Structural Xploration Lab

Cirkla webinar on Concrete Reuse

Published:18.04.24 — This Thursday April 18th, 2024, at 12:30pm (Swiss Time), Maléna Bastien-Masse, senior researcher at the Structural Xploration Lab, will host a webinar on the reuse of concrete elements in buildings. The webinar is part of a series organized by Cirkla, the Swiss umbrella organization for component reuse in buildings.

New paper in 'The Structural Engineer'

Published:18.04.24 — The April 2024 issue of "The Structural Engineer" journal, published by the UK-based Institution of Structural Engineers, features a paper authored by Maléna Bastien-Masse, Célia Küpfer and Corentin Fivet (Structural Xploration Lab). With the title "A concrete answer for circular construction: three prototypes reusing saw-cut elements", the paper reviews recent concrete reuse activities coordinated by the Structural Xploration Lab: the re:crete footbridge, the FLO:RE slab, and the rebuiLT pavilion. A picture from the latter project was selected for the front cover of the journal.

New paper demonstrates the reuse potential of concrete slabs

Published:21.03.24 — 80%! This is the amount of embodied carbon that new floor systems made of reused concrete can save on average! We designed two floor systems for housing and office buildings, with reinforced concrete reused in bending to make the most of its existing properties. A parametric LCA with 20,000 simulations shows drastic embodied #carbon cuts compared to new flat concrete slabs, with solutions as low as 5 kgCO2e/m2, probably a record for building slabs. The cherry on the slab? You save up to 94 % on embodied carbon when combining reused concrete with reused steel.

Public lecture at EPFL, Sustainability Series

Published:18.03.24 — On March 27th (!), 2024, Prof. Corentin Fivet will give a public talk on EPFL Campus, as part of (and invited by) the EPFL Sustainability Series. He will present recent breakthroughs from the Structural Xploration Lab, focusing on the reuse of disused construction products. Prof. Katrin Beyer (ENAC Dean) will introduce the talk. A round table with Prof. Karen Scrivener and students from the EPFL Make rebuiLT project will follow, moderated by Frédéric Dreyer. A networking aperitif will end the event. Venez nombreux!

Making construction sustainable by reusing materials

Published:21.03.24 — One way to lighten the construction industry’s heavy carbon footprint is to reuse existing materials – an approach being explored by numerous researchers. Here’s a look at some of their ideas, ahead of an upcoming speaker event at EPFL.

C. Fivet to talk at intCDC, Stuttgart

Published:18.03.24 — Prof. Corentin Fivet (Structural Xploration Lab, EPFL) is invited for a talk at the University of Stuttgart on March 19th, 2024, as part of the IntCDC Constructive Conversations, organised by the Cluster of Excellence 'Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC), at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. In his talk, he will present recent research outputs of the SXL, highlighting the needed (re-)discovery of the intrinsic value of disused construction products.

Update on rebuiLT

Published:17.03.24 — The EPFL MAKE students of the rebuiLT project have released a new video presenting the 2023 development of their low-tech building prototype: unprecedented reuse of concrete slab assemblies, participative construction of timber carpentry, reuse of roof tiles, workshops with local schools, mockup of straw-bale walls. The Structural Xploration Lab is delighted to be advising them.

New paper in Frontiers in Built Environment

Published:17.03.24 — Our new paper on the re:slab project is out in the Frontiers in Built Environment journal. The Open Access paper showcases the premises of "a load bearing system for open-ended component reuse in building structures", or in other words, how to push current limits of design-for-disassembly to embrace the unpredictable nature of future building transformations. The author is authored by Xavier Estrella (Structural Xploration Lab, EPFL), Alex Muresan (Aeternum), Jan Brütting (formerly at the Structural Xploration Lab), Dario Redaelli (HEIA-FR ITEC), and Corentin Fivet (Structural Xploration Lab, EPFL)

New paper in the Journal of Building Engineering

Published:17.03.24 — Our paper on the "Reusability assessment of reinforced concrete components prior to deconstruction from obsolete buildings" is now published in the Journal of Building Engineering (Elsevier). Authored by Julie Devènes, Maléna Bastien-Masse, and Corentin Fivet (Structural Xploration Lab), the Open-Access paper introduces and tests a new procedure for assessing component reuse from reinforced concrete structures.

M. Bastien-Masse panelist at Cirkla symposium

Published:15.03.24 — On Tuesday March 12th, Cirkla, the umbrella organization for reuse in the Swiss construction industry, organized an expert symposium at the Smart Living Lab, Fribourg. The afternoon consisted in 4 expert workshops and a concluding round table. Maléna Bastien-Masse (Structural Xploration Lab), was invited to run the expert workshop on concrete reuse and as a panelist to the last workshop. The event gathered about 70 participants (architects, engineers, public servants, and contractors) from al over Switzerland.