Data and Information Management

Research in this area focuses on the management of data and information in the lifecycle phases of  buildings or infrastructure. To optimize the availability, accessibility, and quality of data for planning, construction, and operation, data-centric approaches such as graph-based modeling technologies, Semantic Web, Building Information Modeling, blockchain-based Smart Contracts, and Digital Twins are employed.

Artificial Intelligence

This research area aims to make the construction industry more efficient by automating complex processes. To achieve this, state-of-the-art methods from the field of artificial intelligence are applied to extract relevant information from visual data sources such as images, videos, and drawings. In addition, text recognition and analysis methods are explored to classify and interpret unstructured text documents

Sustainability

The "Sustainability and Circularity" research group develops digital methods and software tools to promote the circular economy and resource efficiency in the construction industry. The focus is on waste avoidance, reuse and recycling across the entire life cycle of buildings - from planning (early design stages) to dismantling (end of life). Data rooms and digital twins are used to collect information on materials and components in order to support design for reuse and sustainable processes in civil engineering.

Sensoring and Visualization

Civil engineering has long been a field where visual data plays a central role. In the chair, we focus on how visual and geometric data can be gathered, processed, and displayed. Active research is conducted in the fields of augmented and virtual reality, robotics, and laser scanning.