The significant impact of the built environment on resource consumption and waste production has led to calls for a shift towards a circular economy model that maximizes the efficient use of resources. This study explores the use of digital product passports (DPPs) to improve how we manage products throughout their lifecycle. However, dealing with the complexity and large volume of data in DPPs can be challenging in terms of effective information management and utilization. We address this issue by adopting a modular ontological approach to systematically capture product lifecycle information from its origin to its end-of-life phase. To ensure interoperability and reusability of the ontology, we annotate key concepts and relationships using International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standards that promote circular economy. Our research led to the development of several ontology modules derived from literature reviews and interviews conducted with industry and academia experts who specialize in sustainability. These modules were then integrated to create a digital product passport ontology. The study demonstrates the feasibility of using a modular ontology approach to manage the complex information inherent in DPPs paving the way for more sustainable management practices in the built environment sector. 

Lighting in the built environment affects different aspects, ranging from building performance in terms of costs and energy consumption to human well-being in terms of thermal comfort, visual effects, and beyond-vision effects. Buildings optimised for specific performance metrics rarely consider different aspects simultaneously, leading to sub-optimised, unbalanced, or non-trade-off solutions. Therefore, multi-objective optimisation has commonly been used to overcome conflicting performance objectives. Recently, light effects beyond vision gained more interest in building design but it is unclear if and how they are integrated with other existing building performance metrics and simulation workflows. A scoping review investigated the state-of-art in multi-objective lighting design optimisation regarding building performance and human well-being focusing on performance metrics, simulation workflows, and the overall information flow. Results show that metrics for beyond-vision effects are not integrated with other human well-being and building performance metrics. The simulation workflows included multiple steps and computational tools in multi-objective optimisation. This process has limitations such as a long simulation time, no ubiquitous integrated tool, and a reduced information flow.

As the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector progressively embraces digital technologies, there is an emergent necessity to explore the capabilities of these tools in enhancing quality assurance and review processes during the design phase. Therefore, this study seeks to answer the following two research questions: RQ1: What types of errors can be effectively addressed using a parametric tool? RQ2: How can parametric tools be employed to ensure quality in architectural drawing and what are the potential benefits and limitations of this approach? The research employs the Design Science Research Methodology, which includes identifying issues related to drawing reviews through interviews with five industry professionals and the development of a parametric design script for drawing checking. The findings of this research have led to the development of two scripts that serve as model artifacts at a proof-of-concept level demonstrating the possibility to employ parametric design for drawing reviews. Further research could be conducted to investigate other possible applications of parametric design and automatized procedures in the AEC sector.

Increasing use of BIM requires solutions for sharing Product Data (PD), generated and governed by manufacturers, across applications and actors of the AECO industry. PD must be available in a machine-interpretable way to facilitate digital processing, but is usually provided in proprietary data formats. Aiming to analyse manufacturers’ current approach to PD provision, a scoping literature review was conducted, supported by a case study investigating a database providing IFC BIM objects, and the possibility to represent PD using Linked Data (LD). Findings suggest that PD provision is limited for reasons spanning from lacking expertise to data management issues. While the representation of PD in IFC BIM objects as well as with LD was concluded to be possible with currently available means, it has yet to be adopted by the industry.

Both standards and ontologies are among the important components to realize the vision of BIM (Building Information Modeling). They provide a community consensus for interpretation, communication and interoperability of building data. This consensus is pivotal in enabling diverse stakeholders and systems to seamlessly collaborate and share data across the entire building life cycle. In this paper we describe the development of ontologies for building product properties, aligning with standards, and demonstrate their usage in achieving semantic interoperability. First, a top-domain ontology, BPPO (Buiding Product Property Ontology), is developed for building product properties. This top-domain ontology is used to guide the development of domain ontologies for properties in different categories of products or groups of product categories. Subsequently, a domain ontology, LPPO (Lighting Product Property Ontology), is built for lighting product properties, with guidance from BPPO, in this work. The ontological terminologies of both BPPO and LPPO are aligned with the standards set forth by the BIM community. Furthermore, the ontologies have been used in an application to support and enhance the interoperability between the manufacturer’s product database and the BIM platform.

The construction industry is characterized by fragmentation due to the distinct phases, as well as the complex structure of the industry itself. The numerous processes involve diverse stakeholders each requiring seamless integration through the accurate transfer of information to maintain its integrity. Different information models both those defined by standards and industry-specific, complicate the choice of models to adopt, impacting interoperability. This research aims to develop a methodology to address this issue by unifying existing ontologies developed for different information models. The approach combines elements of the Modular Ontology Modelling methodology, and the Level of Information Need (LOIN). This methodology is currently being evaluated in collaboration with multiple companies in the Swedish AEC industry as part of an ongoing project. Results suggest using standardized machine-readable data templates, industry accepted data dictionaries and ontologies based on standards enable unambiguous exchange of information along the value chain of a construction project. 

The built environment is heavily dependent on wasteful linear economic models and needs to transition to the circular economy (CE). One of the key enablers of CE is Digital Product Passports (DPPs). However, determining the necessary information and selecting suitable technologies remains to be challenging in practical implementations. This research aims to present a framework for implementing DPPs using Knowledge Graphs (KGs). A literature review was conducted to identify the key components of the framework. The result shows that the key elements encompass use cases identification, data collection, modelling, integration, governance, access and querying, and maintenance and updating.

The construction industry is responsible for 32% of the world’s consumption of natural resources, causing 850 million tons of construction waste in the European Union alone. The construction and manufacturing industries mostly apply a linear economy model, where resources are used once and then disposed of. As a response, the concept of a circular economy (CE) was introduced with the aim of keeping materials within a closed loop and regaining their value in the end-of-life phase. This paper aims to investigate the different CE strategies in the construction industry and the related manufacturing industry and how these strategies can be supported by digital technology. The 11Rs framework has been used as a reference within the concept of CE through a scoping literature review, in which 117 articles were reviewed. The analysis focused on the frequency of the various Rs in papers, as well as their applications and possible implementation. Seven interviews were conducted with Swedish experts to obtain industry perspectives and thereby specify a potential research gap related to CE. According to the study, existing research for the application of CE by construction companies has not been fully explored. There is also a lack of knowledge about CE and its benefits, as well as poor collaboration between different stakeholders, both in information sharing and processes. Findings suggest that all stakeholders in the industries need to make efforts to change their strategies if the transition to CE is to occur.

Lighting in the built environment has effects on different aspects, ranging from building performance in terms of costs and energy consumption to human well-being in terms of thermal comfort, visual effects, and beyond-vision effects. Buildings optimised for specific performance metrics rarely consider performance aspects simultaneously, leading to sub-optimised, unbalanced, or non-trade-off solutions. Therefore, multi-objective optimisation has been more commonly used to overcome conflicting performance objectives. Recently, metrics to quantify light effects beyond vision became available, but it is unclear if and how they are integrated with other existing building performance metrics. A scoping review investigated the state-of-art in multi-objective lighting design optimisation regarding building performance and human well-being focusing on performance metrics, simulation workflows, and the overall information flow. The search in Scopus and Web of Science databases resulted in 89 journal articles and conference papers, and the 21 papers reaching the highest optimisation level were discussed. The information extracted was categorised into optimisation metrics, levels, and design variables. The results show that none of the papers combines visual and beyond-vison effects with other building performance metrics.

Noise and air quality remain major environmental problems affecting the health and well-being of millions of people in Europe. Therefore, data regarding these phenomena must be clearly represented and communicated to different stakeholders to mitigate their adverse social consequences. A clear and standardized representation of invisible data such as noise and air quality is necessary for the infrastructure industry. This study aims to establish the state of the art of existing representation and visualization of noise and air quality, identify any existing standards in these data visualization processes, and understand if a standardized visualization can impact people’s well-being.