Development of Recyclable Bamboo Fiber Composites Using Bio-Based Binders and Advanced Processing Technologies
BAMFIB develops next-generation bamboo fiber composites using bio-based binders—including, but not limited to, mycelium and chitosan—as sustainable alternatives to conventional materials. The project combines material development, process engineering, and circular design to enable recyclable, low-emission composites for construction and industrial applications. Bamboo fibers are optimized and combined with novel binders, while the manufacturing process is adapted using fiber injection molding (FIM). Mechanical performance, durability, and environmental impact are evaluated to ensure technical feasibility and scalability.
Engineered bamboo composite. ©FCL Singapore ETH Center
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK, Germany), Enterprise Singapore (EnterpriseSG) |
| Programs: | Central Innovation Program for SMEs (ZIM), Enterprise Development Grant – Co-Innovation Program (EDG CIP) |
| Total budget: | €600,000 |
| Grant amount: | €220,000 |
| KIT’s role: | Project partner |
| Project duration: | 2026–2028 |
| KIT researchers: | Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Elena Boerman – Chair of Sustainable Construction |
Project partners
KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Fiber Engineering GmbH (Germany), Widuz Pte Ltd (Singapore).
Reshaping Education for a Social and Sustainable Habitat
The primary goal of RE-HAB is to equip young future professionals in the European habitat sector with skills in circular economy principles and social innovation. The project aims to bridge the environmental and social skills gap by providing accessible training resources, empowering the next generation of workers to lead the transition toward Society 5.0.
Facts
| Funder: | European Union |
| Program: | Strategic Partnerships |
| Total budget: | €250,000 |
| Grant amount: | €63,515 |
| KIT's role: | Project coordinator |
| Project duration: | 2025–2027 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Volker Koch, Hedieh Ataollahi – Chair of Building Lifecycle Management |
Project partners
Centro Tecnológico del Mueble Y la Madera (Spain), SHINE2Europe (Portugal), FUNDACJA PARASOL (Poland), Kulturstiftung 1984 (Cyprus).
Country to City Bridge
C2C Bridge aims to explore possibilities for attractive alternatives to the private car as a means of commuter transportation through a personalized public transit service. One component of the solution is autonomous vehicle concepts designed as on-demand transportation that can accommodate four people and their luggage. They take users to their destination after a maximum of one transfer at mobility hubs or allow them to switch to other modes of transportation there. The mobility hubs are designed to make transfers as comfortable as possible. Research is underway to determine how to design an optimal combination of the new transportation service and traditional public transit, as well as the transitions between them.
Visualization. ©HKA
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV, Germany) |
| Program: | German Center for Mobility of the Future (DZM) |
| Total budget: | €12,700,000 |
| KIT’s role: | Project Manager |
| Project duration: | 2024–2027 |
| KIT researchers: | Chair of Building Construction and Design, Chair of Structural Design, AIFB, ECON, FAST, IFGG, IFL, IFV, IIP, IOR, IPEK, ITAS, ITI, ITIV, KASTEL, LTI |
Project partners
Institutes of the Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research (ICT, ISI, IOSB), Research Center for Information Technology (FZI), Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences – Technology and Economics (HKA), Baden-Württemberg Institute for Sustainable Mobility (BWIM), Albtal-Verkehrs-Gesellschaft mbH (AVG).
Sustainable and Integrated People-Centric Solutions for Building Decarbonization and Circularity
SIRCULAR is committed to creating digital tools, technological solutions, and services to drive the decarbonization of the built environment. The project aims to develop a methodology for assessing the circularity of buildings, which will evaluate the impact of new construction technologies in demonstration projects. These solutions will be accessible to both non-experts and construction professionals, making it easier to access information on decarbonization and tools to improve circularity.
Facts
| Funder: | European Union |
| Program: | Horizon Europe (Call: HORIZON-CL5-2023-D4-02-03) |
| Total budget: | Approx. €7,000,000 |
| Grant amount: | Approx. €6,000,000 (EU contribution) |
| KIT’s role: | Project partner |
| Project duration: | 2024–2027 |
| KIT researchers: | Prof. Andrea Klinge, Felix Dingeldein, Natascha Steiner – Chair of Construction and Design |
Project partners
A consortium of 22 partners from six European countries, coordinated by RINA-C, including universities, SMEs, NGOs, and industry partners such as CERTH, CARTIF, ICLEI, Steinbeis Europa Zentrum, ITeC, UPC, TalTech, KIT, ZRS Architekten, Hormipresa, Balti Vara, GNE Finance, ICP, Rimond, and STRESS.
Assessment of Subjective Road Safety and Its Consideration in Road Safety Practice
Current road safety practice relies on objective indicators such as accident statistics, while subjective safety—users’ personal sense of safety—is rarely taken into account. Yet objective and subjective safety interact in complex, nonlinear ways; some users feel unsafe even when accident rates decline. This project analyzes subjective safety across user groups and develops a repeatable method to measure it. Following a literature review, two surveys—a GIS questionnaire and a stated-preference questionnaire—will identify situations perceived as safe or unsafe. Findings will be validated using physiological stress data to locate risk hotspots and test design measures that improve perceived safety for each user type. The results will yield a methodology for integrating subjective safety into the ISSI infrastructure safety tools, in partnership with IRAP and OST Eastern Switzerland University of Applied Sciences.
Stress measurements among various road users (car, bicycle, pedestrian) in Zurich.
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Roads Office, Bern, Switzerland |
| Program: | MFZ_03 – The Transportation Infrastructure Needs of Different Groups of People |
| Total budget: | Approx. €360,000 |
| Grant amount: | €99,000 |
| KIT’s role: | Project contractor |
| Project duration: | 2024–2027 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Peter Zeile – Chair of Urban Housing and Development |
Project partners
University of Applied Sciences Eastern Switzerland (OST).
The Architecture of Bathing
The architecture of bathing has played a central role in many cultures around the world, from Aztec temazcales and Jewish mikvot to gay saunas and Olympic pools. Communal bathing fosters social bonds and interaction between different groups; however, it can often exclude women, the poor, people with disabilities, and people of color. And today, social bathing is under threat around the world due to reduced public funding, the energy crisis, and declining use. This monograph traces the history of social bathing in seven chapters covering the following themes: spirituality, health, sports, leisure, race, gender, and sexuality. Each chapter includes inspiring counterexamples that promote integration and buck the trend of decline.
Pacaembu Stadium Swimming Pool, São Paulo, 2025. ©Tom Wilkinson
Facts
| Project duration: | 2023–2026 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Tom Wilkinson – Chair of Theory of Architecture |
Obsolescence and Reuse in Classical Modernism
Architectural modernism is frequently criticized for contributing to the ecological crisis (and often with good reason); however, several pioneering modernists were in fact deeply concerned with issues of waste and obsolescence in a spatial context. Drawing on insights from human geography, art history, and urban studies, this monographic prehistory of our present catastrophe includes chapters on Benjamin’s concept of the architecturally obsolete, Schwitters’ use of waste materials, Sohn-Rethel’s work on “kaputt” technology in Naples, and—referring to Zygmunt Bauman’s notion of modernity’s “wasted lives”—the place of servants within the modernist home.
VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn (2024). ©Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Photo: Tim Nighswander/Imaging4Art
Facts
| Project duration: | 2023–2026 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Thomas Wilkinson – Chair of Theory of Architecture |
Emotion Perception for (E-)Bicycle Safety and Riding Comfort
The ESSEM project investigates how emotional sensing technologies can improve safety and comfort in (e-)cycling. By collecting biostatistical data such as heart rate, skin conductance, and temperature via wearable devices, researchers identify moments of stress experienced by cyclists in urban environments. These data are combined with contextual factors such as infrastructure quality, traffic conditions, and environmental influences. Advanced analytical methods, including neural networks, enable the detection of patterns linking stress to specific situations. The findings support evidence-based improvements in cycling infrastructure, routing solutions, and mobility planning, contributing to safer, more attractive, and sustainable urban transportation systems.
Road network and detected moments of stress in Osnabrück.
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV, Germany) |
| Program: | mFUND – Future Mobility |
| Total budget: | Approx. €2,000,000 |
| Grant amount: | Approx. €365,000 |
| KIT’s role: | Project partner |
| Project duration: | 2022–2025 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Peter Zeile, Dr. Nina Haug, Céline Schmidt-Hamburger – Chair of Urban Housing and Development |
Project partners
University of Stuttgart, Paris Lodron University of Salzburg, City of Osnabrück, Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club e. V. Berlin, OutdoorActive GmbH Immenstadt.
Wood–Mycelium Composite Construction for CO₂-Neutral and Circular Interior Systems
The HOME project is developing a wood–mycelium composite construction system for CO₂-neutral and circular interior applications, particularly for office spaces and building renovations. It combines additive manufacturing of timber lattice structures with fungal mycelium as a natural binder to create lightweight, sound-absorbing biocomposites. Mechanical, acoustic, and durability properties are experimentally characterized and supported by simulation and parametric design tools. The project also evaluates life-cycle performance and develops circular value chains, demonstrating the feasibility of scalable, low-carbon interior building systems.
Mycelium-grown composite prototype on a 3D wood lattice structure. ©Experimental and Digital Design, University of Kassel
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs, and Spatial Development (BBSR, Germany) |
| Program: | Zukunft Bau – Innovation Program |
| Total budget: | €520,000 |
| Grant amount: | €220,000 |
| KIT’s role: | Project partner |
| Project duration: | 2021–2023 |
| KIT researchers: | Prof. Dirk E. Hebel, Dr. Nazanin Saeidi, Dr. Alireza Javadian – Chair of Sustainable Construction |
Project partners
University of Kassel (Project Lead), KIT Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, ARUP Germany.
Cyclists and Pedestrians on Real and Virtual Shared Roads
Urban transportation spaces are dynamic and shaped by competing interests, making planning complex. This project develops a simulation-based planning and decision-support tool to improve urban mobility design. Travel mode choice depends not only on cost and time but also on perceived comfort and stress, with conflicts discouraging walking and cycling. Due to limited accident data, many hazardous locations remain undetected. The project combines machine learning and human sensor data to identify critical situations and tests future infrastructure scenarios in virtual reality and Living Labs, enabling better design of intersections and shared spaces to enhance safety and the user experience.
Facts
| Funder: | Federal Ministry of Transport (BMV, Germany) |
| Program: | National Cycling Plan 3.0 |
| Total budget: | €669,000 |
| Grant amount: | €321,400 |
| KIT's role: | Project partner |
| Project duration: | 2020–2024 |
| KIT researchers: | Dr. Peter Zeile, Céline Schmidt-Hamburger – Chair of Urban Housing and Development |
Project partners
High-Performance Computing Center Stuttgart (HLRS).
Space Taken: Informality, Emancipation, and the Right to the City in Post-Socialist Tbilisi
This research analyzes informal spatial practices in Gldani, a major post-Soviet housing estate in Tbilisi, Georgia. It explores how the collapse of socialist planning led to widespread DIY architectural modifications, including balcony extensions, self-built structures, and unauthorized occupations. Rather than viewing these as urban disorder, the study frames them as expressions of spatial self-determination. Drawing on Lefebvre’s “right to the city” and theories of informality, it documents architectural typologies that emerged from crisis, presenting informality as a means of emancipation and survival during post-socialist urban transformation.
Facts
| KIT researchers: | Tinatin Gurgenidze – Chair of Theory of Architecture |