idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
The IntCDC Spring Conference 2026 marks the official launch of the second funding phase: Building on its successes, the Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Transformative Architecture” (IntCDC) at the University of Stuttgart will continue its research through 2032, aiming to make architecture and construction radically more sustainable, integrative, digital, and intelligent. At the conference, which featured a distinguished international lineup of speakers, the researchers presented key findings from the first funding period as well as future goals – ranging from new materials and digital design processes to robotic construction approaches.
“IntCDC represents a new approach to construction that seamlessly integrates digital technologies, innovative building methods, and architecture. More than 700 publications and 100 awards, along with a growing number of collaboration requests, spectacular research demonstrators, and the emerging IntCDC Building. All of this serves as compelling evidence that our Cluster of Excellence, through Stuttgart’s cutting-edge research, is setting global standards in the field of construction – and having an impact far beyond the realm of academia,” emphasizes Prof. Peter Middendorf, Rector at the University of Stuttgart. “In the second funding phase, we will continue to make valuable contributions to a sustainable, resource-efficient, and livable built environment through close collaboration across disciplines and with partners from academia, civil society, and industry.”
“What we are developing at IntCDC is more than just new technologies – it is a fundamentally different approach to planning and construction, designed to help address the environmental, economic, and social challenges facing the construction industry and to help shape the future of architecture and construction,” says Prof. Achim Menges, spokesperson for IntCDC and recipient of the Leibniz Prize. “Our research over the past few years has shown that design, construction, materials, and manufacturing can be approached and implemented in an integrated manner. During the second funding phase, we intend to further develop this form of integrated construction and, together with our partners, apply it to new projects.”
Co-design as the foundation for the first funding phase
The first funding period focused on the development of the integrative methodology of co-design, in which architecture, engineering, computer science, robotics, and the social and economic sciences collaborate from the outset on design, construction, and manufacturing using digital tools and computational design and simulation methods. The researchers applied this methodology in several demonstration buildings, such as the Wangen Tower – an example of a large-scale, robotically fabricated timber structure – and the Hybrid Flax Pavilion – an example of resource-saving, digitally developed building systems. They demonstrated that resource consumption can be reduced by more than 50 percent and greenhouse gas emissions by up to 65 percent, while at the same time increasing productivity in prefabrication and automation in the construction industry by more than 50 percent.
The results from the five research areas – which were presented and discussed at the IntCDC Spring Conference – demonstrated what co-design means in practice: from new concrete, wood, and fiber-reinforced composite systems to digital design and manufacturing methods, as well as robotic construction processes and the question of how technology is transforming building cultures. The focus is always on the interplay between materials, structure, manufacturing, and digital design.
Example: Gradient concrete in the IntCDC building
An example shown here: functionally graded concrete on the IntCDC building currently under construction on the Vaihingen campus, which serves as both a research and demonstration facility and the future home of the cluster. There, the results of co-design in concrete construction are on display, developed under the direction of Prof. Lucio Blandini from the Institute for Lightweight Design and Construction (ILEK). Unlike conventional construction, where the foundation slab is fully solid, this design incorporates 3,000 hollow spheres in low-load areas. This ensures that concrete is used only where it is structurally necessary.
The building's foundation was designed on a computer so that machines could later construct it directly based on this digital model. This gives rise to a new construction method in which digital planning determines how much material is used where in the building.
Second funding phase: Further development toward co-agency
In the second funding phase, IntCDC is further developing its co-design approach toward co-agency. In this context, digital systems – including AI-powered methods – as well as robotic processes and materials are no longer viewed merely as supporting tools, but increasingly as active elements of the design and construction process. For example, plans include using artificial intelligence methods to align computational design even more effectively with resource-efficient and circular construction methods, advancing robot-assisted construction beyond automation toward autonomous, adaptive, and collaborative robotic systems, and intensifying collaboration within human-machine teams.
The goal is to further develop planning and construction in such a way that design and construction processes can dynamically adapt to new information and conditions as a project progresses. Human actors, digital systems, and materials are closely interlinked and influence one another, resulting in construction processes that are more flexible, responsive, integrated, and sustainable than previous approaches.
About IntCDC
The Cluster of Excellence “Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Transformative Architecture” (IntCDC) is an interdisciplinary research consortium led by the University of Stuttgart in collaboration with the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems and Bauhaus Earth. IntCDC is funded by the German Research Foundation (DFG) within the framework of Germany’s Excellence Strategy, with an initial funding phase from 2019 to 2025 and a second phase running until 2032. The cluster aims to develop the methodological foundations for a resource-efficient, climate-friendly and future-proof transformation of the way we design and build.
The IntCDC Spring Conference featured top-tier speakers from the fields of architecture, structural ...
Copyright: Universität Stuttgart / IntCDC / Jürgen Altmann
A bird's-eye view of the gradient concrete foundation of the IntCDC building under construction: The ...
Copyright: Universität Stuttgart / ILEK / Daria Kovaleva, Olga Miller, Carl Niklas Haufe
Criteria of this press release:
Business and commerce, Journalists, Scientists and scholars
Construction / architecture, Environment / ecology
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Research projects, Scientific conferences
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The IntCDC Spring Conference featured top-tier speakers from the fields of architecture, structural ...
Copyright: Universität Stuttgart / IntCDC / Jürgen Altmann
A bird's-eye view of the gradient concrete foundation of the IntCDC building under construction: The ...
Copyright: Universität Stuttgart / ILEK / Daria Kovaleva, Olga Miller, Carl Niklas Haufe
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