Job Details: Objectives framework to design and manufacture modular systems residential building


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Objectives framework to design and manufacture modular systems residential building
Position: A multiple-objectives framework to design and manufacture
modular systems for residential building...

INTRODUCTION

A large issue regarding the building sector in delivering the required
Climate Change impacts is the slow uptake of solutions already made
available due to a lack of knowledge of industry capabilities, skills
and knowledge to holistically integrate appropriate technologies, with
still a fragmented approach to building development projects. Tackling
these issues in the context of residential building retrofits, this
project will develop a framework to extract the minimum and desired 1)
modules characteristics to achieve the multiple-objectives of
refurbishment, and 2) characteristics of the technologies to composed
such modules. Facilitating communication between manufacturers and
architects, this innovation will accelerate the development of modules
and deep energy retrofit projects.

BACKGROUND

Given that existing buildings constitute most of the building stock
responsible for **Apply on the website**% of energy use, building
energy performance is essential to reduce carbon emissions in the EU.
In Europe, energy renovation constitutes **Apply on the website**% of
the construction market and growing. Building facades have a primarily
goal of lowering energy in a building use but also is an opportunity
to improve the visual, thermal, air-quality and comfort provided to
the occupants. In recent years, a wide variety of strategies for
building facades has been proposed including the use of prefabricated
modules to provide sustainable, cost-efficient solutions European
projects such as INSPIRE, RETROKIT, RENOZEB and Drive-0). BARRIERS
HAVE NOT YET PROPERLY ADDRESSED TO-DATE . These include,
* FINANCE AND VALUE . New building projects hesitate on going beyond
the minimum building energy requirements and owners of buildings that
should be refurbished hesitate to make any upgrade effort due to
initial cost, even with the knowledge of savings and payback time.
* INDUSTRIALISATION IS COMPLICATED . The various forms and functions
of building fa?ade together with technical constraints make
industrialization difficult. Prefabricated, modular,
?plug-and-play? fa?ade solutions must be customizable to the
requirements of projects.
* LOW SATISFACTION FROM BUILDING OCCUPANTS . Buildings are not
sufficiently adapted and/or pre-purposed to end-user needs. Innovative
features require behavioural changes by occupants. The ignorance of
the features and the lack of information on building performances
often lead to user dissatisfaction.

SCOPE

The project will develop a decision support framework for the
selection and development of modular fa?ade solutions based on Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost Assessments (LCC),
environmental impacts, consequences (structural, hydro-thermal) on
building integration, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), comfort and
health. The framework shall consider embodied energy; reuse,
reduction, recycling and losses of resources (material, component,
equipment); performance of modules (thermal, lighting, air-quality,
acoustic, electrical and thermal energy generation and storage);
performance to the occupant (including air temperature, air-quality,
acoustic and lighting); smart monitoring and control strategy; and
costs including manufacturing, installation, operation and
maintenance. The parametric (multiple-objectives) decision support
framework will guide the development of retrofit solutions customised
to the needs, requirements and affordability by the end users.

The key innovations to be researched are:
* A framework exploiting models (covering multiple-objectives?
aspects and their accessibility from mainstream BIM platforms) to
influence the conceptual designs of pre-fabricated modules with their
minimum and desired performances. This framework shall provide a
systematic time- and cost-efficient approach to designing and
manufacturing modules;
* A business model that does not encumber the use of the framework
for the upscaling by building professionals

RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED
* What are the design requirements of prefabricated building modules
and their integrated technologies to make Near-Zero Energy Building
(NZEB) and Energy Positive (EP) building project affordable, realistic
and replicable?
* What information need to be provided 1) to technology
manufacturers and suppliers to meet design options, and 2) to users
for them to understand and efficiently used features provided by
modules?
* What business strategies and professional practices need
improvements to Globally upscale the penetration of NZEB and EP
projects?

METHODOLOGY (INDICATIVE APPROACH)
* Survey multiple-objectives models and BIM platforms exploiting them
* Consult modular fa?ade manufacturers, building constructors,
technology manufacturers and architectural building designers to i) to
define current practices, ii) identify skills and knowledge gaps.
Relationship with these stakeholders are already existing.
* Develop a framework influencing the design and manufacturing of
modules to match minimum and desired retrofit objectives.
* Identify potential key barriers to the upscaling of such framework
and initiate a flexible business model.

PROSPECTIVE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE INVOLVED

1. Sound understanding of the built environment

2. Understanding of principles of building physics

3. Data analysis methods and principles:
* Computational skills such as Python, R, and Matlab
* Multi-optimisation applications in the built environment using
BIM, IoT and methodologies potentially including Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networks and
Evolutionary Algorithms.

4. Environmental and Economic analysis

FINANCE AND SUPERVISION:

This full-time PhD is financed by MaREI, the SFI Centre for Energy,
Climate and Marine under the ERBE CDT Programme. Supervising
institutions are the Technological University Dublin (Ireland) and
University College London (UK).

Funding category: Contrat doctoral

?**Apply on the website**,**Apply on the website** per year (Tax
free) for 4 years (Total ?**Apply on the website**,**Apply on the
website**). Fees covered and approximately **Apply on the
website**k? covering equipment, materials, travels and trainings.

PHD Country: Irlande

Position: A multiple-objectives framework to design and manufacture
modular systems for residential building...

INTRODUCTION

A large issue regarding the building sector in delivering the required
Climate Change impacts is the slow uptake of solutions already made
available due to a lack of knowledge of industry capabilities, skills
and knowledge to holistically integrate appropriate technologies, with
still a fragmented approach to building development projects. Tackling
these issues in the context of residential building retrofits, this
project will develop a framework to extract the minimum and desired 1)
modules characteristics to achieve the multiple-objectives of
refurbishment, and 2) characteristics of the technologies to composed
such modules. Facilitating communication between manufacturers and
architects, this innovation will accelerate the development of modules
and deep energy retrofit projects.

BACKGROUND

Given that existing buildings constitute most of the building stock
responsible for **Apply on the website**% of energy use, building
energy performance is essential to reduce carbon emissions in the EU.
In Europe, energy renovation constitutes **Apply on the website**% of
the construction market and growing. Building facades have a primarily
goal of lowering energy in a building use but also is an opportunity
to improve the visual, thermal, air-quality and comfort provided to
the occupants. In recent years, a wide variety of strategies for
building facades has been proposed including the use of prefabricated
modules to provide sustainable, cost-efficient solutions European
projects such as INSPIRE, RETROKIT, RENOZEB and Drive-0). BARRIERS
HAVE NOT YET PROPERLY ADDRESSED TO-DATE . These include,
* FINANCE AND VALUE . New building projects hesitate on going beyond
the minimum building energy requirements and owners of buildings that
should be refurbished hesitate to make any upgrade effort due to
initial cost, even with the knowledge of savings and payback time.
* INDUSTRIALISATION IS COMPLICATED . The various forms and functions
of building fa?ade together with technical constraints make
industrialization difficult. Prefabricated, modular,
?plug-and-play? fa?ade solutions must be customizable to the
requirements of projects.
* LOW SATISFACTION FROM BUILDING OCCUPANTS . Buildings are not
sufficiently adapted and/or pre-purposed to end-user needs. Innovative
features require behavioural changes by occupants. The ignorance of
the features and the lack of information on building performances
often lead to user dissatisfaction.

SCOPE

The project will develop a decision support framework for the
selection and development of modular fa?ade solutions based on Life
Cycle Assessment (LCA), Life Cycle Cost Assessments (LCC),
environmental impacts, consequences (structural, hydro-thermal) on
building integration, Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), comfort and
health. The framework shall consider embodied energy; reuse,
reduction, recycling and losses of resources (material, component,
equipment); performance of modules (thermal, lighting, air-quality,
acoustic, electrical and thermal energy generation and storage);
performance to the occupant (including air temperature, air-quality,
acoustic and lighting); smart monitoring and control strategy; and
costs including manufacturing, installation, operation and
maintenance. The parametric (multiple-objectives) decision support
framework will guide the development of retrofit solutions customised
to the needs, requirements and affordability by the end users.

The key innovations to be researched are:
* A framework exploiting models (covering multiple-objectives?
aspects and their accessibility from mainstream BIM platforms) to
influence the conceptual designs of pre-fabricated modules with their
minimum and desired performances. This framework shall provide a
systematic time- and cost-efficient approach to designing and
manufacturing modules;
* A business model that does not encumber the use of the framework
for the upscaling by building professionals

RESEARCH QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED
* What are the design requirements of prefabricated building modules
and their integrated technologies to make Near-Zero Energy Building
(NZEB) and Energy Positive (EP) building project affordable, realistic
and replicable?
* What information need to be provided 1) to technology
manufacturers and suppliers to meet design options, and 2) to users
for them to understand and efficiently used features provided by
modules?
* What business strategies and professional practices need
improvements to Globally upscale the penetration of NZEB and EP
projects?

METHODOLOGY (INDICATIVE APPROACH)
* Survey multiple-objectives models and BIM platforms exploiting them
* Consult modular fa?ade manufacturers, building constructors,
technology manufacturers and architectural building designers to i) to
define current practices, ii) identify skills and knowledge gaps.
Relationship with these stakeholders are already existing.
* Develop a framework influencing the design and manufacturing of
modules to match minimum and desired retrofit objectives.
* Identify potential key barriers to the upscaling of such framework
and initiate a flexible business model.

PROSPECTIVE SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE INVOLVED

1. Sound understanding of the built environment

2. Understanding of principles of building physics

3. Data analysis methods and principles:
* Computational skills such as Python, R, and Matlab
* Multi-optimisation applications in the built environment using
BIM, IoT and methodologies potentially including Artificial
Intelligence, Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Neural Networks and
Evolutionary Algorithms.

4. Environmental and Economic analysis

FINANCE AND SUPERVISION:

This full-time PhD is financed by MaREI, the SFI Centre for Energy,
Climate and Marine under the ERBE CDT Programme. Supervising
institutions are the Technological University Dublin (Ireland) and
University College London (UK).

Funding category: Contrat doctoral

?**Apply on the website**,**Apply on the website** per year (Tax
free) for 4 years (Total ?**Apply on the website**,**Apply on the
website**). Fees covered and approximately **Apply on the
website**k? covering equipment, materials, travels and trainings.

PHD Country: Irlande



We need : English (Good)

Type: Permanent
Payment:
Category: Others

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