Sustainable building with masonry / Nachhaltiges Bauen mit Mauerwerk

Abstract

Ecology, energy and sustainability are crucial socio-economic keywords, especially for the construction and real estate industry. In recent years, the masonry industry faced related sustainability issues intensively in order to keep its ability of operating in a market setting which is increasingly characterized by sustainability dogmata. Scientific analyses and studies on an objectified sustainability basis -such as established certification systems -show that masonry is absolutely competitive with all other market-relevant construction methods. Therefore, the first part of this paper deals with a sustainability assessment of buildings made of masonry as well as of other construction materials. Concerning the design and construction of masonry, further selected aspects are discussed which are important for the competitiveness of this building technique. Outlining the simple yet economic pre-dimensioning with the help of load capacity tables is one topic which is of utmost importance for an efficient structural design. Additional aspects are the design of laterally loaded exterior walls with low vertical forces and the verification of basement walls under high earth pressure load. New and easy to use design proposals are open for discussion. Finally, the educational portal "masonry structures" of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Mauerwerks-und Wohnungsbau (DGfM) (German society for masonry and residential construction), which supports the training of young engineers, is presented.

Massive versus lightweight building: the latest investigations of (ecological) sustainability assessment

“…B. auch für den Mehrfamilienhaus-Bereich -durch entsprechende Marketingaktivitäten propagiert, aktuell nicht zuletzt auch durch staatlich-hoheitliche Akteure. Dabei ist festzustellen, dass die erforderliche Abgrenzung von den marktdominanten mas-eration with a selective view of the life cycle phases of a building, and therefore not a holistic consideration of all points of sustainability [3]. But sustainability is not exclusively equivalent to ecology, but rather a simultaneous and comparable balance of both ecological and economic and above socio-cultural aspects, which also has to be manifested over the entire lifetime of a building and not just of one individual building material.…”

“…Meanwhile, the above-mentioned studies were combined as part of an updated study in cooperation with the spin-off LCEE Life Cycle Engineering Experts to cover all (and also potential) market-relevant construction methods for the building of apartment blocks (masonry, reinforced concrete, timber, all based on the model building shown in Fig. 2); and provisional results from this study have already been published in this journal [3]. The present article presents the final results of the study including updated data, more comparative variants and an extended period of consideration, and still shows that with a holistic consideration of sustainability, masonry construction of apartment buildings has no significant disadvantages compared to timber frame.…”

“…The present article presents the final results of the study including updated data, more comparative variants and an extended period of consideration, and still shows that with a holistic consideration of sustainability, masonry construction of apartment buildings has no significant disadvantages compared to timber frame. Rather more, masonry construction is char-siven Bau-und Konstruktionsweisen Mauerwerk und Stahlbeton in punkto Nachhaltigkeit über eine ökologisch fokussierte und mit Blick auf die Lebenszyklusphasen eines Gebäudes zeitlich selektive, mithin eben nicht ganzheitliche, Betrachtung aller Nachhaltigkeitsgesichtspunkte erfolgt [3]. Dabei ist Nachhaltigkeit mitnichten exklusiv mit Ökologie gleichzusetzen, sondern eine gleichzeitige und gleichwertige Balance sowohl ökologischer als auch ökonomischer und vor allem soziokulturell-funktionaler Aspekte, die sich darüber hinaus über den gesamten Lebenszyklus eines Gebäudes (und nicht eines einzelnen Konstruktionsmaterials) manifestieren muss.…”

“…But it has to be said that the necessary differentiation concerning sustainability from massive masonry and reinforced concrete building methods, which dominate the market, is argued from an ecological consid-In den vergangenen Jahren haben die Autoren in verschiedenen Publikationen Studienergebnisse zur Nachhaltigkeitsqualität der Mauerwerksbauweise im Ein-/Zweifamilienhaus-(EZFH) [1] und Mehrfamilienhaus-Bereich (MFH) [2] im Vergleich zu marktrelevanten Alternativbauweisen (Holz, Stahlbeton) präsentiert. In Kooperation zwischen dem Institut für Massivbau der TU Darmstadt und seinem Spin-off LCEE Life Cycle Engineering Experts wurden diese Untersuchungen zwischenzeitlich im Zuge einer Fortsetzungsstudie miteinander verschmolzen und die Betrachtung auf alle (auch potentiell) marktrelevanten Bauweisen im MFH-Bereich/Geschosswohnungsbau (Mauerwerk, Stahlbeton, Holz) ausgeweitet; vorläufige Ergebnisse hierzu wurden u. a. bereits in dieser Zeitschrift veröffentlicht [3]. Mit dem folgenden Beitrag werden nunmehr die finalen Studienergebnisse inkl.…”

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Over recent years, the authors have released various research findings concerning the sustainability of masonry construction for detached houses [1] and apartment buildings [2] in comparison with alternative construction methods (timber, reinforced concrete). Meanwhile, in cooperation between the Institute for Concrete and Masonry Structures, TU Darmstadt, and its spinoff LCEE Life Cycle Engineering Experts, these analyses have been merged to a further study with increased consideration of all relevant construction methods for multi-floor residential buildings; preliminary results have already been presented in this journal [3]. The following paper now shows the final findings including data updates, added construction variants (imported timber scenario) and extended life cycles (50 and 80 years).

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