FCL, including the chair of Architecture and Construction, held a visit to the HDB Building Research Institute in Singapore on 22nd March 2013. Presentations, Q&A sessions and a tour through the research centre opened the floor for multiple possibilities of collaboration between the two insitutions. Main goals of HDB BRI are to introduce new technologies, and upgrade design standards and materials for the market. The visitors had an opportunity to see prototypes of new amenities, which adress safety and living standards in residential units in Singapore.

Public lecture by researcher Marta Wisniewska at the CREATE Talks in Singapore on 19th April 2013. CREATE Talks is a discussion platform, bringing together interdisciplinary researchers of CREATE Tower institutions, such as ETH, MIT, TUM and BERKLEY. This time the event was hosted by TU Munich and moderated by SMART, while FCL and BEARS representatives gave their talks. The ‘Waste and Want’ presentation by Marta Wisniewska triggered a discussion of smart product design and what kind of impact it can have on the immediate surrounding as their second life cycle is activated. The talk examined exemplary refuse products as possibly one of100

Public lecture by researcher Marta Wisniewska at a meeting of the Future Cities Laboratory with Shanghai Jiao Tong University in CREATE Tower, on 22nd March 2013. The presentation was conducted in order to discuss on possible collaboration platforms between the two institutes. The session was attended by Prof. Tong Yen Wah, the Singapore-based Co-Director of SJTU-CREATE (Shanghai Jiao Tong University) as well as Ms. Karina Yew-Hoong GIN and Mr. Babovic Vladan, Associate Professors of the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. SJTU-CREATE is researching two areas: ‘Waste management and energy recovery ‘(including studies of human behaviour) and ‘Emerging contaminants and the effect on human100

The FCL ‘Constructing Waste’ seminar 2012 concluded in an exhibition vernissage on 30 November 2012 at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore. The public event was orchestrated as the final step in the pedagogical laboratory set by Dirk E. Hebel and Marta Wisniewska of the Assistant Professorship of Architecture and Construction. The exhibition gave platform to seven outcomes of the ten-week research course, focusing on re-designing an everyday product in such a way, that it can have a second life cycle instead of ending as a trash item. Guests had a chance to see, feel, touch and smell the new100

The last talk of the Constructing Waste Seminar was led by Dr Chen Chia-Lung on 15 November 2012. Dr. Chen Chia- Lung is a Research Fellow and Centre Manager at Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) Nanyang Technological University, NTU Singapore. There are around 1 billion different types of bacteria in the world. Out of those, less than 1% is known or described scientifically. Within this huge spectrum, different bacterias are known to have specific qualities and properties. While many cause damage and deceases, others help to produce electricity, heal building materials, reduce waste or even ‘eat’ hazardous chemicals . This100

‘Recycling Spaces’ is a short documentary on waste and recycling in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, presented by one of the authors, Felix Heisel. The movie led into a discussion on the financial aspect of waste, which is the topic of this week’s Constructing Waste session. Together with Bisrat Kifle, Felix Heisel initiated the EiABC Movie Series on space appropriation, starting in 2011.The series so far consists out of 4 movies: Disappearing Spaces, Emerging Spaces, Supporting Spaces and Recycling Spaces. Felix Heisel is working as a Researcher in the Chair of Architecture and Construction at the Future Cities Laboratory Singapore, a collaboration of100

The 7th week’s session of Constructing Waste was opened with a presentation ‘Waste and Want’ by Marta Wisniewska. The talk raises the everlasting question of aesthetic perception on the example of waste. Questions of necessity and luxury were raised, as waste in architecture evokes very extreme and contradictory reactions in both developing territories and developed countries. Cultural and aesthetic goals as well as differences were discussed on the example of MULU, a container housing project developed by Marta Wisniewska and Felix Heisel in Addis Ababa Ethiopia. Marta Wisniewska is a researcher at the Future Cities Laboratory at the Assistant Professorship100

  The ‘Environmental Session’ of the Constructing Waste Seminar of the Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL was led by Prof. Rainer Stegmann on 25 October 2012. Prof. Dr.-Ing Rainer Stegmann is Professor Emeritus of the University of Technology in Hamburg, Germany. As Head of the Institute of Waste Resource Management, he continues doing research in the field of solid waste management and co-owns two patents with his colleagues. Prof. Stegmann is currently a Visiting Professor at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore and Director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre (R3C) at NTU. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The 5th week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE talk was led by Mr. Ong Seng Eng, former Director of Waste and Resource Management Department of National Environment Agency Singapore. Mr. Ong is a chemical engineer and responsible for solid waste management in Singapore. His duties include the promotion of the 3Rs (Reduce, Reuse and Recycle), regulatory control on waste collection and management of waste disposal facilities such as waste-to-energy incineration plants and the Semakau Landfill. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

Assoc. Prof. Wang Jing-Yuan gave an introductory talk of the 4th Week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE seminar. Prof. Wang is an Associate Professor of the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering in Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and is currently Director of the Residues and Resource Reclamation Centre of NTU. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The 3rd week’s CONSTRUCTING WASTE presentation ‘Why Waste Waste?’ was held on 4 October by Dr Sun Xiaolong. Dr Sun Xiaolong majored in Materials Science & Engineering. His research areas are waste-to-resource and environmental applications of materials science. Dr Sun works at R3C NTU. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

Prof. Dr. Stephen Cairns opened the 2nd Week’s session of CONSTRUCTING WASTE with his talk ‘Rubbish Theory‘. Stephen Cairns is Scientific Co-ordinator of the Future Cities Laboratory in the Singapore-ETH Centre, and Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Edinburgh. He is a member of KRUPUC, an independent inter-disciplinary, multi-sectorial research, planning and design platform focused on issues of urbanisation in the Southeast Asian region. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

On 20 September 2012 Asst. Prof. Dirk E. Hebel introduced the FCL Fall Seminar: CONSTRUCTING WASTE. The goals and expectations of the course were presented on the example of the United_Bottles Project. Dirk Hebel is currently holding the position of Assistant Professor at the Future Cities Laboratory in Singapore, a research project of ETH Zurich with the National Research Foundation Singapore. More information: CONSTRUCTING WASTE

The Chair of Architecture and Construction Dirk E. Hebel at FCL Singapore is organizing an FCL-SEC Fall Semester 2012 Seminar CONSTRUCTING WASTE. Hundreds of tons of waste are produces in Singapore every day. These wastes represent an invaluable pool of resources, which could be activated by rethinking their designs. The ‘hands on the material’ seminar CONSTRUCTING WASTE will interrogate the concept of up-cycling strategies in order to minimize the overall refuse amount being produced in Singapore. The focus on design questions should create second life cycles for otherwise waste products. The seminar will be conducted as a combination of input lectures,100

Singapore is one of the highest populated areas in the world. Consequently, the stock and flow of waste became one of the most important challenges on the island in recent years. Understanding the flow of waste materials and mining this incredible resource is one of the interests in the research of the Chair of Architecture and Construction at FCL. So far, Singapore is using mostly incineration plants to burn the majority of the unrecyclable waste material. Incineration reduces the volume of refuse up to 90% while the remaining 10% are later disposed off at Semakau Landfill, constantly increasing the surface area100