During a brief visit this summer, Deena El-Mahdy conducted part of her research at BTU Cottbus in the Department of Digital Design Methods in Architecture, with the assistance of Mohamed Abdelaziz, an M.Sc. student, and under the supervision of Prof. Ilija Vukorep. The research focused on earth and clay constructions, bridging traditional and digital building methods by testing some complex, 3D-printed geometries using an advanced extruder and a robotic arm.

^{Deena El-Mahdy is an Associate Professor in the Department of Architectural Engineering at the British University in Egypt. She received her B.Sc., M.Sc., and PhD from Cairo University, in addition to a postgraduate degree from the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) in Spain, focusing on 3D printing with earth. Her research interests include digital fabrication processes, 3D printing, robotics, parametric design, computational design, and additive manufacturing techniques in both education and construction. In 2023, she was awarded the BIM Africa Award in the category “Best Woman in the African Construction Industry” and was a finalist for the Tamayouz Award in the “Rising Star, Women in Architecture and Construction” category in 2019 and 2020.}

The department has successfully secured a 22-month grant from the Zukunft Bau program. The project “Real-Time Component Inventory (EBI)” will be conducted in collaboration with Benjamin Felbrich starting in September 2024. The focus is on fundamental research to develop a portable system for capturing and visually representing building inventories. The system will combine sensor data for (self-)localization and AI-supported real-time detection of building elements, functioning independently of mobile networks and cloud infrastructure. The goal is the precise inventory of objects like walls and doors, as basis for future real-time documentation of structural features and damages.

The German Research Foundation (DFG) has approved funding for the department to develop international collaborations on the topic “Development of Robotic Adaptive Bionically Inspired Architectural Systems.” This project is in collaboration with the University of Tokyo and the Ikeda Lab led by Prof. Ikeda Yasushi. Joint workshops and publications are planned as part of the project. A workshop in Tokyo took place in February 2024, involving researchers from both universities. The next joint workshop will be held in September at BTU Cottbus-Senftenberg.

The Department of Digital Design Methods has successfully secured EFRE funding from the State of Brandenburg for the acquisition of modern optical technologies. The aim of the research project is to optimize construction processes through the use of a laser projector, an optical tracking system, and a camera system. These technologies are intended to enhance the precision and efficiency of construction projects while reducing costs and time requirements. The project focuses on the integration and application of these systems in real-world construction applications.

On May 5th, the AIAAF (AI-Aided Architectural Fabrication) Symposium took place, focusing on the role of AI in the design and construction of buildings. The event shed light on how AI can be used for data collection and management in the architectural fabrication process, while discussing potential advantages and disadvantages. The event was organized by Prof. Ilija Vukorep, Head of the FGDE at B-TU Cottbus-Senftenberg, in collaboration with Prof. Christoph Gengnagel from UdK Berlin

AIAAF-Website

Our master's graduate Hadi Yazdi gave a presentation at the "Sustainable Build Environment D-A-CH" conference 2022 in Berlin. His contribution "The Methods of Deep Learning and Data Analysis in Promoting Sustainable Architecture", which he developed at our department, dealt with the computer-aided analysis of historic courtyard houses in Iranian cities and their centuries-long adaptation of the residential buildings to the prevailing climate.

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363560678_The_Methods_of_Deep_Learning_and_Big_Data_Analysis_in_Promoting_Sustainable_Architecture

On 13-17 September Anatolii Kotov presented a paper “Spatial Agent-based Architecture Design Simulation Systems” written together with Rolf Starke and Ilija Vukorep. This paper introduces a novel benchmarking method for Reinforcement Learning (RL) in Architecture. The paper can be accessed at:

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/363587878_Spatial_Agent-based_Architecture_Design_Simulation_Systems

CuminCAD: http://papers.cumincad.org/cgi-bin/works/paper/ecaade2022_176

At the International Association of Structures & Architecture 2022 Rolf Starke presents his paper "Towards artificial ossification for bone-inspired technical structures".

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/361903944_Towards_artificial_ossification_for_bone-inspired_technical_structures

As part of the 7th BTU Transfer Day, a jury of 7 professors and representatives from industry awarded research-based ideas with a total of €4,000. Our research assistant Rolf Starke won the 2nd prize and the audience award for his idea "KIDD - artificial ossification for 3D printing". He is researching a new, agent-based structure optimization algorithm that is directly based on the biological process of ossification (the process of forming bone tissue) and would like to apply it to infill patterns in additive manufacturing.

On June 2, Prof. Ilija Vukorep gave a lecture at digitalBau, the largest trade fair for digital solutions in construction, on the topic of connecting research and practice in the field of digital technology. In the panel discussion that followed, he talked to colleagues about the importance and hurdles of using digital process chains in planning and construction.

On 13.05.2022 Prof. Ilija Vukorep with his partners of LOMA architecture.landscape.urbanism Petra Brunnhofer and Wolfgang Schück was decorated for Digital Innovation in Landscape for their project "Sommerinsel" at BUGA Heilbronn 2019. The prize was awarded by Sonja Rosa-Bantheim of r+b Landschaftsarchitektur und Alexander Meyer of ComputerWorks.

On a ceremony at the Theater in Cottbus Dr. Thu Thu Trang Nguyen received the Max Grünebaum Award 2021 for her PhD-Thesis “Promoting sustainability and resilience in Vietnam’s floating communities: The assessment of innovative housing units and materials for adaptation to climate change”. Her work is an important research investigating different strategies in populating water in her home country. Her work was supervised by Prof. Ilija Vukorep and Prof. Horst Stopp.

The two year long research on the chair titled: Cyber Physical Systems - CPS 3D Betonfassaden - Verfahren zur robotergesteuerten Herstellung von 3D Betonfassadenelementen unter Einbeziehung eines "Cyber Physical Systems” funded by BMWi and accomplished together with the company GtecZ (www.gtecz-engineering.com) found its finalisation in a report on the outcomes of the project. In this project spraying concrete was employed in combination with robotic control and sensing technology.

In September, Anatolii Kotov presented the paper "Architectural gridworld" at the eCAADe 2021. The paper presented for the first time a testbed for architecture applications in the area of reinforcement learning systems. The conference was held on-site in Novi Sad, Serbia.

ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/354436920_Gridworld_Architecture_Testbed

The symposium AI Aided Architectural Fabrication (AIAAF) hosted in 2019 came up with a proceeding that is online published and that collects the input from several international researchers and practitioners on AI topics in architecture.

On March 29th, a PhD-colloquium was held with external jury members Prof. Paul Nicholas from CITA/Kopenhagen and Prof. Anssi Joutsiniemi from Aalto University in Helsinki. Doctoral candidates Mateusz Zwierzicky and Anatolii Kotov presented their current research stage and received feedback from the jury.

We have published a chapter Machine learning in architecture in book "The Routledge Companion to Artificial Intelligence in Architecture". It is focused on recent practical approaches, methods and tools for applied AI/ML in architecture & design.

DOI: 10.4324/9780367824259-7

Dr. (Eng.Arch.) Judyta Cichocka will research on preselective and suggestion methods in connection with form optimization and form finding within the framework of a DAAD scholarship. These AI methods are not well developed in architecture and could become an important future design tool. She studied in Wroclaw, Wellington and at the MIT. For the summer semester 2020 she held a workshop at the BTU on the optimization of structures.

Prof. Vukorep presented a lecture at the 2020 Digital Concrete online conference to the topic "Robot-Controlled Fabrication of Sprayed Concrete Elements as a Cyber-Physical-System", that was also published at Springer Proceedings.

The MWFK of the state of Brandenburg (with EFRE funds) supports the Chair of Digital Design Methods with the expansion of the CNC lab with two six-axle robots of Universal Robots UR10.

Bending-active structures are able to perform large movements, without the need for complex mechanical constructions. From easily producible, flexurally soft bars and plates or individually manufactured elements, it is thus possible to produce spatial support structures which, by utilizing elastic material behavior and the stored restoring forces, offer new possibilities for movable structures.

Together with the bioinformatician Dr.-Ing. Thomas Hinze the master thesis of Alexander Melcher on the subject of modeling, simulation and optimization of the internal structure of components based on the biological model of bone formation, was supervised at our chair.

The research project deals with the topic of rope moving parallel robots (Cable Driven Parallel Robots) in construction and architecture.

The scientific work "Decode - Reverse Engineering Abstract Art" was awarded the Best Presentation Award at the 'shapes of logic', an international conference for parametric design in Wroclaw in March 2015.

The aim of the project was the experimental development of concrete components through which water flows for the purpose of heating and cooling rooms.

As part of the international building exhibition Bau 2013 in Munich, facade modules made of concrete with integrated electronic components were developed and exhibited.

The interactive surface is a surface that can change its shape and absorb and reproduce pressure impulses.

Within the framework of the design project - resettlement and conversion in industrial and shrinking areas - urban patterns of existing settlements were decoded.