NAT-BUILD · Mimicking nature to valorise earth as a building resource

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners. CORDIS does not always give exact coordinates for projects before 2014. These points are placed at city or country level.

Project objective

The earth below our feet may be the solution to decarbonise the building sector. This idea underpins the NAT-BUILD project, whose goal is to devise nature-inspired earth-based technologies to minimise the environmental impact of dwellings throughout their life cycle from construction to operation and end-of-life. Earth-based building technologies can reduce (i) depletion of raw natural resources, (ii) embodied energy for manufacture and transportation of materials, (iii) operational energy for indoor air conditioning and (iv) end-of life energy for disposal of demolition waste. In changing climatic environments, the adaptive water storage capacity of earth can also be exploited to design flexible green roofs and urban drainage systems. Despite their potential, earth technologies are not widely used in mainstream construction because of mechanical and durability concerns and because of the lack of robust methodologies for quantifying natural resources and carbon savings. NAT-BUILD will overcome these technical barriers and unlock the transformative potential of earth-based technologies as a sustainable building asset. This will be achieved through a nature-mimicking approach, combining experimental, numerical and analytical techniques in a multidisciplinary and intersectoral environment. As sustainable building practices gain momentum across Europe, there is a pressing demand for skilled professionals capable of addressing future challenges in civil engineering. To meet this need, NAT-BUILD will train a cohort of 15 Doctoral Candidates (DCs), each enrolled in a 3-year doctoral programme. The research work is divided into 15 interlinked activities corresponding to the PhD projects of each DC. The DCs will acquire a wide portfolio of skills, including research, transferable, innovation, outreach and inclusivity skills, through a unique integrated training programme.

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI GENOVA · GENOVACoordinatorItaly
• ASSOCIAZIONE FESTIVAL DELLA SCIENZA · GENOVAItaly
• CENTRE INTERNACIONAL DE METODES NUMERICS EN ENGINYERIA · BarcelonaSpain
• ED. ZUBLIN AG · StuttgartGermany
• GLATT INGENIEURTECHNIK GESELLSCHAFT MIT BESCHRANKTER HAFTUNG · WeimarGermany
• HARPO S.P.A. · TriesteCity levelItaly
• HYPERION ROBOTICS OY · EspooFinland
• IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE · LondonUnited Kingdom
• INSTITUT MINES-TELECOM · PalaiseauFrance
• ISTITUTO SUPERIORE PER LA PROTEZIONE E LA RICERCA AMBIENTALE · ROMAItaly
• KARLSRUHER INSTITUT FUER TECHNOLOGIE · KarlsruheGermany
• MARIE CURIE ALUMNI ASSOCIATION · Bruxelles / BrusselBelgium
• MONTANUNIVERSITAET LEOBEN · LeobenAustria
• NOBATEK · AngletFrance
• NOVOBIOM · LIEGEBelgium
• SPHERA ENCAPSULATION SRL · Villafranca Di Verona DossobuonoItaly
• UNIVERSITA DEGLI STUDI DI PERUGIA · PerugiaItaly
• UNIVERSITAT POLITECNICA DE CATALUNYA · BARCELONASpain
• UNIVERSITY OF STRATHCLYDE · GlasgowUnited Kingdom
• UNIVERZA ALMA MATER EUROPAEA, MARIBOR · MariborSlovenia

Links

• View on CORDIS
• DOI: 10.3030/101311587