Building the Future – an interdisciplinary research initiative/Bauen der Zukunft – eine interdisziplinäre Forschungsinitiative

This article presents the objectives, approach and selected results of the interdisciplinary research initiative “Building the Future – climate-friendly and resource- conserving” (www.bauenderzukunft.org). The research initiative is made up of twenty professors from the University of Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) and other scientific institutes in Kaiserslautern and is funded by the state of Rhineland- Palatinate. The aim is to preserve the benefits of building and at the same time reduce negative environmental impacts to a minimum. To this end, various fields of action have been identified, including the further development of components and supporting structures made of optimized building materials, increasing efficiency by optimizing processes and increasing automation and digitalization in the construction industry, consolidating the fragmented realisation process across the life cycle phases of design, construction and operation. Interdisciplinary teams from architecture, construction, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, computer science, artificial intelligence, robotics, materials and mathematics are working on application-oriented and theoretical topics in various research and subject areas. The article presents selected research activities and identifies future challenges.