This thesis explores the application of swarm robotics in addressing construction sites' dynamic and complex challenges by using them as material handling units. Despite significant technological advances, the construction industry continues to face substantial challenges related to the human workforce, including skilled labor shortages, high safety risks, and inefficient communication, all of which impede productivity and safety. Swarm robotics, inspired by the decentralized behaviors of social insects, offers a promising solution to these issues by enabling distributed task management and enhanced flexibility and robustness in dynamic environments.

The research specifically investigates the implementation of swarm robotics as an adaptive on-site logistics system for dynamic construction sites. Using Ant Colony Optimization, a path-planning swarm intelligence-based algorithm derived from the foraging behavior of ants, this study examines the algorithm’s applicability for enhancing material handling within the unpredictable conditions of construction sites. The study includes the development of an architectural scenario for a virtual simulation environment and practical experiments on two different architectural scenarios to evaluate the effectiveness of swarm robotics in real construction scenarios.

This study demonstrates the advantages of decentralized control in swarm robotics for enhancing operational efficiency, reducing safety risks, and improving communication on construction sites. The outcomes include the development of a Design-to-Construction workflow using a scalable and resilient construction logistics system that takes advantage of the unique capabilities of swarm robotics. This outcome has the potential to revolutionize construction practices through the integration of advanced robotic technologies and decentralized management systems.

Additionally, virtual experiments as part of the workflow indicate that achieving optimal values for parameters in the simulation, such as the required number of robots and pheromone evaporation rate, is highly scenario-dependent. This conclusion highlights the necessity of using the developed workflow that enables designers and construction groups to create their desired architectural layouts, simulate their construction process, and optimize them for further construction using swarm robots, effectively bridging the gap from initial design to final construction.

In times where the global housing crisis needs innovative construction methods, 3D printing in concrete arises as a suitable option. Identified as an efficient solution that minimizes construction waste, reduces labor and material costs, and prevents construction errors and cost overruns. This research explores the potential of concrete, an accessible and costeffective material, in 3D printed housing projects. The research emphasizes the importance of modular design for efficient construction and user customization by involving the Kit-of-Parts methodology, creating modular components for easy assembly, enhances design efficiency, cost savings, and flexibility. The thesis explores the integration of complex geometries and non-traditional forms to maximize structural integrity and aesthetic appeal. Experimentation with different material properties and construction techniques is conducted to optimize the 3D printing process for housing applications. A key aspect of the research is the integration of user customization in social housing design, aiming to improve living quality by allowing users to influence the architectural layout according to their needs. The study includes designing housing units with interchangeable components and exploring different building iterations and their structural viability. The thesis concludes by demonstrating the practical application of the proposed concepts through physical prototypes, highlighting the potential of 3D printing in revolutionizing the construction industry, particularly in addressing the affordable housing crisis.

This thesis investigates the integration of intelligent swarm robots as wall systems in the creation of automated architectural layouts tailored to user preferences, with a specific emphasis on ensuring spatial flexibility. The research seeks to address the challenges associated with accommodating swarm robots to create flexible architectural layouts while harnessing the adaptability and collective intelligence of swarm robotics. The study aims to contribute to the evolving field of user-centric architecture by exploring novel ways in which swarm robots can dynamically shape and customize spatial configurations to enhance comfort, user participation, and satisfaction.
The research methodology involves the development of a framework that combines principles of swarm intelligence, user-centric design, and flexible architecture. By leveraging swarm algorithms and self-organizing strategies, the swarm robots will be configured to respond to users’ preferences and needs and the evolving nature architectural space.

Key Words: Swarm Robotics, Autonomous Architectural Layouts, Responsive Architecture, User-Centric, Swarm Intelligence Algorithms, Spatial Flexibility

Improved productivity and a higher level of sustainability are modern day challenges faced by the building industry that are currently being and could further be solved by a higher degree of automation. Freeform architecture is still in its infancy but the demand for it is growing. Reusable building elements are a rarity in freeforms. This thesis aims for the implementation of a new node and beam system for increased reusability and for more automation in the construction of building facades.

This thesis introduces a novel reusable node and beam system for use in the automatic assembly of freeform architecture. By optimising input shapes, applying computational placement of the elements and generating instructions for robotic systems, the building sector can not only improve its productivity and reduce its emissions, it can furthermore revolutionise the stylistic nature of architecture and facilitate the fluid adaptation of new forms and functions.

This thesis investigates the transition of traditional houses into Smart Homes, emphasizing the improvement of residents’ well-being, particularly for those aged 50 to 60. It is set against the rapid growth of Smart Home Devices enabled by the Internet of Things, facilitating easy control and monitoring of home features. There has been a significant increase in the market, with global shipments of such devices rising by 12% in 2021, reflecting a trend towards more connected and automated homes.
Smart Homes are becoming increasingly popular with people spending more time at home and the rise in digitalization. These homes represent technology and address the needs of an aging population, energy efficiency, and personal well-being enhancement. Yet, this shift to digital comes with challenges, including reliance on the internet and potential cybersecurity risks. The dissertation critically reviews these issues and looks at possibilities applied in the Built Environment.
Approaching the integration of Artificial Intelligence in the Built Environment, the study delves into the evolution from Smart Homes to Intelligent Homes. In this transition, AI plays a crucial role in creating environments that are adaptive and capable of making predictions. This shift towards more advanced technology raises important issues regarding privacy, ethical implications, and finding the right balance between convenience and security.
The research is driven by a detailed problem statement emphasizing the urgent need for innovative housing solutions in light of an aging society and healthcare system pressures. The case study developed in this thesis is in the Netherlands, where projections suggest that by 2035, over 24% of the population will be 65 and above. The study aims to transform an existing house into a Smart Home, focusing on improving indoor climate and resident well-being. Recognizing the subjective nature of health and well-being, it notes that the advantages of a Smart Home can differ among individuals. The study is significant for its potential contribution to the development of assistive technologies and services, ultimately seeking to improve life quality and support aging in place for future generations. With a combination of interdisciplinary fields such as Architecture and the Built Environment, design, and Artificial Intelligence, this thesis explored the possibilities for the future by taking a computational approach, including focusing on the indoor environment, comfort, and other things related to the technical aspect of the building.

The construction industry’s impact on carbon emissions, pollution, and resource depletion necessitates innovative approaches to reduce environmental harm. This research explores the use of computational design, digital fabrication, and timber as a renewable material to mitigate the construction industry’s environmental impact. Timber is recognized as a low-carbon solution for affordable housing, offering a means to decrease emissions in building construction.
This study presents an innovative automated construction workflow that involves human-robot collaboration (HRC) for a discretized timber construction system. To demonstrate the capabilities of the system, a housing design is developed for a specific location in Rotterdam. The research considers the site context as a guideline to establish boundary conditions for implementing the developed construction system. It addresses the issue of affordable housing, transcending the chosen site context, as it is a global concern. The design incorporates circularity principles, including modularity, design-for-disassembly, design-for-reuse, reconfigurability, and extension of material lifespan. A combinatorial design workflow is proposed, focusing on the assembly of generic discrete elements into function-based aggregated structures that can be rearranged over time.
In order to prove the concept, an HRC assembly prototype is established to mount the discretized aggregation structure, utilizing demountable connections to join the elements while asking the human participation. This approach enables the reassembly of the structure multiple times, promoting material reuse and extending the structure’s potential.
The research contributes to the advancement of the circular agenda in the building industry by implementing essential digital design and manufacturing concepts into an automated construction process. By extending the material life cycle and carbon store, the proposed workflow demonstrates the potential for sustainable and efficient construction practices in the timber housing sector.

The rapid growth in building stock and the demand for new construction present significant challenges in terms of material scarcity, waste production, and greenhouse gas emissions. To address these challenges, a fundamental shift in the construction industry's approach is needed, viewing waste as a resource through circularity principles. This research focuses on the application of circular principles and resource efficiency in the reuse of structural steel within the European construction industry. However, the utilization of reclaimed steel in construction projects faces significant challenges, including the condition of reclaimed elements, the need for repairs and refurbishment, unclear stakeholder responsibilities, and the absence of contractual frameworks. Communication gaps and coordination complexities further compound these challenges.

Despite these obstacles, the research demonstrates that reclaimed steel can be successfully integrated into projects with proper planning, coordination, and expertise. A comprehensive analysis of existing practices and challenges, interviews with industry professionals, and literature review inform the development of a design framework and a computational tool.

The proposed design workflow incorporates strategies to address the identified challenges and promote efficient steel reuse within the different project phases. Additionally, a computational tool facilitates the integration of reclaimed steel through a digital inventory and matching algorithm. The matching algorithm enables the retrieval of stock information from a digital inventory. A matching algorithm is implemented to compare the list of design elements needed for a project with the available stock list. This tool efficiently identifies possible substitutions, enabling designers and engineers to find suitable reclaimed steel sections for their projects. Lastly, the design workflow and computational tool were successfully tested through a design case study, demonstrating their effectiveness and environmental impact results to allow users to make informed design decisions.

Overall, this thesis project offers valuable insights and practical solutions to advance the implementation of steel reuse in the construction industry, making a significant contribution to the field of sustainable construction.

Architects and urban planners still rely on physical models in the design process, particularly for urban contexts. However, developing such models can be time-consuming and resource-intensive, despite the abundance of digital information available. This study investigates the feasibility of using pin-type models, specifically in the concept and design phase of mass modelling and analysis for urban, rural, and complex building sites. The research uses a combination of literature review, design-based research, and interviews, leading to the discovery of a promising solution. Existing pin-type models in the market or universities either come at a high cost or lack the necessary resolution to generate detailed urban models. However, this study identifies a method that significantly reduces costs while achieving higher pin resolution, although with some compromises in generation time and holding power compared to current models. The innovative rubber layer, also known as the state layer, plays a crucial role in the machine's advancements. This layer enables the machine to keep pins in place at a lower cost but with lower holding power. Additionally, leveraging technology from the 3D printing and CNC manufacturing domains, the machine incorporates multiple individually moving motors that can rapidly set up to 40 pins in one motion, reaching speeds of up to 1200 pins per minute. Making it possible to generate large pin sets in less then an hour, meaning it would be faster than traditional methods like 3D printing or manual foam cutting. Furthermore, the research emphasizes the central role of code in this study. Integrating all the necessary steps into a single code can generate an urban area within minutes. The program facilitates a user-friendly interface for selecting locations, automatically downloading height maps from the AHN (Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland), converting the data into a digital model compatible with the machine, and exporting it as a G-code file. The machine and code also support displaying additional digital information, such as 3D models and images. Combining the improved machine and optimized code demonstrates the potential to create physical urban context models from digital data at a relatively low cost compared to other devices. With working times of minutes instead of hours or even days, compared to traditional model-making methods.
Although this research shows considerable potential, there are several challenges that demand attention and additional investigation. The ultimate determination of whether the final product will require a $10,000 or $20,000 investment hinges upon the availability and cost of visible pins. Moreover, the current conversion of rotation to Bowden cables is suboptimal, and further enhancements are necessary. Additionally, the code could benefit from optimization to ensure compatibility with slower computers, thereby improving its speed and efficiency. Furthermore, the code should be extended to enhance its compatibility with 3D models, and ideally, with BIM models as well. It is essential that the code incorporates a function enabling the combination and selection of data, facilitating the movement of only the necessary sections of the machine. With this research, a solid foundation has been established for further expansion and exploration in this field. The successful development of a working machine code paves the way for practical testing and implementation. Although there are some mentioned additions that could enhance the research, the limitations of time prevented their full exploration in this study. Nonetheless, this research opens up exciting possibilities for future advancements and applications in the field.

The construction industry and the existing building stock are significant contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. To address this environmental challenge, there is a growing interest in using bio-based materials, such as wood, in architecture. Yet, the availability of wood resources is limited.
Bamboo, a non-wood species, holds promise as a potential substitute due to its rapid growth rate. However, its adoption in the construction industry remains limited due to the challenges posed by its hollow tube anatomy and the lack of established building codes for its use.
To overcome these challenges, this study proposes the utilization of bamboo in a powdered and fiber form to create a more versatile and standardized building material.
Additive manufacturing techniques, which have seen significant advancements in the past three decades, have also made their way into the construction sector, traditionally slower in adopting innovations. These additive manufacturing technologies offer the potential to reduce labor costs, minimize material waste, and enable the fabrication of complex geometries that are challenging to achieve using conventional construction methods.
While 3D printing technologies for concrete and steel structures have made significant progress, the research and application of additive manufacturing with bamboo for construction purposes still lag behind.
The thesis aims to address this research gap by developing a building component made with bamboo using additive manufacturing technology. By leveraging the benefits of additive manufacturing and utilizing bamboo as a renewable and versatile material, this thesis seeks to promote sustainable practices in the field of architecture.

The world is in a climatic crisis. Extreme weather events are stronger and more frequent than ever before, exacerbated by human induced CO2 from energy production and the built environment. Only 5% of world energy is produced by renewable energy sources, presenting an enormous gap between sustainability and greenhouse gas emitting practices. Pledges and agreements aim to curb world emissions through net zero energy buildings and increasing the amount of energy produced by renewable resources. When considering the ‘Energy Hierarchy Pyramid’ the first step is to reduce energy consumption, the second is focused on energy efficiency and the third is focused on renewable energy sources. Computers allow for energy simulations to estimate building operations and their efficiency, aiming to curb energy use during building operation phases. Methods exist, knowledge exists but more often than not the application of such simulations is applied later rather than sooner.

When site and climate are known there are specific design strategies which can be implemented to reduce energy consumption. Passive strategies such as windcatchers, trombe walls, roof ponds, sunshading, sun spaces or solar chimneys are not climate dependent. Their properties, however, change depending on the climate type they inhabit. Design factors such as volume, fenestration characteristic and material choice have an impact on energy consumption and are design decisions taken in early design stages.

Energy simulations have the possibility to inform early in the design stage. This thesis focuses on an optimization workflow which generates and stores simulation data throughout each design step segregating: volume, fenestration, materials and passive strategy integration. The workflow is separated into two potential paths; multi-objective comparison, focusing on comparing design option with other self-defined design options and multi-objective optimization, centered around running genome optimizations through Grasshopper’s Wallacei, minimizing or maximizing fitness values.

The workflow aims at developing knowledge throughout the design process, balancing qualitative and quantitative data to generate a data-informed design. A multi-objective approach strengthens the decision making process and presents the trade-offs required to obtain the design improvement. Ultimately, design is a conscious decision. Expanding knowledge will serve to guide and inform but never to define a design. Reducing energy consumption is a design choice and comprehending the design alternatives will flourish possibilities towards a more energy conscious future.

The built environment contributes in a large extend to the global greenhouse gas emissions. With a growing demand for new buildings another view on building products is required. This thesis focusses on creating a biobased sound absorbing panel made from a mycelium bound biomaterial derived from urban waste. The production method for this panel is 3D printing, since with this production method changing demands can be met.

In this thesis six experiments are executed regarding the development of a printable material from urban waste, the sound absorbing properties of the designed panel and 3D printing. To create a printable paste from urban waste, a couple of urban waste materials have been reviewed. Brewery’s grain came out as the most promising growth medium for mycelium. This material is mixed with flour and water to create a printable paste.

The impedance tube B&K 4206 is used to discover the acoustic properties. For the 3D printing a UR5 robot in combination with a LDM WASP extruder 3.0 XL is used. To control the robot movement, Rhino with Grasshopper in combination with the plug-in Robots is used. For understanding the acoustic behavior of the panels, multiple variables regarding printing and design parameters have been tested.

The final product of this research is a 3D printed panel which can be made with a mixture of brewery’s grain, all-purposes flour, water, and mycelium from the Pleurotus.

Waste derived from constructions and demolitions creates an opportunity to lower the carbon footprint of buildings. As bricks and concrete make up two of the most common construction materials world-wide, once the buildings they are built into, reach their end life, a large portion of the waste becomes available for reuse, rich in properties such as compressive strength and mass. If this waste is placed back into buildings, their carbon footprint can be massively reduced, while saving up on having to extract new raw and natural resources.

In an effort to reduce the amount of construction and demolition waste (CDW) derived from the future generation of buildings, innovation and technologies are necessary. In the past several decades, robotic applications have made a great impact in many industries. Thanks to its efficiency, automated processes and flexibility of use, robotics has proven to be successful in manufacturing and assembly processes which can now be customized for architectural practices like the digital fabrication of new structures with the potential of implementation of new materials . If robotic manufacturing has the potential of upcycling CDW in the construction process, then buildings can have a smaller environmental footprint. Further research into experimenting with this waste material implemented into 3D printing with a 6DOF robot arm is necessary.

Key words:
Upcycling, Waste material, CDW, Low-Carbon Buildings, 3D Printing, AMoC, Robotic fabrication

The building stock and the construction industry combined are responsible for a large share of greenhouse gases emissions. At the same time, every year tons of wood, paper and agricultural residues are wasted instead of recycled and upcycled into the production chain. In the fabrication field, the relevance of additive manufacturing processes is constantly growing, allowing for maximum customisation and optimisation of material and energy usage.
Lignocellulosic polymers are the most abundant in nature, although meanwhile cellulose is seen as a valuable raw material, lignin is treated as a by-product to be burned and generate energy. Based on the increasing use of both as fibre reinforcements and fillers in feedstocks for additive manufacturing, there is a potential to be explored.
The combination of the development of a novel material for an innovative fabrication process such as liquid deposition modelling, is the scope of work presented in this research.
Cellulose and lignin were studied, analysed and manipulated before mixing them with a vast selection of binding agents and additives. The outcome was evaluated according to a pre-established criteria set and documented, and a comparison drawn to define the best and most promising material mixes for additional investigation. From a universe of twelve mixes and numerous iterations for each recipe, four alternatives were picked for further characterisation and determination of their mechanical properties.
In parallel, the printability of the material considered as the most promising mix was explored through the extrusion of a sequence of simple geometries and shapes designed to understand and define the most adequate printing parameters. Limitations and challenges were observed and general directions and guidelines were documented.
With a complete dataset and overview of this novel bio-based and wood-based material for additive manufacturing, a simple structural node was designed. The fabrication of a prototype was used to further enhance the material properties and to clarify its potential and limitations for applications in the construction industry.
From the initial material exploration to the final prototyping phase, an extensive documentation was prepared to validate the potential and limitations of this novel material and indicate the directions for further research works.

Continued humanitarian crises have caused the amount of forcibly displaced people to increase rapidly in recent years, creating an urgent need for constructing adequate sheltering to house the displaced. Governments and international organizations attempt to accommodate the growing demands by subsidizing and mass producing temporary transitional shelters that do not always meet all the emerging needs of refugee families.

Many of these settlements are planned with a temporary use in mind, however, more often than not, they end up growing and turning into more permanent parts of cities themselves. In the case of Syrian refugees, several camps were set up in Jordan as an emergency response to accommodate the displaced families, namely the Zaatari camp in 2012 and the Azraq camp in 2014, with Zaatari camp being the largest Syrian refugee camp globally. These camps have now existed for nearly a decade, which collides with the original intentions of them being temporary, and are gradually becoming more permanent. When refugees first arrive they are in need of immediate sheltering and assistance, as time goes by their needs change and evolve in order to adapt to a more long-term setting. At the current rate, refugees are occupying their substandard shelters beyond the recommended lifespan resulting in housing that is largely inadequate (3RP, 2021).

Due to the rigid nature of the shelters provided to refugees, some families in the Zaatari camp, for example, have been rearranging the units provided to them in order to accommodate their specific spatial needs. These self-made rearrangements are clearly shown to have evolved over time and are becoming more intricate, showing a need for adapting and evolving the one-size-fits-all structures provided by international agencies into more customized solutions corresponding to individual family needs.

Additive Manufacturing in construction is an emergent technology that has garnered the attention of many researchers and developers recently, with new developments being constantly made in the field of 3D printing buildings and building components. Researchers argue that 3D printing as a construction technique can be a valid alternative for overcoming the limits and shortcomings of typical construction methods of refugee shelters being used currently, and can fulfill the requirements of adequate housing for refugees.

Earth presents itself as a construction material with various functional and environmental benefits for the construction of shelters. Moreover, earth has been widely used in buildings for thousands of years around the world and has demonstrated its ability to stand the test of time. Buildings made using earth are reusable, recyclable, and inherently biodegradable allowing vegetation to grow back into them after use leaving no waste behind (Rael, 2009). Furthermore, earth is a material that is readily available on-site in many locations needing minimal transport compared to other materials, which in combination with its other properties enables building structures with very little embodied energy (Volhard, 2016).

Mass customization is inherent to the process of additive manufacturing where robots can produce customized designs in an iterative process and no two models have to be alike, which in combination with using earth found on-site as a medium for printing, could make it a viable approach to constructing shelters that would meet individual refugee family needs. This research aims to investigate the possibilities of doing so through developing a mass-customization design tool for 3d printing refugee shelters using earth.

With a building industry that is responsible for a large amount of our carbon emissions, a rising population, and the over-extraction of resources, architects and engineers have the responsibility to use environmentally friendly products. Lignin and cellulose are the most abundant biopolymers on earth and produce a lot of waste by ending up burnt or in landfills. Thus, a great field of research is currently explored with cellulose and lignin waste as an alternative to petrochemical-based products. Coming from the pulping and paper industry, lignin waste could be implemented through the use of an additive manufacturing process to reduce or avoid the necessity to cut trees. Also, 3D printing elements with lignin and cellulose as feedstocks have not yet been explored. Thus, this master thesis aims to promote wood waste as an ecological contributor to the building industry through the use of an additive manufacturing process. This research will be driven by 3D printing a window frame as there is a lack of replacing or enhancing existing window frames. Moreover, large-scale 3D printing companies are faced with the problem that the interface between window frames and 3D printed walls does not perfectly fit within each other. As current fabrication processes to produce building elements are based on flat regular machinery and 3D printing technology is based on curved stacking layers, a perfect connection could only be implemented by 3D printing a window frame. Thus, after understanding the explored limits and possibilities of 3D printing with a wholly bio-based material coming from its waste in regard to mechanical and printability properties, a window frame will be designed and printed as a proof of concept. The final results have shown the potential of 3D print elements in a cold extrusion process with lignin and cellulose in combination with water and methylcellulose. However, more research is necessary to improve the material and printability properties of the recipe to become a fully reliable and integrated facade component to replace existing building components or improve the connection between window frames and habitats.

Bioreceptivity is a natural phenomenon that has been observed on building material for many years. Bioreceptivity is when materials are being colonized by one or more species of living organisms without necessarily going under biodeterioration. (Guillitte, 1995) Based on the literature, bioreceptivity depends on three main factors: on climatic conditions, the topology of the colonized element and the material.
By considering these variables, this research focuses on engineering a workflow capable of supporting bioreceptivity-oriented design. More specifically, it investigates how computational performance analysis and optimization can support the integration of bioreceptive materials in customizable building elements, which could be produced by digital fabrication.
For research purposes, the research is split in two main parts which run in parallel. This research takes as a case study mosses, which generally cannot withstand high solar radiation and are dependent on water for their survival and reproduction.
The first part, investigates on a digital model, how surface topology modifications could improve bioreceptivity by reducing the solar radiation of a surface while directing water over them. This is approached by a script which examines through a case study, to what extent the solar radiation of a surface topology could be reduced through topological modifications and which factors influence it. Even if the average solar radiation of the case study was significantly reduced through an optimization process, it is not clear to what degree topology can contribute to the improvement of bioreceptivity because this fact can only be validated physically.
The second part, focuses on lime-based mortars and examines how their composition can affect bioreceptivity. Based on the literature, material properties like high water capacity, high water retention, permeability and high total porosity can benefit bioreceptivity. Four different lime-based mortars were tested, through laboratory experiments, seeking the relation between their water transport behavior and bioreceptivity. Grain size distribution in combination with binder to aggregate ratio are the main factors which influence mortars’ transport behavior. In order to observe the relation between their water transport behavior and bioreceptivity, a moss growth experiment was conducted in a controlled environment. The short timeframe of the experiment makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions.
The methodology that was developed in these two parts, is finally attempted to be combined in a bioreceptivity-oriented design approach in order to express a new architectural vocabulary. Through a research-by-design approach, three design approaches are conceptualized, compared and prototyped, raising the potential of bioreceptive applications.

Due to the NECP, many homes are in need of renovation. In 2016, the Netherlands had 799,956 apartments built between 1906 and 1965. A large part consists of porch houses. The houses are poorly insulated due to hasty and savings in construction. This research focuses on walk-up apartments built after the Second World War. The aim is to define how to improve the renovation process of walkable apartment buildings through a modular facade system generated using computational design. This is done by connecting new facade elements to the existing building as a second skin. While preserving the existing typology of the buildings and emphasizing the current rhythm and small ornaments of the portico houses. The script tries to implement different sizes, because then it would be useful to renovate several porch houses at the same time. This creates more variation within the different facades and makes the total renovation time shorter and more cost-efficient. The script could potentially display the total number and dimensions of the various new facade panels, which would speed up the fabrication and assembly process.

Buiksloterham, situated on the northern banks of the IJ river, is undergoing massive urban redevelopment as it transits from an industrial town to a mix-use development. However the lack of connectivity within the neighbourhood has become an ever more prominent problem for its growing residents and workers. Gemeente Amsterdam has proposed the construction of 7 new bridges in Buiksloterham to improve the local connectivity while staying rooted in circular and sustainable goals laid down in the green masterplan, Groenevisie 2020-2050. As such, the thesis proposes the construction of a novel timber structure embodying the circular vision of design for disassembly, using renewable and bio-based materials. The bridge will also serve as a landmark for the community, symbolizing the potential of timber architecture in the digital era.

Furthermore, as digital technology ushers in the 4th industrial revolution, the growing complexity and inter-dependencies in computational design of structures and buildings is no longer sufficiently represented in static plans (Helm et al., 2017). Since the inception of digital technology into timber fabrication processes in 1980s, it has transformed hand-tools to multi-axis machines, enabled further by parametric models, to produce highly varied components without lost in efficiency (Buri & Weinand, 2013). Despite the high degree of automation in fabrication, the assembly of these structures are still largely manual (Helm et al., 2017), limited by the scale of the components, machines involved and transportation required.

Should the digital information of fabrication and assembly be directly transmitted to the robots and implemented, this would allow for a seamless workflow (Bachmann, 2009) without the intermediary manual process where digital information and assemblage efficiency could be lost. Tapping on the strengths of robotic systems in processing large amount of data, having high level of precision as well as being capable of taking over dirty, dangerous and mundane tasks, this presented the opportunity for integration of Human-Robot Collaboration into the construction system (Reinhardt et al., 2020).

Therefore the focus of this thesis aims to develop meaningful and productive Design-to-Build workflow involving HRC in the construction process of a timber bridge structure in Buiksloterham, Amsterdam.

The current project represents the creation of space for a new paradigm in Olympic sports: the introduction of virtual cycling, enabled through the latest technologies in indoor cycling and offering the capacity to connect athletes from all over the world. On an architectural level, it challenges the white elephant phenomena, concept used to coin large Olympic stadiums that remain unused post-event due to lack of repurposing or difficulty of re-scaling. Through a small intervention on the side of the river Seine, well integrated in the Olympic Masterplan and the urban fabric of Paris, the venue will continue to be a training hub for cyclists around the city also post-Olympics.

Similar to the way an athlete trains for a competition, improving gradually each aspects of their performance, "A cyclist’s reinterpretation of movement at the Olympic Games" aims at the gradual optimization of a computational design process when confronted with the architectural program, through continuous feedback loops. The final configuration with its specific formal language, based on Voronoi diagrams, is the result of trainings, or iterations in computational design terms.