Markus Hudert

• Dr. sc. techn.
• Professor (Assistant) at Aarhus University

The construction sector is a significant emitter of Greenhouse Gases (GHG), while also consuming nearly 50 percent of all extracted resources, and producing an estimated 33 percent of waste in Europe. Although building with timber can contribute to reducing the environmental impact of buildings, increasing the use of timber in building structures a...

Engineered wood products (EWPs) have significantly increased the use of timber structures in buildings for various purposes. To contribute to the development of a circular economy in the building industry, design solutions that can improve material consumption efficiency and construction with waste materials from the production line should be propo...

The building construction sector is an important contributor to global CO2 emissions and a major producer of waste. Modular timber structures can enable a higher degree of circularity and reuse in the building construction sector, and strengthen the role of timber buildings as carbon sinks. This research builds upon and continues recently initiated...

Over the past two decades, the use of Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) has significantly increased in the building construction sector. The low-efficient production process of CLT requires 1.21 m3 of lamellae per 1 m3 of CLT, creating waste which is typically burnt and releases biogenic carbon. This paper presents a state-of-the-art literature review o...

This paper illustrates the design and fabrication processes of the Hypar Up pavilion, which served as a proof-of-concept to demonstrate the viability of a design-to-fabrication workflow for complex yet modular architectural geometries that utilise small and planar timber offcuts geometries discretised as Planar Quadrilateral (PQ) meshes. By integra...

A method for building slabs composed of discrete short timber slats is proposed. It involves simulating its principal stresses to locate and orient each building component. Those are assembled by a robotic arm in collaboration with a worker using an Augmented Reality head-mounted device. The prototype serves as a proof of concept, and future work i...

The mere objective of the built environment is to facilitate the well-being of the end user. The longevity of a solution thus depends on how well building designers understand what the end user wants. Longevity of solutions is important to obtain environmentally sustainable and resilient buildings, and continuous research in how the built environme...

When facing the increasing demands of the housing market and balancing the requirements of sustainable development in the construction sector, building design methods should practise material conservation and adopt carbon reduction measures to alleviate the current environmental burden through the implementation of a circular economy approach. Volu...

The concept of Digital Literacy emerged in response to the internet and its groundbreaking impact. It is foreseeable that Generative AI tools will have a similarly profound impact on the AEC sector. As researchers and educators, it is our responsibility to introduce students to how these rapidly evolving tools work. Moreover, we need to enable them...

With the aim of contributing to a higher degree of circularity in the building construction sector, and a more efficient use of resources, the here presented research explores the potential of upcycling scrap wood into hypar-shaped modular construction components, to be used as basic units in reusable and reconfigurable construction systems. The wo...

Using hardwood nails in timber construction could help reduce the amount of metal fasteners, the production of which is relatively energy intensive. Moreover, metallic fasteners are difficult to remove and reclaim at the end of a building’s service life: not only is their recycling challenging, but their presence also complicates the reuse and down...

As part of the green transition, a current trend in the construction sector is to utilize more wood and lightweight composites, aiming at a reduction of the embodied energy in buildings. At the same time, with a focus on circularity and reuse, large-span structures are preferable, since they provide more flexibility for future uses of the building....

With the construction sector being responsible for about 40% of the energy and material use, the sector has a great responsibility for lowering consumption if we are to succeed in our global pursuit for the green transition. However, buildings must still comply with the demands of users. For long-span, open-space light-weight, multi-storey building...

CNC machining and other means of automation have been available to the woodworking industry since the 1970s. The potential of industrial robots in building construction is being investigated since about 15 years. Contemporary wood processing technology and the digital chain have enabled buildings with challenging geometrical properties. Driven by t...

Increasing the use of timber can help to reduce the environmental impact of the building construction sector. Preconditions for this are short routes of transport and certified sustainable forest management. For a truly sustainable use of timber, it is equally important to extend the service life of wooden components as much as possible, for exampl...

Highly optimised processing workflows characterise today’s wood industry. The gained efficiency is mainly directed towards making standardised linear materials that fulfil the market’s expectation of a continuous flow of identical products with certain constant specifications. The research presented here seeks to question these limitations and prov...

The capacity of ruled surface structures for merging load-bearing and stabilizing functionalities with architectural qualities becomes evident in numerous built examples. Depending on the construction method and the material used, they can consist of discrete, similar, and sometimes even identical elements. This could contribute to the reusability...

Interlocking Particle Structures (IPS) are geometrically stable assemblies, usually fabricated from plate type elements that are interconnected by slotted joints. IPS are demountable and their components have the potential to be used and reused in different structures and configurations. This paper explores the applicability of birch plywood panels...

Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) has been widely adopted to identify the Global Warming Potential (GWP) in the construction industry and determine its high environmental impact through Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions, energy and resource consumptions. The consideration of LCA in the early stages of design is becoming increasingly important as a means to...

In the early design phases, Life Cycle Assessment can assist project stakeholders in making informed decisions on choosing structural systems and materials with an awareness of environmental sustainability through their embodied carbon content; yet embodied carbon is difficult to quantify without detailed design information in the early design stag...

Applying circular economy principles in the building sector is vital in reducing environmental impacts and eliminating waste with significant economic benefits. Besides recyclability, designing a building that embodies the circular economy paradigm such as: modularity, adaptability, flexibility, and design for deconstruction or disassembly also pro...

The research project "Next Generation Residential High-Rise" aims at reducing the environmental impact of future housing developments in high-density urban environments. The main goal of the research is the development of a software tool that evaluates the consequences of early and intermediate design decisions for the Global Warming Potential (GWP...

Conceptual and environmental challenges, coupled with a heightened systemic and contextual awareness in architectural research and design, have initiated new ways of thinking about wood and wooden architecture, shifting the focus on adaptability, scalability, and material efficiency. This book brings together a collection of recently built examples...

This paper describes the design, fabrication and assembly process of a medium scale demonstrator that was developed in the framework of the authors' research on Interlocking Particle Structures (IPS). The demonstrator not only served as proof of concept, but also as an exhibition booth during the 2017 Aalto Festival in Espoo, Finland. In addition t...

Timberfabric structures, developed at IBOIS, are a new family of timber constructions based on the logic and principles of man-made fabrics. Modular elements called “timberfabric modules” are generated by curving and connecting two thin wooden panels. This paper concerns the study of vaults obtained by assembling together several timberfabric modul...

Mit „Form“ beschäftigen sich ganz unterschiedliche Disziplinen wie Literatur- und Sprachwissenschaften, Philosophie oder Biologie. Der Begriff steht dabei nicht nur für die Form eines Gegenstandes. In der Architektur bezeichnet Form vor allem die räumliche und strukturelle Qualität und ist damit ein zentraler Forschungsgegenstand. Die vorliegende U...

This research explores first the interplay between assembly processes and the properties of the components involved and secondly the potential of this interplay as a generative factor in architectural and structural design. More specifically, it examines how principles of textile assembly techniques, in combination with elastically deformable timbe...

The present work investigates an innovative class of timber structure with potential applications in roofing, facade and bridge construction, called Timberfabric. The development of Timberfabric structures originates from the approach of harnessing the structural, modular and qualities of textiles in timber construction (Weinand and Hudert, 2010) [...

The research project “Structural Timber Fabric: Applying Textile Principles on Building Scale” follows an innovative and experimental approach to develop novel lightweight timber structures. It examines structural and aesthetic qualities of textiles and textile techniques to assess their potential for large-scale application. From a structural-engi...

Textiles are interesting from both a structural and an architectural point of view. Their patterns and textures, created by the interworking of yarn elements, are not only highly appealing on an aesthetical level, they also possess load bearing qualities. The research project “Structural Timber Fabric: Applying Textile Principles on Building Scale”...

Practical and material orientated academic research has become increasingly important for architectural practice, due to several factors. First, it contributes to contemporary concepts in architecture and improves their implementation. Today’s architects are looking for a deeper understanding of technical and technological questions related to arch...

Das am IBOIS, dem Institut für Holzkonstruktionen der EPF Lausanne, an - gesiedelte Forschungsvorhaben «Tragendes Holzgewebe: Die Anwendung textiler Prinzipien im baulichen Massstab » untersucht neuartige Holzkonstruktionen, die auf der Logik und den Prinzipien textiler Techniken basieren. Durch Anwenden dieser Techniken im grossen Massstab können...