ELEMENTS - Development of a procedure for the evaluation of elements of the post-war building stock (1960 - 1979) in Graz, Austria

The discipline of architecture and the construction sector evolve towards sustainability and climate neutrality: on the one hand, a large number of scientific publications and research projects on circular building methods and technical solutions to increase the energy efficiency of buildings, on the other, CSRD reporting and energy performance certificates. However, (too many) new buildings are still being built and existing buildings demolished for the promise of a seemingly better future. In particular, large-volume buildings from the 1960s and 1970s, which were built using reinforced concrete frame construction and have a mix of uses - i.e. are not used exclusively for residential purposes - are demolished or being thermally renovated in a way that destroys their spatial and architectural qualities. The reasons for this are highly complex and oscillate between technical feasibility, economic viability, legal requirements and social acceptance. ELEMENTS is investigating these different parameters of building refurbishment with the aim of developing the profile of a follow-up project with the working title "Circular Building Refurbishment Laboratory" (CBR-Lab). Using selected buildings in the agglomeration of Graz, the CBR-Lab aims to develop a procedure for an early potential analysis of the targeted building type (1960-79, reinforced concrete frame construction, hybrid) with regard to its refurbishment. This procedure is to be transferred to planning practice in the future and utilized by companies in the construction industry. Due to the international nature of the investigated building stock (e.g. with regard to their construction method), the findings, which will be developed on the basis of case studies in Graz, can be applied throughout Austria and beyond. The building stock from the 1960s and 1970s is currently in need of refurbishment, needs to be adapted to current climate targets and accounts for a large proportion of the building stock in Austria: according to the building census by Statistics Austria, around 25% of the total building stock in Austria was built between 1961 and 1980. With the aim of achieving climate neutrality and reducing the consumption of resources caused by the construction industry, innovation projects must be developed for the preservation of the targeted building stock. In this respect, the focus is usually on the development of technical systems. ELEMENTS, on the other hand, aims to take an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary view of the situation in order to develop a sustainable procedure that takes into account not only technical, but also design-architectural, economic, legal and social aspects. Therefore, stakeholders from the construction industry, administration and users are comprehensively involved in the project. On the one hand, content is developed jointly (co-creation and co-design) so that the acceptance of the research results by the interest groups involved can be ensured, and on the other hand, user- and need-based refurbishment concepts can be developed. In addition, stakeholder involvement ensures a transfer of knowledge between practice and research, as well as between users, the administration and the construction industry, so that awareness of the social relevance of building conservation and climate neutrality is strengthened.