Underpinning the circular design learning experience
PER ASPERA AD ASTRA: Reversible Monument of the Future in Mostar
Cross-border/international
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Netherlands
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Municipality Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
Yes
Horizon2020 / Horizon Europe
Elma to complete...
No
Yes
As a representative of an organization, in partnership with other organisations
Name of the organisation(s): New European Bauhaus Forum Bosnia and Herzegovina (NEB Forum BiH) Type of organisation: Collaborative network First name of representative: Selma Last name of representative: Harrington Gender: Female Nationality: Ireland If relevant, please select your other nationality: Bosnia and Herzegovina Function: Founder Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 15 Laburnum Road Clonskagh Town: Dublin Postal code: 14 Country: Ireland Direct Tel:+353 87 126 0928 E-mail:harrinse@tcd.ie Website:https://www.ace-cae.eu/research-and-development/new-european-bauhaus-forum-bih/
Name of the organisation(s): Sarajevo Green Design Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Elma Last name of representative: Durmisevic Gender: Female Nationality: Netherlands Function: Principal Founder Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Single... Town: Amstardam Postal code: 1223 Country: Netherlands Direct Tel:+31 6 29008667 E-mail:edurmisevic@d4architects.nl
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Yes
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites
The Green Design Centre introduces a new program into Mostar’s social, spatial, educational and economic infrastructure by transforming a former devastated historic military structure into a centre of creativity and innovation. It acts as a connective medium to engage community, local authority and professionals beyond the complex legacies of the conflict in the 1990s which left the city with damaged and ruinous structures. The renovation, upgrade and reuse of such structures are extremely complicated by the unresolved ownership, fragmented urban planning and a volatile structural integrity of remaining materials. The innovative nature, significance and success of GDC in Mostar needs to be evaluated not only in the context of a post-conflict society, but also through its potential to reignite and re-connect social, environmental and economic tissue through shared space, community, technological innovation and co-creation. GDC is a “beacon of light” where a historic site serves as a cohesive force to overcome past divisions, unify and develop common visions for future of the city and communities through co-existence and co-innovation. Mostar Green Design Centre (GDC) is developed by Sarajevo Green Design Foundation (SGDF), as a knowledge exchange and an experimental learning hub for students, architectural professionals, building industry and public authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and beyond, in the SEE neighbourhood. Its inventor and founder, Dr Elma Durmisevic, is a practising architect and scientist well- recognized as an advocate and innovator in the field of a transformative and circular approach to the built environment and historic built heritage. Based in the Netherlands, where she founded the EU/Dutch Laboratory for Circular Buildings (GTB Lab), the Sarajevo Green Design Foundation the associated Green Design Centre and Green Design Biennale (both in Bosnia and Herzegovina).
QUALITY OF EXPERIENCE AND AESTETICS: Revitalising a ruinous former military site
SUSTAINABILITY: Integrated design approach; Optimising circularity of martials, energy, water; Transformative design of historic site; Design for resilient buildings; Circularity and Reversibility in design to minimise demolition and waste
INCLUSIVITY: Circular approach to repurposing the structure bringing together educational, administrative and community content
EDUCATION, CONNECTIVITY AND OUTREACH: Multidisciplinary educational approach; International student teams; EU, non EU and BiH Universities; Joint projects on circular building design and green city; Innovative knowledge exchange at Green Design Biennale
REPLICABILITY: Integrated circular building design concepts and technics (1) input for the city development as a green metropole of the region, (2) educational programs at national and European universities, (3) input in zero waste regional policies
GDC in Mostar is envisioned as a place to exchange, share and demonstrate knowledge about the future generation of architecture which is adaptable to changing user needs and upgradable without degrading a building or its material. This is a vision in which the “demolition of a building is seen as a design error” (E. Durmisevic 2016). Such an approach brings GDC to the centre of the debate about “Socio-cultural Cohesion and Continuity by Architecture” which is directly linked to green and circular building concepts and the “design of buildings as Reversible Monuments of the future” (E. Durmisevic 2019). Using new green technologies, the GDC envisions a future emerging from a consolidated heritage building core which becomes a springboard for a new resilient architecture of repurposed space. The learning and knowledge exchange objectives of the GDC are formulated around Durmisevic’s vision and experience through the EU projects, with guidelines, protocols and tools for a new generation of resilient architecture:
1) Getting insight into the transformational capacity of historic structures and identifying spatial, technical indicators that determine its Capacity to Change throughout time;
2) Developing a template for a historic passport of the building describing the key factors (purpose, users, construction, repurposing for a digital story library attached to BIM);
3) Developing interactive ICT interfaces for visitors and users to better understand the performance of green buildings;
4) Co-design of new circular building products involving designers, students and the production industry;
5) Co-development of green city strategies and monitoring of their local implementation;
6) Investigating the Social and Cultural impact of this innovative concept on the city and the region;
7) Development of the Digital platform for the sustainable management of transformation of the built environment.
In the evolution of the historic urban fabric of Mostar, the GDC is shaping as a bridge between the historic Ottoman zone and a new modern city. Having suffered from significant physical damage in the 1990s war, this neglected part of Mostar has the potential to turn into an innovative and creative neighbourhood which could spark enthusiasm, creative synergies and better integration of the old and modern parts of the city. The original GDC structure dates back to the 1880s when it was used as a military compound during the Austro-Hungarian rule in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Stripped back to its solid structural concrete core, the GDC has transformed a former military facility into a creative and innovative laboratory for green building design. It is a dynamic structure, reconfigured and upgraded, embodying its original primary historic composition, integrity and uniqueness. This was achieved by retaining the load-bearing elements of the historic building as a main structure whereas the horizontal and vertical spaces in-between columns and slabs have received the reversible and circular modules. Manufactured off-site, these are fully reversible and designed for disassembly and full reuse. The in-built flexibility will facilitate the future usability of the space with planned 10-year transformations in accordance with the new technological and design advancements a continued recovery and reuse of its original material form an important part of the learning and educational process. The aesthetics of the new inserted modules designed to take advantage of the Mostar's warm climate and light, is complementary to the structural geometry of the retained historic structural spine and this symbiotic relationship assumes a new form, character and meaning on site.
The use and development of the GDC led by SGDF /Dr Durmisevic, evolves as a joint effort of its stakeholders, the City of Mostar, the University of Mostar, the University “Džemal Bijedić”, and a cluster of NGOs, with support of the Dutch Embassy and the UNDP offices in Sarajevo and Mostar. It focuses on strengthening the capacity of the local community and industry to undertake green building and city initiatives in an environment scarred by the conflict in the 1990s. That includes: - support the curricula development at the two local universities, study exchanges and involvement of students of architecture and civil engineering in multidisciplinary and international design studios throughout Europe; - engagement and knowledge transfer with local industrial clusters as providers of technical and logistic solutions to green and circular construction methods; - assistance to local industry to develop own building concepts and products; - supporting public authorities at local, city and regional levels, to develop strategies for the transition towards a circular economy in construction and city planning; -outreach and engagement with local schools for children with disabilities in urban farming; - connecting local schools, cultural clubs, artists, universities, public authorities and industry with EU institutions, architects, science and communities through the origination of the Green Design Biennale in Mostar and GDC Scientific Conferences.
Green Design Centre (GDC) is open to the public and has educational purposes. It forms a new innovation park in Mostar, where different aspects of sustainable living will be integrated such as urban farming, windmills, and open workplaces and restaurant for disabled children, and open expo for innovative green, circular / sustainable concepts. Civil society was involved in workshops identifying social impact of GDC on the city and the region.
Regular International Green Design Biennale brings together international circular building and green design experts, architects, urban planes, industry, universities, policymakers to Mostar and Green Design Centre. Local community is enabled to take a part in town hall meetings addressing local challenges of further transition towards circular economy in construction, policy making, circular business models etc. This is achieved through exhibitions, fashion show, lectures, student workshops, special thematic sessions about architecture, city planning, mobility, fashion design, graphic design, crafts, social inclusion, cultural continuity, urban farming.
As a spinoff from the GDC, the Biennale brings together local NGO’s, schools, universities, industries, policy makers raising awareness about the necessity of decarbonisation strategies and protection of bio capacity of the planet. It is a great international networking platform for strengthening partnerships around sustainable development. Each Biennale engages students from five European universities to work in multidisciplinary and international workshops on specific assignment and present it at the end of it. After the official program, the students’ exhibition and ‘green design day’ tours are organised in other regional urban centres.
The Stakeholders involvement took place on four levels:
EU Level: The SGDF brought in the Green Design Centre (GDC) as a pilot in the Horizon 2020BAMB project to demonstrate the application of reversible Circular building design principles. Design and Engineering component of the GDC was prepared by the 4D architects and ABT Engineering (Netherlands). In parallel, throughout the development of the GDC, a number of social, environmental and economic studies were undertaken by the EU project partners: BRE (UK), University of Twente (Netherlands), VITO and Brussels Environment (Belgium) and Sunderhus form Sweden.
Regional Level: The development stage of the GDC has been used for educational purposes and examination of the aspects of building transformation, reversibility of building systems and reuse of materials. These were analysed through the international design studios organised in collaboration with local universities, such as the University of Sarajevo, University of Mostar and the University of Džemal Bijedić Mostar. These studios were also supported by the participation from the EU universities: University of Twente, University of Munich, University of Applied Science ZUYD, Istanbul Technical University, University of Belgrade, University of Split and University of Zagreb.
Local level: The City of Mostar supported obtaining of urban and building permits and connection to municipal utility services. It financed a condition study and feasibility of structural reinforcement of the existing structure. Calculations were provided by Mr Nusret Gološ, Structural Engineer, with contribution by two local universities, which analysed the energy performance of the existing structure. Local industries supported the development and production of reversible modules utilising local bio-based materials and integrated solar panels. The University of Sarajevo developed an integration platform for energy use management, and installation of sensors for measuring pollution.
The structural (engineering) studies and energy performance studies of the existing building engaged the expertise from the two local universities. The Architect, structural engineer and installation (services) engineer worked as a team together from the outset of the project defining and piloting the methodological framework for the examination of variables and interplay between the existing suture (and its fixed capacity) and variable design components of the new structural addition to the building. This framework allowed for a programming and development of the defined spatial, structural and installation services capacity for future transformations of the building. Furthermore, capitalising on the output of the H2020 Buildings as Material Banks Project, the Reversible Building Design principles were applied in the project, resulting in a dynamic design of a structure added and built upon the historic building, with pre-programmed installation zoning and compartments which will allow for a flexible future use and transformation (and extension) of the GDC, avoiding demolition and waste generation. Four local industries (steel manufacturing, a cluster of timber manufacturers’ cluster, a services installation company, and a sheep’s wool supplier) supported the development of an innovative and reversible 3D modules, which integrate a combination of local bio-based materials and integration of solar panels. In parallel, a prototype was developed with a cluster of timber manufacturers focusing on the investigation of the production supply chain of reversible A++ rated timber façade components. The University of Sarajevo prepared an integrated management platform for energy use, based on the combined use of batteries, solar panels and LED light, based on the jointly defined the technical requirements for use of the platform and parameter for testing the results by the GDC as client/user, with the services installation company and software developer.
The Green Design Centre is one of first five EU Pilots showcasing the concept of Buildings as Material Banks. The Reversible Building Design principles which were tested during design and construction of the GDC have been integrated in EU guidelines for Circular Building Design. These Design Principles are the intellectual property of Dr Elma Durmisevic, one of the initiators of H2020 Buildings as Material Banks Project.
The Reversible Building Design represents a paradigm shift inform the perception of buildings as static structures to understanding buildings as dynamic structures with three reversible design dimensions (See: Durmisevic, 201,9, https://www.bamb2020.eu/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Reversible-Building-Design-guidelines-and-protocol.pdf).
Three aspects of building design: spatial, structural and material, have been tested during design and construction of the GDC additional reversible structure, illustrating that such approach can eliminate waste and reduce CO2 consumption by 50% (H2020 BAMB 2019).
Furthermore, the project applied new digital technologies to support construction as well as operation and resource management of the GDC. The survey of the GDC utilised a 3D scanner to obtain, integrate and upload the condition survey data; after the segmentation of the point cloud files, a Reversible Building Information Model (RBIM) has been created. The RBIM model performs a digital assessment of the building’s reversibility and measures the reusability potential of the building elements and creates its digital twin with inventory of materials, the embodied CO2, tonnages, indication of avoided CO2 emissions, waste and raw material consumption, based on the potential reuse score of building materials. This tool developed by Dumisevic adds support to standardising circularity profiles of buildings which has been integrated into a Digital Deconstruction Platform (collaboration with LIST, Luxemburg, within the Interreg Digital Deconstruction project).
Most innovative elements used during development of GDC are generic and can be replicated throughout Europe and beyond, such as:
-approach to damaged/destroyed structure and construction waste
-innovative approaches to historic building survey and preliminary and explorative works
-Engaging and motivating communities and SME's -building professional alliances and communities
As well as tools and methods of:
- Creation of digital twin and digital assessment of building reversibility
- Circular reversible design principles ae tested and integrated in EU guidelines
- Manufacturing of individual reversible building components
- Digital CO2 and material inventory of buildings
- Green Design Biennale format bringing together engineers, researchers, designers, industry makers, policy makers and students and engaging participants in creative, strategic thinking and practical/making activities during the program.
For example, two aspects of circularity assessed in the GDC design solutions, the Transformation spatial capacity of building and the Reuse potential of materials, developed by Durmisevic (2009), were assessed and validated during H2020 BAMB (2019) and are now in use by the Brussels Region.
In order to move towards a circular use of resources, buildings need to be perceived as dynamic structures with multiple material layers and multiple reuse options which utilise the reversibility potential of the building structure. Development of Green Design Centre applied the Reversible Building Design methodology by E.Durmisevic, upon its validation during the H2020 BAMB project. This is in alignment with EU LEVELS and EU principles for design of circular buildings. The methodology focuses on three design aspects of future resilient buildings: spatial adaptability, structural reconfigurability and material separability (up-cyclicability). It observes the two pillars of such dynamic reversible building, (i) Spatial Reversibility which enables modifications to meet different users’ needs without demolition of buildings and waste generation and (ii) Technical Reversibility which enables reuse of elements and separation of materials (Durmisevic 2019). In contrast with a perception of a building as one product with integrated systems, products and materials, a Reversible Building concept introduces three new design dimensions to unlock the circularity potential of building and its spatial, structural and material reversibility aspects. The extent of maturity of the tree building reversibility aspects determines its circularity capacity. By such three-fold examination of existing and new buildings it is possible to arrive to a general classification of buildings in a range from circular, partly circular and not circular buildings (or building solutions). This method has been further formalised by the digital tool Reversible Building Modelling (RBIM) which enables the automated assessment of material circularity. As a future development, the method integrated in the Interreg NWE Digital Deconstruction Project, has now been proposed to the City of Mostar to develop and inventory of the (many) ruinous structures in the city centre area.
“At the core of all design concepts and interventions in the built environment lays the question: How urban interventions can eliminate negative impacts on ecological system (as degradation of biodiversity, pollutions, depletion of resources, climate change) and transform them into a positive one”(E. Durmisevic 2021) The GDC is addressing these global challenges and showcasing possible solutions for new generation of resilient builds as “future reversible monuments” (Durmisevic 2019), while creating an innovation park and green meeting and learning square for regional and local stakeholders.
In the context of global armed conflicts targeting urban and civic structures, the GDC demonstrates possible approaches to post-conflict renovation when dealing with devastated (historic) buildings. It demonstrates how ruined buildings can be reused as a base for future construction, helping to maintain the cultural continuity and preserve identity of the place, at the same time opening doors to innovation and new concepts which successfully merge past, present and the future.
Align with the new technologies, the GDC is showcasing use of digital tools to scan and create inventory of ruined buildings which can help to make more efficient and better decisions about use/reuse strategies in the future.
Mindful of the social context and cohesion, the GDC acts as an inclusive innovation park open to include and engage in work with different NGO’s and schools, reaching out to children and young people with disabilities. This includes a co-creation of urban farming with permaculture methodology and development of farm- to- fork sub-urban concepts.
PROMOTION: Through the EU BAMB project website and other digital platforms associated with partner universities, institutes and organisations.
During design and construction of GDC a local eco system has been established around manufacturing and development of innovative building systems which has strengthened the capacity and competence of local stakeholders. GDC adds new identity to Mostar as an innovative future oriented green city.
CURRICULA DEVELOPMENT: The GDC development provided input in the architecture and built environment curricula, fostering collaboration among universities across Europe and, strengthening the research and educational capacities for green and circular building design.
KNOWLEDGE EXCHANGE: The region and city of Mostar benefited by building up the knowledge capacity regarding circular economy in construction and circular and green building strategies, and urban planning.
Knowledge generated by the GDC initiative is disseminated through the Green Design Biennale in Mostar for the last eight years involving several disciplines: architects, planners, fashion designers, researchers, industry, policy makers, and students form European universities. The outreach has become global as manifested in lectures, exhibitions, workshops, town hall meetings fashion show and green design centre visits during three-days of the Biennale.
SOCIAL IMPACT AND IMPLEMENTATION: The UNDP office in Bosnia and Herzegovina will be involved in further strengthening of the initiative on national and regional levels. The following five clusters planned for future implementation:
1. Inclusion and social circularity through urban farming development and children with disabilities
2. A consolidated Knowledge sharing platform (open ICT circular building platform)
3. Digital platform and tools for Circular Construction using GDS as a pilot
4. Circular Construction - Mapping Regional Potential
5. Circular Building Hub (urban garden and innovation park)
(1) Developing Peer learning through Group projects and "live" Design studio approach [Equip learners and educators with the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed for a greener and more sustainable economy and society];
(2) Bringing together academics and students from regional centres [help education and training institutions to integrate sustainability into teaching and learning and across all aspects of their operations]
(3) Influencing training and Curricula development [create a shared understanding on the deep and transformative changes needed in education and training for sustainability and the green transition]
