Amélie Halbach

Architectural circularity in the digital era

Against a backdrop of environmental crisis, the construction sector is a major consumer of raw materials and producer of waste. It is therefore the subject of a number of studies and initiatives aimed at getting it to adopt a circular economy approach. In this context, information relating to construction materials is crucial throughout a building's life cycle. Defining and maintaining this information through "materials passports" (MPs) offers a wealth of opportunities, particularly in relation to Building Information Modeling (BIM) practices.

But it has to be said that the definition of these BIM materials passports (BIM MPs) and their implementation are still in their infancy and are encountering numerous difficulties. The aim of the research project is to analyse the obstacles and levers involved in creating, processing, analysing, storing, sharing and managing the quality of digital data, so as to encourage circularity through better tracking of building components. The assumption is that PM BIM meets the need for data management and structuring, as mentioned in the literature.

By identifying, describing and attempting to understand the obstacles and levers involved in managing digital data, the research methodology is based on three distinct and complementary stages:

Iterations are planned to enable the prototype to be compared with the needs and demands of the sector and to be adapted.