat, Franziska Sauka

11. Workshop #11 Accelerating Innovation From Lab to Site

    This workshop aims to thread multi-stakeholder perspectives across the value-chain to identify pathways to move sustainable construction technologies from lab to site more rapidly and effectively. Workshop lead: Tsz Yan Ng, Kathy Velikov, Russell Loveridge, Brian R. Ellis

12. Workshop #12 Lean - Improve collaboration in a digital world

    In this workshop, participants can experience how a construction task becomes reality, how all those involved in the project collaborate with each other via the lean approach and using the latest technologies (from VR to AR), and which forms of communication are promising for the future and are already being used today. Workshop lead: Andreas Adldinger, Fabio Wendnagel,Florian Hirschel, Markus Semmelmann, Mario Mirbach

On the afternoon of Friday, September 15th, three parallel tours and site visits will be available for symposium participants. Transport will be organized by us. To attend these tours, simply sign up for one of them during registration for the symposium.

• Site Visit #1 AMC Lab

  This tour will allow attendees to visit the research infrastructure and labs of TUM for large-scale Additive Manufacturing in Construction, as part of the SFB TRR 277 AMC. The labs are located at the TUM Campus Garching and Achering.

• Site Visit #2 Leipfinger/Bader

  The company Leipfinger Bader invites attendees to visit their brick production factory in Vatersdorf near Munich. They will provide insights into their newest developments towards sustainable local production, automation, circularity, and recycling.

• Site Visit #3 Stammstrecke MUC

  This tour will give attendees the unique opportunity to visit the construction site of the new main line and metro station of Munich. The tour will be guided by BAUER Spezialtiefbau.

See the full program here.

To register for the Future of Construction Symposium 2023, please follow this link. By registering for the symposium, you will be able to attend all events in the 3-day program, including keynote sessions, poster presentations, workshops, site visits, lunches and apéros. Workshops and site visits will be held concurrently; during the registration process, please select your preferred options. Three ticket options for on-site participation are available: regular (€350), academics (€150), and students (€90). Additionally, we offer online streaming tickets for the keynote and industry insights sessions (€25).

In the evening of Wednesday, September 13th, and Thursday, September 14th, the Future of Construction Symposium will host a poster session dedicated to PhD students. We therefore encourage all registered PhD students to submit a poster on their current research until June 30th. The theme of the first day is AI for the Sustainable Built World, while the theme of the second day is Sustainable Digital Construction. The authors of the selected posters will present their posters during the poster sessions with a PechaKucha style presentation. The best poster presentation of each day will be awarded with a prize, kindly supported by the TUM Georg Nemetschek Institute Artificial Intelligence for the Built World.

Submit your poster here

This symposium is kindly supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) - Projektnummer 527827074.

The symposiums will be hosted at the Munich Urban Colab and at the Technical University of Munich, at the Main Campus, Arcisstrasse 21, in Munich, Germany.

Getting Here

Both the Munich Urban Colab and the Main Campus of TUM are conveniently connected to the main Munich train station (10-15 minutes) and to Munich Airport (50 minutes). We recommend arriving by public transport, for arrival by car we recommend using the Park & Ride car parks.

Moving Around

Munich is a very walkable city. You can also easily reach almost any destination in Munich and in Germany by public transportation, which is very safe and reliable at all times of the day. You typically do not need to rent a car for moving around the area.

Accommodation

A variety of hotels are available to suit your needs, from budget to luxury accommodation. They are all well connected via public transportation to the symposium venue. Please visit the Munich Tourism webpage for more information.

Organizing Committee

• Kathrin Dörfler Professorship of Digital Fabrication TUM (DE)

• Pierluigi D’Acunto Professorship of Structural Design TUM (DE)

• Konrad Nübel Chair for Construction Management TUM (DE)

• Christos Chantzaras Venture Lab Built Environment TUM (DE)

Co-Organizers

• Michael Bühler HTWG Konstanz (DE)

• Danielle Griego ETH Zurich (CH)

• Norman Hack TU Braunschweig (DE)

• Stefana Parascho EPFL (CH)

• Thomas Wortmann University of Stuttgart (DE)

• Ena Lloret-Fritschi USI (CH)

Organizing Team

• Lidia Atanasova Professorship of Digital Fabrication TUM (DE)

• Frederic Chovghi Professorship of Structural Design TUM (DE)

• Marcel Schlicke Chair of Construction Management TUM (DE)

• Selen Ercan USI (CH)