Resiliente environments

The Residential Heritage in Times of Multiple Crises

The research project aims to integrate approaches to sustainability and resilience in addressing the residential architectural heritage from the Soviet era, aiming to generate foundational knowledge and develop specific recommendations for resilient and sustainable urban development in cities across Ukraine, the Caucasus, and the Baltic region.

The KIT subproject is focusing on aspects of migration and the need for housing provision, as well as climate adaptation and climate protection. The work builds on the results of the first phase of research, in which the sub-project analysed morphological and typological transformation processes of the residential heritage from the 19th and 20th centuries, identifying significant risks as well as potentials.

Project partners

RWTH Aachen, GWZO Leipzig.

Project website

Advancing Sustainable Building Practices in Europe

The Horizon Europe project INBUILT promotes circular construction by integrating digitalisation and the reuse of locally sourced materials. It develops prefabricated wall elements made from reclaimed wood and biogenic materials. The project addresses barriers such as contaminants and metal impurities, and establishes on-site testing and grading processes for recovered timber. Reversible design enables repair, reuse and long-term carbon storage, extending timber lifecycles by up to 200 years.

Project partners

Consortium of 16 partners, including: Université Côte d’Azur (coordinator), CEA, University of Stuttgart, KIT, Leipfinger-Bader GmbH, ITeC, Indresmat, Heinrich Feess GmbH & Co. KG, Baltifloc SIA, Filiater, Greenovate! Europe, Biofab Zero, Lux Façade Engineering, Eskilara, Terrasense.

Project website

Sustainable and integrated people centric solutions for building decarbonisation and circularity

SIRCULAR is committed to creating digital tools, technological solutions, and services to drive the decarbonisation 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, allowing for easier access to information on decarbonisation and tools to improve circularity.

Project partners

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.

Project website

Living Labs Socialist City

The core question dealt with by the project is how the existing living space in large housing estates in former Socialist and post-Soviet cities can be secured for the future and further developed in a sustainable manner. The aim is to map out the spatial qualities and deficits of the housing estates – in terms of both the living space and the residential environment – in order to develop recommendations for action on this basis. The results will be guidelines for the further development of the existing housing stock- In addition to the concepts for the concrete case studies, generally valid planning approaches shall be worked out.

Project partners

Ilia State University (Prof. Dr. Ia Kupatadze, Dr. Nano Zazanashvili, Odessa State Academy of Civil Engineering and Architecture (Prof. Dr. Olga Savytska, Dr. Nadiia Dmytrik).

Project website