Iva Kovacic

• Prof. Dr. techn.
• Head of Department at TU Wien

The AEC’s resource consumption and environmental impact necessitate a shift towards sustainable, circular practices. Building information modeling, powered by information technology, serves as a key enabler in this transition, offering life cycle data management capabilities from design to deconstruction. However, current BIM models lack embedded l...

The construction sector, which is responsible for nearly 40% of emissions and almost third of all waste generated, is under increasing pressure to integrate sustainability principles, particularly in the early design stage, where key decisions influencing a building’s lifecycle are made. This study presents the development and evaluation of the Cir...

The AEC’s resource consumption and environmental impact necessitate a shift towards sustainable, circular practices. Building Information Modeling, powered by information technology, serves as a key enabler in this transition, offering lifecycle data management capabilities from design to deconstruction. However, current BIM models lack embedded li...

Recent advances in 3D generative models have shown promising results but often fall short in capturing the complexity of architectural geometries and topologies and fine geometric details at high resolutions. To tackle this, we present ArchComplete, a two-stage voxel-based 3D generative pipeline consisting of a vector-quantised model, whose composi...

Despite numerous existing vacant industrial buildings and vast unused brownfield land, new production settlements are rarely integrated within existing structures. This paper presents the RE:STOCK INDUSTRY framework, aiming to develop a method for assessing the reuse potential of industrial structures, focusing on vertical expansion and circular ec...

The construction industry is embracing digital technologies, particularly generative or algorithm-aided design principles. However, integrating these digital tools into design processes while ensuring compliance with rules and regulations remains a significant challenge. This study aims to address this challenge by identifying the essential design...

We present Strokes2Surface, an offline geometry reconstruction pipeline that recovers well‐connected curve networks from imprecise 4D sketches to bridge concept design and digital modeling stages in architectural design. The input to our pipeline consists of 3D strokes' polyline vertices and their timestamps as the 4th dimension, along with additio...

We present Strokes2Surface, an offline geometry reconstruction pipeline that recovers well‐connected curve networks from imprecise 4D sketches to bridge concept design and digital modeling stages in architectural design. The input to our pipeline consists of 3D strokes' polyline vertices and their timestamps as the 4th dimension, along with additio...

In the context of digitalization in the industry, a variety of technologies has been developed for system integration and enhanced team collaboration in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry. Multidisciplinary design requirements are characterized by a high degree of complexity. Early design methods often rely on implicit or...

State-of-the-art workflows within Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) are still caught in sequential planning processes. Digital design tools in this domain often lack proper communication between different stages of design and relevant domain knowledge. Furthermore, decisions made in the early stages of design, where sketching is use...

This paper describes a novel methodology for a quick structural finite element (FE) modelling of free-form and high-rise structures sketched within a developed 4D semantic, mixed reality sketching application, targeted for early stages of architectural design, followed by a shape inference pipeline. The novel approach presented in this paper intend...

This paper describes a novel methodology for a quick structural finite element (FE) modelling of free-form and high-rise structures sketched within a developed 4D semantic, mixed reality sketching application, targeted for early stages of architectural design, followed by a shape inference pipeline. The novel approach presented in this paper intend...

At the same time as the digital transformation of the AEC industry, industrial housing construction is also experiencing a revival due to the increasing demand for affordable housing. However, the potential of digital technologies in the design and construction processes of modular housing is not yet sufficiently explored. For the development of no...

At the same time as the digital transformation of the AEC industry, industrial housing construction is also experiencing a revival due to the increasing demand for affordable housing. However, the potential of digital technologies in the design and construction processes of modular housing is not yet sufficiently explored. For the development of no...

The preliminary development of highly detailed BIM models lacks eligible design methods in the conceptual design stage. Initial design solutions cannot be shared among collaborative and consecutive design parties without relying on error-prone briefings and data exchanges. As advances in Artificial Intelligence are increasingly being used for BIM’s...

Circular economy in Architecture, Engineering, and Construction requires consideration in the design, deconstruction-planning, and waste management. This paper aims to develop a Framework to evaluate the material sustainability of buildings by comparing the proportionality of costs to environmental impacts of construction waste flows. Therefore, an...

With 60% of the world's raw materials extraction, the construction sector is the largest consumer of raw materials. The consumption can be reduced through reuse and recycling of building materials which reached their end-of-life; however, there is lack of information on the building stock. This paper presents a bottom-up approach based on Building...

The digital transformation of the construction industry and the lack of integration of digital technologies in design and construction processes are the motivation for this research. BIM solutions enable new levels of design processes and provide platforms for computational design and novel approaches in the AEC industry. In computational design pa...

Timber construction is considered a main strategy towards a more sustainable built environment. Industrialized manufacturing methods have advanced the realization of multi-storey timber buildings generating enthusiasm about their implementation in urban areas, and the expectation of their further completion. These are still pilot projects, so there...

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries are allocated 40–60% of the worldwide raw material extraction. Construction waste accounts for a significant share of the total waste volume. Therefore, careless handling reduces natural resources and waste deposits (landfills). Furthermore, material reuse and recycling can reduce resource...

Energy and resource efficiency as well as reduction of emissions are nowadays significant objectives for production companies. Industry 4.0, through extensive digitalization along the value chain, enables the achievement of these objectives not only in the construction of new facilities but also in existing facilities as well. This requires an inte...

Im SFB Advanced Computational Design werden Entwurfswerkzeuge und ‐prozesse durch multi‐ und interdisziplinäre Grundlagenforschung entwickelt. Das Ziel ist, durch eine neue Generation von Computational‐Design‐Methoden höhere Entwurfsqualität und effizientere Prozesse in Architektur und Bauwesen zu ermöglichen. Die Forschung wird in drei Bereichen d...

The presented research project DiCYCLE aims at identifying, analyzing and mapping current End-of-Life processes in Architecture, Engineering and Construction, as well as optimizing these processes for digitalization, using Building Information Modeling, blockchain and smart contracts. The goal is to create new business models and enable sustainable...

State-of-the-art workflows within Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) industry are still caught in sequential planning processes. Digital design tools founded in this domain often lack proper communication between different stages of design and relevant domain knowledge. Furthermore, decisions made in the early stages of design, where...

Pri zdravljenju bolnih novorojenčkov si zdravstveno osebje lahko pomaga z ocenjevalnimi lestvicami, ki omogočajo zgo-dnjo prepoznavo različnih bolezenskih stanj in vrednotenje otrokovega zdravstvenega stanja. Z redno uporabo ocenjevalnih lestvic v kliničnem okolju vplivamo na poenoteno oskrbo, preprečujemo kratkoročne in dolgoročne posledice bolezn...

BIM workflows still involve time-consuming manual model preprocessing for structural analysis such as assigning new data like structural material properties or loads, which prevents prompt feedback and is error prone. The main objective of this research is to automate the preprocessing of analytical building models so as to accelerate and improve s...

Integrated industrial building design is an interdisciplinary task, in which planning of flexible building structures requires effective communication and collaboration between all stakeholders already in early design stage. This paper presents BIMFlexi-VR, a collaborative framework which implements a real-time bidirectional link between a parametr...

Most industrial buildings have a very short lifespan due to frequently changing production processes. The load-bearing structure severely limits the flexibility of industrial buildings and is a major contributor to their costs, carbon footprint and waste. This paper presents a parametric optimization and decision support (POD) model framework that...

Building information modelling promises model-based collaboration between stakeholders in the project design stage. However, data exchange between physical and analytical building models used for architectural design and structural analysis respectively rarely takes place due to numerous differences in building element representation, especially th...

Due to product individualization, customization and rapid technological advances in manufacturing, production systems are faced with frequent reconfiguration and expansion. Industrial buildings that allow changing production scenarios require flexible load-bearing structures and a coherent planning of the production layout and building systems. Yet...

The emergence of Industry 4.0 can contribute to sustainable development, but most concepts have not yet received much attention in industrial building design. Industry 4.0 aims to realize production in batch size of one and product individualization on demand. Constant reconfiguration and expansion of production systems demand highly flexible build...

Realization of inter-domain model-based data exchange in the AEC industry has not yet managed to fully sat-isfy the end user’s needs. While microservices are getting more present on the market, its application for the data exchange in the building planning process has not been considered. This paper investigates the potential of microservices in re...

Industrial buildings play a major role in sustainable development, producing and expending a significant amount of resources, energy and waste. Due to product individualization and accelerating technological advances in manufacturing, industrial buildings strive for highly flexible building structures to accommodate constantly evolving production p...

Buildings are the largest consumer of raw materials and simultaneously are responsible for 40% of the global energy consumption as well as for about 30% of global CO2 emissions. In order to reach sustainability goals such as reduction of the use of primary resources, it is of utmost importance to reuse or recycle the existing stocks – a strategy la...

Concerns about the increasing global consumption of non-renewable resources as well as shortages of primary raw materials and reduction of space available for final disposal of waste are raising important issues for the society. Additionally, the unsustainable treatment of resources belongs to the main concerns of the EU, resulting in the developme...

Industrial building design is an interdisciplinary task, where data and software needed by production planning differ from the ones in building design. Constantly changing manufacturing systems demand highly flexible building structures. To achieve integration and improve structural performance a novel parametric multi-objective optimisation and de...

Currently various technologies are used in order to determine the geometry of existing buildings, however there is no established technology to identify the material composition of buildings. The state-of-the-art material identification of existing buildings is conducted manually through destructive methods, which is not accurate enough and cannot...

To increase the flexibility and expandability of production plants the focus needs to be on a coherent planning of the production layout and building systems. The frequent reconfiguration of production layouts bears challenges on the load-bearing structure of industrial buildings, decreasing the building service life due to rescheduling or demoliti...

The heterogeneity of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry reflects on digital building models, which differ across domains and planning phases. Data exchange between architectural design and structural analysis models poses a particular challenge because of dramatically different representations of building elements. Existi...

The construction industry is one of the world ́s largest consumers of resources (sand, building materials) and produces significant amounts of waste. Simultaneously it is one of the least digitalized industries. With increasing levels of urbanization, scarceness of resources and lack of landfills, the policy of circular econo-my (CE) is becoming in...

Minimum investment costs and maximum flexibility and expandability of the construction and infrastructure are main goals of industrial facilities. Consuming large amounts of costs, energy and resources, industrial facilities play a major role in sustainable development. Stakeholders involved in industrial construction projects are faced with numero...

The emerging availability of numerous model-based design and analysis tools promises high interoperability in terms of data exchange, thus shorter planning cycles and higher design quality. However, seamless transfer of digital models across domains without significant data inconsistencies is still a major challenge in the practice. This paper aims...

The increasing population growth and urbanization rises the worldwide consumption of material resources and energy demand. The challenges of the future will be to provide sufficient resources and to minimize the continual amount of waste and energy demand. For the achievement of sustainability, increasing recycling rates and reuse of materials, nex...

Regeneration of existing buildings and abandoned areas is a governmental and European key objective. This research focuses on Poveglia: an abandoned island in the Venetian lagoon, Italy. The underpinning idea concerns the upgrade of Poveglia to a zero energy Cognitive University Campus, connected to other educational institutions in the lagoon. The...

Energy efficiency of industrial facilities is a set goal towards developing a sustainable future. Many production facilities though are still not operated at a highly efficient rate in terms of energy use. The complexity of industrial environments requires an integrated analysis of all subsystems – production processes, logistics, building and tech...

In AEC practices multifold digital models exist to support various design and analysis tasks (e.g. architectural or HVAC design, structural or thermal analysis). Information models need to satisfy the particular and varying domain-specific needs. Despite the great efforts to create open standards for data exchange, digital data exchange between dom...

Interdisciplinary digital model exchange in the AEC industry is faced with numerous difficulties, involving both process and technology problems. The digital design tools aim to meet end user needs, support existing design and construction workflows, and bring innovations in the AEC industry. However, there is a mismatch between the digital tools i...

European Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry consumes a significant amount of materials like steel, aluminum, copper and plastics, thus creating a large reservoir on secondary raw materials in buildings. One of the main strategies to minimize environmental impacts and the energy consumption is maximizing recycling rates. To en...

A major fraction of building materials is transformed into waste at the end of a building's life cycle. For sustainability reasons, it is of importance to maintain or recycle urban stocks, and in consequence to minimise the use of primary resources, wherefore a Material Passport (MP) represents an important support-tool. A MP acts as a design optim...

Concerns about increasing global consumption of non-renewable resources as well as shortages of primary raw materials and reduction of space available for final disposal of wastes are raising important issues for the society. Additionally, the minimisation of resources consumption belongs to the main concerns of EU, resulting in development of stra...

The AEC (Architecture, Engineering & Construction) industry counts to the most wasteful ones, thereby urgently needing improvement for achievement of sustainable built environment. Early design stages, where project is conceptualized, are of great importance for the future energy performance of buildings. Tools such as the Energy Performance Certif...

Minimisation of resources consumption belongs to the main concerns of EU, resulting in the development of strategies for maximizing recycling rates in order to minimize environmental impacts and energy consumption caused by extraction of primary materials. Detailed knowledge about the embedded materials as well as their characteristics of building...

Die Bauindustrie zählt zu den größten Verbrauchern von Rohmaterialien und ist für 40 % des CO 2 ‐Ausstoßes verantwortlich, was eine dringende Optimierung im Sinne der Nachhaltigkeit notwendig macht. Die Steigerung von Recyclingraten in der Baubranche ist daher eine der Hauptstrategien der EU, um den Ressourcenverbrauch sowie die ökologischen Einflü...

Building stocks and infrastructures are representing the largest material stock of industrial economies, whereby the largest fraction of building materials is transformed into waste at the end of the life cycle. In order to optimize the recycling potential of buildings, new design-tools and methods are required, whereby it is of utmost importance t...

Several data exchange standards support the open exchange of building data. Industry Foundation Classes (IFC) standard is the most widely implemented within software solutions and the most used in practice. This standard is developed by buildingSMART International and describes a schema defined with EXPRESS data modelling language also including th...

Refurbishment practices, subsidy policies and assessment tools deal predominantly with single buildings and small ensembles. Large portfolios of social housing building stock are suitable for case study research on sustainable features of historic built environment and for developing long term, portfolio-based strategies. The social housing of Red...

Building Information Modeling (BIM) related promises are numerous – reduction of the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry fragmentation, construction cost, and delivery time, as well as lifecycle optimization have been advocated in both literature and practice. But so are the challenges of BIM adoption: establishment and standa...

The creation of a sustainable built environment is related not only to energy-efficient construction but also to the efficient use of materials, in order to minimise environmental impacts and avoid further depletion of natural resources. However, “passive” or “zero-energy” buildings, which optimise operational energy, require additional materials (...

Industrial buildings implement retrofit measures to reduce energy demand for space conditioning, with primary focus given to heating loads, as they often lack cooling systems. An optimized refurbishment should be able though to tackle summer overheating, since studies indicate an increase in the frequency and intensity of hot days during summer. Fu...

Die jüngsten Entwicklungen in der Bauplanungs- und Bauindustrie zeichnen sich durch zunehmende Komplexität von und steigende Anforderungen an Bauprojekte aus. Steigende Anforderungen und erhöhte Komplexität ergeben sich vor allem aus Nachhaltigkeit- und Energieeffizienzüberlegungen für Gebäude und die erhöhte Berücksichtigung der Lebenszyklusgesamt...

Building Information Modelling (BIM) promises to integrate the fragmented disciplines of architecture, engineering and construction, and to optimize the life cycle performance of buildings. BIM case studies have been used in university teaching to encourage and support its adoption by the building industry. This paper describes the development, ove...

Due to the strengthening of regulations and codes on building energy performance, as well as with the application of national legislations regarding energy management and efficiency, existing industrial facilities are using thermal refurbishment and renovation as impetus for increasing their overall energy efficiency. This paper analyzes a building...

Industrial buildings demand higher amount of energy than other building typologies, thus powerful modelling and simulation tools for energy-optimisation and identification of synergies-potentials between the building envelope, building services and production systems are needed.Building Information Modelling (BIM), as emerging technology, bears pro...

Minimal investment cost, flexibility and expandability of the construction have been the highest priorities in the design of industrial facilities. With the sharpening of building codes and the upcoming polices on energy efficiency, life cycle optimisation is starting to gain importance among industrial investors. On the case study of an energy eff...

An increase in the size of projects, ambitious design objectives, and a greater number of participants in the planning process, call for an effective integrated planning practice, and an adequate software support, such as the BIM (Building Information Modelling) tools. However, the BIM skills as demanded by practice are not represented in lecturing...

The early building design phases play crucial role for the determination of building's life cycle performance in terms of resources and energy consumption and development of LCC (life cycle costs). In this stage the optimization potential is still very large, at very low cost. In the latter planning phases the change possibility rapidly decreases w...

Building information modelling (BIM) tools are increasingly present in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. This software tool chain requires not only new knowledge on the level of technology, but also people with knowledge related to skills and re-configuration of the process. There is hope that BIM tools will increase the degr...

Production processes are resource and energy intensive. To meet the increasing requirements of sustainable production and to assure economic competitiveness, novel strategic approaches are necessary in designing production systems, for which integrated simulation as a holistic decision support tool is proposed. An integrated simulation in terms of...

Many countries in Europe face large-scale renovation of 20th century housing. Although challenges for energy efficient renovation are similar in many countries contextual differences create varying possibilities and barriers for actions. We present a comparative study of managerial practices regarding refurbishment of housing in Austria and Sweden,...

Building design and planning is a typical instance of coordination and collaboration processes, where experts work together in fulfilling their own distinct planning tasks that build the basis for the realization of the joint building project. Increasing requirements on building performance, like resources and energy efficiency, resulting in growin...

The existing building stock has an immense impact on preserving a social, economic and ecologic sustainability – especially in Central Europe with low rates of new construction. This paper focuses on life-cycle based renovation strategies considering not only structural and thermal refurbishment, but also the social aspects of an ageing society nee...

To meet the increasing requirements of sustainable production and to assure economic competitiveness, novel strategic approaches are necessary in designing production systems and to increase energy efficiency in the manufacturing industry. Individual areas within production facilities (e.g. production system, energy system, building hull) can be an...