Johannes van der Wielen
Pushing the Envelope: Optimising building envelope design for the circular economy by quantifying the reutilisation prospects of building materials
The design of building envelopes significantly influences their environmental impact and operational footprint, as well as overall building performance and durability. The largest share of environmental impacts occurs at the beginning and end of the building’s lifecycle. Standard practices and materials used to design and construct building envelopes lead to high environmental impacts at the beginning of their lifecycle, while lack of reuse or recycling leads to a loss of resources at the end of their lifecycle. Furthermore, typical construction materials commonly contain chemicals and additives which often damage human and environmental wellbeing and inhibit reuse, recycling or disposal. There is substantial research on building envelope performance, including hygrothermal properties, and there are several investigations on how to assess and quantify the lifecycle and circular economy potential of building parts, which can be adapted for assessing building envelopes. However, there is a research gap in integrating the two aspects, which seems essential for significant steps towards net-zero environmental impact buildings, in particular when considering renewable, bio-based building materials. This dissertation maintains that the greatest gains in reducing the environmental impacts of building envelopes are realised by applying circular economy principles concurrently to the beginning and end of the building envelope’s lifecycle. However, the complex relationships between aspects relevant for the design of building envelopes, including material selection, make-up sequence, assembly, disassembly, recycling, and hygro-thermal performance, pose limits to greater reductions of environmental impacts when utilising established materials and design processes. This research proposes a novel design process and tools to balance contradicting environmental and design objectives and arrive at novel improved design strategies and solutions. In a first step, it amasses and analyses lifecycle assessment data for both typical construction materials and biobased alternatives. Information is collected into a materials database suitable for integration with computational design tools. Secondly, an editable and adaptive computational model is created to represent and analyse an extensive range of light-framed building envelope assemblies and constructional variations. A multi-objective metaheuristic optimisation algorithm drives the computational model and generates highly optimised wall assemblies for user-defined parameters and objectives. In a third step, select building envelope assemblies resulting from the optimisation process are verified against hygrothermal performance and durability requirements using the WUFI® 2D dynamic hygrothermal simulation software. Among the results the research proposes both an integrated computational assessment process, and successful design strategies and make-ups for light-framed building envelopes, pursuing an holistic concept of minimising environmental impact. Design guidance for the use of biobased materials and for the circular economy is combined with performance assessment of building envelope wall makeups, based on a comprehensive design and validation process for achieving them.
Supervisors
Professor Andre Brown & Hans-Christian Wilhelm
Qualifications
Bachelor of Architecture, from Victoria University of Wellington, graduated 2020; Master of Architecture, from Victoria University of Wellington, graduated 2022.
Publications
van der Wielen, J., & Wilhelm, H. C. (2023). "Synergetic Optimization of Timber Structures and Space". Technology|Architecture + Design, 7(1), 120–132. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2023.2176149
van der Wielen, Johannes, and Hans-Christian Wilhelm. “A Creation Method for Ten-Year Measured Weather Data Files from Incomplete Sources for the Purpose of Hygrothermal Simulation.” 11th Zero Energy Mass Custom Home International Conference, 10 Nov. 2024.
Conference Presentations
11th Zero Energy Mass Custom Home International Conference, 10th Novermber 2024. "A Creation Method for Ten-Year Measured Weather Data Files from Incomplete Sources for the Purpose of Hygrothermal Simulation".
BioUrbEcon Conference, 2022. "Structural Efficiency and bio-based Building Envelope Design for large-scale Timber Buildings".
Awards
Awarded the Wellington Doctoral Scholarship.